Have you heard…
The rumors are TRUE!! That’s right guys.. as of April 10th Hup and Steph will no longer reside in the great state of Indiana. We’re headed out west to chase after our dreams; dreams that have embedded themselves in our heads and kept knocking at the door of our hopeful ambitions consistently since we visited the sunny state of California just three short months ago.
The past two weeks have been somewhat of a whirlwind… ok not just a whirlwind, but a hurricane is more like it. A simple e-mail to a stranger out in Palo Alto, California has sparked the beginnings of quite honestly the biggest adventure the two of us will have embarked upon as of to date. Pure and wonderful randomness is at the heart of this exciting endeavor and we couldn’t be more thrilled to witness what has become of our total insanity. As I stated earlier, a random e-mail to the founder of www.photocrank.com began a long conversation between Ryan and the owner of a start-up out in Palo Alto. After hours of conversation and strategizing a plan was set in place to have Ryan sign on as the next hired employee of the company. How’s that for random and amazing?!?!
We’ve been set up in probably the coolest little cottage that Palo Alto has to offer, along with a family that is just as awesome to share our residency and new experiences with. I’ll begin my job search as soon as we arrive, and I’ve already got a couple options lined up 
We’re both SO incredibly exciting and eager to start off on this INCREDIBLE adventure together. We promise to keep you all updated with videos and posts all about the craziness we’ll experience out in Cali. We’re definitely ready for Cali, the only question left is… Is Cali ready for us!!??!?
Anyone in the market for an ‘07 Civic?
Today I have offered to take Stephanie’s car(a 2007 Honda Civic si) to CarMax so that we can see how much cheese we can get out of it. I’m not super excited to have to deal with a used car dealer, but I have gotten a few suggestions that have said that if you’re going to sell a used car, CarMax is the best all around bet. According to our the trusted source on the used car market, Kelly Blue Book, the car’s trade-in value is a little over $16,000 which is a little more than she has left to pay for it at this point.
I’m not super-experienced at negotiating some car deals like my pops, Mr. Clarence G. Hupfer, but I think that I can hopefully get a good deal out of them….I hope. I’ll update later on how the dirty deal goes down, wish me luck!
This is why I love the Internet
There’s a party in my tummy!
On any given day the Internet can show you things that you never knew you might enjoy and of course sometimes it can show you things that you may never want to see again. I choose to focus on the first reason because I frickin’ love the web and all of the possibilities, quirks, opportunities and whatever else comes along with it.
An example of why I love the Internet just happened today, so I thought that I would share. Somehow I stumbled upon this random blog entry and in front of me I saw one of the weirdest and most interesting YouTube videos that I’ve ever seen. It’s a kids ‘edutainment’ video, similar to the big, purple dinosaur Barney of my childhood. Check it out below(or here on YouTube) and I dare you to say that it’s not one of the more entertaining/scary things that you’ve seen on the web lately.
Gettin that old theme song stuck in your head all day??
It’s probably about time that we made our theme song more “professional” don’t ya think?? Hope you enjoy the new tune because we absolutely LOVE IT(thanks Tim)!! Check out the new video on our reaction to our new and improved theme song…..you can also check it out over here on YouTube.
In 4 hours…SPRING will have SPRUNG!
That’s right, despite what the weather looks like outside, the first official day of spring is tomorrow. So as of 12a.m. it will FINALLY be spring, regardless of the fact that it will probably be in the 20’s with snow flurries. Just having the terrible label of winter (yuck) out the door, and spring (ahhhh) in will surely put a smile on my face <-- see it really did! I can already start to smell the sweet flowers starting to bloom and the green grass covering the ground... hmmm I love this time of year!! Unfortunately after checking the 10-day forecast things aren’t exactly looking up if ya know what I mean. Oh well, at least there is hope on the horizon right!? Bring on the Sun!!
Feeling great besides a butt that’s asleep
Before I headed to work out I wanted to let everyone know that I am feeling great today, that I am getting a little hungry and that my butt is asleep due to these damn wooden Starbucks chairs. I guess that it’s also kinda my fault since I’ve been sitting here for about 3 hours. Time to go get swoll - more soon.
p.s. I found Marc Andreesen’s blog(founder or Netscape, Ning.com and others) today and I have already read some amazing stuff that he’s written. The guy really knows what he’s talking about and he seems really, really down to Earth. I’ll meet him one day.
