The VW dealership did the oil change (I'm still taking advantage of the VW 3-year / 36,000 Carefree Maintenance program, so at least the labor and the oil filter were no charge to me).
This oil was abused a bit by the fact that my wife (the primary driver of the car) does seem to run a lot of short urban trips (I do harp on her to "take the long way home", especially now that it's getting colder). I'd say it was probably 80% urban driving, 20% highway driving. The oil was drained in late November, so it hadn't gotten terribly cold yet here in Wisconsin.
I detect a bit of Blackstone hate: who should I be using to perform my UOA that I can trust?
I did send an email back to Blackstone for clarification -- good suggestion. It'll be interesting to see how they reply. Since the Flashpoint and the Viscosity values are such a significant departure from my previous 3 UOAs (all using the same Motul 8100 X-cess 5W40 oil), it does make one wonder if the wrong sample were tested for that portion. A Flashpoint of 355 F is not comforting to me with a turbocharger...