Vocabulary Lesson #2

I have decided to attempt a regularly-occurring vocabulary feature. Snood was the inaugural word. This feature will attempt to explain words that I created so that you will know how to use them in everyday conversation. So without further delay I give you...

snügens (interjection) [snoo-genz] - an expression of frustration. The u-umlaut is critical. It is highly recommended to use snügens with an exclamation point. Example of use: "Snügens! I left my [highly valuable object necessary for my survival] at home!"

Biked 35 Miles Today

Most of you (those who read this) know that my favorite recreational activity is mountain biking. I have my friends Shane and Aaron to thank for getting me into it. This spring, wanting to branch out and add something different to my recreational portfolio, I bought a road bike. So now I have dual bikeablilty and I'm trying not give either type a higher priority. But it's difficult to do so because I have more friends who are into road cycling.

This morning I rode with 3 friends from church along some of Austin's suburban scenic roads. The route consisted of the northern part of Loop 360 down to Bee Caves Rd, then out to Route 71 and back. The whole route is about 35 miles. It's a very scenic route with a lot of hills, so it's definitely a workout. I'm still sore even as I write this. My hope is to be able to do some kind of biking most weekends and try to improve on my distance and hill-climbing ability. We'll see how it goes, as I don't have a great history when it comes to achieving exercise goals. Wish me luck.

Proof that Texas has hills

My parents recently bought a 2-acre plot near Medina Lake, 20 minutes west of San Antonio. This is where they hope to build a home for their retirement years. Not all of the land is usable, unfortunately, because it descends the side of a steep hill. The region to the west of San Antonio and Austin is known as the Texas Hill Country. As you can see from the pictures the area lives up to its name.






Starting from the road, there may be about 25 feet before the hill descends. The plan is to build the house along the slope of the hill so that a walk-out basement/lower level is possible. For those that don't know, basements in Texas are rare because underneath the thin layer of topsoil is an unyielding mass of limestone. Making a basement-sized hole in the limestone is cost-prohibitive. As such I've never seen a basement in any Texas home, unless the house is built on the slope of a hill.

Confessions of a Wikipedia addict

I use Wikipedia alot, which is an online encyclopedia whose entries can be edited by anyone. Anytime I want to know more about a subject I'll just look it up here. Usually if I'm not careful I'll keep clicking links within articles, taking me to other articles, and on and on until I've wasted a large chunk of time. The variety of articles that you'll find here is a lot more encompassing than your standard leather-bound encyclopedia. Click here for an example of an article you won't find in Brittanica.

Recurring Dream

Do you ever have recurring dreams with a similar theme but the details are a bit different? For me, the dream that I have more often than any other always has the same basic premise. I'm back in high school (only the school looks nothing like my high school and as far as I can tell my classmates are different) and it's first period and I have a huge semester-long assignment due in my seventh-period class and I haven't even started it yet! In fact I totally forgot about it until that day! This is such a scary premise for me because I was such a good student in high school and never would have completely blown off an assignment. Fortunately I always wake up before seventh period rolls around. The feeling of relief when I wake up is like no other!

So this makes me wonder: What do people who were bad students in high school dream about? Turning in assignments on time??