Vita-Mix 5200 Blender Review

I had seen the Vitamix demonstrations at Costco many times and thought to myself "sure, I'll try your smoothie/soup/salsa etc., but who in their right mind would spend over $400 on a blender?!".  It wasn't until I visited my dad and his girlfriend who had a brand new shiny Vitamix blender on the counter, did I become a fan.  My dad's girlfriend had pretty much turned our whole visit into a vitamix demo show.  She showed me EVERY trick she had learned in the short month she'd had it.  We made soup and salsa and smoothies and ice cream...by the time we left for home I was sad I couldn't afford to buy one...well a few months later, on Christmas Eve I got a visit from Santa Claus' UPS Elf, and was shocked to find out that my dad had pooled together with my grandmother and a few other relatives and had bought my family a Vitamix 5200!  This is no ordinary blender...the blades are so powerful they can pulverize just about anything you put in it.  They spin so fast they create friction heat and can COOK soup from raw cold veggies in about 5 minutes!  My toddler has started consuming vegetables and doesn't even know it, his favorite is blueberry and spinach smoothies.  I use this machine at least once a day, I know it's expensive for the average household...but I can tell you it's SO worth every penny!