I’m Going Back To Congo (And Would Love Your Help)

[box type=”info” style=”rounded” border=”full”]I’m going back to Congo on March 14th and would love your help! Keep on reading for more details on why I’m going and here’s some info on how you can donate/get involved.[/box]

Ok, so here’s the deal. As some of you might already know Stephanie and I were blessed to be able to go to Congo with our church on a mission trip just a little over a year ago (you can see some pics, videos, etc. over here: http://www.hupandsteph.com/congo). It was incredible to see what God was doing in Congo and how much of an impact we could have in the couple weeks we were there.

Personally, I fixed a ton of computers, taught 80+ students how to use them and created relationships with some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met. Also, just by being there and traveling all the way across the world to love on the people of Congo I made an impact in the lives of more people that I’m sure I’ll ever realize. I still keep in touch with many of my students (thanks to Facebook) and ever since I got back from the trip I couldn’t wait to get another chance to go back over.

I’m Going Back To Congo!

Well, a few weeks ago I found out that I’m going to get that chance in March (March 14-28 to be exact) and I’m super excited to go back. Really only the one thing I’m not excited about with this trip is that I’m going without Stephanie, which will be hard for us both. But, this is how God’s plan for this trip is coming together and we’re both happy that I’m getting the opportunity to go back and I’m sure they’ll be another chance for us to go back together again. I’ll be doing more of the teaching and technology repair while I’m there as well as continuing to build on the relationships that were started on my last trip and creating new ones.

Can You Help A Bruthu Out?

Just like with the last trip, I’m going to need your help with some fundraising. I still find it extremely ironic that it costs so much to travel to such a poor country, but I guess that’s how it goes. Anything you can do to help me out with the cost of the trip would be awesome (you can donate over here on this page)  and if you can’t give anything, that’s fine, too. Just please be sure to keep me in your prayers while I’m over there. Congo is still very unstable country and even though we’re staying with a good group of people who keep us safe, we still need all of the support we can get.

What I Need The Money For

In case you’re wondering and for transparency sake, here is a detailed list of what the $2,600 I need to raise is going to be used for:

– Outgoing flight to Congo $1,850
– Domestic flight in Congo $520
– Visa $200
– Insurance $35
– Reimburse the Congolese church for their costs to host me $900

Total Cost of Trip $3,500
Church Contribution (25%) $900
______________________________
Total Money Hup Needs To Raise $2,600

All Donations Are Tax Deductible

All of the money you donate to my trip goes straight to my church and is fully tax deductible. You’ll be emailed a receipt so that you can write it off like a muthu.

Thanks, You’re Awesome!

If you have any questions of need anything, please click the Contact Organizer button and send it on over. Thanks again for all of your help with this and I can’t wait to get back to Congo!

 

Marengo On Union in San Francisco — An Awesome Place To Eat For A Date Night

It was my first time eating at Marengo on Union (which is located at 1980 Union Street in San Francisco’s Marina district) and since I’m from the Midwest, the first thing I think of when I hear the word “sliders” is White Castle. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I love me a Crave Case of gut bombs as much as the next guy, but I never usually enjoy them anytime before 3am. I quickly learned that these sliders are different, tastier than the White Caste I’m used to and even though they’re more expensive, they’re totally worth it. Here’s how my night went.

I went here for a date night with my wife and when we showed up it was the traditional small and intimate setting that is pretty much the standard for most SF restaurants. This also means that you’re almost always going to have to wait to be seated, but this wasn’t a big deal for us thanks to the Whiskey Bar in the back (that has a glass roof that opens up to let in the sun). We headed back there and had a few drinks while chatting with some of the others who were also hanging out. There was good music, nice bartenders and they came back and grabbed us once our table was ready.

Once we got to the table we made some quick decisions on what we were going to eat. For an appetizer we went for the queso dip and for the main course we ordered two sliders each and they were made up of the American, the Shroomer and the Crispy Chicken. I also put in an order for some sweet potato fries — it was a Friday and I was feeling saucy, so why not?

