Playing with PhotoCrank on Facebook.
First off, I should probably let all of you know that until I get a blog set up over at PhotoCrank I will be using this blog as a sort of testing ground for some ideas and thoughts that I come up with. For example, below is first a screen shot of a comment that I saw one of my Facebook friends Nicky left on her other friend’s pic. It basically said that they wanted to be Photoshop’d into a pic that was posted and a light went off in my head. After seeing this I quickly realized that this could be a quick and easy way to use PhotoCrank, so below I did just what she asked - in a PhotoCrank sort of way. Let me know what you think.
links for 2008-04-19
-
I wanns go, I wanna go!
-
The Hide-A-Pod…nothing like some classic Microsoft bashing to finish off a great week of work.
Yep, we live in a cottage in California
It’s true - Stephanie and I call a small cottage in California home and sometimes I even feel like we’re living in The Shire, but it still amazes me every time that I tell myself that we live there. The weather, the other space around our cottage and the people who live around us are all equally amazing and when you put it together it does seem a little far-fetched sometimes that we actually live in this place.
As I was getting ready to leave for lunch a couple days ago I realized that most of you have never seen where Stephanie and I now call home, so consider this your own little private behind-the-scenes tour of our new place. If you ever want to come visit, just let us know - we’re ALWAYS up for meeting someone new.
Check out the pics below and be sure to click on the PhotoCrank button on each one so that I can tell you all a little about each one . Any questions, just let me know and feel free to Crank your own questions if you’re feeling frisky.
Crank’n Steve Hayes
Today’s Crank is my man Steve Hayes, who is an Indianapolis local and a great friend of mine - not to mention a half bad musician. I’m going to crank a couple photos of him to show him how much I love him…is there a better way to show it?
Here Steve is traveling and playing some of that rock & roll music that he seems to love to much. Feel free to crank in your own thoughts on these two pics and tell us what you’re thinkin’.
Crank’n Mitch Maxson
I decided to Crank my buddy Mitch with the cover image of the book that we wrote together, MySpace For Dummies. I must admit that I have become a sort of Crankaholic since I’ve been digging into the ins and outs of my gig out here in Palo Alto with PhotoCrank.
Thanks to my man, Jeff.
So the last piece of furniture that Stephanie and I needed to buy is probably the first one that most people get - a bed. We had some time to spare due to the fact that we have a couch that has a bed inside of it, but I think that both of us are pretty much over sleeping on a fold-out-bed in our living room.
Today was the day to go and get our bed and thankfully my man Jeff, whom I will be working with out here in Palo Alto, was up for the challenge of basically driving through the ghetto to go pick it up - not to mention he was taking time out of his day to do so. Well, after 4 hours, a strapped down mattress that would make any hillbilly proud and many, many stops in places Jeff wasn’t too excited to stop in, we had the mattress back at our cottage. It wasn’t really easy and definitely not the most efficient way to do it, but God knows that we all have a story to tell all of the newspapers and magazines once we are all millionaires a few months from now.
As a way to thank Jeff I felt like I needed to show my appreciation in a way that clearly showed how thankful I was for him helping us out today when I know he had many other better things to do. I also wanted to have some fun with his East Coast mindset when it comes to a guy from Indiana coming out to the ‘big city’. Watch the video below or check it out over here on YouTube.
Thanks again Jeff, Stephanie and I both truly appreciate your help today.
Getting settled in
I know that it’s barely been 3 days since we’ve been here in out new home in Palo Alto, but we have had to do so much and everything is so new that it seems like we’ve been here a month already. Between getting used to our new cottage(which is AWESOME), getting new furniture, meeting awesome new people and getting prepared for new jobs - there is definitely plenty to be done.
Yesterday Stephanie and I decided to take a trip to IKEA so that we could get a few pieces of furniture that would make our cottage feel a little more like home and make it a little more useful (check out pics from the adventure over here on Facebook). It’s pretty amazing how you never realize how important the things are in your life that you tend to get so used to, such as coffee tables, tables with chairs, beds, etc. You know, the things that everyone has to get at one time or another.
