London Tuesday

Tuesday was sort of a short day for us. I had to take the train down to Weybridge for a Board Meeting.

We started the day by going down to the Tower of London. It features rather prominently in the book both of us are reading at the time (The White Queen - about Elizabeth Woodbridge - Henry VIII's maternal grandmother. We were both reading Kindle copies.)

From Cambridge and London, Sept 2009

We didn't go in. We didn't want to be beheaded.

From Cambridge and London, Sept 2009

We wandered around that part of London for a while, taking in things like The Monument (to the Great Fire - Designed by Christopher Wren)

From Cambridge and London, Sept 2009

Here is the inscription:

From Cambridge and London, Sept 2009

We didn't walk up to the top.

We then went over to the British Museum again, where the Rosetta stone is, sadly, still behind glass:

From Cambridge and London, Sept 2009

We also saw some "rescued" artifacts:

From Cambridge and London, Sept 2009

From Cambridge and London, Sept 2009

We had a nice meal at a "Balti Bowl" Indian restaurant. Someone told me that the Balti concept was invented in Manchester. I would not be surprised:

From Cambridge and London, Sept 2009

From Cambridge and London, Sept 2009

We also saw some folks protesting global warming:

From Cambridge and London, Sept 2009

Interesting enough, they got the attention of Lord John Browne. One of my fellow directors was having lunch with him, and they discussed these 150 or so ragged protesters.

London: Monday

We woke up Monday about 8:00 am - an exceptionally good nights sleep. I think it was because we stayed up so long.

David Byrne had an installation at The Roundhouse called Playing the Building. It was ending that day, so we tubed on over to take a look.

From London, August 2009

It was a bizarre thing to see, but fun at that.

There was a cute little tube station (Chalk Street) near the Round House:

From London, August 2009

After that we went over to the British Library to see an exhibit they had put on showing all the documents they had over the life of Henry VIII. (We are watching the Showtime version of his life on Netflix right now.)

From London, August 2009

The amazing thing is the number of documents they have! They have his divorce decree, they even have love letters he wrote to Anne Boleyn!

That night we went to the play Warhorse. It is story about a boy and his horse in WWI. It is from a children's book, so you know how it ends. But it IS a British children's book, so maybe you don't. The production was tremendous, with life size puppets being used for the horses. (there are several). I would highly recommend this show to anyone who gets a chance to take it in.

Notting Hill Carnaval

Our flight to London was uneventful. We watched Duplicity on the plane over. I found it formulaic and with no spark between Clive Own and Julia Roberts. But it passed the time.

When we arrived the the weather was very nice. We had a car meet us at the airport (Heathrow) and drive us to our hotel in Mayfair.

From London, August 2009

The driver told us that the Notting Hill Carnaval was going on that day and the next (it was a Bank Holiday Weekend) so we decided to head on down to Notting Hill to see what that was all about.

It turns out that this is the "Biggest Carnaval" outside of the Caribbean. It was jam packed with people, noise, and stands selling hotdogs and jerked chicken.

From London, August 2009

There must be frequent violence at these festivals, however, as many windows in the area were boarded up.

From London, August 2009

We didn't stay too long.

We went back towards the hotel, ate soem bad fish and chips (It can be good!) and went to sleep.

On the plane

A Boeing 777.

We're on our way!

CO 4 to London

In Houston, waiting for the plane

When you're down on your luck...

We're off to London tomorrow evening.

Back in a week.

I will be posting some photos and interesting tid-bits if I can think of any.

Ta.

Welfare Dons - Alex Gibney

Welfare Dons - Alex Gibney

The Ghost and the Darkness

I just finished reading The Man-Eaters of Tsavo by J.H. Patterson. The main story occurs in 1898 in Tsavo where Patterson, a British Colonel who was responsible for building a railroad through Uganda. The workers were being eaten by two lions (The Ghost and the Darkness, of the movie). Patterson said about 40 workers were eaten. In a book by Phillip Caputo it is speculated that as many as 132 people were eaten.

Patterson's book is a view into a earlier time with different sensibilities. He kills all sorts of animals (including an ostrich!). Mostly for fun, very occasionally for meat.

If you can put the hunting in historical perspective, it is a very interesting book, and available, pretty much for free, on the Kindle.

