Frank The Amazing Pug: Rolling Over
I thought that it was about time to show off some of Frank’s amazing skills, so here is a video of him rolling over. I’ve been working on this with him for a few weeks now and he’s pretty much got it down. Pugs will do anything for food, so it actually wasn’t that hard to teach him. 
The best dancer in Las Vegas?
As Stephanie and I were celebrating at Carnaval Court in Vegas after our Wheel of Fortune audition we were lucky enough to get there in time to see this guy dancing. I’m not really sure why we both loved watching him so much, but I remember that Stephanie kept saying ‘This makes me so happy…” over and over again. He does have some sweet moves and when we were chatting with one of the singers of the band he told us that this guy was dancing like this all day long.
I know that if I’m ever having a bad day and need something to give me a laugh, I’ll always be able to watch this video for a guaranteed pick-me-up. Check out the guy getting his groove on below or over here on YouTube.
We think that you might also like these, too:Thoughts on our awesome Wheel of Fortune audition
Now that it’s been a few days after Stephanie and I jetted out to Vegas for our second round of Wheel of Fortune auditions (the story of how this all got started is over here if you’re interested) I feel like it’s probably about time to let everyone know how it all went. We’ve both been telling everyone about how we did and what we think our chances are of actually getting picked, but for those who haven’t been able to talk to us yet here’s the story of our trip back to Vegas. Any questions, please feel free to post ‘em in the comments below and we’ll get you taken care of.
I feel like I should split up the trip into the first two days that we were out in Vegas, so if you’re not interested in anything but how the auditions went, please feel free to scroll on down past these next paragraphs. I promise it won’t hurt our feelings. I’ll post more about day 3 here soon.
Day 1: Getting to Las Vegas
To most people’s surprise, we had to pay for our way back out to Las Vegas for the second round of auditions. This means that we had to pay for our flights, rental car and everything else that comes along with taking off for a couple of days. Thankfully we have an awesome friend, Jess Berlin, who calls Vegas home and who was nice enough to let us stay in her and her hubby’s place.
We ended up getting into Vegas on Monday night around 8pm or so and headed to Jess’ place once we grabbed our rental car and some quick Taco Bell drive-thru (don’t hate on us making a break for the border). Once we made it to her house, Stephanie and I became well acquainted with her dog, Amber. As you can see below, some of us got to know her a little better than others.
The rest of the first night was mostly filled with watching a two-hour episode of the Bachelorette and just hanging out. It was cool to hang with Jess (unfortunately we didn’t get a whole lot of other time to chill with her) and I’m glad Stephanie got to meet her. Of course, I’m also glad that we both were able to meet Amber as well. She’s a super sweet dog.
Day 2: It’s Audition Time, Baby!
The next morning Stephanie and I both got up early so that we could be ready in plenty of time before our audition, which was scheduled for 1:30pm. We didn’t take too long to get ready and surprisingly enough we made it over to the Venetian close to when we were shooting for, which was around noon or so. Once we got to the Venetian we found the room where the auditions were taking place so that we were sure we knew where to go and after that we headed to grab something quick to eat inside of the casino. When we made it to the audition room, here’s the sign that was waiting on us. When we saw this sign I think that it really hit us that we were actually trying out for Wheel of Fortune and that we had a legit chance to make it onto the show. It sent butterflies to my belly, which was actually a great feeling of excitement to have.
After we split a sandwich we made sure that we had everything out of our teeth, gave ourselves a quick look-over in the mirrors that lined the hallways for the Venetian and headed back to the room so that we could get the audition started. When we made it back to the room there were about 40-50 couples waiting out in the hallway, which didn’t really surprise me, but made me a little more nervous nonetheless.
I began to scope out our competition and as we filed our way into the room one couple at a time (they checked for wedding certificates and the email invitations) I noticed a small, upright version of the big wheel, the puzzle board on a projector screen and a handful of people who were there to manage the auditions.
As the audition team handed Stephanie and I each short, yellow “I auditioned for Wheel of Fortune” pencils, we were told to fill out the form that was waiting for us on our seats and then to wait for further instructions. The forms asked us for some basic information (where we’re from, etc.) and for some things that we feel make us unique. We were given a handy Wheel of Fortune thing to write on, which was a nice touch (and made for some great photo ops.
