Celebrating our 1 year anniversary in Monterey, CA

Check out this video of our bike riding adventure in Monterey, CA this past weekend. We headed down there to celebrate our 1 year anniversary and it was so awesome that I’m now too tired at work on Monday to even tell you all about it. That will have to happen some other time.

August 30, 2010 | Filed Under new/random experience, relationship stuff, travel, video

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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.

  1. They had all of the blue cards in a big drum and they would pick out names in groups of five.
  2. 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).
  3. After the five people finish with the puzzle the next five will get picked and the games will continue for an hour.
  4. 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.

June 6, 2010 | Filed Under new/random experience

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Unplugging on a Sunday afternoon at Muir Woods

From what I’ve heard around the Internets lately it’s now officially Spring and in celebration Stephanie and I decided to make a trek out to Muir Woods, which, unbelievably is less than 20 miles away from our crib in San Francisco. Actually, the reason that we went to Muir Woods wasn’t really because it was Spring (that just sounded like a great intro), we actually ended up going because the only thing that Stephanie loves more than walking is walking in a park.

Although we don’t get out to explore some of the amazing parks that the Bay Area has to offer as much as we probably should, this wasn’t the first time that we’ve headed out to hike among Northern California’ s amazing Redwoods. We had a lot of fun hanging out with them at Big Basin a little more than a year ago, which you can probably tell if you watch the video we created from our little excursion.


It was an amazing day to go for a hike — check out that sun!

Whenever Stephanie and I end up going hiking there are a few things that are pretty much guaranteed to happen:

1. We’re going to have a ridiculous amount of fun running around the woods together. There’s just something about us being out in nature that makes us even goofier than normal. I’m not really sure why it happens, but it always does.

2. We’re going to get an awesome workout. I think that most people tend to take their time when hiking through a place like Muir Woods, but for some reason we really like to get after it — even to the point to where we’re breaking a pretty solid sweat. It’s not like we don’t like to take in all of the sites, but I think that we both like to keep up a pace that’s faster than most. We passed at least 10-15 people while walking the trail, which I think shows just how fast we were moving along.

3. We always get lost when we go hiking, but it always seems to work out for the better every, single time. It’s sad, but true — we always get lost. I’m sure that part of this is due to #2 since we’re moving through the trails so quickly, but I think that the fact that we get lost has only helped us do even cooler stuff that first expected. For example, we somehow made our way off of the trail that we were supposed to be following, which then led us to meeting a guy who told us all about an awesome lodge called The Mountain Home Inn. We ended up walking over there to check it out and really loved the place. I even had enough cash in my pocket for a quick beer to hold me over until we made it back down the trail.


The Golden Gate Bridge on the ride home from Muir Woods

All in all our trip to Muir Woods was a lot of fun and a great way to spend some time on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. We got a great walk in, we were able to see one of the nations most beautiful National Forests and we even found a great, new place to hang — sounds like a great day to me.

March 21, 2010 | Filed Under new/random experience, san francisco

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The Hup and Steph Rashup

Last weekend Stephanie and I headed out the Mavericks Surf Contest in Half Moon Bay with some of our friends and had an awesome time. Little did we know, however, that we were going to be paying one heck of a price for that awesome time. We were going to get a rash.

At some point during the day we (or Frank) walked through something that we weren’t supposed to and by Saturday night I was already seeing a rash starting to move it’s way up my arm. The rash on Stephanie’s neck wasn’t too far behind mine and once our rashes started, they just seemed to take over more and more of our bodies. It wasn’t pretty and it’s taken us two trips to the doctor, three types of cream and oral steroids to get our itchy situation taken care of.

Although we have both been pretty miserable this past week due to our crazy rash attacks, we also somehow found some a lot of  humor in the situation. As we were moving into some more serious treatment, we both decided that we should document this hopefully rare moment in our relationship, so we did what we always do– we made a video about it. :)

I call the video the world’s first ‘rashup’, which is a play on words for a mashup, which have become very popular in the online video space these days. Take a look at the video and some pics that I took of our out-of-control rashes below and be sure to be careful the next time that you’re walking through a bunch of weeds. Believe me when I say that you definitely don’t want to get what we got, even if it was pretty funny.


