One per year, click to open.

New year new card, thanks for sitting through this saga searching for grammar mistakes and too many obvious em dashes as you try and figure out if chatGPT has killed my creativity.

To touch on a hot button issue, fans of the “This Week I’m Into Podcast” have been clamoring for new episodes. I’d like to say we are “between seasons,” but realistically we (more me than Hans) are running out of friends. To fix this, Coming Soon is a recorded “Let’s Play” for a D&D campaign that spawned out of one of our early episodes. I’ve taken on the role of dungeon master, while Sarah insisted her character be modeled after Angelina Jolie’s character from Shark Tale but, in her words, “hot with huge tits”.

In keeping with the fantasy theme, we took a vacation to Olympic National Park and stayed in the rainy town of Forks, Washington. Yes, the location of Twilight which until 6 months later I had never seen. All that to say, when looking for where to stay, there were many Twilight themed options. Even though I later learned that vampires apparently twinkle in sunlight I wouldn't want to see that room in sunlight OR blacklight. On the rest of the trip we opted for more natural predators and went tidepooling at the beaches along the Washington coast. Even though I froze my toes off in freezing ocean water I was rewarded by the sight of a seagull swallowing a starfish… WHOLE. We went tidepooling a few other times around seattle and saw many cool animals like crabs, starfish (alive), seaurchins, and more. Occasionally volunteers with the Seattle aquarium would be teaching about the critters and at night they had blacklights to show you certain ones even glow. Finally blacklight you want to see.

As the summer hit, so did fair season. While NC still holds the crown for best fair (strongly supported by the free eye exams), Washington does have its own charm a bit further from town. For the 2nd year running I attended a county fair to see a demolition derby. In a display of chaos and sheer stupidity they topped off their normal car destruction by blowing up a car w/ TNT in the middle of the track… with a guy inside. Physically he was fine, not sure about what's between his ears.

On the less explosive side, this year marked the start of wedding season for Sarah and I. Luckily the suit I bought last year has been getting plenty of mileage. We have officially moved past the Mormon and military benefit phase of weddings and entered the insurance fraud era as the government finally told our parents it's time to pray we stay healthy.

In similarly positive news, we have two new kittens which appeared in my apartment one Sunday while I was out skiing. If you haven't heard about them yet, you're lucky, I've become the mom who’s toddler just learned how to use the toilet, even though MINE knew at ~1 month old… With Fresno (Not Seen) taking up permanent residence in Carkeek park, Bean (Tortoiseshell) has taken on the role of big sister to the newer kitten Toffee (black), teaching her all the ways to go places she's not supposed to. Sarah meanwhile has officially entered her cat lady phase, she's even turning into one.

Between chasing cats and snow, Sarah still found her way up to the mountains a few times last season. She took a lesson and conquered some blues and thanks to a lucky find of skis on the side of the street (thanks rich Seattle folks), she's ready to get back at it. My ski trip this year was to Banff which was one of the coolest (and coldest) ski towns I've ever been to. My two plugs of this year is to look up wildlife bridges which are scattered around the US but have many over the freeways in Banff which I'm obsessed with. Also the movie “You’re Cordially Invited” which I watched while in Banff and is one of the few movies that made me cry laughing. I’ve now watched it 3 times. I wanted to see at least some wedding chaos so it was good it just happened in the movie… i guess.

I hope your year was similarly filled with good times and that I hear about them from you soon.

Much Love
Paul & Sarah (also Fresno, Bean, & Toffee)

It's finally the time everyone’s been waiting for, a festive rerun of last year’s shenanigans! Although it has been a very hectic year for Sarah and I, we’re lucky enough to have friends like you that are hopefully willing to read this whole letter.

We kicked off this year by bringing my friends on what ended up being a farewell tour of Taiwan with my family now back in Seattle. I put on my tour guide hat and showed them all the must-sees like scenic landmarks, tea fields in the mountains, the wall I graffitied, and the best food markets in town like the 7-11 I used to hang out at after school. We even recreated a great photo from my ancestors, or maybe just my freshman year spring break trip. Either way nostalgia was in full swing.

After Taiwan, Sarah and I extended our trip to Japan where we ate sushi at Tokyo’s Toyosu market at 5 am and attended a Sumo Tournament in Osaka. The Sumo tradition mixed with some of the strongest glutes I’ve ever seen already has me planning to go back. The other crazy news we got on that trip: Sarah had been accepted to several amazing data science M.S. programs! After a lot of tough consideration she ended up picking UW which started the process of us moving back to Seattle.

