First Anniversary in Italy

Elaina and I just got back from an 11-day anniversary vacation in Villasimius, Italy (on the island of Sardegna). Elaina had a neuroscience conference there, which she attended for the first three days, then we spent the rest of the time celebrating our first year of marriage :)

Trip Pros:

• Sardegna is GORGEOUS! Click here for a quick video at our hotel
  
• Food in Italy is better than most food in America.
• Tops are optional on all the beaches and pools. Here is a non-nude beach clip
  
• We found an empty beach (which we decided was a nude beach)
• The town of Villasimius is 100% pure Italian, no tourist traps or Americans with fanny packs.
• We randomly found an amazing church in the town of Cagliari. Click here for a video
  
• Driving is easy in Italy because nobody pays attention to traffic laws.
  

Trip Cons:

• Some Italians do not like Americans.
• We know about 2% of the Italian language.
• Our airline, Alitalia, stopped flying to Sardegna the day before we left. Figuring this out in Italian was not easy. This also caused us to miss our connection to New York. Alitalia paid for us to stay in Rome with full room and board so we could fly back the next day.
• Driving is hard in Italy because nobody pays attention to traffic laws.

Click here for some pictures!

Congrats to Elaina!

On Tuesday, May 9th, Elaina completed her PhD qualifying exams with an "Unconditional Pass." The qualifying exam is a 3+ hour-long oral examination where Elaina had to present her doctoral thesis to a panel of specialized doctors, whose sole purpose was to question everything she knows about Neuroscience. Ask any grad student -- qualifying exams are much harder than defending your thesis.

A clean pass is rare, and is the highest ranking available :)

She is now officially considered a doctoral candidate, and must complete the experiments she proposed in the exam to graduate. Congratulations!!!

And now for a corny picture of a happy Elaina:

Eddie's Getting His MBA!!

Today I found out I was admitted into the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas here in Austin! The McCombs MBA program is ranked #18 in the nation by U.S. News.

Elaina and I went to Mirabelle Restaurant to celebrate :)

Here is the "welcome box" I received from McCombs:

Divine Intervention

It's rare these days to find evidence of a higher power, especially on a pizza box. Who knew that a delivery pepperoni pizza from Papa Johns would double as a delivery from the Lord?

Thinking back on it, the pizza was pretty good: it wasn't too greasy, it didn't make me bloated and farty, and the garlic butter dipping sauce wasn't already slightly open when I started shaking it. Truly divine intervention. Papa Johns? In my book it's Papa Jesus.


You can click on the picture to enlarge it.

Noah & Shari's Wedding

This past weekend Elaina and I hopped a flight out to Raleigh, NC for Noah & Shari's wedding. We had a great time with good people, free booze, and plentiful food. Great job, Mr. & Mrs. Becker! Below are some pictures of the highlights.


Here we are with Mom, Jake & Kaori. Look how cute everyone is!


The happy/devilish look of Noah.


Shari surprises us all by flanking from the left.


...I... promised... I... wouldn't cry...


Holy crap they look cute. This is at the reception, and is the only decent picture I have of the newlyweds.


Happy Noah :) Well done, sir.

Before and After

Three weeks after purchasing our house, Elaina and I have made some massive changes to the place. Here are some before and after pics of our progress. We painted the house ourselves.


Office Before


Office After



Guest Bedroom Before


Guest Bedroom After



Master Bedroom Before


Master Bedroom After



Master Bathroom Before


Master Bathroom After



Kitchen Before


Kitchen After



Living Room Before


Living Room After

We Are Homeowners!

As of Thursday, January 26th at around 5:00pm, Elaina and I became homeowners! We are so freakin' excited because this place is a dream. We are going to slowly move in over the next month, so if you have a truck and live in Austin, give us a call! We will provide beer and steaks as payment ;)