Updated with some new pics: 6/18/05

Well, we finally did it! After literally years of wanting one, we finally got a prius! We are really enjoying it so far and have been impressed with how comfortable, practical, and fun it is! We got the full shebang, with all the goodies. In addition to being a cool 50 mpg green machine, we got:

• side airbags
• vehicle stability control
• sweet remote entry and start feature
• nav system
• nice stereo
• bluetooth integration
• HID headlights
• foglights
• auto-dimming mirror w/ garage door opener
• alarm system

This is in addition to standard features like power everything (except seat!), climate control, etc. A number of the features we didn’t really want, but came in the option package that we selected. Oh well.

The story of how we got it:
Ali and I have wanted a prius for a loooong time. We finally decided the time was right, so I called a dealer. As expected, there is still a waiting list (exacerbated by high gas prices) and lots of dealers wanted more than MSRP for the car. Most quoted about 2-3 months waiting time. I ended up calling about 15 dealers to find one that charged a reasonable price and put in an order at six dealers. After 2 weeks the dealer that I enjoyed talking with the most (I-5 uhlmann Toyota) called me and said our car was on the boat from japan. And now it is in our greedy little hands.

A few pics here. More soon.

Well. Our 16 game winning streak came to an end at the hands of MOHO Seniors. Then we started a new streak by beating Sweet Corn.

Click for Pics

Wolfe can take it from here:

Hard fought game out there, Fish. For those of you who missed it, we came out dog slow against Moho Sr’s, giving away the first five points and losing the half 2-8. We then mounted an excellent zone-based comeback to pull within one for a few points, but it wasn’t enough and we lost the game 13-15. Ah well. We then came out and played a fun game with Sweet Corn, though we actually played much worse than in the Moho game, winning 15-7.

We did have a sweet cheer for SC. To _Guns ‘n Roses_ “Sweet Child of Mine”: (Note that we did have Nico go down on all fours and start munching grass beforehand, in order to set the stage.)

She’s got eyes of the brownest kind
with a glint of shale
Though it’s hard to look into those eyes
while grasping to the tail

Her wool reminds me of a warm, soft place
where as a child I’d hiiiide,
As she grew older it took more
to keep her satisfiiiieeied.

Ooooooooo, O, Sweet Corn of mine

[pause]

Baaaaa, baa, ba, ba, Sweet Corn of mine

Update: 3/15/05
Pretty much all old content has been migrated over. There is even some new content in both Ali and Cedar’s area!

I’m in the process of converting the site from the old static format to a new dynamic system using php/mysql. I’m using software called Wordpress as the backend for pages like this. Photo galleries are still generated by Gallery.
I think the transition will go really fast. Ali’s stuff is already migrated over. From your point of view things will be pretty similar except that older content will be easier to find. From my point of view, freshening the site should be a lot easier. If you run into any bugs, please let me know.

storm_finals/DSC0214
Britta and Kevin were nice enough to take us to a couple of post-season games. Seattle Storm won it all in some very entertaining games, so we had a great time. I took a lot of pictures, which you can see here:

Storm vs Lynx: Semis
Storm vs Sun: Finals

ingalls_lake/Img0038
Ali and I went on a lovely hike to Ingalls Lake. We started early to try to get good light. We wanted to be on the trail by 7 am, but didn’t start until 8 am. The light was past perfect, but was still pretty nice. Views were lovely, and the lake lived up to it’s reputation. As a special treat there were two mountain goats grazing, and I got some pretty good pictures of them.

We were married on Aug 28th, a day I will remember forever. The day, our friends, our family, the food, the farm and especially Ali were all beautiful. We just got back from our fabulous honeymoon, and have pictures to prove it! I tossed a preliminary batch up on the web covering our stay at the farm before the wedding, our wedding day, the day after, and our honeymoon. More pictures will be slowly added as others contribute their pictures. If you have pictures you are willing to share, please let me know! You can seem them all by clicking here!