After playing an extreme game of tetris with my car, the journey home turned into a 10-day road trip with my dad with visits to 4 different baseball stadiums and a pitstop to take a drug test in Kansas city. Instead of driving, my clear pee meant that I was clear for takeoff at my new job at Boeing where I am excited to reach new heights. Don't worry, I won’t be trying to “fix” the planes like I was working on my car last year.

Since Sarah flew an Airbus out here in August, we’ve been on many local adventures. We got paddleboards to take up to the cascades where I froze my toes off when we paddled on a glacier lake. Sarah also got here just in time to see the last of the salmon returning to spawn…was it wrong to get a bagel with lox… moral conundrum for another day. In more wholesome news, we went to visit Sarah’s uncle Chip on Bainbridge island who was kind enough to help us decorate our apartment with beautiful artwork he made which sits near the other beautiful artwork made by some friends as a memento of our time in Durham.

On the side, I picked up a new hobby - co-hosting the “This Week Im Into Podcast” with my friend Hans. It’s been a really great way to keep up with our friends and find a bunch of obsessions to sink way too much time into. If you haven’t been on it yet and want to be a guest let me know. (yes we are on any normal podcast platform if you want to listen but this is my last plug for it).

Other than podcasting, I'm really excited to get back into skiing. I finally own my first set of skis so it’s great to be in an area with an actual mountain. I've only been a few times since I left Seattle 12 years ago but I got to go on a great trip to Chamonix this last february and who knew skiing got so much better when I knew I was gonna drink after (and not have to plan anything, thanks Braden!) I think we are even gonna get Sarah some lessons so she can be the DD!

We hope you have a great holiday and can’t wait to catch up when you're on the podcast… okay, that was the last time.

Love,
Sarah and Paul

As the end of the year approaches, I wanted to take a moment to connect with you and share some of the whirlwind adventures and more unexpected twists that made up my last year.

The blooper reel began with a week trip to Hawaii where I got to try spear fishing (no I didn't catch anything other than seasickness), started my golfing journey, and discovered that Kamehameha isn't just an attack in Dragon Ball Z. Although the tropical beaches are the opposite from Christmas, it did bring me closer to my Pacific island roots, especially at the iconic island “China Man’s Hat.”.

I also had the chance to learn about my girlfriend Sarah’s roots when we visited her family and their “Clan” at the scottish games in charlotte. If we ever need to flip telephone poles or herd sheep I'm happy to say she's got us covered. Sarah will learn a bit more about my own roots when we visit Taiwan in March, I just hope she doesn't realize there are a billion more of me.

Sarah is also looking to explore new horizons by applying to grad school for data science. In following the footsteps of my role model, my father, we are excited to see how fast Sarah can make me a stay at home boyfriend after she starts to hear back from schools next spring.

In my own personal journey, instead of pursuing higher education I decided to pursue higher comfort on my commute to work by getting a new car that actually has air conditioning.. Makes sense to invest in air conditioning now that summer is over (clearly I'm not the bright one). With the new car that means saying goodbye to the old which is good luck for carolyn, the inheritor. I took it upon myself to fix the old Accord and became quite the mechanic if i say so myself. I learned how to replace fuses, air hoses, the battery, and if I hadn't talked myself out of it even the whole radiator so if you're stuck on the side of the road with a 2006 honda accord let me know, I have about 3 tricks up my sleeve. Sprinkled in between my new Bob the Builder lifestyle, I still get to spend time with my favorite four-legged friend, Huxley. Whether accompanying me on hikes or seen here staring at a treat after playfully destroying my last pumpkin carving, Huxley is really the dog that makes you want your own dog.

In an unexpected twist from one paragraph to the next, the day after I finished fixing up the car it finally met its fate when it got totaled in a hit and run. Luckily it was parked and empty so the only one hurt is Carolyn's chances to be free. We tracked the perp down 2 blocks from my house so as of writing this I'm in a fun battle with insurance and maybe more :/.

Let this card serve as an advertisement for Durham while you ignore the earlier crime statistics. I've set up a few travel worthy activities such as an adult easter egg hunt, bought savannah banana tickets, and a 2nd annual christmas cookie party. While I dont have space for more testimonials I did have my friend Eric travel down just for an event for less than 24 hours - Twice! Talk about a long term distance, low commitment, casual boyfriend.

Amidst all the fun people, new destinations, and more than a few challenges I wanted to celebrate my friends these holidays and I hope I hear from you soon about your year’s adventures.

Wishing you a holiday season of love, laughter, and the occasional crazy story. Looking forward to catching up soon.