Stephanie Liu

The Ridiculous Obstacle Challenge: ROC Race 5K

  • By Stephanie Liu
  • June 10, 2011
  • Events

The Ridiculous Obstacle Challenge also known as the ROC Race was inspired by WipeOut, the American reality show competition featuring ridiculous obstacle challenges and American Gladiators. The 5K course around the historic Del Mar Fairgrounds made its debut last month with over 6,000 participants! According to CNN, Millennium Events the producers of the event, are making plans to host the event across the country so if you’re not in San Diego, the ROC Race may be headed to your city!

Members of Ad 2 San Diego and I formed a team to take on the creative collision of the military style training course and the crazy game show inspired obstacles. Our costumes were ‘young professionals’ so we got together and wore our collared button up shirts. After looking at the photos and videos, you can tell that other teams were a lot more creative – that’s okay, that just means next year Ad 2 San Diego is going to bring our creativity up a notch.

Team results can be found online at the ROC Race 2011 11AM Unlimited Teams. You can also check out the three ROC Race photo galleries at their Facebook page – One, Two and Three!

Overall, I think our team did a great job and I can’t wait to do the ROC Race again next year! By the way, the Del Mar Mud Run is in October – that’s only a few more months away! Who’s in?

ROC Race Obstacles:

  • Foam Climbing Obstacles
  • Ridiculous ball hill climbs
  • Swinging ropes over water
  • Swinging boulders
  • Crazy cargo net climbs
  • Ludicrous wall climbs
  • Inflatable slides
  • Ridiculous Role Players to harass you!

Event included:

 

Stephanie Liu

E-Bestsellers and More From Your Local Library

298503_2251If you’re like me, you love walking down the aisles of your local bookstore to see what new audiobooks are on the shelves. By the time you’re done walking up and down your favorite aisle, whether it be Business & Marketing, Romance, or Self-Improvement, you look down at your hands and realize you’ve grabbed five audiobooks — each roughly worth $25.00.

You end up purchasing the audiobook that fits within your budget and leave the others to be re-shelved. “Next time,” you tell yourself and the running list of audiobooks you’ve logged in your memory to purchase  grows longer.

What if I told you that you could borrow audio best-sellers and other goodies from your local library—for free?

All you need is a library card from your public library. You can browse and search hundreds of great titles and download them to your computer, transfer them to a portable device, or burn onto a CD for your listening pleasure anywhere, anytime.

Imagine my surprise when I logged onto the San Diego County Library site and discovered their large selection of downloadable audiobooks in both WMA and MP3 formats—I literally freaked out. I whipped out my library card and checked out all of the audiobooks I had always wanted.

The process was simple and may differ from your local library so be sure to see what requirements you need in order to take advantage of this opportunity.

Step 1: Download & Install the OverDrive Media Console™ software (FREE)

The OverDrive Media Console is available for both Windows® and Mac® users.

Step 2: Register Free Software

Before you can start the check out process, you’ll need to register the OverDrive Media Console software. Don’t worry, you’ll only need to do this once.

Step 3: Checkout, Download  & Enjoy.

Now you can search the library database for your favorite audio books and other downloadable content. When you decide on a title of interest, simply add it to your digital cart to checkout.

You will never accrue late fees with titles you download from this website. At the end of the loan period, titles will expire and be automatically ‘returned’ to the library. At this time, you can delete the expired file(s) from your machine. – San Diego Public Library

So what are you waiting for? Search for libraries using  OverDrive’s service here.

(Photo Credit: a glitch)

Stephanie Liu

Discover DC Universe Online


One of the most memorable booths at Comic-Con was the Sony Online Entertainment booth where they unveiled DC Universe Online. There were multiple demo stations available and it created a huge buzz among the crowd of hardcore comic fans. Fortunately, my husband and I were able to get a first look of the game and I have to admit – I’m not much of an online gamer and we don’t even own a PS3 but after getting our hands on the game and experiencing it, all of that just might change.

What had to be the most exciting part of the game was that I could could defy gravity and run up and over buildings and choose whether or not I wanted to be a super hero or a villain. On top of that, I could create my own legion or league of super heroes or villains. What type of character would you create? Would you be good or evil?

Check out the DC Universe video from Mahalo Daily below:

(Video Credit: Mahalodotcom)

Stephanie Liu

The New Face of MySpace

  • By Stephanie Liu
  • July 28, 2008
  • Events

If I had to award one costume from Comic-Con as the most entertaining, it would go to Dexter and his tribute to MySpace. I literally laughed out loud when I saw Dexter coming around the corner in his costume because it was so original and well thought out.

In fact, when I asked if I could take a picture of him he insisted that I be in the photo with him. I honestly didn’t know what he meant until he unhooked the back of his contraption and he swung out the “Who I’d Like to Meet” window – how creative is that?!?

Even more entertaining, I read at Rama’s Screen that a guy that actually works at MySpace took a picture of Dexter to share with Tom. I can only imagine what Dexter has planned for next year’s Comic-Con!

Stephanie Liu

Summer Highlight: San Diego Comic-Con 2008

  • By Stephanie Liu
  • July 27, 2008
  • Events

San Diego Comic-Con International 2008

Since 2001, we’ve been going to the San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) and this year we didn’t miss a beat. This week’s theme will feature highlights from SDCC including plenty of photos, updates on must-have games, ridiculously talented artists, and websites that you’ll definitely want to check out. Stay tuned for Stephanie and Storm Troopers – you don’t want to miss it.

If you went to SDCC, let me know what you thought or share links to photos and videos that you captured.

Stephanie Liu

Firefighters Battle I-805 Brushfire

Misty Phillips

(Photo Credit: Misty Phillips)

We had just got out of a late meeting when I returned to my desk and saw this outside our office window. A brush fire had broke out on I-805 and the smoke started to fill the sky. We gathered around the window in shock but were relieved when we saw the firefighters arrive.

Since the fire was just off the freeway, employees that usually take the I-805 southbound, left the office because we knew that the brush fire would effect traffic. As I got onto the onramp, the rubbernecking had already began. Speeds were less than 10 mph and drivers were noticeably pulling out their camera phones to take a snap. Fortunately, traffic let up after Clairemont Mesa boulevard and I was able to get home at a decent hour.

Today’s event reminded me of last year’s firestorm. Our home was threatened by the Harris fire and the city issued a voluntary evacuation for our area (see photo below). Instead of driving to Qualcomm, we flew out of San Diego to Scottsdale, Arizona. Having been through previous fire seasons, we knew that the air quality would be poor and polluted in San Diego. (I honestly hope that history doesn’t repeat itself any time soon.)

It’s interesting to note that during last year’s firestorm our relatives and friends were scattered all over San Diego. We couldn’t use our cell phones to contact each other so we had to find another means of communication. Interestingly enough, every one of our family members and friends were connected on Myspace. To update our family and friends, we used my Myspace account to send bulletins to everyone ensuring our safety.

When we arrived in Arizona, we kept a close eye on the news and found a blog called Wildifires 2007 by SignOnSanDiego.com. They kept us up to date on the status of the fires and had links to evacuation centers. Several posts received comments and questions by subscribers and everyone pulled together to share information on where to find help and shelter.

Simply put, social media helped us communicate with our family, friends, and neighbors and proved to be an effective means of communication.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/firemap/

(Photo Credit: SignonSanDiego.com)