Finally in our "Element"

Meet the newest addition to the West Coast Gouger family! The Saturn has finally been replaced by a car that has automatic locks and windows! YAY! And our Hokie magnets will stick to it! It’s like a swiss army knife on wheels. This thing can do everything! It’s the same length or shorter than my car (seriously)…yet it can hold a ton of stuff. The doors open up all wide and all of the backseats fold up against the sides so you can carry large items. Plus you can sweep it out…there’s not carpet! And AJ is happy since it was voted the number one dog friendly car of the year in 2007. Plus…we can have awesome tailgates in it since we actually have a tailgate now. Holla at the import! Notice that we buy maroon cars, not white cars. Mary…it’s up to you to be different too!

Hotel Coronado

Catching that wind

It’s no surprise that my brother and I both love to be out on the water, since we were both raised along the water…in San Diego and Virginia Beach. I love being at the beach and in the sun, and my brother loves to sail and do anything with boats. So when he came to visit last month, we rented a boat with two of his friends and went sailing. This was my first sailing experience out on the ocean, as I have only done little sailboats at sailing camps on lakes and rivers, and that was back in the day, so I really don’t have any sailing skills to say the least. My brother, on the other hand, is on the sailing team at the Coast Guard Academy and owns his own sailboat (which still makes me laugh). His two friends are both on the sailing team and had been sailing since they were little, so I decided to trust these three boys with my life. It was an amazing day out on the water, with the sun shining beautifully and everyone out for a Sunday sail. I steered the boat for a little while, but then freaked out when we were heeling, scared we would capsize. As the boys are yelling at me what to do with terms I don’t understand, I just gave up and had one of them do it. They all had laughs and giggles over it, reassuring me that they were right there to grab it if I did something wrong, but I still didn’t think it was that funny, and enjoyed myself much more when I was watching them sail! We got a beautiful view of San Diego from the water, including the sky line and Point Loma, watched the seals hanging out, and sailed for some time along the Stars and Strips, a racing ship for the USA. It was really exciting being out on the water, and when James and I get more settled in, we are going to take some sailing classes together, so we can enjoy San Diego from the water again and again!

Pacific Fire

A great sunset over the Pacific, off the coast of Mexico. I am back on land in San Diego after spending a month out to sea. The sunsets out to sea are breathtaking. Nothing like going on a cruise you get paid for! Angela and I are considering a cruise at some point while living here, as we are close to the beaches of Mexico and we love to travel!

Panama

Let's go Hokies....at 9:00 in the morning...

How excited are we that we have found an awesome group of San Diego Hokies to watch football games with? Ecstatic! And how excited were we when the Hokies lost another game? Indifferent. While it is nice to win, the friendly environment and the experience of the Hokie game is much more important than the actual win. Especially when you sit back and think to yourself…I’m older than every single person on that team. That’s pretty humbling and may make you think twice about making them carry the huge burden of 60,000+ fans. As Dave McKee once told us: “The pizza will still be warm…and the beer will still be cold.” That being said… Glennon has had five years to learn how to play college football. At first I felt bad for him, but then when he whined to the media, I decided that he should probably not blame everybody else on the team and take some responsibilities for his own actions. So I am excited to see what Tyrod brings us this Saturday, and I respect Beamer enough to believe in his decisions of who should start. James and I watched the game at this awesome bar in Pacific Beach with about 60 other Hokies! We got there about 8:50 in the morning (ughhhhhhhh) and the bar was already full…it was super exciting. Check out the menu If you notice on the top left hand corner....they are Hokies! I think that’s what really sells the place…everyone is wearing Tech stuff, including the Bar tenders. And they have the best tater tots ever, and when I say the best, I mean Napoleon Dynamite would be in heaven. They were good enough to make me want to put them in my pocket. We met some awesome people and I am so excited to continue to meet even more. We had class with one of the girls and she came up to us and said we had World Politics together. It’s amazing that you can take a class with 500 students and then be at a bar on the west coast watching a game and have someone recognize you from the exact class. That’s what the Hokie Nation is all about!

Monday Night Football

James and I both LOVE football....well....we kind of LIVE football during the fall, so it only made sense that we would pick an apartment that is overlooking Qualcomm stadium! Football is finally here...praise the Lord for bringing us such an exciting sport! :) Unfortunately, I will not be watching the game tonight, as I am waiting for James to come home to kick-off football. It is only appropriate that we start the season together. This picture was taken this afternoon around 3:30 on AJ's walk. Still a few hours to go before kick-off, but traffic is already horrendous and the parking lot is starting to fill up. Yay for football starting and yay for living so close to the stadium! :) Go Hokies! And Go Chargers! :)