WE'RE ENGAGED!

Molly and I got engaged on November 15, 2008 while staying at the Four Seasons Hotel in Vancouver B.C.! We were up there on a weekend getaway to celebrate our first two years together. I think I managed to surprise her; she looks pretty happy in this picture:






No date set yet; stay tuned...

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

The intellectuals are back.

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

but before you do, read this.

Summer Breezes Make Me Feel Fine

My apologies for the lack of posting -- it has been a busy summer for me, with a full work load, taking classes, settling into our new home, and trying to squeeze in vacation wherever I can.

Molly and I spent 8/8/08 + a few days on Vashon Island with Eric (Molly's Bro), Karrie, Ava and Reed. We stayed in an amazing cabin where Betty MacDonald lived and wrote the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series of children's books. Here are some pics from that weekend.

My trip to Atlanta back in June for the Whirlyball Nationals was a lot of fun. My team won the overall tournament; however, we lost the unlimited championship to Michigan for the third year in a row. The Michigan guys posted a montage of their victory game on youTube (note the bias of the editing though; nevertheless, there is a shot of me throwing a sweet full court-length assist pass!)


Molly and I drove down to Eureka, CA to visit with C.D. & Catherine (9/5 - 9/9). They showed us a wonderful time, and C.D. even let Molly fly his plane! Pics from this trip are posted here.

We made a few other trips out of town this summer. Here are the pics:
Our first trip to Lake Chelan (with friends).
Our second trip to Lake Chelan (with family).
Our trip to Portland, 8/15 - 8/17 (with friends).

I'll leave you with an image of one of my most surreal situations this summer, where I somehow managed to find myself break dancing with a belly dancer:

11,000 laps in 1 second

As you may have heard, this is a rather exciting day for physics... The first protons orbited the Large Hadron Collider today, making the 17 mile trip around the ring in 90 microseconds. The first collisions are planned for October 10 (no, no, the world will NOT end on that day). If you don't believe me, be sure to check in at this web page:
http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/

Check out this physics rap video of nerds going awry:


Here is another recent youTube gem (you go, Matt!):

More Death Cab Photos...

A very impressive Kubrick homage

65 seconds, 1 shot:


Check out the full story here (they also have a higher resolution version of the video here).

Whirlyball on MTV!

Death Cab for Cutie is the current "MTV Artist of the Week" and the Whirlyball spots are now beginning to air. Check out the video for "No Sunlight"


My cousin Morgan is on the winning team, the Longview Ladybugs, jersey #5. She has some good screen time near the end of the video, where it almost looks like she runs over Ben off camera. Also check Morgan out in this short clip:

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

Here is one of my favorite clips:


All of the other clips can be viewed here.

More pictures are posted here. Scroll down to the last photo to catch a glimpse of Molly and part of my head. Is this our 15 minutes of fame?

Here is a montage, which includes the "Rock the Vote" PSA at the end:

Our New Home in Ballard (cont'd)

The Olympic Mountains in the early morning:

The first home-cooked meal in our new abode:

Rachel, Jacob, Ethan & Caleb came over to visit last weekend. Ethan and Caleb both liked the view, although Caleb was a little trepid before stepping out onto the balcony.

After enjoying some burgers & shakes from nearby Scooters on our rooftop, we went down to the Ballard Locks (the first of many trips down there, I'm sure!). No salmon were running, but the boys really enjoyed watching the boats go through.


More photos are posted here.

Our New Home in Ballard!

We moved into our new home on 5/26. Our unit is on the top floor, just a bit to the right off center in the photo above. Thanks so much to Jacob, Eric and C.D. for helping us move items. The move went very smoothly -- well, almost...
I did end up buying a $100 U-Haul tire after trying to drive through some narrow lanes on 45th street!

Several people have asked us if we can see The Olympics... the answer is yes! Here are some views from our balcony:



I'll post more photos later once we're all settled!

Sasquatch 2008

We went out to the Gorge on Saturday for Day 1 of the Sasquatch Music Festival. Molly and I were joined by C.D., Catherine, Jason, & Heather.


We saw some great bands: The National, Modest Mouse, R.E.M., M.I.A., Beirut, The New Pornographers, and Destroyer.

Rainn Wilson (aka "Dwight" from The Office) was the MC, because, as he put it, nothing says rock 'n roll like an aging TV sitcom actor!

We huried home late in the evening for the big move on Sunday/Monday.
Check out press photos @ Pitchfork

MTV Comes to Whirlyball

My two seemingly disparate worlds of bumper car mania and indie rock fandom came to a surreal collision on 5/21 when Death Cab For Cutie (a band that I have loved for almost 10 years) came to Whirlyball to shoot footage for an upcoming MTV Artist of the Week program. It turns out that the band is a big fan of the sport after first playing while on tour in Atlanta two years ago.
I was supposed to appear in the video, but my scenes were cut before I even got a chance to sit in one of the makeup chairs. I spent the entire day at Whirlyball, watching the shoot and trying my best to hang with the band. The concept for the video was a mockumentary of the band playing in a Whirlyball Tournament against a bunch of kids. My cousin Morgan appears as one of the kids. I can't wait to see the final product, which is supposed to begin airing on MTV in mid-June. I'll post links to the footage as soon as it is released.

The best part of the day was when the band played a 4-song live set: Grapevine Fires, Soul Meets Body, I Will Possess Your Heart, and Cath... (acoustic). Molly came in after work, and we sat right beside the camera for a very intimate concert.



Here is Molly with Ben Gibbard:
Ben, Nick, Chris, and Jason are all super nice guys and it was a sheer pleasure to spend the day with them. I just hope they come back sometime after their latest tour so we can play some actual games without the cameras rolling. I expect that Whirlyball will soon see a tremendous rise in popularity!

Trip to Chicago

Molly and I spent a wonderful weekend in Chicago, 4/17 - 4/21. We stayed with our friends Dan and Rebecca downtown in Printers Row. It was great to back in Chicago once again, and this was Molly's first visit to the Windy City.

Photos are posted here.

And here are some photos of the condo unit we are in the process of purchasing in Ballard (we have not yet closed the deal though).

Bonspiel Saturday

We had a great time curling at the Granite Curling Club on Saturday. Jason, Heather, Jamie, Mike, Molly and myself hit the ice for some intense curling action. Some more photos are posted here.

Okay, so maybe our curling wasn't as intense as this:

If you thought Whirlyball was a strange sport...

Check out Cybersport, which sounds to me like the name of a Claude Van Damme movie ("kumite! kumite!"). I just don't seeing this as ever becoming competitive as Whirlyball has become, in its own limited way.