Paul Gets Hitched

I debated whether this should get its own post separate from the weekend summary, and I finally decided that it seemed like it was worthy of a separate one.  A friend from work got married on Saturday.  He's a pretty good guy.  I trust him to design good circuits.  We've worked at the same company in the same group for about 6 years now I think.  I first met him when he was interviewing for his job position, and I was part of the 3 people that took him out to lunch so he could ask questions about the area and get some honest "young people" opinions.  I didn't give him a technical interview, but people thought he was good I guess, and they hired him.  Since then we've known each other.  I don't know if I feel like I know a lot of important details about Paul and wasn't even sure if I would get a wedding invitation.  When I sat down to write this post, I realized that we do have quite a bit of history together.  Some other Paul highlights:

1. Rock climbing buddy.  I think there was a good two year stretch there where Paul, Jeni, and myself went rock climbing in the Zoo on a weekly basis.
2. Quiet.  Paul is not a big talker.  He talks even less than me.  He's quite often fairly intense, but he does appreciate a good laugh too.  Our conversations involve quite a bit of silence.
3. He's one of the first people I ever heard use the phrase "Oh snap" in a conversation.
4. Speaking of intense, some of the things Paul is intense about:  his music (especially Jazz), playing guitar, playing drums in Rock Band, golf, exercise (he has been the mayor of Anytime Fitness in our town for quite a while on FourSquare), and U of M sports.  That's the big blue, not the gophers.
5. Occasional kayaking buddy.  Please reference this link.
6. Thursday lunch buddy.  Usually there are 4 or 5 of us that have a tradition of going out to lunch on Thursdays, and Paul is one of those people.  Sometimes when the other guys (and girl) can't make it, we've still gone by ourselves on a little "lunch date" I guess you could say.  And, it doesn't even feel all that awkward.
7. Game night compadre.  The group of friends that I sometimes hang out with from work likes to occasionally have a game night.  Paul is in that group of friends.  If there's Rock Band to be had, I think he usually prefers that, but he's game for a board or card game every once in a while (pun intended).  He's great at guitar and drums on Rock Band, but come to think of it, I don't know if I've ever heard him be the vocalist in Rock Band.
8. Coupons.  His fiance-now-wife quite often comments on how Paul loves to use his coupons and get a good deal.  Pretty much your typical engineer.
9. Speaking of being a typical engineer, guess how long he dated his girlfriend before he proposed?  It was just a few months short of five years I think.  There's nothing wrong with being sure, right?
10.  Not one given to PDAs.  As one of my friends commented on at the reception, it was kind of interesting to see Paul acting in a romantic way.  "Not romantic in an uncomfortable way, just unusual."
11. Very well dressed.  (I know, surprising for an engineer.)
12. Seeing him every day at work.  We are both what you might call user interface experts, so we frequently review each others' designs.  For a while there he was my back-up for CAD system support when I was on vacation.

Here are a couple pictures from the wedding.

At the alter waiting for his bride.

The newly married couple.