This whole rash thing really freaked me out. And it itched…BAD.

It was looking bad and it was only spreading more and more. Not good.

A close-up of the nastiness.

I had to add like 15 minutes to my prep time just to put on Cortizone cream.

Another spot that magically appeared on my hip. Awesome.


Stephanie’s crazy neck-rash-thing. She wanted to scratch her neck off.

February 21, 2010 | Filed Under new/random experience, video

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Checking out the best surfers in the world at the 2010 Mavericks Surf Contest in Half Moon Bay

There are some really amazing things that can only be found out here in Northern California and one of them has to be the Mavericks Surf Contest. It’s one of the world’s most respected big wave competitions and is held every year that weather permits about 20 miles south of San Fransisco in Half Moon Bay. More specifically, the contest is held in an area that’s known as Mavericks that’s practically built to create massive size waves due to it’s unique ocean floor. Jeff Clark, a local born and raised in Half Moon Bay, was the first surfer to ever take on the once thought to-be-too-dangerous-to-surf waves that can sometimes top out at over 50 feet high.

Jeff Clark, having grown up near Half Moon Bay, learned about Maverick’s at an early age. At that time the location was deemed too dangerous to surf. He spent time watching the break, and conceived the possibility of riding Hawaii-sized waves in Northern California. One day in 1975, with the waves topping out at 10 to 12 feet (3.7 m), Clark paddled out alone to face Maverick’s. He was successful, catching a number of left-breaking waves, thereby becoming the first person to tackle Maverick’s head-on.

Well, today was the day that Mavericks came back to Half Moon Bay (due to lack of optimal weather conditions it was canceled last year) and Stephanie, our roomie Nic, Frank and myself (along with some other friends) all went to see what it was really all about. Although we weren’t able to get super-close views of the actual surfing the day was unbelievably beautiful and just being there to experience it was more than enough to guarantee that we’ll all be back there again the next time it comes around.

Here are a few pics and a video that I snapped at the event. They should give you a good idea of the popularity of Mavericks and just how beautiful Half Moon Bay is during this time of year.

A video and a pic of people who got caught in the aftermath of the 30+ foot waves that were swelling up at Mavericks this morning. Some of the people were actually swept out into the water and had to be rescued by medical staff. Some suffered broken bones and minor cuts, but most only had to suffer through being soaked for the rest of the day. We were literally just about to head into this area when the waves hit.

Can’t say that the people weren’t warned. These signs were posted everywhere on the beach.

What was left on the beach after the waves hit and cleared out a stage and several tents.

A view from a top the cliffs at the Mavericks in Half Moon Bay.

This was view from the opposite side of the beach where we were when the waves got the people wet. There were a ton of people watching the competition from over here. It was amazing to see how many people came out for the event considering that it was only announced a couple days before it happened. Also, most people weren’t at all scared of climbing all over the cliffs as long as it gave them a better view. I guess that they’re all used to hiking and aren’t too worried about falling hundreds of feet to their death, but for some reason it still worries me and Stephanie. Maybe we need to suck it up.

The sun was out in full force, which made for a beautiful day in Half Moon Bay. That weird looking tower with a ball on it in the upper right corner of this pic is part of the Pillar Point Air Force Base (which no one except press was allowed to enter today).

Frank loved hanging out at the beach, but we probably walked over 5 miles altogether, which is like running a marathon for a Pug. Here you can see him getting some much needed rest while we were checking out the surfers. He had no trouble getting up and down the cliffs and got to meet several other dogs that were also hanging out at Mavericks (including a few Pugs). People really love their dogs in the bay area, which makes is completely normal to bring them with you to outdoor events like this.

