DC Arrival

Monday, September 12th we flew to DC. Marshall's plane went from Austin to Dallas to DC. Mine went Austin to Atlanta to DC. I woke up at 3:30am and got Marshall up a hour later. I made breakfast tacos. Our taxi was suppose to arrive at 5:00am, then we came to the conclusion that it would probably be cheaper for us to drive ourselves and park our car for 4 days than getting a taxi for there and back. We left around 5:10, and got a call around 5:20 that our taxi arrived. You snooze, you lose, Mr. Taxi Dude! We parked, hopped on a shuttle, checked in, made it through security and had about 20 minutes before my flight started to board. Mine left at 6:58 whereas Marshall's left at 7:15. I didn't get much of a nap on my first flight, and I'm glad I brought a book to keep me from getting bored.

 It was really easy to find each other in the airport. Marshall got some coffee, and we headed to find the metro subway system.

We found the metro and learned out to buy the fare card. Our metro exist is one block south of our hotel--so awesome. We checked in, got settled, then headed out the door to get lunch. We found a little place just a block over called Justin's Cafe. Marshall had a roasted eggplant, pepper-type of sandwich with sweet potato fries. He was surprised that they had cinnamon and sugar on them instead of salt. I had a mixed greens salad with pecans, grilled chicken, mozz cheese and green apple slices.

After lunch we went to the National Zoo, and I was surprised it wasn't larger. I didn't even see any polar bears! We did see the panda bears though. When I get back to Austin I will upload the little video I made for my mom who is a panda fanatic.

After the zoo we met up with Bonnie, who is a dear family friend of Marshall's. Her husband Rob came home shortly after we arrived, and their son Josh (who also lives in Austin) was up for a convention, and I finally got to meet him. We had some wine, hummus and bread as we chatted at their house. We went to Acre121 for dinner in Columbia Heights. It was a wonderful evening with them.

Marshall, Inc

Marshall is officially self-employed !He started his company Delphi Innovations this week, and he's super pumped. His first venture is going well. He had prototype metal plates cut out this week and sent them to his mom, so she could fit them on her bike. If everything lines up, then he's going to do order one sheet, which can hold 86 individual pieces, cut out. These will include the spider web design. He's also in the process of getting a quote from the company that will be plating the pieces. Right now his current obstacle is how to set up a means of processing credit cards when the parts are sold at Spyderfest in April. He's doing lots of research, and I'm confident in him that he's find a solution.

Legends and Dreams

It has always been a dream of Marshall's to dive into the creative world of inventions. He enjoys finding an alternative solution to improving things or products. He's very close to making his first prototype of the spyder grills he's creating for his mom's motorcycle. He's so close in fact that last night he set everything in place for him to create his own business! He chose Delphi Innovations as the name, which is a broad enough name for him to use with all of his future productions as well. Delphi was a city in Greek mythology where an oracle of Apollo lived and was able to give answers about the future to people of all walks of life who presented her with questions.

The website is now his; however, nothing is on it yet. That will change within the next few weeks. More details to come as they become available!