The queso dip was the bomb and went great with the Belgian beer I ordered. We were both hungry, so it didn’t stand a chance and was a great way to kick off the meal. That was just the warm-up for the sliders and sweet potato fries, which came out about 15 minutes later. We both really liked the American slider, which is a deliciously shrunk down version of a traditional cheeseburger, but for me the crispy chicken slider trumped the burger. It was topped with some type of corn salsa that was super tasty and I could have probably eaten four more of them, but I held back.

The atmosphere of Marengo on Union is upbeat, fun and a little loud, but not too loud to have a conversation with the person across the table. Our bill was reasonable for what we ate — it ended up being about $35 for our food plus a beer, which isn’t bad at all for San Francisco. The soundtrack to the background music keeps a good beat going and there are tables that can fit anywhere from two to twelve people so no matter who you’re with they should have the room.

We’ll definitely head back here for some grub sometime soon and if you’re looking for a place to hang with some friends or to take a date, Marengo on Union is an awesome option you should check out. if you have any other questions about this place, let me know in the comments and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

Playing Happy Birthday On My Guitar, Again

Just about 3 weeks ago I attempted to play Happy Birthday on my guitar for Frank on his birthday and it wasn’t pretty. As you can see in the video below even Frank falls asleep out of boredom. I had just learned how  to play the song about an hour or so before recording, so I guess it wasn’t that bad. [view on YouTube]

Well, I wanted to record another video of me playing the same song so that I can get a sense of how much I’ve improved (or not improved) since I first learned how to play Happy Birthday. Since that first video I’ve practiced playing my guitar at least a little bit every other day and I’m feeling pretty good about where I’m at.

My fingers are finally calloused (which means they don’t hurt anymore when I play) and I know all of the basic chords by heart, although I’m still not great at moving between each one while I’m playing (which you’ll see in the video). Up until this point I’ve really enjoyed learning how to play guitar and I’m going to stick with it for a while. I think the next logical step would be to get some real lessons from someone who actually knows how to play. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

Anyways here’s the second video of me playing Happy Birthday and I’ll be sure to throw up another video once I actually learn another song. [view on YouTube]

Showrooming Becomes A Problem For Retailers

The way that people shop is changing and some larger retailers like Target don’t like it. A new trend that they’re seeing is “showrooming”, which is when a shopper goes into a brick and mortar store like Target to check out certain products (think TVs, toys, appliances, furniture, etc.), finds what they like and then goes online to do price comparisons and make the actual purchase (usually from somewhere like Amazon.com, eBay or other e-commerce stores).

The Wall Street Journal’s Ann Zimmerman wrote up a great piece on showrooming and how Target is trying to deal with it. Target was the focus due to an urgent letter they sent out to their vendors as a plea to help them fight the battle against savvy shoppers taking advantage of the time and money they spend on creating a great retail environment, only to be cut out of the equation when they end up buying online instead of in one of their stores.

Last week, in an urgent letter to vendors, the Minneapolis-based chain suggested that suppliers create special products that would set it apart from competitors and shield it from the price comparisons that have become so easy for shoppers to perform on their computers and smartphones. Where special products aren’t possible, Target asked the suppliers to help it match rivals’ prices. It also said it might create a subscription service that would give shoppers a discount on regularly purchased merchandise.

I think this is an interesting new behavior that shoppers are doing and it’s cool to see how Target is dealing with it. Target has to compete with the online retailers and really the only way to do it is through stronger relationships with their vendors (which basically means making them drop their prices and making the supply chain more efficient like Wal-Mart). It’s a competitive world out there and I think we’re just starting to see the effects that the efficiency of the web is bringing into the retail market.

I’ll admit that I’ve showroom’d before and I know it’s not going away anytime soon and it’s going to be up to Target (and their vendors) to adapt to the speed at which the web is changing the ways that we all shop. No matter what happens I think the end result is always going to be better prices for all of us consumers, so I guess we don’t have a lot to worry about.

Good luck, Target.

 

8 Year-Old Juliet and My First Hardcore Song Rocks Australia (and YouTube)

I just saw this video of an 8 year-old Juliet rocking out to her first hardcore song and had to post it. I’m sure it’ll have 10 gazillion views by this time tomorrow. [view on YouTube]

The video was produced by her mom Kristina Childs (“Mum” in Australia), who has a Tumblr blog for her photography business (and who seems to be really good) and who seems to be really into hardcore metal.

