An awesome 4th of July and riding The Bull at Old Pro
With the 4th of July blessing us with an extended weekend, Stephanie and I packed in all kinds of stuff into what turned out to be an amazing few days out here in California. We hope that all of you had an amazing weekend as well - here’s a quick look at what all we got into:
Friday, July 4th:We headed to Seacliff State Beach in Aptos, CA for some 4th of July fun. Our friends who live down the street camped out there to make sure that they snagged a few tables for the 4th of July festivities. I think that they made it there at like 4am and just crashed there until the sun came up. Troopers, I know. We hung out on the beach, grilled up some tasty meat and saw an amazing sunset, which then led to the fireworks show. I love 4th of July.
Saturday, July 5th:On Saturday we headed to a friend’s cottage to hang out at the pool for the afternoon, which was amazing. A little bit of much needed relaxation and sun-soaking is just what the doctor ordered.
After that we cleaned up and headed out to a restaurant that we haven’t checked out yet here in Palo Alto called Mango Caribbean. It was delicious and there was a guy rocking out the steel drums to songs that ranged from Bob Marley’s No Woman No Cry to Kansas’ Dust in the Wind.
Finally, for our grand finale, we headed over to a popular bar called Old Pro in Palo Alto, where we enjoyed some tasty brew from a BEERZOOKA and we FINALLY had a chance to ride the famous mechanical bull. All of us gave it a ride and you can check out how we handled the mechanical beast below or over here on YouTube. So, how was your weekend? 
A one-win dynasty with the Janitorial Honeybees
So we have found some new friends.
New friends who not only throw amazing parties, but friends who also do other awesome stuff.
Awesome stuff like playing softball for teams that are named The Janitorial Honeybees.
Well, this past week our new friends had us join the team for their last game. The last game that would decide whether or not they would end the season as complete losers, or if they would finish with one final and only win of the season.
Stephanie and I joined up forces with the Honeybees for this final battle and helped them fight through 5 demanding innings that were filled with drama, action, heroics and letdowns.
After the dust cleared, the impossible had happened. The Janitorial Honeybees had came out on top for the first time all season. It wasn’t an easy win, but it was a team win and a win that will never be forgotten by me, Stephanie, the rest of the Honeybees and of course the random homeless guy who was drinking a Budweiser on the sidelines.
Yep, the Janitorial Honeybees ended the season with a solid 1-11 record and if you ask me, that’s a solid foundation for a future.
I can’t wait until next season - the dynasty begins.
Swarm honeybees! Bzzzzzzzzzzzz…
Introducing the first Hup and Steph Quickie: Rock, Paper, Scissors
After Stephanie and I had an amazing time at a house party here in Palo Alto, CA and after realizing that I had taken a couple amazing clips of the fun, I have decided to come up with a way for you all to see these clips that might not necessarily make it into a full-fledged Hup and Steph video.
I have used my amazing creativity and marketing wizardry and have decided to call these new videos ‘Hup and Steph Quickies‘. Nothing like a good, old fashioned play on words, right? If Bart(Stephanie’s dad) is reading this allow me to emphasize, it’s just a play on words.
So, here is the first official Hup and Steph Quickie, which was taken last night when a questionable call during beer pong was settled by some rock, paper and scissors action. Please remember two things while you watch this video:
1. We are screaming that loud outside on a balcony
2. The cops were called on us and showed up about 15 minutes after this video was recorded. Coincidence? I think not.
Check out the video below or over here on YouTube and be sure to let us know what you think about the new Hup and Steph Quickies!
Teacher Stephanie graduates her class of 2008
Last weekend, Stephanie officially graduated her first class of California preschoolers here in Palo Alto. It was my first time seeing her school, meeting her fellow teachers and of course seeing all of the crazy kids that she deals with every day of the week.
Let me simply say that I have a whole new respect for her and for what she does each day while teaching at that preschool. The kids are awesome and hilarious, but it takes a special type of person to teach them every single day. Isn’t she awesome?
Of course I couldn’t miss out on getting some video of the sweet graduation action. Check out the video below or over here on YouTube when you get a chance and be sure to leave a comment and tell Stephanie congratulations!
Bikes rule the roads in Palo Alto
If you all think hard enough, I’m sure that all of you can remember the days when your only mode of efficient transportation to any place outside of your neighborhood was to hop on your bike and pedal your ass off. I mean, pedal your ass off ALL day long and not even care about it. We were young, we wanted freedom and it’s way better than having your mom drop you off.
I can honestly say that I haven’t consistently ridden a bike since back in the day when I was fifteen years old and had acne that even Proactiv would be scared of. Back in the day when I would dream about being behind the wheel of a new ride as I rode my bike to Drivers Ed each morning at 6am. Man, those were good times, but the days of peddling, peddling and peddling some more have been long gone up until I moved out here to Palo Alto. Now the bike is back and it’s back in a BIG way. Old people ride bikes, young people ride bikes, girls ride bikes, guys ride bikes and this one guy even rides one of these bikes and I have no idea why.
After becoming part of the biking community I came up with a few reasons of why so many people around here choose the bike as their main mode of transportation around town:
- It’s safe and very bike-friendly: There is a bike lane on EVERY road out here besides interstates. There’s even a Bike Boulevard that runs through the middle of the city and cars are only allowed to travel on a very small portion of it.
