one year anniversary travels...

It is absolutely amazing that one year has passed since we said our vows together. We are truly blessed to have had an incredible first year of marriage - thanks of course to the continual emphasis to try and place God first in all things. We learned much about each other and have many more years ahead to continue to grow closer together. To celebrate our anniversary, we actually took 2 trips - one to Colorado and one to Texas.

Colorado
We enjoyed a wonderful time in Keystone, CO hiking through the mountains in the resort villages, being pampered in the Resort Spa for a couples massage, visiting with family and friends, and also spending some time at a few fantastic breweries (including Tommyknocker and Breckenridge). We stayed at the Keystone Lodge & Spa Resort and thoroughly enjoyed our experience in our loft suite.

Texas
Our trip to Texas was to the Barton Creek Resort in Austin, TX as a gift from my parents. Austin is a great city and we enjoyed experiencing the night life around 6th Street, visiting the Texas Capital, meeting with a physician friend, and driving through the scenic hill country. We also spent time in Dallas, College Station, and Temple on that trip visiting with friends and family as well.

It is great to finally be back at home from our travels as we prepare for another significant life change with finishing our medical residency and then moving out-of-state.

redbox dvd rentals

So, I have found yet another wonderful, easy, and cheap alternative way to rent movies. I used Redbox today for the first time, which is basically a DVD rental vending machine found at over 7,500 locations across the US (many locations are outside McDonalds). You use the kiosk to choose your movies (lots of movies to choose from - including new releases) and the rental cost is $1 plus tax ($1.06 to be exact) for an overnight rental until 9pm on the following evening. The movies can be returned to any Redbox location, which makes renting DVDs while traveling very cheap and very easy. You can view and even rent your movies online and see exactly what is available at any Redbox location in real time through their simple website. Also, just for signing up at their website, you will begin to receive promo codes weekly for free overnight rentals. My first rental today, Spiderman 3, was free using a promo code that I received for signing up earlier this week . I have to say that Redbox is an absolutely brilliant and cheap way to rent DVD movies with ease.

uxorious & deus ex machina

I found some interesting words that I just had to share - uxorious and deus ex machina.

uxorious \uk-SOR-ee-us; ug-ZOR-\, adjective:
Excessively fond of or submissive to a wife.

Who would have thought that the English language had a word to describe those feelings - Amy don't you think that I am an uxorious husband?

Of course this next word is even more perplexing.

deus ex machina \DAY-uhs-eks-MAH-kuh-nuh; -nah; -MAK-uh-nuh\, noun:
1. In ancient Greek and Roman drama, a god introduced by means of a crane to unravel and resolve the plot.
2. Any active agent who appears unexpectedly to solve an apparently insoluble difficulty.

If only deus ex machina was easier to say, I would incorporate it more into my daily life since "insolvable difficulties" arise daily (and continually cause torture) in the life of a resident physician.