They also seem to have a really good sense of humor — here are their family portraits.

Awesome vide, even sweeter pics and a lot of fun — now OPEN UP THE PIIIIIT!

 

SOPA and PIPA Explained

The SOPA and PIPA bills that everyone has been talking about (and that all of the sites have been protesting against) can be pretty confusing depending on who you’re talking to. That’s why I’m going to make it easy for you.

Here’s a video of one of the geekiest of the geeks (and smartest of the smart), Clay Shirky, talking about what SOPA and PIPA really mean and how it could affect the collaborative web that we’ve grown to love so much. [view on YouTube]

Also, it looks like Hollywood fought the internet and the internet won.

 

The Tcho Chocolate Tour In San Francisco

Last weekend was Stephanie’s birthday, so we did all kinds of cool stuff including the Tcho chocolate factory tour in San Francisco. I decided to have it be part of her birthday weekend extravaganza for a few important reasons.

1. Timing: The tour was early on Saturday morning, but not too early which means it gets us out of bed, but it’s not too painful. The tour that we took started at 10:30am, so we had time to get up, get moving and grab some breakfast before heading over.

2. Location: The Tcho factory is right in the middle of the awesomeness that is the Embarcadero. More specifically it’s in the Pier 17 building, which is less than 2 miles from our apartment. It was a beautiful day out and Stephanie loves to walk, so it made for a nice little morning stroll.

3. Learning: One thing I learned after Stephanie and I did a tour of the Korbel Champagne Cellars in Sonoma for our anniversary was that we both really enjoy doing fun things that help us learn more about the stuff we like. Going all through Korbel and learning about how champagne is made was a lot of fun for us and it also gave us some great fun facts that we can use at parties (did you know that the wires on champagne toppers are are twisted 6.5 rotations? Well, now you do.).

4. Chocolate: The only thing that Stephanie loves more than chocolate is Kool-Whip, so this tour was pretty much a no-brainer.

5. It’s Free: All of the Tcho tours are completely free, how awesome is that?

6. Weird Connection: Our first neighbor while living in Palo Alto was an early investor in Tcho, so he would always give us beta chocolate that looked like this so that we could give him feedback. That was over 3 years ago, so it’s cool to see how far along the company has come since then.

Some of the highlights for me included learning all about how chocolate is made, where it comes from and what the real ingredients are. It was also interesting to hear about how other larger chocolate companies like Hershey’s make their chocolate and how Tcho differentiates themselves in the market. Being from the startup world, it was also really cool to see how innovative they are with how they run their factory and create their product. Getting to wear hairnets was fun, too and some of the guys there had to wear beard nets, which I had never seen before.

The ultimate highlight for both of us was the tasting at the end of the tour. This is where we had the chance to taste all the different types of chocolate that Tcho has to offer. There were six in total and they were all separated out individually so that we could taste them one at a time. We were guided by our awesomely excited tour guide Jose through each of them, starting with the darkest, hardest chocolate (which also has the strongest taste) and ending with their lightest, softest.

Just as if we were at a wine tasting in Nappa, Jose was sure to let us know how to properly taste the chocolate. First you warm it up in your hand, then you smell it, then you hold it up to your ear while you snap it in half so that you can hear it and then the best part — you put it in your mouth and let it melt so that that you can get the full flavor that Tcho has to offer. Never bite into the chocolate. Ever.

While we were tasting all of the different flavors Jose would sprinkle in some entertaining color commentary and wouldn’t hold back his contagious sense of passion and excitement for chocolate. So much so that I’m not sure which was more memorable, the chocolate or Jose.


photo by Lisa Goell Sinicki

If you’re wanting to check out the Tcho factory tour there are two daily times that you can sign up for — 10:30am and 2pm and you can schedule your time over here. I would highly recommend the tour to any couple for a fun daytime date or to a group of friends who are looking for something cool to do while in San Francisco. Both locals and tourists will have a good time learning about and tasting some tasty chocolate that’s unique to San Francisco. If you end up going be sure to get there at least 10 minutes early, bring some money to buy some of the chocolate (they give you a 10% off coupon to use that day) and don’t wear open-toed shoes.

