Hiking During Portland Trip

Skiing in Iowa

Snorkeling in Jamaica

Jamaica Photos!

Yeah Mon!

Reporting from my iPod touch (because where I am is a no laptop zone for me), I'm in the beautiful country of Jamaica! It's rebecca and I's honeymoon and so far it has been quite nice - warm sun, yum food, ocean sounds on the white sand beach - doesn't get much better.

TerraBlaze!

There is some new lingo on the street. Unlike words like "tag hag" and "slash" that can be easily found in mainstream word definition encyclopedias like the Urban Dictionary, TerraBlazing is new and hip.

To be TerraBlazed, because it is a verb, is having your hair shaped by scissors, boar bristles, heated air, and the hands of a hair goddess who lives on earth. It is the act of having your cranium transformed into pure beauty, while at the same time discussing hilarium, such as 80's music, or how fusion resturants are too damn expensive, or the civil rights of camels.

TerraBlaze is also a noun referring to the state of your hair after being TerraBlazed. It is used in a sentence like so, "Dude, nice TerraBlaze; it's super poshglam." Some have been known to use the word as an adjective as well, but WARNING: this is a very cutting edge (pardon my excellent use of puns) way of using TerraBlaze. For example, "Jasmine, your hair is like so TerraBlazing! I dig it. Let's go to Coldstone, get some ice cream, and then bring it to The Outback and put it on a steak." "Ew, no, Laura! I'm a vegan today, maybe tomorrow." You know how it goes.

Anyway, if you'd like to be TerraBlazed and want a TerraBlaze that is TerraBlazing, contact Blaze and ask for Terra. And read up on your camels before you go. She's very knowledgeable on the topic and sometimes it is hard to keep up.

ReN

Vote for Change

Hey Folks,

November is coming soon and that means we vote for a new president. Really we are voting for a whole administration. Vice president, cabinet, appointed officials, etc. So, this is a big deal and I'd like everyone to vote for the person who you think can help our country best in these difficult times.

If you are really interested in knowing what you are voting for I would recommend that you turn off your television, turn off the news; it's all basically garbage about personality attacks, slips of the tongue, and people's pastors. Go straight to the source and read the platform of the different parties. The links below will send you to their respective platforms:

Republican
Democrat
Green
Libertarian

Lastly, if you are not registered to vote, get registered. If you do not know if you are registered or not or if you want to register, go to this website for more information.

VOTE FOR CHANGE

Happy trails,
ReN

Wedding Slideshow

Less than a month ago I got married. It was pretty much the best wedding I've ever been to... by far! Anyway, if you weren't there or you were there and wish to relive the wonderfulness that was my wedding - click on the sideways triangle play button above and to the left. In less that 4 minutes you will get to experience a rockin' time.

ReN

p.s. If you've seen the video on the RenBecca blog, this one is a newer & shorter version.

Lake Lawn Watch

I'm Married!

Today's Adventure

The adventure that I'm on today involves a big commitment - one that I am really excited to make. Marriage. Wish me luck!

Randy's Lecture

Professor Randy Pausch died of cancer last week at age 47. Less than a year ago he gave a "last lecture", which became an instant sensation on YouTube. Considering that the clip is over an hour long and the average YouTube clip is about 3 minutes long (and not a lecture), it says something about how powerful this talk was. A lot of important life lessons embedded here. Take a look.

Read more about Randy Pausch HERE

Imagine

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

- John Lennon

Iowa is Taking on Water

If Iowa were a giant 56,000 square mile ocean liner, we would be sinking right now. Last I checked, out of Iowa's nearly 100 counties more than 80 are considered state disaster areas and the number being considered federal disaster areas, while still low, are increasing daily (as you may have noticed with disasters in recent years, the federal government tends to be a bit slow in their assessments of floods). One of those state and federal disaster areas is Johnson County; where I live. The picture you are seeing is an aerial view of the Coralville strip, a road I take to go to the University of Iowa every weekday. The University, by the way, is suffering as well. A large number of campus buildings are taking on more and more water as I write this post. Yesterday, I was helping to create a sandbag levy right next to a rushing river with houses submerged in the middle of it. Needless to say, that river is not normally rushing there, and those houses are normally inhabited and dry. While areas like Cedar Rapids and Cedar Falls are beginning their much needed recovery process, Iowa City and Coralville have yet to see the worst of this flood. We may not see water levels peak and recess until Monday or Tuesday. Until that time we'll just hope to stay afloat.

ReN

Oregon is Pretty... Pretty Awesome!

Rebecca and I recently spent a week with our good friends Chris and DeeAnn in Portland, Oregon. The city is so unique with its amazing brews, views, and foods. We walked on the beach and got our feet wet with salt water and hiked up the hills and got our faces wet with fresh water falls. People in the Portland area love to bike, love being weird, like their locally grown produce, and their misty rain. The trip was even more fun because my friends Jaclyn & Gabriel were in town, my friend Pete and my friend John stopped in as well. I recommend a visit.

