Back on American soil (after a wondeful tenth-anniversary cruise to the Bahamas), this evening has been a celebration of Americana.

My friend Jim and I drove about four miles, in an air-conditioned car, to a Seven-Eleven, so I could buy a Super-BigGulp Dr. Pepper (44 ounces = 1.3 liters).  Then we drove the four miles back to Jim's house (again, covering roughly the distance from Amsterdam's Centraal Station to Schiphol airport in one little strip of Orlando suburbia!) and watched digitally-televised NBA (basketball) play-off games and even a precorded bit of a college football championship game from a couple of years ago (Boise State versus Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, which is, according to Jim, the greatest college football game of all time).

I haven't completely figured out if I'm proud or embarrassed to be living so large here in America.  I guess all I can say is:  Viva Americana! (Jim says "Hello," by the way).