Tyler, TX

Doreen and I drove up to Tyler this weekend to attend the funeral of a dear friend's mother. I should call her a dear friend as well. We had Thanksgiving dinner with her many times. She was the embodiment of old Texas grace. Always a pleasure to talk to, she was the most upbeat person I knew.

There were some great stories about her at the memorial service. When she was 84, she went to visit the Taj Mahal. She told Jim (her son) that she always heard that there are two types of people in the world. Those who have seen the Taj Mahal, and those who haven't. And she wanted to be in the first group.

These things are always sad, but it was a nice celebration of her life. She was 94.

It was an easy drive up and back to Tyler. It is about 220 miles, we made it in about 3 hours.

John McAfee

McAfee Responds - Economix Blog - NYTimes.com

Read the original article, too. You can link to it from the above article.

McAfee lost $96 million.

10 cheap kitchen tools

Save Your Dollars : For many kitchen items, cheaper is better - CHOW

The Shiloh Club hits Swamplot!

The Lease of Your Worries: What’s Happening to the Shiloh Club?: "

And now, an entirely unverified rumor concerning Heights watering hole the Shiloh Club, at 1321 Studewood. A tipster writes in:

Stopped in for a cold one yesterday and the word is the lease to Joe (the owner since the late 80’s?) is not being renewed.

Heard- two daytime locals are taking over the lease on September 1. No word what will become of the current bar.

Observed- Friday nights about 10:30 the bar is inundated with young hipsters grabbing cheap drinks on their way out to go clubbing.

Thanks for noticing!

Photo of Shiloh Club, 1321 Studewood St.: Heights Blog

"

The Economist looks at Health Care Reform

Moderate is the new liberal | Democracy in America | Economist.com

Frank Bruni on being a food critic and your friends

Critic’s Notebook - Nightly Guests Give an Insight Into Their Quirks and Tics - NYTimes.com

If this isn't true, it should be.

Home Page

Sitting on the porch, waiting for Doreen

Ree and Julia's Birthday

Saturday, August 15th was Julia Child's birthday. Wednesday, August 19th is my sister Jeannette's birthday. So we decided to celebrate both with a Julia Child themed party on Sunday. The idea was to cook a meal from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I did not come up with the idea - it was in last month's Bon Appetit magazine, along with a suggested menu. We liked the menu enough that we cooked it without modification. Since this was also a birthday party, we invited all the family we have in town to participate:

From Julia Child Dinner, as well as DomiNate's Visit

That is Jared, Josienne, Doreen, Me, Alex LeBlanc, Rex, and Ree. Quinn had not yet arrived, but he would show up shortly after this photo was taken.

You may notice that we are all wearing identical aprons, with the flag of France boldly emblazoned on them. We thought it would be nice if we all had an apron in honor of Julia Child. Cute, eh?

From Julia Child Dinner, as well as DomiNate's Visit

Doreen and I volunteered to cook the chicken - Poulet Sauté aux Herbes de Provence. We generally like to cook with bone in, skin on thighs. I think that they are more flavorful, and their consistent size makes them easy to cook. So we made the dish with 16 thighs for 8 people.

From Julia Child Dinner, as well as DomiNate's Visit

This recipe (you can reach it by clicking on the link above) calls for browning the chicken in butter. You can see how delicious it looks. You then use the butter and chicken fat to braise the bird, and add some wine to make a nice reduction sauce. It was quite delicious.

From Julia Child Dinner, as well as DomiNate's Visit

We also cooked the Pissaladière Niçoise, which was sort of an onion tart with anchovies and black olives. I had baked the crust and caramelized the onions earlier in the day, and assembled it right before dinner. You will see another photo below, but I sort of burned it. It was still good, though. Julia would have been proud of how we recovered!

Alex brought the makings of a salad with a vinaigrette dressing. I can tell you one thing - that boy can cook! He has just recently moved to Houston (he is working as an engineer for Exxon. Sound familiar?) and I was not familiar with his culinary acumen. I think that I would have asked him to do something more complicated had I known. He is getting married in a week, and was the calmest groom I believe that I have ever seen. We served the salad with the
Pissaladière Niçoise as our first course. (Well, after some Marcona Almonds, peanuts, and goat brie cheese)

From Julia Child Dinner, as well as DomiNate's Visit

Ree and Rex (well, I think it was mostly Ree) made the Ratatouille in this great old enameled cast iron pot Ree got on e-bay. She has never made it before (neither have I) and it turned out great! It made me think of that movie.

