Busy Weekend

On Friday I was able to make a trip out to the Olympic Peninsula to do some snowshoeing in the Olympic National Park.  I have been planning on trying to make at least two snowshoe trips over this break from school, and this one was the first on my list!

It was quite a trek to make it over to the to the park because you have to take a ferry across Puget Sound over to the peninsula and then make about a two hour drive to the ridge.  So, it felt like quite an adventure!

The snowshoeing was quite honestly some of the best that I have been able to enjoy since I started a few years back.  I could not have asked for better weather and snow conditions; blue skies, cold temps and awesome fluffy snow!  Surprisingly, I was the first snowshoer that made it up to the ridge since the previous weekend (The road up to the ridge is only open Fri-Sun).  There was only one cross-country skier that made it out before me so I had about 6-8" of fresh snow to go stomping through!

Well, all of that trail breaking took a toll on my hip flexors and I never made it to Hurricane Hill.  After stopping in a gorgeous spot high on the ridge to eat my lunch, I decided to make this my turn around spot.

Once I got back to the truck I noticed that I had left my lights on...  No good...  The battery was as dead as a doornail but I managed to get a jump-start from one of the Park Rangers at the station and made my way down and across the Sound without any further difficulty.

Here's a quick video of some pics and other stuff from the trip:

On Saturday; Faith, Chris, Aura, Malia and I went and spent the evening in Downtown Seattle to go walk around and see the holiday craziness.  We walked around Pike Place Market, got a coffee and then went to have some Thai for dinner.  Then, we walked down 5th Ave. to see the tree at Westlake Center.  We had a great time!

Westlake Center

Pike Place at Sunset

Macy's Star

I got an Interview!

Just got a call from Boeing and they want me to come in for an interview!  It won't be until after the holidays, but yahoo anyway!  Man, we really need a break now that our responsibility level just went up by a factor of, oh I don't know; INFINITY.

I applied for a Weight & Balance Technical Analyst position a few weeks ago thinking it was a long-shot.  I guess not though!  Now I have to go find out what a Weight & Balance Technical Analyst does... :)

I think somebody divided by zero.

Announcement Dinner

We had an announcement potluck last night to let everyone that lives up here know the good news.  Many thanks to Malia's sister, Faith, for hosting and making some kick-ass lasagna!

Malia and I make our announcement!

 We had a lot more people show up than I had thought would come.  I suppose a surprise announcement will  bring 'em out though!

Malia and her Mom, Clarice.

After all of the obligatory sappiness, we busted out with some Beatles Rock Band and jammed out for the remainder of the evening!

Jocelyn and I rockin' out!

Major Announcement

OK, so after mulling about the blog name for a few hours I've come to the realization that it is just plain retarded...  Really, "The Ambivalent Radicals"? Really...? I'm embarrassed.  In my efforts to make a blog title thats was witty and cute, I achieved neither and managed to look like an a-hole. That title is way to fancy for a blog that is about US...

Therefore, a name change is in order.  Something that is more in-line with who we really are as people!  Henceforth, the pretentious "Ambivalent Radicals" will now be known as "Zack & Malia's Big Dumb Blog".  Much better, don't ya think?

Oh, don't get used to this 4-posts-a-day thing either.  That won't last.  I'm just obsessed with that "new blog smell" at the moment.

Mobile test blog

Testing out the mobile blogging capabilities while blogging about the experience. Man, this is AWESOME!

Big News!

Well, the whole reason for starting this blog in the first place was that we now have news worth keeping up with, we're expecting!

We've known for about a month now, but that knowledge was only from many sticks peed on by Malia. Now, however, its official. We just went on our 1st prenatal appointment yesterday at the Providence Medical Center right around the corner. Dr. Sundwall confirmed our suspicions that we're at 8 weeks along!

The sonogram was pretty mind-blowing. We got to see our little Nugget's heartbeat for the first time... All I could say was "cool".

I'll have to admit that I did something pretty retarded when it came to this appointment: I OK'd the date of the appointment knowing full well that I had a final in my Engineering Physics class the NEXT DAY. I figured that it would be a pretty mind-blowing thing, but I had no idea how badly that ruined any chances of trying to study.

Well, it turned out OK. I had my exam this morning and I thought I was going to flunk it, but I ended up doing much better than I anticipated! Not stellar, mind you, but good enough...I think.

Post Numero Uno

So, I'm pretty new to this blogging thing and I'm not too sure how it's gonna go. However, if you were brave, or stupid, enough to make your way here, then welcome!

I want to get something out in the open right away about this blog. I like commas and exclamation points, a lot. So, if you are a Grammar Nazi and already noticed that I have horribly misused them in the sprite two paragraphs that I've typed so far, then you may want to leave now. It will get worse. I am sure that I will horribly mangle the English language and its overly complicated set of grammar and punctuation rules.

OK, still here? Good.

I've put this little blog together to keep our far-flung friends and family up to date with the goings on of our little family up here in the great Pacific Northwest. I'll try and update as much as I can, but the only promise I can give you is that I can't promise anything. With a full time Engineering course load, I've pretty much got my hands full. I'll try to get Malia to contribute as much as possible as well, but like I said before...no promises. :)