Fixed laptop = more videos!
My laptop and I have been butting heads for many, many weeks and probably months due to the fact that it has been running really, really slow and has gotten to the point where I can barely get my day to day stuff done without throwing it out my car window. Luckily, I took the high road with the many frustrations that me and my constant companion have been dealing with by taking to the time to archive all of the files, etc. from the laptop’s hard drive so that I could proceed to wipe out everything that has been saved, installed, hacked and created on it.
Well, the good news is that I’m back in business with a decent laptop(it’s runnin’ great…for now), it’s not taking 25 minutes to pull up the Internet and probably the greatest result of getting it fixed is that Stephanie and I can start doing videos again. The videos that we put together are a great creative release from me and something that I really enjoy doing by myself as well as with Stephanie. Since I worked so hard at getting the laptop fired up today, I vowed to get at least one video up and ready by the morning, so here goes nothing.
This video is of a glimpse into the first birthday party of my two baby nieces, Reese and Riley - you can also check it out over here on YouTube if you can’t see it below.
Quick Re-cap
The Wizards came out strong today in their fight for the sectional crown. Victory prevailed in our first game, and the team really looked great as they played together and earned their first W for the day. Unfortunately, despite their hard efforts the wizards did not win the second game. With a player consistently shooting an inevitable layup with each drive down the court, and our inability to rebound….Our boys just couldn’t quite make the cut. But as mentioned before, we plan on having a pizza party soon so that we can all get together for one final hoorah before we tackle the next sport!! Track and field, swimming, softball, or maybe even bocee ball:) Here we come!!
Decisions, Decisions
You know, I think of all of…
Wait, that’s not how I want to start. Redo.
Sometimes I sit back and really try to look at my life from the outside in as it relates to where I will end up in this world. I’ve been on TV, I’ve written a book, I’ve worked at some great places like MediaSauce, IndyMojo.com, Shiel Sexton, I have met some unbelievable people and have done/seen some amazing things.
But, I still seem to wonder constantly about what I should be doing each day to maximize my impact in the small amount of time that I have on this big, rotating rock. I feel sometimes that many of my greatest moments in my life have been due to the people that I have met, the ideas that I have had and what happens when those two intersect. I get inspired when I inspire others and I get bored with the standards that many people are okay with in their everyday lives. I want to do something different, I want to do something fun and energizing and that I get excited about - I’m just not sure what that is and I’m not sure if I ever will….and that’s kind of crazy, but I think that it’s the same thing that keeps my mind moving each day. Interesting.
Anyways, I am bringing all of this up because some things are going to be changing here soon, which I can definitely handle - I just want to make sure that I make the best decision as possible when the change happens. But hey, I have never been in a situation that I haven’t learned from and gained some great friends, great times and great memories from so I guess that I shouldn’t be too concerned, right?
So here’s to change and making decisions because of them, this round’s on me.
p.s. Stephanie isn’t dissing this blog, she has just been Internet-less for the past couple days. Crazy, I know.
Nothing says appreciation like a colored picture
As many of you may or may not know, Stephanie and I have become quite the fantastic coaching duo over over the past couple months that we’ve coached Special Olympics basketball together. We’ve had an absolute amazing experience with the players, their family/staff and the other volunteers that help out with the games as well.
However, with all of the competitive spirit that has been building up in me since I stopped playing basketball in college, I feel like it’s sometimes easy to get wrapped up in our team winning every single game(which we haven’t come close to doing). Although winning is the ultimate goal in any sporting event, I often find myself needing to step back a bit so that I can take in the big picture of what’s truly important when coaching my team of Special Olympians.
The team just isn’t playing basketball. In fact, that’s probably just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what the players actually gain from playing the simple game that’s such an Indiana tradition. It is way more than just a game - it’s becoming more social, gaining better communication skills, getting to hang out with friends, getting in better shape and just a great break from their sometimes not-so-easy everyday lives.
I’m so glad that Stephanie and I have gotten involved and I’m even more glad that the players are getting something out of it. I’m looking forward to coaching for many, many more seasons to come and who knows, maybe we’ll even coach another sport. Swimming anyone?
If you would like to volunteer for something with Special Olympics click here for more volunteer info on their website.