From Julia Child Dinner, as well as DomiNate's Visit

You can see how I burned the Pissaladière Niçoise. I was very sad.

From Julia Child Dinner, as well as DomiNate's Visit

Here are Ree and Rex celebrating her birthday.

From Julia Child Dinner, as well as DomiNate's Visit

That is the sauce in its final reduction. Those little yellow dots are yet more butter. You can never have too much butter in a dish.

From Julia Child Dinner, as well as DomiNate's Visit

As per usual at our house, everyone serves themselves. You can now see Quinn - he is the one closest to the camera.

From Julia Child Dinner, as well as DomiNate's Visit

There is the main course, plated. Wonderful!

From Julia Child Dinner, as well as DomiNate's Visit

Too busy eating to look at the camera!

From Julia Child Dinner, as well as DomiNate's Visit

And there is the piece de resistance - a Reine de Saba that Josienne made. She said it was the first cake she had made from scratch. It was so good - there was not one crumb left over.

It was a great meal - thanks to everyone to help make it:

Alex
Josienne and Jared
Ree and Rex
Quinn (I think he mostly helped eat!)
And of course, my sweet ever lovin'

Bob who?

Bob Dylan Stopped By Cops

Ree's Birthday

The Wire

Very sad day for us. We watched the last episode of The Wire this evening (on Netflix)

What a great show, with great writing, great acting, great stories, great characters.

We will probably start over again in a year or two.

I will be just as sad when Deadwood ends.

Jame Fallows doesn't really like Niall Ferguson

"Black, and very, very lucky." - James Fallows

Matthew Yglesias » Lindsey Graham: Public Provision of Health Insurance is Terrible, Except When It’s Popular

Matthew Yglesias » Lindsey Graham: Public Provision of Health Insurance is Terrible, Except When It’s Popular

DEET is a neurotoxin.

Travelling to an insect-ridden clime? | Gulliver | Economist.com

Health care suggestions from a friend

He is sort of right wing (Right Freddy?) but has some good suggestions:

I have several suggestions.

1. Break the monopoly the AMA has on medical schools and certification process for doctors. Allow more foreign doctors to practice in the US if they pass a reasonable test and internship program.

2. Allow companies to use software programs to help diagnose diseases. Currently the AMA forbids that. Really good software would eliminate a lot of the unnecessary medical procedures doctors currently use in diagnosis.

3. Let experienced nurses set up clinics to treat people with minor illnesses and injuries without having a doctor around to increase costs.

4. Drastically reform medical malpractice insurance and the legal system so that if you sue and lose, you pay the fees and the doctor.

I would love to see intelligent discussion on how to reform medical care in this country. It is not happening.

=============

He doesn't have a blog or I would link to it. If he wants full attribution he can add his name in the comments below.

Medium-Size Businesses drive job creation

Are Medium-Size Businesses the Job Creators? - You’re the Boss Blog - NYTimes.com

Where are the Republicans?

FT.com / Columnists / Clive Crook - The Republican healthcare paradox

The other side of the farming story

The Omnivore’s Delusion: Against the Agri-intellectuals — The American, A Magazine of Ideas

Chabon on the Death of Adventure for Kids.

Manhood for Amateurs: The Wilderness of Childhood - The New York Review of Books

Vinoteca Poscol

sLast night as Doreen and I were thrashing about for a place to eat, we decided to go to the Vinoteca e Salumeria Poscol, a relatively new place in the neighborhood. (It replaced the horribile and not at all lamented Belgian restaurant Cafe Montrose. Much to my chagrin, Cafe Montrose has opened in another guise just down the street from us) It is owned by the same fellow (Marco Wiles) who runs an extremely expensive place just down the street (Da Marco) as well as our favorite pizza joint (Dolce Vida) also just down the street.

Poscol is run sort of like an Italian Tapas Bar. There are a number of small dishes (including homemade cured meats - Salumi) and you can order some great wines by the glass.

We started off with a glass of Pecorino and a glass of Soave - white Italian wines. The Pecorino was minerally and very, very, dry. The Soave was (true to its name) smooth an delightful.

We had the "5 meat" salumi platter, with everything from Mortadella and Prosciutto di San Daniele topork cheek sausage. It was all good, but Doreen didn't care for the Pork Cheek Sausage.

We also had some Beets in cartoccio or in a paper bag. Beets, goat cheese, hazelnuts, and something else I can't really remember roasted in a bag. Delicious! Fried spaghetti (better than it sounds) and the special - fried sardines.

