What you’re seeing in the updated interface has been in the making for probably over six months. In fact it’s been mostly ready as an html mockup for most of that time…it just needed to be broken up in to a wordpress template. Then the catalog happened at work…and it lasted for…well, almost six months. And then I just kept putting it off so SurrealPerspectives (not for the first time) was really neglected. But I’m pretty happy with the updated look and now that the template is more accessible, it should be easier to change the background. Also, I know I say this a lot but I really hope to be putting up some newer portfolio stuff pretty soon here as well as a music player.

Unrelatedly and more importantly, we’ll be having a baby soon! December to be more precise. It’s been pretty exciting so far but I know it’ll get better. If you’re interested in getting more frequent updates on the situation, head on over to the blog my wife created for that very purpose: sarah-christmasbaby.blogspot.com

While this post is about a month late, I don’t think it’s quite reached the point where it’s not worth bothering. Thanks to Sarah’s birthday/anniversary gift, we had the wonderful opportunity to go to Spirit West Coast this year and it was a blast! We were able to see the Newsboys, TobyMac, Needtobreathe, Relient K and MercyMe and spend two sun filled days on the beach (I was worried about this because this time of the year in San Diego is aptly called “May gray / June gloom”).

One thing that was interesting to see was Michael Tait as the new lead singer for the Newsboys. At first I was disappointed that Peter Furler (the former lead singer / the bald guy) wasn’t there but I think Tait did a fantastic job and I ended up really enjoying the concert. Also, as far as I know, Furler is still part of the band as part time vocals / songwriter. Another thing that really made this trip special was the fact that two former dc Talk members were there. Because of this, dc Talk songs were played two nights in a row, once by the Newsboys and once by TobyMac and his band.

This time was also interesting because of a little adventure we had on our way out. We got on I-5 and then 805 to get down to I-8 and be on our merry way. Well, we had been on 805 for a bit too long for my liking so I asked Sarah if she had seen any exit signs and she said she had been paying attention and hadn’t. I didn’t think I had seen any for awhile and certainly wasn’t seeing any at this point so I just kept going thinking I was being paranoid. Well after awhile, the landscape in the distance seemed different…the buildings didn’t look the same or anything. Then we saw a sign that said “Last U.S. Exit” and at that point we figured out what I did wrong…lol. Anyway, I hastily took that exit, turned around and thanked God we didn’t somehow get stuck at the Mexico port of entry. Guess we should have been paying more attention to the signs.

Also worth mentioning, the following weekend Sarah and I celebrated our one year anniversary! One down, many to go!

Okay…maybe not “of justice” but it sounds good. But yeah…there were a couple things I actually meant to post about but never ended up doing so. Hence, winter update.

Anyway, I’ll start from the beginning. Back around Thanksgiving we got a dog (see picture to the left). His name is Chester. Now, you could be wondering how on earth Andrew ended up getting a dog…and sometimes I still wonder the same thing haha. Afterall, I think apartments are a terrible place to raise a dog, I get annoyed with them easily and I think they cost too much money (especially if you live in an apartment). But, when we were walking through PetsMart that one day in November and happened to see the animals from the humane society, I had a moment of weakness. And knowing Sarah really wanted a dog (despite my continuously saying we need to wait until we get a house) I said I’d consider the possibility if he could stay at her parents house (until we got a house). And that’s how it all started. My mom ended up giving him to us as a Christmas present and we decided not to keep him at Sarah’s parents house because we wanted to be able to train him and raise him ourselves. And, for the most part, he’s turned out to be a really good dog. Yes, we’ve had our share of “puppy troubles” that most people likely encounter in a similar situation but he’s a fast learner and pretty well behaved most of the time as long as he doesn’t get too bored. And while it was possibly too soon to get a dog…I think we’ll learn valuable lessons through training him…like patience!

Also, we had plans to go to California right after Christmas for a wedding in which Sarah was a bridesmaid. Well, for Christmas we ended up getting two tickets to Disneyland so we did that as well while in California. And it was my first time! We got to go on Star Tours, Big Thunder Mountain, a handful of Fantasyland rides, Innoventions (which happened to have ASIMO at the time…really cool stuff), Tower of Terror, California Screamin’, Mulholland Madness, Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Indiana Jones and Buzz Lightyear. Unfortunately, we never made it on to Space Mountain due to misplaced fast passes but I’m sure we’ll be back again seeing as you probably need at least two days to do everything.