After we filled out our forms, we handed them in to the audition crew and then the real fun began. We were given a quick idea of what to expect out of the day and then we jumped right into the audition, which first consisted of the audition crew calling out each couple one at a time and having them play a turn on a Wheel of Fortune puzzle. Basically how this would work is they would call out a couple’s name, they would both stand up and then they would try to guess the puzzle by guessing letters, spinning the wheel and buying vowels. If they called out a letter that was in the puzzle, then they would keep going and spinning like they would on the actual show. If the couple called out a letter that wasn’t in the puzzle or spun the wheel to Bankrupt or Lose A Turn, then they would sit down and the next couple would be called out and they would do the same thing.
This was actually a lot of fun and lasted about 35-40 minutes or so. We probably went through 15-20 puzzles during that time and we were all clapping non-stop. I’m not sure if you know this or not, but clapping is a big part of Wheel of Fortune and I would bet that Stephanie and I probably clapped more in that one day of auditioning than we have in the entire last year. Seriously.
A funny story about this part of the audition was when they called out a couple who were named “Stephanie and Brian” and that couple (who were sitting right in front of us), along with us, both stood up while clapping like crazy (we were a little more crazy than they were). When the audition crew saw that two couples had stood up they said “We love all of your enthusiasm, but we said Stephanie and BRIAN…”, which at that point we sat down after everyone had a good laugh. Of course, we were the next couple called to stand up, which made it even funnier.
When we were called to stand up we got one letter right, but other than that I didn’t really think that we did that great. In fact, I was really worried after they started calling out couples to stand up for a second time and our names didn’t get called. I freaked out a bit, but Stephanie kept her cool and told me to chill out. She’s cool like that.
After we finished that portion of the auditions we were then given a Wheel of Fortune test that included several puzzles that had random letters missing. They were categorized into specific sections and we were given five minutes to complete as many of the puzzles that we could in that amount of time. I thought that I didn’t do that great (I finished like 7 of the 15 or so puzzles) and man did that five minutes go by fast. Before I knew it the time was up and they were collecting our tests, which gave me a funny feeling in my stomach. After they were all handed in Stephanie and I chatted with the other couples around us to see how they thought they did, which reminded us of my high school days and to my surprise it sounded like I did just as good as most other people, which made me feel a little bit better.
When all of the tests were collected the audition crew told us that they would go grade the tests and talk about which couples they would like to hear more from, which meant that they were going to be telling most of the couples to go home. This took about 15 minutes and while they were out of the room we watched some really funny Wheel of Fortune outtakes and just hung out and waited for them to come back in.
When the audition crew came back into the room they started to announce the 12-15 couples who would stick around for a second, more intense round of auditions. When they were getting ready to announce the names I felt pretty nervous that we wouldn’t get called, but that didn’t last too long as Stephanie and I were the first couple announced, which nearly made my head explode. At that point we got really excited and started to chat quickly about our strategy for the upcoming puzzle rounds that we were going to play.
In this new round of auditions they called up four couples at the same time and had them play a much more real game of Wheel of Fortune, which even included pretending to spin the big wheel. Also, after each set of four couples played 3-4 puzzles they were also asked to tell a little bit about themselves, which added to the pressure a bit. When Stephanie and I played our puzzles we did pretty well, but I think that we really nailed the part where we told them more about us as a couple. We just had fun and told them some of the fun things that we do together (including blogging) and we even made them laugh a couple of times, which was a nice touch. So, although we didn’t solve any of the puzzles, we did show them that we would be a really fun couple to have on the show.
After the second round of auditions was over we were told that unfortunately not all of us can get onto the show, but if they would like us to be part of one of the shootings we would hear from them sometime in the beginning of July. We were hoping that we would of known more before we left the audition, but I guess that it’s never that easy when it comes to choosing who is going to actually make it. Personally, I feel like we did a solid job and that we have a pretty good chance for making it, although I really have no idea. I guess that we’ll just have to wait and find out like everybody else. Just in case we don’t make it, we wanted to make sure that we had a good photo of us and the Wheel of Fortune crew so that we can at least tell everyone about how awesome of an experience it was. They were actually a little hesitant to let me snap a photo with all of them, but as you can see below, I eventually talked ‘em into it.