The Fried sardines require a special mention. When we were in Lisbon a couple of years ago we ate plenty of grilled sardines. They were especially delicious. These were smaller, but just as good. They also had the added benefit of being boneless! I would recommend a trip here just to try them out.

Our second glasses of wines were an Anselmi and a special wine that I don't remember, but I think it was called a Gaia or something like that. We love trying new wines and really enjoyed these two as well.

A nice meal on a nice night out.

20 people a year are killed by cows

Dangerous Cows - TierneyLab Blog - NYTimes.com

Houston Mayoral Race

I know this won't be of interest to everyone, but it is a good article about our Mayoral race.

White Elephant: Texas Monthly August 2009

San Francisco: The Economist

Bay Area science: Techs and the city | The Economist

The Language of Love - France Today

The Language of Love - France Today

Shuttle and the ISS

We saw the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station pass over Houston this evening about 9:15. They had recently undocked, and were visible as very distinct bright stars, moving very quickly in the sky.

We have seen the ISS in the past I think that this is the first time we have seen teh Shuttle.

It was very nice!

Great Microsoft Ad (what???)

Very Funny:

STATES UNITED by beauchamping on Etsy

STATES UNITED by beauchamping on Etsy

We, as a nation, have got to ask ourselves, What the hell is going on

Dinner at RDG

Tonight we ate at Robert Del Grande's new restaurant named (guess from where?) RDG. It is in a brand new, purpose built space on Post Oak Blvd, right close up to Las Americas, beside the Hermes boutique.

The valet was prompt in attending to the car, but if it was not a Rolls, a Bentley, an AMG Mercedes, an Aston Martin, or a Ferrari, don't expect to see you car parked out front.

The space is fantastic - you enter downstairs where there are several tables where you can wait to be seated while you have a drink. Or you can ascend the very wide staircase to get into the Bar Annie space at the top - which has a large communal table, several bar tables, and an outside seating area as well.

Now THIS is the scene to be seen in Houston. I mean, there were more Prada bags and Manolo Blaniks than you will see anywhere on this side of the Mississippi before you reach California. The "Blond" hair was flowing and the perfume was overwhelming. As this is an expensive place, there was also a ton of what we might call "recreational" relationships.

But we were lead directly to out table (Not such a good one, but we were there to eat, not to be seen) and the service was truly impeccable.

We had a bottle on 2002 Alexe Corton Burgundy at a reasonable price, and all the food (from fried oysters to octopus with sausage, to quail and guinea hen.) was just tremendous (I will do a real food posting later. Sorry about that!)

But the best part was really the people watching. A table behind us started off with two couples and grew throughout the evening as additional chairs and women were added.

The bar, by the time we left was overflowing and looked like quite the place to be.

I recommend the place heartily.

100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About | GeekDad | Wired.com

100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About | GeekDad | Wired.com

I know things

I think that my sweet ever lovin' sometimes thinks of me as a dilettante. The truth is far from that, though I will admit that given the choice between manual labor, and looking at a Picasso, I will take the Picasso (even his later, throw away art) 99 times out of 100.

So when events conspired to have me fix my sweet ever lovin's car this afternoon, I think that she was surprised that I could do so.

It all started because of some tremendous thunderstorms in Houston. It started raining about 3:30 this afternoon, and the storms continued through the rush hour. Now, I only live about 15 miles from work, but the Transtar website was telling me that it would be at least an hour and a half drive home if I when my usual route.

So I plotted my alternate route, which takes me up US 90 through the Medical Center, past my sister Ree's neighborhood, and right past Hermann Park where MSEL works.

So imagine my surprise when I get a call from her as I am about 2 miles from her park. Her car won't start. She describes the circumstances to me, and I immediately diagnose a dead battery. Well, we'll see, she says.

I get to the park after more terrible traffic (2 miles? 20 minutes) and pull up next to her car. I turn the crank and get some juking noises. Bummer.

So, I just happen to have jumper cables in my trunk (Oddly enough, I was going to pull them out this weekend. Fate! Twice!). We connected the cars (both cars have their batteries in the trunks. So you have to find the little + terminals under the hoods) and still nothing.

Going back to my ill spent youth, I wanted to make sure we had spark. Touch the jumper cables together and what? Nothing. Re-attache the jumpers and touch them again.