Here’s another view from the other side of the cliffs. The surfers were grabbing their waves right around the area to the right of cliff in this pic. Unless you had some binoculars or a serious camera lens (which several people had), you pretty much had to rely on people’s reactions to know whether or not someone had actually caught a wave.

This is a shot of the rest of the coastline, which I thought almost looked too beautiful to be real. If you look in the bottom right corner of this pic I snuck in a guy who was chilling on the side of the cliff. He was pretty high up there, but didn’t seem to be too worried about it. Like I said, it’s something that they’re used to.

After walking a couple of miles back to the car (part of which I carried Frank after he started panting like he was going to die) it didn’t take Frank too long to crash. He was so tired that he fell asleep on Stephanie’s 7-up bottle which was in our cup holder. I thought that this was way too funny (and cute) to pass up taking a picture of it. Frank’s just like us — he’ll go and go until he practically passes out, which he obviously did today.

February 13, 2010 | Filed Under Frank, events, great friends, new/random experience, roomie Nic, video

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Ice skating at Pan Am Plaza in Indianapolis, IN

It’s been about 10 years since I had been ice skating, so we felt like it was about time to give it shot. The video was taken at Pan Am Plaza in Indianapolis, IN and man, did it end being a lot of fun. Some of our friends and family came along with us, too which made it even more entertaining (as you’ll see).

Check out the video below or over here on YouTube when you get a chance and here’s to the beginning of an amazing 2010! Stephanie and I (and Frank as long as he can still fit on the plane) head back to San Francisco tomorrow, but it’s been so great to see all of our friends and family the past month while we’ve been home. We’re extremely blessed to have all of the amazing people that we have in our lives and we can’t wait to see you all again!

January 3, 2010 | Filed Under great friends, hangin' with the fam, local to indy, new/random experience, video

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Enjoying a beautiful (Satur)day with Stephanie, Zigs and the rest of the Peninsula Covenant Church crew

This past Saturday me, Stephanie and our weirdo (yet really fun) friend from Indiana, Molly Zigovits (her Facebook and Twitter for all of you lovely cyber-stalkers out there) decided to actually do something productive with our lives on a Saturday afternoon. So, instead of doing the normal laying on the couch watching college football while snuggling with the Frankster the 3 of us decided to head down to Redwood City to Fair Oaks Elementary School to help out with what our church calls Beautiful Day. Beautiful Day is an entire day (from 8am - 4pm) of selfless giving that was set up by a group of churches and the local Redwood City school system and it allows people like yours truly to help a great group of people (like a needy elementary school) who needs it, but may never really know who (or how) to ask for it.

The 3 of us ended up getting to Fair Oaks around noon and helped out with all kinds of stuff until around 3:30pm or so. Over 300 people ended up showing up throughout the day and let me tell you something — it’s pretty amazing what all can get done at an elementary school when there are a few hundred people willing to help.

After seeing all of the awesomeness of everyone helping I guess what the famous English writer and poet John Heywood said in 1546 is true: Many hands make light work.

Here are a few shots that Molly took of us all getting our giving on throughout the day. As you can see she’s pretty handy with the ol’ picture box and if you want to see some more of her stuff be sure to check out her blog over here.


There was a lot of painting going on (and I still have plenty of proof on my jeans).


Stephanie was working hard packing up these supplies that were headed to El Savador.


We helped organize and stock over 1,000 books that were donated to the school.


Everyone got involved in whatever way that they could. I thought this lady was cute.


One of the many murals that we painted for the school — the kids loved to help out with these.


We cleaned (most) of this stuff up — sometimes paint can get a little messy.


Most of the manly men chose to do some serious landscaping work (insert growl here)


This is one of my favorite shots of the day and the mural that’s being painted looks amazing!


Of course, it wasn’t all work — me and my new buddy decide to take a break for some fun.


Then it was my turn — push faster!


He was actually pretty strong and after we finished him and his brother played for about another hour or so.