After the audition was over we felt like we needed to go celebrate, which we did at one of my favorite bars in Vegas — Carnaval Court at Harrah’s. One way that Stephanie celebrated was to dance with some complete strangers to Lil’ Wayne.
We also saw some amazing people who were dancing at this place, which I’ll post some video of later. After this we grabbed some dinner, hung out for a while and continued to tell ourselves that we actually have a good chance in making it onto Wheel of Fortune. We stayed for one more day in Vegas, which I’ll have to tell you more about later due to the fact that I’ve already written way too much. Thanks for reading and we’ll catch up soon!
We think that you might also like these, too:How we got picked to audition for Wheel of Fortune
As I’m typing this Stephanie is trying to pick out an outfit to wear for our Wheel of Fortune audition, which is this Tuesday in Las Vegas. Yep, you heard me correctly, in about a day we’re heading back out to Las Vegas so that we can audition for Wheel of Fortune. Now as you can probably guess, Wheel of Fortune isn’t always shot out in Las Vegas — it’s shot in Los Angeles just like every other TV show. They’re shooting a couple weeks of episodes at the Venetian in July, which is why they’re auditioning in the Sin City.
Of course, we knew nothing about these auditions. A few hours before catching our flight back to San Francisco, we planned on just walking the strip a bit so that we could check out some of the new casinos, but as we were walking through the Venetian we saw a couple of signs that pointed to Wheel of Fortune auditions. We knew nothing about these auditions and had no idea when they were going on, but for some reason we decided to go check it out to see what the deal was.
Once we made it to the theater where they were signing the people in who were wanting to audition, Stephanie and I noticed that the next auditions were in about 30 minutes. I wanted to give it a shot, but since it would last about an hour or so, it would be the last thing that we could squeeze in before we had to grab our bags and head to the airport. As you probably know, we’re never really a couple who likes to pass up opportunities, so we eventually decided that we should give the audition a shot.
Along with a few hundred other people who were wanting to get the chance to get on stage we filled out these little, blue cards with some basic information about ourselves and then once they were ready for us, we all headed into the theater. Once we walked in we first heard the famous Wheel of Fortune theme song and quickly noticed that there was a small Wheel of Fortune setup on the stage complete with life-size cardboard cut-outs of Pat Sajak and Vanna White. Once the theme music stopped and the hosts (they had their own versions of Pat and Vanna) started up the game we quickly realized how they were going to format this audition.
- They had all of the blue cards in a big drum and they would pick out names in groups of five.
- The five people picked will get their picture taken, will go up on stage, will have about 30 seconds to talk to the host (personality test) and then will play one puzzle against each other (game test).
- After the five people finish with the puzzle the next five will get picked and the games will continue for an hour.
- If any of the people who get picked catch the eye of the people managing the auditions, then they will get emailed a day/time for a second, more serious audition. This is what we’re about to do on Tuesday.
After about the third or fourth group of five people, wouldn’t you know it that Stephanie got picked to go on stage and as she was leaving the stage she was told that they would be emailing us about sweethearts week, which they’ll be shooting in the Venetian as well. So, this is what we’re going to be auditioning for, which I think is pretty sweet. the only thing better than going on Wheel of Fortune is going on Wheel of Fortune with Stephanie.
Since we’ve been invited back for another audition we decided to get serious about learning all about Wheel of Fortune, so we have been watching it on TV and we also downloaded the Wheel of Fortune app for our iPad (which has helped a lot). The game isn’t too complicated, but there are definitely some things that we didn’t know, but I think that we’re pretty much up to speed on everything. We’re going to keep on practicing until Tuesday, just to make sure we’re ready to get after it.
We’ll keep you all updated and be sure to watch the video of Stephanie’s chat with the Wheel of Fortune host during her audition, which got us into the next round.