Spark!

We got juice, and guess what? The car starts right up.

I know things.

TV Time in Space

TIme and Space are indeed linked:

401 – What’s On Earth Tonight? « Strange Maps

The Art of Manliness

You probably want to turn of your speakers (I can't figure out why some websites insist on having sound turned on by default) but this site:

The Art of Manliness

Has some good tips.

Reunions, Rainbows, and Thunderstorms

Doreen went to her High School reunion this evening. (Houston Memorial High School)

She was very gracious, and asked if I would like to go, but was very clear that she would not be upset if I said "no".

Which I did.

Sadly for her, but good for the rest of us, we had some tremendous thunderstorms here this evening. She had to drive over to the reunion, but I was here eating peanuts and potato chips for supper. But as the thunder became nigh on continuous, I went outside with Blaze to see what the heck was going on.

I was rewarded with a spectacular double rainbow and a delightful light show from the sky. The lightning was just non-stop. You could not even count the seconds (five to the mile) to see how far away the strikes were. The other interesting thing is that most of the lightning was "cloud to cloud" lightning. As you can see below (I think it is about 26 seconds into the video) the lightning never touches the ground.

What a great thing to see.

Flight home

CO 642 to Houston

View of the CO capitol dome

From my room

Flying to Denver

It has been a long time since I have flown on a domestic flight that was not taking me to an international flight.

But here I am. Looking out at that other plane going somewhere else.

Is the photo good enough to see that old CO logo on the tail of the plane behind that plane?

On to thw Queen City of the Plains,

Culture Snobbery

Are Kindles and iPods the End of Culture Snobbery? - The Atlantic Business Channel

Grand Torino

Doreen and I watched Grand Torino this afternoon. We have had it in house for a while (netflix) but have not been in the mood for it.

The movie is very, very good. Hard to watch on a number of different levels (racial, social, religious) but it draws you into a world that you (or we, at least) have no familiarity with.

One quibble - Construction work in Detroit? Not now.

I recommend it highly.

(and you need to listen to the end to hear Clint singing the title song. I think the last time he sang was in Paint Your Wagon)

Golden Gate Jumpers

398 – Bridge to Nowhere: a Map of Golden Gate Jumpers « Strange Maps

Brother Chas lived in San Francisco a while back. He always said that more people jump off the bay side than the ocean side because "They all want to catch a glimpse of heaven before they die"

42nd Street

Doreen mentioned this morning that she would sure like to see 42nd Street, a musical that was playing at Miller Theatre in Hermann Park.

I told her I would love to as well, and it was too bad that the tickets were sold out.

But is is a free outdoor show, so of course the tickets weren't sold out. So sad to be me.

Doreen works with the guy who runs the guy who runs the facility at Miller, and they do each other favors. So she called him up, and we had covered seat tickets (All tickets to Miller Theatre are free. Sometimes they are easy to get, sometimes not so easy) waiting for us when we showed up.

I saw two people that I knew at the show, amazingly enough, Doreen saw nobody!

It was really a lot of fun. You have not lived until you have seen 20 people tap dancing to We're in the Money on stage!

Oh, and Loretta Swit played the lead! She looks good, but she is 71 years old! Holy Mackerel!

Quikrete

Everywhere you go, there it is.

This is at a Winterstreet artist gallery

The Choice of Cities

Why cities?

The Technium: The Choice of Cities

Matt and Ducks

As I mention below, my old Geocities website is being shut down. I am moving some files to my Harold Stanford domain.

Harold Standford was a Texan famous during the Texas War of Independence. I will write more about him later.

In the meantime, I submit this for your entertainment.

The Grand Tour

IN 2000, Doreen and I ran away from home for almost four months.

We blogged about it before we knew what blogging was.

The website I used (Geocities) is shutting down, so I have to move all the stories and photos. I will be using Blogger to link to the new site. You can click here and I will eventually have everything there.

You can also click here to see the original site, until it shuts down in September sometime.

Good book review

Malcolm Gladwell reviews Free by Chris Anderson: Books: The New Yorker

How to make a workplace work

Culture Club: How Companies Bring Cool to the Workplace | ITworld

Does Money Buy Happiness?

When Money Buys Happiness - TierneyLab Blog - NYTimes.com

The sign says it all

Wanting It Badly Enough

We all make our own choices:

Wanting It Badly Enough | No Map. No Guide. No Limits.