It’s also funny how this same feeling can be applied to some friends and family that I had to leave when I decided to take this crazy adventure out west. I think that I have officially talked to my brother more the last month than I have the last 3 years of my life due to the fact that we’re now 2,000+ miles away. It’s funny how when we were only 10 miles apart that we didn’t really chat much at all, but now that I’m in Palo Alto we feel like we need to talk more than ever. But hey, I’m not complaining and I could definitely get used to it.
I am hoping that this blog will help all of you keep up with everything that we’re doing out here in Palo Alto and I’m also hoping that it will also convince most of you to come out and visit us sometime soon. Very soon…
Also, since we rocked out IKEA yesterday, I figure that it’s only appropriate to post this video of Stephanie and I visiting the furniture paradise when we came out here last January. Have you ever been to IKEA? If not, you’re in for quite an experience.
‘Hiromi is my Homi’… Meeting our new “foster family”
Out of all of the excitement of moving to California, there was one thing in particular that Ryan and I were eagerly awaiting…. meeting the Kelty family. After many phone conversations and detailed emails, we finally had the chance to meet our new (what we like to call) foster family,Kurt and Hiromi,and their two daughters Nina and Emma.
Now, everyone knows that a custom designed t-shirt makes any occasion cooler x’s 10 so we decided to make t-shirts that said, “Hiromi is my Homi” and made them appropriately the color green seeing as the Kelty family is very environmentally friendly 
Needless to say the shirts were a hit and provided just that little bit of extra humor necessary for a warm and friendly introduction into the family.
After being here for only two short days Ryan and I definitely feel at home. Our new little community of cottages has welcomed us like none other, and we eagerly await getting to know the Kelty family as well as our neighbors just a little bit more within the next year. I couldn’t dream of living anywhere else in Palo Alto. We really hit the jackpot when choosing to live with this fabulous family.
Palo Alto adventures: Eating at Plutos
We have officially made it to our new home in Palo Alto, CA and in fact - I am typing this from the living room of our new cottage. I have a couple of videos to post from the last day and a half of driving, but I wanted to go ahead and give you all a glimpse of what Palo Alto is all about.
Stephanie and I headed to a place called Plutos today, which is located right on the main strip (University Avenue). Although they yelled at me a few times to put away my camera, I still somehow came away with some sweet footage of this awesome and very tasty place to get your grub on. Check out the video below or click here to enjoy it over here on YouTube
More videos coming soon and once we get settled in you’ll be hearing a lot more from us here on the Internets..enjoy!
Cali Road Trip: Krazy Kansas Edition
Well, ” I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore Toto.” and THANK GOODNESS that we’re not! Yesterday after leaving Neenee’s house we headed out into the great rolling and also BORING plains of Kansas for a day full of driving with scenery that included the following and absolutely nothing more… cow…. farm…. hill…. cow…farm…hill….(repeat, then repeat again, ect.) Yep, there’s not much more to Kansas than that, and after a good 10 hrs of it, I think we were pretty thrilled to be out of that fabulous, wind tunnel state. Did I mention the wind? It was unbearable. That’s all I have to say about that.
Now, despite my terrible review for the state of Kansas, somehow, someway, Ryan and I had probably the best day of driving yet yesterday. I think there’s something to say about a couple who can spend a good 18 hrs in the car and still have the time of their life in the most desolate and boring place in the world. Check out our video below, and be prepared to witness what the state of Kansas has to offer….. cows, farms, hills, and oh yea… WIND!
Check out the video below or check it out over here on YouTube.
So now I sit in my second favorite state, Colorado. If we ever get tired of Cali (which odds are prooobably won’t happen)
then I told Ryan that we’re moving to Colorado because this place takes your breathe away.
Now it’s time to hit the road, judging by our two hour late departure again, I’m guessing that it’s about time we headed out with hopes of Reno, Nv on our mind!!!! Maybe one of us will hit it big on the penny slots and just retire when we make it to Cali. That sounds like a good idea.