We think that you might also like these, too:My latest random idea — want to rent an iPad?
Yesterday I went to a tech conference here in San Francisco and to be quite honest it was pretty much the same ‘ol same ‘ol. But, one thing did end up sticking with me after I left the networking/panel/keynote filled fun and that was that the iPad is a KILLER demo device at events like the one I went to. Many people (including me and my co-workers) were not only telling people about what we do at isocket, but we were not able to easily show them what we were doing, too. The iPad allowed us to do this quickly, easily and instantly and it allowed us to interact with interested people on a whole new level.
So, after seeing all of this go down yesterday, I started thinking about how everyone will eventually need to carry an iPad at events (and I think that people at booths will be using them, too). But, most people don’t want to drop $500 or so on a device that they’re only going to use one weekend at a time, which is why I thought that there might be a market for renting them instead. This is why I thought of coming up with an iPad rental service called The iPad Borrower where people who need an iPad for these specific situations can rent them instead of buying.
Right now I am simply gauging interest for the service and if I see that there are as many people out there wanting to rent iPads as I think, then I’ll push the idea farther along. So, I guess only time will tell and I’ll update soon if anything comes of it. If you have any questions or ideas about renting an iPad or how iPad rental would work, please feel free to let me know in the comments below.
We think that you might also like these, too:Stephanie as a blonde or a brunette? Place your vote now!
I’m not sure if you noticed this in the post I wrote about our awesome San Francisco photo shoot, but Holly Gauper brought along a sweet wig for Stephanie to throw on and it officially turned her into a brunette for a few hours. When we initially saw the wig the night before none of us thought that it had potential for making its way into any of the photos, but man were we way off…BIG TIME.
Once Stephanie was all decked out in her wedding dress and makeup (which Holly did a fantastic job on) her new brunette wig looked A-MA-ZING! It was crazy just how much of a difference a brown wig can make and as you can see by the photos below it was a great way to give her a whole different look during the shoot.
Now that you’ve seen her as a brunette, give us your vote for the look you like best:
We think that you might also like these, too:High Five Etiquette
If you know anything about me, you know that one thing that I have an obsession with is the high five (I even wrote something about the history of it). I give them to friends, to strangers and Stephanie and I even give them out while we’re running in the mornings. I’m not sure why, but a high five is just something that puts a smile on people’s faces and makes even the most awkward situation feel ok.
Now that you know my obsession with the high five, it will make much more sense why I thought that all of you should check out this sweet video all about high five etiquette that I found this morning while browsing the interwebs. There are all kinds of situations that I think we can all relate to, so give it a couple minutes of your time when you need a break this morning.
We think that you might also like these, too:Tamara Lowe tells it (raps it) how it is
Just ran across this video of a woman names Tamara Lowe from Christ Fellowship rapping some sweet lyrics about God and how we’re just wasting space if all we’re doing is living for Earthly things that our culture is telling us is important. What do you think of it?
We think that you might also like these, too:Adventures in *almost* trashing a wedding dress with the Gaupers
A couple of days ago Ryan and Holly Gauper rolled into San Francisco after driving across the US for a few weeks, flying to China for a couple more and hanging in Hawaii. If you don’t remember the Gaupers, they are the amazingly awesome husband and wife photography duo who shot all of the amazing pics from our wedding about 6 months back. They’ve been taking some time off to see some of their family, friends and have also been setting up some photography workshops along the way. They’ve been at it for a couple of months and are now finally getting ready to start the drive back to their home state of Michigan so that they can get ready for another crazy-packed wedding season.
Before they took off and headed back home both Holly and Ryan wanted to take Stephanie and I out for a shoot around San Francisco, which we were more than happy to do yesterday (ok, we were giddy like little kids to do it). Of course, with Holly and Ryan there’s never really just a ‘normal’ photo shoot and this time was no exception. When Stephanie and I went home for Christmas Holly told us to have Stephanie’s mom ship out her wedding dress to our place in San Francisco so that we could have a trash the dress shoot. If you’ve never heard of a trash the dress shoot, it’s basically just like what it sounds — the bride gets photos taken of her literally trashing her wedding dress. This usually consists of the bride jumping in water, standing around in something messy or some other type of thing that brides aren’t supposed to do while wearing a pristine, white wedding dress. It’s become pretty popular with brides here the past couple of years and it only seems to be getting more and more popular as time goes on.