I also got a handful of cds for Christmas…all of which I thoroughly enjoyed (and still enjoy). But one is by a new band I’ve never mentioned before. This cd is The Heat by NeedToBreathe which was an instant hit for me. I’d highly recommend this album to anyone who enjoys alternative rock.

Finally, you may have noticed that I got around to importing my posts from the old website. Unfortunately, none of the comments made it though as it would have been much too time consuming to add those to the old RSS feed. So if you happened to have a comment on one of those posts that you thought was really important…feel free to go back and re-add it. Ha.

Its interesting how quickly things move sometimes…especially when there’s so much preparation for them. Take, for instance, my recent wedding. It (including the reception) lasted a matter of hours but seemed to go by in about thirty minutes. For all the months of planning it makes you wonder…but it was more than worth it. Not to mention the week before the wedding which mostly involved pre-wedding festivities and spending time with people visiting from out of town: it felt like a couple of days at best. So, by the time we were all settled in Aspen for our honeymoon we had to make ourselves slow down and remind ourselves that it was okay to just relax for awhile. Interestingly enough, our best man (my best friend, Danny) and maid of honor (Sarah’s best friend, Sarah lol) actually ended up getting together and finally it looks like there’s a reasonable chance Danny will actually move here. I’m honestly not holding my breath though…I won’t believe it until I see it.

Anyway…Aspen (and the surrounding area) was beautiful. We were able to enjoy great food, good times, an amazing hot air balloon ride (a first for both of us), and the famous Maroon Bells (as seen to the right). Let me just say that you have to see the Maroon Bells in person. If you think the pictures are spectacular, just wait until you see them with your own eyes. The pictures don’t even come close to doing them justice! On the way out we also made a pit stop in Denver and I got to show Sarah many places of my youth. I was happy to find that Sarah loved Denver (and CO in general) as I thought she would…but it’ll probably be a long time before we move there, if ever (even though we’d really like to some day).

Since then we’ve been getting settled at the new apartment. Right now we have a recliner and two camp chairs (for living room furniture), a folding table and folding chairs for the kitchen and boxes for night stands. It’s good stuff lol. This weekend we’ll be heading up to Phoenix to hit up IKEA (and possibly Target) and see if they can help us out…we actually would already have a kitchen table if target had the chairs in stock but maybe we’ll have better luck in Phoenix. Definitely big changes of late…but they’ve been much awaited and welcomed as far as I’m concerned.

It’s interesting to see that after many years of saying “yeah things are kinda the same and kinda different” I can truly say that this year, things are pretty different lol.
For starters, I’m engaged!

Yeah…that’ll change things pretty quickly lol. Basically, on Saturday, Sarah and I did “Picacho 3.0″. We took the easier, more scenic (but longer) route this time which I’ve never done before. After having a relaxing lunch on the top, I asked her if I could take her picture with the sun behind her, thus requiring her to stand and me to kneel down and “get my camera”. However, instead of coming up with the camera, I came up with the ring and proposed…at which point Sarah ecstatically said yes! On the way down we actually ran in to a girl who noticed us signing and explained that she was deaf too. Soon after, the rest of her family caught up and it seemed as though she had a few sisters who were deaf as well and everyone in the family was fluent in sign language. This was really neat for Sarah and she just couldn’t help but share the good news. By the time we got back to the base of the peak we were pretty tired but still had a good mile or two of walking to get back to the parking lot. Needless to say the whole event wore us out but it was beyond worth it. And despite Sarah’s dream about the proposal (yes, I kid you not, she actually had a dream about the whole event before it even happened!) she had no clue it was actually going to come true.

Needless to say this has been a year of change considering that I fell in love with Sarah, discovered many new things about life, learned how to ride a horse, moved out of my parents house and bought a new car. Not to mention my sister Amy getting married and moving to Phoenix! On the other hand I do still have the same job and I’m still trying to finish out my Associates at Pima (which should actually be completed before long now).

At any rate, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and wish you a happy New Year! 2008 will be an exciting year!