Swan Lake

Last night Doreen and I were invited to attend the Houston Ballet's most recent production of Swan Lake. It got really good reviews, so when Eddie invited us to go with him and Charles, Doreen eagerly accepted.

I, on the other hand, was not so impressed.

But the whole thing got me thinking about time, cultural literacy, and opportunity costs.

We live in a shared world, and within your cohort there is an expectation of common experiences. For example, if someone says "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle" you would be expected to reply "than a rich man to get into heaven"

Or with some of my friends, if you say "It was inevitable:" you will hear back "the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love"

The point being, that we use this common heritage, this cultural literacy as a sort of shorthand in our communications.

So where do you acquire such commonality, and what should it all include? Many people say that Swan Lake is the best ballet for dancers. It is certainly not a ballet where the dancers just stand around. But what importance is it to have attended the ballet? To see the four little signets dancing with hands clasped together? To see the evil Rothbart trick the good prince Siegfried with the beautiful Odelle?

Or is it more important to know that in Russia, when the communists were in charge that the ending was changed so that the swan (Odette) did NOT die and she and the prince lived happily ever after? Does that tell us more about communism or about the way the ballet was originally written?

In spite of my reluctance to attend this ballet, I enjoyed it tremendously. I have always enjoyed the music. Tchaikovsky is one of my favorites, and the theme you think of when you think of Swan Lake is really beautiful.

I am not one to cry at Operas (though I have teared up while watching movies on airplanes) but I must admit that I got chills the first time the Prince saw Odette, and then the evil Rothbart and his evil Black Swans come flying by.

(A brief aside about the music, which is related to the whole cultural literacy thing. I cannot listen to the theme from Swan Lake (click and then listen at about 33 second) without thinking of West Side Story (click and listen at about 42 seconds. Did Leo life from Pyotr? I think so)

SO the question is, do we go to things like this to have gone to them and to gain the shared experience, or do we go to them to enjoy the three hours there?

And that can't be answered unless you think about the opportunity cost. In this case I must admit the opportunity case was very low. We had no other plans, as I have been traveling for quite some time. (I have not had a full weekend at home for over a month) So I was giving up a quiet evening with a nice home cooked meal and a bottle of wine for this ballet.

In this case, I believe it was worth it.

And I will never trust anyone named Rothbart again.

The Trouble with Urban Design « Keep Houston Houston.

The Trouble with Urban Design « Keep Houston Houston.

Does the US gain or lose jobs to outsourcing?

In-Sourcing - Richard Florida

A surprising answer.

Summertime

It is almost 9:00 PM. The temperature is 86 degrees, and the relative humidity is 63%. (from our Mighty Weather Station)

This is the best time of year in Houston. The air is so thick that you can almost see it. The sun has set, but you can still see the light from tomorrow's sun in the sky. It is cool enough (only 86!) to sit on the porch until the mosquitoes drive you in. And since we have had no rain in weeks there are few mosquitoes.

The airconditioners hum and the neighbors all say "hi" when they walk by.

Summer in Houston. Summer on the Gulf Coast.

What a great time.

Another view of co59

Co 59

Amsterdam to Houston.777

Homeward bound!

Data integration

It would probably be more fun selling weapon systems than data integration frameworks.

Periodic table gets a new element

Periodic table gets a new element

Isn't that something!

Amsterdam

Cold, wet, crowded. And expensive.

At IAH

Waiting to go to Amsterdam

Conor Clark on Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin's Economics Lesson - Conor Clarke

Everybody wants to be a Texan!

Houston Strategies: Job seekers heading to Texas

Trapped in a cave in Cappidocia

Is this Socialism?

Link

A package from Turkey

Yesterday (Monday) was my first day in the office for three weeks. It is always good to be back home, but it was sort of sad not being on vacation anymore.

So when I received this package from Turkey:

I was pleased.

While it may LOOK like a package of something that would ordinarily not be sent via DHL, we all know that you have to hid those sorts of things inside of table legs or ceramic Buddhas. So I knew that this was nothing more exciting than antique rugs.


This makes it look even more suspicious:


But once I opened them up, the great rugs that we bought came tumbling out:


It is fun buying rugs. It is amazing that there are so many rugs to buy in the world. I would guess that in some places, all people ever do is weave rugs:

That little one with the diamond patterns was really interesting. It is more like needlepoint than anything else. I will try and find a way to get a better photo of it online.