Letter 7: Dogs, Driving, and Dining...

This picture is actually taken in Aberdeen, but it was a good one of Alyson with Baxter (my dog). Baxter is our latest house guest in Edinburgh, and is certainly keeping me on my toes. His body clock is very regimented, and so every morning without fail we're up pretty early so that he can take care of business outside.

We have recently been to Aberdeen twice (so that I can follow my favourite football/soccer team). On our first trip we picked up Baxter as my parents were away on holiday with Sarah and her 2 kids. Alyson is coping relatively well with her allergies. Her allergies just seem to be lighter over here than when I've seen her in the US. That could be for a whole variety of reasons though, especially climate and humidity. She does really miss Angus though, and Baxter is the wrong species to provide a good substitute.

It has been a pretty busy time for me. I'm doing Company Law, Tax Law, and Family Law this semester. I have had 1 assignment for each course in the space of 2 weeks (each counting for roughly 50% of my overall mark). I'm currently working on assignment 2, with 1 more to go after that. The first 2 weeks of December will be finals for me - I can't say I'm looking forward to those much.

We are slowly but surely gearing up for our visit stateside this winter, plotting the various restaurants we want to get to. Safe to say Carls' Jr. is on my list! I'm also a sucker for Chicken Alfredo at Olive Garden. (Other places to visit will have to include Chick-fil-A, Alyson also wants to pay a trip to Cafe Rio, Yogurt Stop, the Cheesecake Factory, and Wingers). I suppose I should really start dieting now for all the weight I'm likely to put on visiting those places..! Oh, add Five Guys (in Bountiful) to that list too! They have some really good burgers. I might have to try a new steak house as well. I think I had better start saving too...We're looking forward to the big Cook gathering on the 28th, we have made sure to get flights in time to be there.

Alyson is continuing to learn how to drive a manual car, although we haven't quite gotten to the challenge of driving on the other side of the road. Our practices have been in car parks for now. The job hunt continues, although there are one or two prospects on the horizon which might work out quite well for us.

No movie reviews from me today, although Alyson went to see 2 films with my mum in the last couple of weeks (Life as We Know It, and RED - both of which were supposed to be quite good). We're looking forward to a couple more which have come out in the last week or so - especially "Despicable ME!"

That's all for now,

A bientot America!