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

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.

July 25, 2010 | Filed Under Frank, video

3 Comments

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.

June 14, 2010 | Filed Under random thoughts, video

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.

April 26, 2010 | Filed Under quickies, random thoughts, video

1 Comment

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?

April 25, 2010 | Filed Under thoughts to chew on, video, you gotta have faith

Google: Trying Not To Be Evil?

I just saw this now defunct Hungry Beast video about Google and though that I should share. It really gives you a glimpse into what all Google has going on these days and just how far they have gone to make as much money as possible from their flagship advertising products (that generate 97% of their $200 billion market cap). Take a look the video below and see just how Google might be trying harder than ever not to be evil (or are they?).

THE BEAST FILE: GOOGLE (’HUNGRY BEAST’, ABC TV) from HUNGRY BEAST on Vimeo.

April 19, 2010 | Filed Under random thoughts, thoughts to chew on, video

1 Comment

The New Dork — a tribute to other startup geeks like me

I was just checking out Sarah Townsend’s blog (who I just happen to see on Twitter a few minutes ago) and after a couple of scrolls I was pleasantly surprised to find this YouTube gem that speaks to me and any other Silicon Valley startup geek. The video is a guy rapping a parody of Jay-Z’s Empire State of Mind (New York) called “The New Dork”. It’s super well done and definitely worth a couple minutes of your time.

Also, all of the scenes were shot in San Francisco, many of which are literally a couple of blocks away from where Stephanie and I live in SOMA.

One last thing that I should probably mention is the fact that this video was created by the guys who run GrassHopper.com (which, of course, is a Bay Area startup), so the marketing side of me is definitely jealous of the nearly half a million views that it’s showing right now. Props to those guys for pulling it off, though — this could of been done in a way that was really bad, but they absolutely killed it.

Update: Here are the lyrics if you’re interested in checking them out:

Now Im in the blogosphere, Now I’m in the twitterverse
Fans get so immersed, But I’m a nerd forever
I’m the new Zuckerberg, And since my website
I been cookin dough like a chef servin killa-bytes
Used to be the basement, Back at my mom’s place
Buildin web traffic so that we could sell an ad space
Make way for the, One man businesses
Bail outs finished with, White collar criminals
New sega genesis, Entrepreneur time
Makin big plans, To dominate the online
Yeah, I’m on YouTube, this is one man
Sharin’ google revenue, With songs on my webcam
Science is the new art, Databases day to day
Geeks spreadin’ sheet smarts, Hustle, make the data pay
I could be in Valleywag plus Geekologie
Tell from my avatar, That I’m most definitely

The New Dork,
Social networks - what dreams are made of, There’s nothing you can’t do
Now you’re the New Dork
This V.C. money is brand new, The geek is now damn cool
Let’s hear it for new dorks, new dorks, new dorks

Catch me up in Techcrunch, Right on the homepage
Hell, I’m on Gizmodo, In a photo bout a phone craze
And Im up in Mashable, weekend trip to New York
Bar pitty, 1oak, parties full of New Dorks
Now I’m pitchin business plans, From the backs of napkans
Micro-lend to Africans, Monetize Kazakastan
Catch me up on linked-in, Dog, C.E.O.
You can see where I be, With the I.P.O.
Now I’m up in skinny jeans, Now a hipster’s lurkin’
Used to be a reject, But now I’m steady jerkin’
Now my glasses mainstream, Now the girlies eyein me
Popular kids copy me, The new swag is irony
Comin’ from the small time, Girls couldn’t find me
Now I scale models, Like I climb on top of Heidi
Start big trends, with tweets that I pass on
You should follow me, cuz I’m friends with Ashton
CHORUS

April 15, 2010 | Filed Under video

1 Comment

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

1 Comment

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

1 Comment

Taking Frank to Fort Funston in San Francisco

One of the most obvious benefits of living in the Bay Area is the beautiful beaches. Duh, that’s pretty much a no-brainer and although Stephanie and I probably don’t take advantage of this fact as much as we should, we have definitely spent our fair share of time in the sand.

But, this past weekend was the first time that we’ve ever been to Fort Funston, which is one of San Francisco’s only dog beaches. I call it a ‘dog beach’ because unlike most beaches where you can walk around your 4-legged friend only if they’re on a leash, this beach allows them to run around as free as the day they were born. This, paired with the fact that beach is ridiculously beautiful, results in a beach that is literally covered up with dogs and the humans that happen to bring them there.

We had a lot of fun taking Frank there and even though he got stuck in the sand after the tide caught him (and myself) off guard (which really freaked out Stephanie), I’m sure he’d be more than happy to make another trip back there anytime we’re willing to take him.

Check out the video of our day at Fort Funston below or over here on YouTube and also be sure to take a look at the shots of Frank that I snapped at the beach. Just when you thought that the little sausage link couldn’t get any cuter….geez.