ReN

CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES

Home Stretch

The second semester of the 5th year of my PhD education is nearing the end. In the next couple of weeks I've got some teaching to do, some research analysis to do, some clients to see, and a few other things to procrastinate until the summer.

This summer's going to be nice. Portland, Oregon to visit our dear friends. A bit of softball. Some dissertation work. Prepping myself for internship. And a small wedding.

Wish me luck,
ReN

Sick

For the past half week I've been sick with some sort of virus. For the first couple of days I thought I may be going through some sort of messianic phenomenon of a bodily retracing of the observed occurances of the Christian Holy Week. But then after my cold-medicine wore out I realized that I probably wasn't mimicking Jesus' steps. a) I would have had to have died on Friday (which didn't happen - check when I wrote this - and despite what many people think, no Wi-Fi in heaven) and b) I should have resurrected on Saturday. Being bed ridden with a 103 degree fever is far from resurrection (see Saturday). If anything, the sickness has helped me overcome my messianic complex and has reminded me I'm only a human. Let's take a closer look:

Friday
Symptoms: Dizziness, headache, and a narcissistic belief that I'm not getting sick.

Saturday
Symptoms: Body aches, 103 degree fever, more dizziness, more headaches, and acceptance that I am indeed sick - next step treatment decisions.

Sunday
Symptoms: Coughing, 101 degree fever, more body aches, more dizziness, more headaches, and a divine anger for being bed-ridden for a second day in a row.

Monday
Symptoms: Sore throat, runny nose, sneezing, more coughing, more headaches, no more of the other stuff, and a denial that I'm sick at all.

Tuesday
Symptoms: Really runny nose, more coughing, more headaches, more sneezing, and learned helplessness (e.g., "Oh yes, that paper I'm supposed to be working on - but I'm sick" or "Oh yes, that cereal bowl I was supposed to put away - but I'm sick" or fill in "Oh yes, that ________ I was supposed to ________ - but I'm sick").

Wednesday
Symptoms: None, a genie will cure me.

ReN

Weekend in Chicago

Hanging out in the city of Chicago with Rebecca and Jovan. We were there for a counseling psychology conference, but got a few chances to romp around the city and eat some tasty Chicago food.

A few of the places we had delicious food from:

Keefer's
Pizzeria Due
Heaven on Seven

ReN

Engagement Adventure

This past Saturday I went for a hike in the woods with Rebecca (my lady friend) and came back from that hike engaged to her! So, preparing for a wedding in August is pretty much my current adventure at this point. We've decided to have a small wedding with mainly our family members, outside, at her home in Eau Claire - Wisconsin. Even a simple little wedding like ours is an enormous amount of work to plan. I understand now why some people decide to get married at the courthouse or in Vegas - wedding planning takes up some major head-space and can be awfully stressful and expensive. Anyway we're happy and have our own blog now.

ReN

TIL: The Album Leaf

A long awaited installment of Things I Like or TIL for short. The Album Leaf or TAL for short is one of my most favorite bands in the world. There is no one way to describe their music. Electronic-alternative hybrid. Smooth-jazz mixed with some light-rock, minus the annoying vocals, and cheesy everything. Anyway, the band plays all their music on real instruments (guitars, violins, drums, pianos), but then feed all that music through computers, distortion pedals, and other unusual things that make it sound divine. If you're interested you can check out The Album Leaf's music at their MySpace site.
ReN

Sammy

When I was a kid I had a pet rabbit named Sammy. Actually we had two pet rabbits, one named Sammy and the other Bert, but Bert died a couple weeks after we got him. Poor Bert. Sammy lived a happy long rabbit life - like 5 years or something. He was white, like an Easter bunny.

A couple of days ago I noticed the cat that I live with, Dora, making funny noises near the window to my office. When I looked out the window I noticed a small brown rabbit sitting at the foot of the window ledge (see camouflaged animal in the middle of the image above). That rabbit has been sitting outside my window for two days now and I believe has become friends with Dora. They just sit together for most of the day. The rabbit scanning the area for evil-doers and Dora watching the rabbit in facination. I like to think they've got each other's backs.

So I need help. Can you come up with a name for the rabbit for me? Throw down your favorite names as a post and I'll pick one.

Thanks,
ReN

You actually read this thing?

So, I didn't realize people actually read my blog. Considering I've only posted a few things on it in the past year or so, I assumed that I had failed all my 3 or 4 fans. Well, since I put up my friend Damon skiing, I've gotten several e-mails from people reporting that they would like to see me post more. So I will.

ReN