No, Stephanie wasn’t scolding this little boy, she was actually trying to find out his age.

Time to get down and dirty.


Don’t just stand there, get to work!


I love this shot, too — Stephanie was getting after it for an awesome cause.

November 17, 2009 | Filed Under great friends, new/random experience, you gotta have faith

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Reading Crazy Love And Still Being In Crazy Love After One Month Of Marriage

crazyloveThere are a couple of quick things that I wanted to talk about today in this super-awesome blog of ours (at least we think so). One thing that I want to give you all a little information about is the fact that Stephanie and I have joined a small group Bible study-esque type of group with some of our friends that we have met from our church. The group consists 3 other married couples and one of the couples is made up of the super blogging duo Matt and Christen Buman who I talked about over here in this post after we had our first dinner date with them. This is the first meet-up-and-have-a-Bible-study-and-talk-about-God type of thing that I have ever done before and after having just 2 meetings I feel like I’m getting a ton out of the experience.

One of the things that we’re doing that’s pretty cool is we’re all reading a book called Crazy Love together and playing along a DVD that the author, Francis Chan, put together in addition to writing the book. It’s a great way to read/interact through the book and we’re only through chapter 2, but I can already tell that the group, the DVD and the book are all going to spark plenty of interesting conversations around our faith and beliefs, which I guess is the point. Not all of the conversations are easy ones either, but the great thing is that we’re all in this group and this learning experience together, so there’s nothing that’s really considered off limits. I would say that it’s a situation that is pretty rare and hard to find these days, or at least it has for me. I’ll be sure to post some updates of what all Stephanie and I learn and experience in this small group as we move along, so this probably won’t be the last time that you’ll hear about it.

Besides announcing our involvement with the small group, I also wanted to let everyone out there know that Stephanie and I have officially been married for one full month and we are still as madly in love with each other as ever. It’s crazy to think that it’s been over 30 days since we met at the alter and had the best day of our lives together (and, of course, had one of the craziest receptions that anyone who attended has ever seen). So, tonight when I got home from work we had dinner together (stuffed peppers), celebrated our first month as husband and wife and made sure to let each other know how much we still are ridiculously in love. What a great night and what an awesome month. Here’s to many, many more of these to look forward to. :)

mestephwedding
yeah, that was a pretty awesome day…

September 29, 2009 | Filed Under 50 Goals For 2009, great friends, new/random experience, wedding stuff, you gotta have faith

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Frank’s first Pug Sunday at Alta Plaza Park in San Francisco

One day when I was walking Frank home from work I ran into a fellow Pug owner who filled me in on a monthly event called Pug Sunday. Pug Sunday is a meet up where all kinds of Pug owners bring out their pups so that they can hang out with each other on the first Sunday of each month in Alta Plaza park here in San Francisco. Well, Stephanie and I looked up the details and ended up heading out to our first Pug Sunday yesterday and let me tell you — it exceeded all expectations.

It was actually really funny because Stephanie and I were way more excited than Frank was, but once we got there I think that he realized just how awesome hanging with some more of his own kind really is.

There was a lot of snorting, pooping, running and sniffing going on there, but of course that’s wall Pug Sunday is all about. It’s a time to let your Pug off the leash so that he can go meet some new friends and of course Stephanie and I have made friends with a few Pug owners too (no sniffing involved, I promise).

Luckily we got some video of the sweet Pugtastic afternoon, so feel free to watch it below.

July 7, 2009 | Filed Under Frank, events, new/random experience, san francisco, video

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Hup teaches Frank a new trick

This is whatus guys end up doing while Stephanie is at an all-ladies wine night down in Palo Alto and Nic is out of town at a wedding. We do guys stuff like set up obstacle courses in the kitchen with random pieces of furniture. Hey, no one got hurt and it taught Frank a new trick, so no harm-no foul, right?

Just don’t tell Stephanie, OK? :)

June 24, 2009 | Filed Under Frank, SOMA Shack, new/random experience, video

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