- Palo Alto is a VERY environmentally friendly place: It’s amazing how much people care about the environment out here on the West Coast. The only reason why I can think of why they’re so far ahead in the ‘going green’ game is that out here in California you have the most beautiful landscapes that you could ever imagine, which everyone loves and appreciates. When you have mountains, oceans, bays, amazing forests and everything else I think that you tend to want to protect it.
- Healthy and fit is the way to go: I rarely ever see anyone who is overweight out here in Palo Alto and I still have yet to eat any fast food at all. The amount of health-conscience people out here is amazing, which explains why people don’t mind taking the bike to work, etc. My landlord rides his bike 30 minutes away to work every single day and doesn’t think twice about doing it. Amazing.
Anyways, as you can plainly see, the bike definitely rules the road here in Palo Alto and even I ride the Brown Beast (my loaned bike) about two miles to work each morning, which I have totally grown to enjoy over the past few weeks or so. It gets you moving, it’s always amazing outside and burning a few calories in the a.m. never hurts, right?
I will try my best to give you updates on all of our biking adventures and I’ll keep trying to add a few photos like the ones below as well. Enjoy!
UPDATE: I was just reading the Palo Alto website and it appears that we are only one of four cities who have been designated with a ‘Gold Level’ designation. Sweet!
In May 2003, Palo Alto was designated a Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists. This three-year designation ranks Palo Alto with only three other “Gold Level” communities (Portland OR, Corvallis, OR and Boulder, CO). The award is only presented to communities with remarkable commitments to bicycling. The League cited Palo Alto’s strong commitment to education efforts and model policies in their commendation.
Stephanie cruisin’ on a beautiful day
The beautiful Brown Beast
Me and Stephanie trying to ride the Brown Beast at the same time….very, very tricky
This way seemed to work better…but, still very tricky and very, very dangerous
Abdo has his bike up in a tree, but not real sure why
Heading to the mountains on the coast
What do you do on a Saturday afternoon in Palo Alto, CA when you have some time to hang out? Well, you drive over the mountains and go hang at the beach, silly. Duh. Check out our video from when we went and checked out San Gregorio Beach that’s located just over the Santa Cruz Mountains. Awesomeness.
Celebrating Cinco de Mayo at AOL?
Beer, chess, beer pong and hanging out at the AOL building. Just another day in Palo Alto I guess. Me, Stephanie and some of my newest homies and co-workers headed over to the AOL building tonight to celebrate Cinco de Mayo with some chess and some cerveza (that’s beer for all of you non-Spanish speaking folks). Here are some pics that thought deserved some time to shine in this bloggy-blog. Be sure to click the Crank Buttons in the bottom right and of the pics to see what I added to each one. Believe me, each one has a story of it’s own.
Also, be sure to check out the video that I created for the event at the bottom of the post or over here on YouTube.
Getting physical in the morning
I have officially finished off the week with yet another morning workout. Amazing. You know, I have always wanted to do the whole morning workout thing, even when I was back in Indianapolis, but now I have officially dedicated myself to the cause and I feel so much better because of it. It’s not always fun getting out of the bed at 6:00am, but by the time I hit the gym and especially when I’m done I feel a million times better about doing it. My gym of choice here in Cali is 24 Hour Fitness in San Carlos, which is only about a 10 minute drive away. It’s actually closer than the gym that I used to frequent back in Indy.
I’m so freakin’ happy that I’m starting to get into a routine that makes me feel awesome throughout the day, lets me hang out after work and that is all around a better way to get my workout in. But, don’t take my word for it - here’s an article that points out a few benefits of gettin’ a little physical in the a.m. - enjoy!
Holy crap, that’s Jeff Bezos.
I just wanted to give all of you a quick reason why I was so excited to move out to Silicon Valley - check out the image below of the line-up for Startup School 2008, which was held over at Stanford last Saturday. There were some SUPER heavy hitters that presented there like Jeff Bezos (uber billionaire who created Amazon.com) and Marc Andreesson (created Netscape among other many million-dollar making startups). Including myself, there were like over 650+ geeks in attendance and the air was full of Silicon Valley hopes and dreams. Check out the presenter lineup of the day below and you’ll see what I’m talking about and if you want more info on the event check out this post over on TechCrunch.com.
Yep, I’m a beach rat :)
I think for the past 7 days that we have been in California, I have asked to go to the beach at least 500 times Haha, I can’t help it, Im absolutely addicted to the beach. There’s just something about the sea breeze, seagulls, soft sand, and crashing waves that I can’t get enough of. Lucky for me there’s a beach just 20 minutes away from where we live in Palo Alto, and it just happens to be considered a surfer’s paradise with it’s uniquely large waves caused by a man-made breaker within the waters. Seriously, check it out on Wikipedia they don’t lie 
So, we headed out to the beautiful beach and found a great little restaurant and pub that overlooked the ocean to have a delicious dinner. I can’t wait to have people come out and visit us so that we can take them to places like this! Every day we find something new and it’s always an adventure as we slowly but surely discover our new home and surroundings.