Sportwagen!!!!

Finally, after waiting for almost 5 months! The Sportwagen has arrived, and we love it! Jaime and I got the call last Sunday that the car was in and ready for pickup. Mean Jaime made me finish the yard work we were catching up on after our week in Berlin. Sheesh! After finishing that, we made the trip out to Chaplins VW in Eastgate.

"Behold, there it is! God has given unto us a Black, 6 speed manual, Sportwagen TDI!!! Rejoice and give thanks; now let's fire it up and exercise those demons with 236 lb/ft of glorious low end torque!!!" (Ok, not my real words, but imagine the feeling) We met up with our salesman Vasco, he handed us the keys and told us to "take it for a spin to make sure it's everything you wanted." Key in, car on, wait, where's the diesel clatter? Nearly impossible to make out, this car is quiet! With a steady right foot, the sunroof open, and my wife riding shotgun, we headed out...

Yes, it is everything I've wanted! My first new car. We headed back to the dealership to finish the paperwork. After another 15 minutes or so, we were finished. Vasco gave us an overview on all the features, gave us a temporary plate, and bid us fairwell. I have to say - I was very impressed with his professionalism throughout the entire ordeal of obtaining the car and would reccomend him. No ewwwww car salesman feelings!

And we were off on the open road, again, but for real! The most difficult part now will be following the reccomended break in procedure for the engine (no red lining for the 1st thousand miles, no cruise control, etc.) I can't wait to really put my foot into it once the engine is properly ready. This car is just awesome! And now some pictures!

(Gigantic Sunroof!)

(After a week of use, but still purdy!)

Oh, also a big shoutout to Craig for finishing the Seattle Marathon today! Run like the wind, Craig!

MMMMMmmmm

God Bless the man that thought "you know what my hot dog is missing? Some cream cheese! I think I'll slather that on!" And man, Dante makes a mean hot dog. Some things never change; Left Hand Smoke rockin' it hardcore at the Tractor, many Mac and Jacks, and a damn good hot dog at 2 in the morning!

For a profile of Dante the hot dog vendor, check out a story on his struggles and redemption in the Seattle Times

Just a brief update

Hello All,

We are having a wonderful time in Berlin. I have been getting a lot of work done and Geoff has been able to sleep in, and then travel all over the city, seeing a ton of history. I am taking days off today and tomorrow to get some sightseeing in with him. We'll come back with pictures, I promise.

Last night was the company party. It was very well organized and a bunch of fun. They announced some extra support for the PRESEPT study (my project), so everyone was in a very good mood. Geoff was excited that they had a live band; country music none the less. I'm sure he will expand upon it more later, but the lead singer looked a little like Elvis and his English was not very good. =)

Later on in the evening, a DJ took over and everyone started dancing (that includes Geoff, some of my co-workers, my boss and the CFO).

We are having a blast! Can't wait to see everyone soon!

San Francisco Trip

I know its been a REALLY long time since I blogged, so I figure it is time. We had a wonderful trip to the bay area this weekend. We started out at a wedding in Stanford. Geoff's friend Julie got married at Stanford's Memorial Church at 11am. So we quickly found out that a 7am Virgin America flight gets you in to SFO in just enough time to change into your wedding attire, rent a car, and drive to Stanford, but only if you jog from your parking spot to the church (in heels).

The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was a blast. We took fun pictures in a photoboth (see above) and got seated at a table with a real life horse whisperer. We also learned to Cha-cha (sort of).

After that, we drove up to the city to see Pagra. Michal and Ryan were also in town and stayed the night with us. We dined at Ernesto's for dinner - if you haven't been, its a hole-in-the-wall Italian place that cooks with a lot of garlic! yum!

On Sunday we drove up to Napa and did a little wine tasting and had lunch with Uncle David and Aunt Elizabeth. It was a completely relaxing day - much needed. We had just enough time to swing by Aunt Susan and Uncle Pat's house for dinner with Pagra, Mike and the kids. It was a wonderful trip and I totally enjoyed spending time with family, friends and my hubby!

(Geoff here! Here's a hilarious picture of my brother riding the chair that Jaime's grandfather has in his house to get up the steep narrow stairs!)

HELL...YEAH!!!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Wow, a record low post count in October...and it's only going to get worse...
Here's how November is shaping up - Jaime's currently out of town. She gets home tonight, then leaves again on Thursday, returning on Friday.
Saturday and Sunday we're in California for the awesome Julie Weitlauf's wedding.
The weekend after that, we leave for Berlin. We're finally home the night of the 21st.
Then we fly to San Francisco for Thanksgiving. I'll be home for post Thanksgiving madness at Nordstrom (thanks to the midnight flier) and Jaime returns home the following Monday. Then maybe we're free the weekend after that, who knows...

Seriously, I'll try to keep everyone updated with what's going on, but Fall is shaping up to be our busiest ever! We've really just been hunkered down, trying to get the yard ready for winter, keeping the house clean, staying on top of the laundry, and trying to eat healthy...sounds simple enough.

We DID have a nice quiet night on Halloween handing out candy to the kids, and beer to the adults! I'll post pictures of our pumpkins when I get them downloaded...

ALSO - GO VOTE!!! This is most likely THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION OF OUR GENERATION...that is all.