Wir sind Papst! No, wait, we are pope!

German TV ZDF has postponed the evening news to wait for the new pope. They don’t even postpone the news for national elections!

Mother-in-law’s 95th birthday today. Five of six grandchildren were there, and even the mayor stopped by with a certificate!

My double take this morning: people I went to high school with have grandkids going to prom. ⏳

Looks like Trump did take over Canada, just not how he thought. “Canada election: Liberals projected to win 4th term, but unclear if minority or majority” www.cbc.ca/news/poli…

We normally love our work, but the past couple of weeks have been so that I’ve been eyeing the calendar for when my German state pension starts (3 years and 5 months)

I’m not saying this is me, but the Windsurf API is down this morning and I can’t get any work done 🤷‍♂️ #VibeCoding (via www.reddit.com/r/theprim…)

Fake O'Reilly book cover "Vibe Coding" with Ralph from the Simpsons "I'm a developer now"

Baseball Home Opener for the Dohren Wild Farmers. Have to make sure our sign is hanging straight.

McDonald’s sign on the scorers’ hut in DohrenFinally baseball and with perfect weather

Spent 2+ hours today moving a washing machine and getting the right parts to install it in an apprentice flat. That’s the glamorous life of running restaurants.

Mini Easter fire at the nursing home (Eierlikör is being served)

ICE in western Minnesota “Indonesian student detained by Ice after US secretly revokes his visa” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2…

Easter Fire, the social highlight of the year in Lüllau! “Für das leibliche Wohl ist gesorgt” means refreshments will be available.

Poster for the 2025 Easter Fire in Lüllau, Germany, with a small fire, a large rabbit, and a collage of sausage, fries, and drink bottles

Can we bring a baseball statistic to the 2. Bundesliga? Magic number for HSV promotion is 13 points (3rd place Magdeburg can at most get 64 points, with 13 points in the next 6 matches HSV has 65). #NurDerHSV

This is our town’s “Altes Rathaus” where I just applied for my German ID and passport. My data was in the system already, so it took just 5 minutes and 107€.

The thatched roof Altes Rathaus in Jesteburg

Inspiration from my hometown, and Kris has helped me see what a treasure my hometown is: Grief brought her back to western Minnesota. Now she’s helping restore her hometown. www.mprnews.org/story/202…

We don’t know anything about Minecraft (our son was more into Flight Simulator), but the global movie promotion is going gangbusters in our restaurants.

This is not my first stock market crash, so I’m not selling, but I did buy a “MSCI World ex US” EFT today

Reciprocal tariffs sound to me like a bigger and better Brexit (and by better I mean kills more GDP)

We don’t sell any goods to the US, but we do import the occasional grill or fryer #tariffs

The point of no return #Einbürgerung

Sign at the county government complex for the office for citizenship law, “Staatsangehörigkeitsrecht“

The ZDF docudrama Rosenthal is worth watching. www.zdf.de/filme/ros… Rosenthal (Hans Rosenthal soll die 75. Sendung von “Dalli Dalli” ausgerechnet am 9. November 1978 live moderieren. Als jüdischer Holocaustüberlebender kaum denkbar. Wird er vor die Kamera treten?)

We have an excellent manager whose parental leave ends this summer. She’d love to come back part time but can’t get child care in Hamburg. She’s better off going on unemployment and hopes to come back in 2026. #PoorGermany

We not only have a published author in the family, but also a prize winner. Our niece Freya Petersen has won the Seraph prize for “Best Debut” German Fantasy Novel for “Die Mutter der Masken – Säure” awarded during the Leipzig Book Fair! #Seraph2025 www.instagram.com/p/DHv6cUx…

Photo of Freya Petersen and the cover of "Die Mutter der Masken – Säure"

Dawson-Boyd is the neighbor town, not my hometown, but we’re streaming their MN State Championship game from Germany anyway. (PS They won!)

Pictures of Dawson-Boyd playing the Minnesota Class A Boy’s Basketball Championship game

Blog post: Application approved scotthanson.de/2025/03/2…