It's great to be back in the Seattle area, and we're settling in. We took 2,407 pictures on the trip, and I think we got some great shots. I'll be posting some of our favorites to the website soon.

We have quite a trip planned, visiting a plethora of places: the badlands, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Monument, Deadwood (SD), and a three-day stay in Yellowstone. We'll also stop by the only things I could find on the map in Iowa (the Corn Palace) and around the badlands (Wall Drug).

Plenty of pictures to follow!

Last weekend, I asked Erica to marry me (she said yes!).

We're both very happy and excited! No date yet, but it probably won't be until spring or summer of '09 -- Erica has to move out here to Seattle next year and land a job, so we didn't want to rush things.

Just wanted to share the good news -- best wishes to all.

Erica has been out here with me for the summer, though she has to head back to Michigan in a few weeks to wrap up grad school at the University of Michigan. We've had a great time and I'm really sad that I won't be able to see her every day. We had our 3 year anniversary last week and our relationship is still going great. She's a wonderful girl and my best friend.

I'm still working at Microsoft, on the Windows Client Performance team. Last year we put a ton of energy into making Windows Vista the best we could, and we have several performance improvements going into Service Pack 1 (no release date has been set). We're working jointly on SP1 and the next version of Windows. I still absolutely love my job and plan on working here as long as it's exciting to go to work each day.

I purchased my first home in February, a new condo in downtown Kirkland, WA. It's in a great neighborhood, close to the water and many tasty restaurants. It's a 1 bedroom + den, a little small but housing costs out here are so ridiculous that I'm content with what I got.

The M3 is still a blast to drive and I've met a great group of car enthusiasts in the BMW car club (CCA). It's also been a great way to explore the pacific northwest, I've probably driven about 2,500 miles with the group on various tours.

I've fallen into a nice groove out here. The area is wonderful, I really love Seattle. It's so green and outdoorsy. I've gone on a few hikes this summer with Erica and friends, and camped once.

As you can probably tell from previous posts, I'm getting into photography and am having a lot of fun. I still have a lot to learn, though having a digital SLR has been a great way to do so, as I usually take 3x as many pictures as I keep. I'm posting some of my favorites to the blog, as it's hard to come up with things to write, but pictures are easy

Anyways, I hope everyone who's reading this is doing well. Please email me or call me if you want to chat. I miss everyone in Grand Rapids and my friends elsewhere. You're all welcome to come and stay whenever you want, and I'll make sure to let you know when I'm back in town (or wherever you are).

Take care.

A Blue Angel doing a hard left right directly above us at Seattle's Sea Fair -- wow that was a rush.

Though the shot isn't that exciting, I like how the red bounces off the smoke from previous shells.

How does one making fireworks photos exciting?

Fireworks at Lake Union (Seattle) from Jeff's apartment top. Long exposure (13s), I probably caught about 13 shells in this shot.

Looking over the other side of the bridge at Deception Pass

Looking out over the bridge at Deception Pass, WA