VW in tha house

The ads for the new VW GTI have been all over the net but in case you missed them they are hilarious. Watch all three clips here. The actor playing the german guy is actor Peter Stormare of 'The Big Lebowski' and other movies. I can watch this guy say 'SNAP' all day.

Kickass weekend

Saturday we threw a Mardi Gras party to welcome Cam to the Juanita manor and invite everyone over. It went off smoothly with a lot of different crews merging together to form one kickass party. I'm still waiting for pictures from a bunch of people but here are some pictures which I took. I also have .5 gigs of video which I have not got around to compressing yet. I'll probably save it all up and merge it into another compilation video sometime.

*UPDATED*: new pics from the party uploaded here.

One cool thing was that my bud Eric showed up last minute to hang out and visit Seattle. He hasn't been to the USA yet and I got to show him around downtown Seattle on Sunday. We did some shopping, visited Pioneer Square, ate some awesome falafels and gyros, then headed up to Pike Place market. I took some awesome shots of the sunset which I think you'll enjoy. We also saw a pair of nice Ducatis on the street!

A couple of weeks ago Cam and I were crazy enough to jump into Lake Washington on the windiest day of the year. Trees had fallen down all over the place and the wind was howling but that didn't stop up from having our own little polar-bear swim. Here's a compressed video.

Trip Report: Crystal Mountain

Date: Wednesday, Feb 15th 2006
Location: Crystal Mountain
Group: Team Moral Event for work
Visibility: UNLIMITED
Temperature: -5 to 0 degrees Celcius
Wind: Light
Snow on-piste: groomed
Snow off-piste: 1" to 4" of light powder on top of frozen crust

This was my first time at Crystal when I could see Mt.Raineer clearly. It was so close I felt like I could touch-it and we could see all the way to Mt. Saint Helens, which was steaming. The groomed runs were fast but not icy due to some recent dry weather and a light powder dusting a day ago. My edges were super sharp and I had no problem cutting some lines on the groomers. My favorite runs were down the Powder Bowl from High Campbell and through the trees into Bear Pits. The end of the day had a keg of Redhook beer waiting for us and a relaxing bus-ride home. I wish every work-day could be this good. Unfortunately I forgot my camera but will post pictures from other people soon.

2006 starts off with change

2006 has already been a year of change. Last weekend Cam took Derek's place at our house. Cam was already spending a lot of time at our place but it's nice to have him around permanently. We're planning on sharing some of the cooking (mmm... turkey burritos) and practicing our Capoeira in the back yard. Summer will be better than ever with our forces combined to ensure many backyard BBQs and lake missions. Cam's surround sound system and the XBOX 360 are nestled in the living room and all is good... let the foozeball begin! Derek and Lidiane now live in a classy appartment near downtown Kirkland. It has a view of downtown Kirkland, 2 huge bathrooms, and a spare bedroom in case we can't make the mile-long journey home from Thursday pub-crawls in k-town.

2006 is also a year of organization and less-procrastination on my part. Yesterday I received my W-2 form from work and I immediately spent a couple of hours doing taxes. This is 2.5 months earlier than I usually get around to it and even though I owe a bit of money I'm glad they are DONE. Next year I'll be getting some money back since Amanda should count as a dependant.

This Sunday all of Seattle is rooting for the SEAHAWKS. GO TEAM! I'll leave you with a couple of motorcycle videos:

• this will make you JUMP
• 200mph racetrack in the UK country-side