Robert & Borbala Get Married

Our dance buddies Robert and Borbala tied the knot this past weekend, and are now Mr. & Mrs. Bunnett. We were honored to be invited to the wedding, and got to have fun with some other dance buddies - Howard and Fonda. The wedding was at an interesting garden/animal preserve called Rancho Las Lomas, which should explain some of the pictures.

Pictures from Summer Dogsitting

I've posted the pictures from taking care of Newton and Kepler now. If you're not already aware, they have their own website with pictures from when they were first brought home in 2002, and now the site is up to date. They seem to be easier to take care of as they get older. Especially since they were well-behaved enough to stay at "Paw-Dres."

Pictures from May/June Trips

I've finally posted the pictures from a few LA trips we made in May and June. I got to see my grandfather from Mexico, who I haven't seen in 15 years. Laetitia got to meet some more of my family, too, but not until she got to do some fabric shopping for a new ballgown she's been working on. Also, we made another trip to meet up with Laetitia's college buddy, Pam, at the E3 gaming convention.

Dancing on the News

I received a call from the local 10 ABC affiliate since they wanted to do a story on how "Dancing with the Stars" is affecting the ballroom dance scene in San Diego, so I coordinated a taping at Champion Ballroom yesterday. They interviewed Mary, and took loads of footage of people taking a cha cha class. They were also very interested in interviewing the newest people at the classes, so the story came out as really friendly and inviting to new dancers. I got it recorded from the 11 o'clock news onto DVD, and I ripped it and posted it at ChampionBallroom.com. You can see Laetitia and me in several angles - one really good one where we're waltzing behind an interview. Anyway, it seems like the ballroom buzz just keeps growing.

We Survived - Dance Dance Dance!

We were all over the county and the state this weekend. We stayed in Escondido Friday night to take care of the dogs, put them in daycare at "Paw-dres" on Saturday, and flew up to San Jose. Danced and won 1st place in the smooth-ballroom championships, and rushed back to our room to make the room-service cut off. After a rough night of trying to get some sleep, we woke up at 5 -30 and got to the airport for our return to San Diego. It was weird to be back in San Diego early enough to get a bagel for breakfast. Then, it was up to North County to pick up the dogs from Paw-dres, we grabbed some drive-thru, and rested up for a while at the Santore Ranch before packing up and going to Coronado for the San Diego DanceSport competition. We got 2nd out of two couples, and won the Viennese Waltz - what a busy rollercoaster ride both physically and emotionally. Now we have to deal with driving to work in the North-to-South commute tomorrow, which means waking up two hours earlier than we usually need to when we're at home. Maybe when I get back into my normal routine I'll have some time to sort through my actual feelings about this weekend, since right now I'm just tired and looking forward to going home.

Dogsitting the Two Brothers

This weekend should be even more interesting, since besides all the dancing, we're beginning our week of dog sitting starting today. Laetitia's dogs, Newton and Kepler, need to be taken care of at the Boulder Knolls Observatory "her parent's house", and they've been alone since 5am this morning. I hope they haven't left any "gifts" for Laetitia, since she's heading out there around lunch time.
We have a lesson tonight at 6 -30, so she'll meet me down here after feeding her dogs, and then we'll go workout and grab the rest of our stuff for the dancing trip to San Jose. The brothers will have to be checked into the dog hotel for one night, but at least they have each other. Is there enough time in the day to do all this stuff???

You Go John O'Hurley

On Dancing with the Stars this week, John O'Hurley and Charlotte did a GREAT job with their quickstep. I was sooo impressed with his top-line and his ability to entertain while remembering the choreography. I feel so lucky that I got to meet him last week, and see that he's a genuine and funny person.
This show is so much fun, and it's getting me pumped up for my TWO ballroom competitions this weekend. On Saturday, it's the USA Dance Regionals in San Jose, and on Sunday, it's San Diego DanceSport at Loews Coronado. It's a good time to be dancing!

Beatbox Champ

So when Mary and I were at the taping of "Dancing with the Stars", there was a host there in charge of getting the audience all fired up before the show went live. He would pull people out of the audience and make them dance for cheers, and he'd make fun of other people working on the set. Then, he had them play a very familiar music track - Rappers Delight. He then asked if there was anyone in the audience who knew the words, so since I was caught up in the moment, I raised my hand... and he pulled me out and gave me the mic. They were counting down 30 seconds to the show going live, and he counted me in "1-2-3-4..." and I let the rhymes flow! Everyone was clapping and cheering and the lyrics just kept flowing. Mary was behind me, and it took her a while to register that it was actually me coming out of the speakers! I literally backed into my seat rhyming and then the show went live just a few seconds later for broadcast to the East Coast. Anyway, I was really bummed Laetitia missed that, because she's always referred to these particular skillz as useless. Well, someone found a use for them that day cool eh?

Dancing with the Stars

So, last night, Dancing with the Stars was on ABC, putting ballroom dancing on network TV for the whole U.S. to see... well, anyone that decided to tune in. I went to the CBS studio with Mary Murphy and we were there for the live performance, which was live for the rest of the country except the west. Laetitia couldn't go because her back is still thrown out, but she got to see Mary and me in some of the scans of the background.
I thought the celebs did a pretty good job! They only trained for 5 weeks, so we have to give them a break. My favorite was Charlotte with John O'Hurly, who I got to meet after the show. I was sitting at a table on the floor's edge with "Ryan" and his family, that's Ryan, of "Trista and Ryan". Anyway, I look forward to seeing how this show comes across to the rest of the country.