Last night, Abby and I celebrated our second anniversary, and the end of our first year in Tirana, with our British friends Sam and Phil whose wedding anniversary was the day before. (That’s Samantha and Philip, in case you were wondering.) We had a nice dinner and then returned to their house, where we’d left our car. We’d parked in their driveway, which runs off a narrow and heavily-trafficked street, so Phil stood in the street to block cars while I backed out. Unfortunately, I assumed that since he was watching my back, all was clear, and I did not…

New York Times’ article on Albanian blood feuds.

Tirana now has a Japanese restaurant. The menu isn’t huge, but the food is fairly good and reasonably priced. Abby tried the sushi, and given that she didn’t subsequently spend the night in the bathroom, we can be assured that they keep the fish properly refrigerated.

I’ve been trying to improve my photography, and since I’m working with film, I’m also trying (a) to find someone who can teach me to use a darkroom so I can have more control over what I produce and (b) to decide whether to go digital instead of scanning my film negatives. There are billions of pixels devoted to the debate between film and digital photography – which one is “better” – and although I’m a Luddite at heart, I’ll probably cave and buy a digital SLR this fall, and it will be obsolete by the time I get it…