Want more info on Tcho? Here you go. [view on YouTube]


 

One Hour Obsession: Walk Off The Earth

My latest one hour obsession is with a Canadian Indie band called Walk Off The Earth. If you’ve been keeping an eye on the YouTubes lately you will probably know them better by a song that they covered called “Somebody That I Used To Know” in a video where the five members of the band all played one guitar at the same time. At this point the video has been views over 25 million times with about 50 of those coming from me.

Here’s the video I’m talking about. [view on YouTube]

Like I said before, this song is actually a cover which I didn’t realize until after I watched the video like 5 or 6 times. I didn’t really even think about it being a cover due to the fact that the song seems like it’s made for the three people in the band who sing it. All three of them have incredible voices and the fact that they decided to take on the challenge of having all of the play the same guitar was an awesome way to grab the internet’s attention.

Of course, having the guy in the beard just standing there being awesome doesn’t hurt, either.

The song that they covered was originally sung by Gotye (here’s how you pronounce it) and a woman named Kimbra — you can watch it below. [view on YouTube]

I’ve always been interested in viral videos and the background of how they come together, especially for videos like this one that was intentionally created to become viral. Some videos are so crazy that they go viral for unknown reasons, but this one in particular was planned out and executed in a way that I’m sure exceeded the bands wildest expectations.

In case you’re wondering how close the cover is to the original, check out this video that puts them side-by-side. [view on YouTube]

It’s interesting when something like this happens to a someone who’s ready for it, like a band, as opposed to someone randomly getting a one-hit viral wonder because the pay-off it much better. The fact that Walk Off The Earth already has a solid following on YouTube and has been posting videos for a long time feeds the public’s interest in them once they hit the big time with their viral video. This means that they can leverage the attention they’re getting into selling more of their music, booking more shows and potentially getting a label deal (if they want it). In other words, they’re prepared for the success that they’re having, which means that it’s going to benefit them for the long term and not just help them sell a few songs though iTunes.

If you’re interested in learning more about how the video was shot (26 takes for about 14 hours in a kitchen) and the effects of having a viral video of this magnitude you can watch video of an interview below that was posted when their video had around 10 million views. It’s long, but there’s some good stuff in there. [view on YouTube]

It’s going to be fun to keep track of these guys and see what happens from here, but for now I’m going to listen to their song (that I’ve downloaded from both Amazon and iTunes) a few more times.

UPDATE: It looks like things are about to get even crazier for these guys — they just got booked on Ellen for a live performance of their video. No pressure, guys.

What’s The Deal With The Big Cardboard Heads At The Indiana University Basketball Games?

A few days ago I was watching an Indiana University basketball game with some friends of mine and while the opposing team was shooting free throws I saw something awesome in the crowd — a bunch of big cardboard cut-out heads of random famous people and characters. The students were waving them around and I was laughing while I was calling out all of the random people I could call out.

“Pee-Wee Herman! Hulk Hogan! Barack Obama! Happy Gilmore! Bob Knight! Oscar The Grouch! Apolo Ohno!” and the list went on and on. I had no idea how they came up with these different heads, but I was very curious.

Yesterday I got my answer when my buddy sent me over a link to this article about how the big, funny heads came to be. It’s an interesting story and definitely worth a read if you’ve ever wondered about how the tradition first got started.

Nice work, IU. Nice work.

—
photo credit Indianapolis Star

Happy Birthday To Frank

Yesterday was Frank’s third birthday and to celebrate I wanted to not only sing him happy birthday, but I wanted to play it on the guitar as well. I’ve had a guitar for about 10 years now and despite a few attempts to learn how to play I’ve never had the discipline to pick it up.

Over Christmas break I got a lesson from one of my buddies and I’ve been practicing every day since (as long as my fingers weren’t hurting too much), so I thought that I would give playing happy birthday to Frank a shot. As you can see below or over here on YouTube I still have a long way to go, but if you listen close enough you can almost make out that it’s the happy birthday song.

Oh, and sorry about the singing, too. I might need to look for a lead singer when putting together my band.

Happy birthday, Frank — it’s hard to imagine a time when Stephanie and I didn’t have you in our lives. You’re an awesomely weird dog and we love you like our own child. Weird, but true.