08/28/2026
Oh boy, this is going to be a long one.
August was supposed to be the month we moved to the US. Instead it became the month we argued our way into it.
Austrian Airlines denied us boarding in Vienna. Nothing was wrong with our documents, they just decided to be ahhholes. It came down to one gate, one judgment call, and days of back and forth before they let us fly.
Back home, Michael and Shunda spent that first week in full panic. Then they settled and ran the place. From the outside you could not tell anything had happened, which is the highest compliment one can pay a team.
Then came America, which mostly meant bureaucracy: insurance, bills, lease, new IDs, new old car... We got the car, because here no car means no legs.
For a few of our calls this month Peter’s “office” was a laptop on a stack of Costco paper towels in an apartment made of boxes.
Best moment had nothing to do with business. Ace, a former teammate and a dear friend, showed up with a balloon and flowers. You move six thousand miles and someone hands you a piece of home.
RCI welcomed us in Grand Rapids and took us through the Opus packaging plant. They also helped us settle with a ton of stuff and advice, huge thanks to Ryan and Courtney!
And to top it all off we need design and social media manpower, so we are hiring for two roles.
2026 is the most chaotic year in Pinestel’s history.
We are barely holding. But we are holding.
Here’s to a new chapter for Pinestel!