We were planning on doing something a little more on the extreme side to Stephanie’s dress (like chopping it up with scissors or covering it in paint), but as Stephanie, Holly, Ryan, Nic and I started running around San Francisco together we ended up spending so much time getting shots of us not trashing the dress we didn’t end up actually doing the trashing that we initially set out to do. I’m totally ok with this as I was honestly a little sad about the fact that we were going to ruin the dress that reminds me of the best day of my life, but I’m sure that it’s just a matter of time before we get to doing what we initially set out to do yesterday. That dress is trashed, it’s just going to take a little bit longer before it happens.
Like I said, we didn’t trash the dress, but that definitely doesn’t mean that we didn’t get some freakin’ fantastic shots. We ended up spending about seven hours driving all around San Francisco and the photos that we ended up getting out of it are really cool. Check out a preview of what we came back with below and be sure to keep an eye on Holly and Ryan’s blog for more photos and video (and the video is HILARIOUS).
Wedding Deja Vu — A new Hup and Steph project
With all of the free time that Stephanie and I have laying around these days (!!sarcasm alert!!) we’ve decided to start up another little project called Wedding Deja Vu. Wedding Deja Vu is a new blog that’s going to be all about the things that we’ve learned while planning our wedding, as well as some other things that we’ve learned since. On the blog we describe what we’re doing as Wedding planning tips, ideas and other randomness from a married couple who wants to do it all over again. Planning a wedding isn’t easy and with Wedding Deja Vu we hope that we can use some of our experiences to help other soon-to-be-married couples have a wedding that was even more awesome than ours (which will be tough, but we think we can do it).
To kick off the initial posts on Wedding Deja Vu we’ve been focusing on some of the details that some couples don’t put much emphasis on, but that end up creeping up as their big day gets closer and closer. They’re not the most top-of-mind topics, but they’re ones that all couples who are planning a wedding have to think about eventually.
Here are a few of the topics that we’ve already posted something about (we just started, so bare with us):
- Finding unique groomsmen gifts that don’t suck
- Snagging affordable wedding photographers for your big day
- Getting your hands on some personalized groomsmen gifts that your guys will actually like
- Creating and sending out save the date postcards so that people know when you’re making it official
It’s definitely a work in process and we haven’t even thought about how we’re going to design it from a look and feel perspective, but we figured that writing good stuff was the most important thing to start with and we can pretty it up a bit later. If you have any thoughts, comments, suggestions or whatever, be sure to let us know in the comments. Also, if you would be interested in writing about some wedding stuff shoot us a note, we’re probably going to be bringing on other writers as time goes on.
We think that you might also like these, too:-
About Hup and Steph
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They really like us!
(stuff that cool people wrote)- Archana is addicted to our video hilariousness.
- bartandshan.blogspot.com was inspired by us…for a little while.
- Bren and Jess like to blog just as much as we do
- Cam thought Hup’s jacket jokes were funny.
- Greg is living *and* he likes us!
- pointlessbanter.net cyber-stalked Steph.
- pontlessbanter.net wishes us a happy engagement…kinda.
- Stephanie enjoys our ‘performance love’
- The Anti-Bride liked our wedding style
- the Gaupers think we’re fun to take pictures of
- the Puglet gave us (and Frank) a shout-out
- yupsterism.blogspot.com says we’re worth your time.
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- Frank The Amazing Pug: Rolling Over
- The best dancer in Las Vegas?
- Thoughts on our awesome Wheel of Fortune audition
- How we got picked to audition for Wheel of Fortune
- My latest random idea — want to rent an iPad?
- Stephanie as a blonde or a brunette? Place your vote now!
- High Five Etiquette
- Tamara Lowe tells it (raps it) how it is
- Adventures in *almost* trashing a wedding dress with the Gaupers
- Wedding Deja Vu — A new Hup and Steph project
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