"Johnny Macau"

Our very own "Johnny Macau" traveled to Macau, China, to compete in the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Season 3 Main Event at the Grand Lisboa Casino. The following account combines the event's own news reports with John's personal account.

Window to Bulgaria

From Brian's blog:

"For the next two years I will be serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bulgaria, where my primary assignment will be teaching English as a foreign language. I hope to meet the first of the Peace Corps’ three goals by proving to be a competent English teacher and getting involved in secondary projects such as environmental education. I hope to meet the second goal through my teaching and by integrating into the community and making new friends. What about the third goal? Well, that’s where this blog comes in. This is primarily for friends back home who have never been fortunate enough to visit Bulgaria. Maybe it will inspire you to visit. Maybe you will be content to live vicariously through me. Either way, the hope is that, if you follow along, you will gain a better understanding and appreciation of Bulgaria and its people."

Read more of Brian's blog at WindowToBulgaria.blogspot.com.

Pete Sessions Townhall Meeting

Report from a stranger in a strange land

Pete Sessions held a town hall meeting in Richardson Wednesday evening. Grand Hall of the Civic Center. Inside, a festive atmosphere. An overflowing crowd. Every chair taken. People lined up two and three deep along the walls to the back and sides. Microphone connected to speakers in the room next door for people who didn't fit inside the Grand Hall.

Road Trip

Our family is used to summer road trips, usually to Wisconsin and Indiana to visit family. This summer has led us in an entirely different direction. Ellen and I drove from Dallas to southern California to visit Scott in Pasadena, where he's a grad student at Caltech. And, different from our usual long hauls on the Interstate Highways, we took our time getting there.

Roots

I've always known that my ancestors emigrated to America from Europe in the 1800s. The Gambskys from Poland and the Millers from Denmark. The Jacobs from somewhere in Germany and the Stegers from Bavaria. Only the Stegers came here recently enough for me to have personal contact with any of the immigrants. My grandfather Frank Xavier Steger, Jr., was a toddler when his parents left Germany for America. All I ever knew was that they were from a village near Nuremberg and sailed to America in the early 1890s.