No More Renee's Recommendations

Dear, faithful followers.

I apologize for letting you down but, I cannot continue Renee's Recommendations. The idea for Renee's Recommendations came from me wanting A blog; any blog would do. At the time, I was not in a disclosing mood so there was no way my first Blog would be of my innermost thoughts. The safest and easiest thing for me to write about was work-related information I come across day-to-day.

It's probably obvious that I've lost time and interest in that topic because I've stopped blogging. That's just rude to my reader(s)! So, I wanted to drop you a note to formerly THANK YOU for reading and for your support AND to say goodbye to the consumer recommendations topic. Truth is, I'm not that big on consumerism. I rarely consume packaged foods, watch very little television, and can be down right 'different.' Renee's Recommendations didn't line up with my true self and one of my personal goals for 2010 is to make every decision reflect who I am and what I want to do with my life.

If you just can't bare to see me go, No Worries! Fortunate for you, I am a yapper-know-it-all, that loves to give my opinion and have discovered blogging as an outlet. I'm just as moody as the milky way itself and there are times when I just need to vent, express, rant, share, or, just get some shit off my chest. I have found that blogging is format of expression that can be therapeutic for me (and entertaining for others). I love that there are people out there that voluntarily read my thoughts while the people closest to me get tired of my rantings and just want me to stop. My loved ones will confirm that as mouthy as I am, I always have good intentions and that I genuinely care for others and only want what's best for people and myself.

So, I am starting a new blog called Randomly Renee. Randomly Renee will allow you to get to know the real me. And as complex as I am, there is no way there could be a definite aim or reason or pattern... just Random.

I love you,
Renee

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ROCK BOTTOM GOLF

Oh my god, what have I done? My question to myself after receiving confirmation that I will be playing soccer in the season Coaches Game. Not that big of a deal, you say? Let me put this in perspective. I am mother past the age of 35 and I have never played any organized sport involving a ball.

This is my first year being a soccer mom. I just happened to work with the coach of my daughters team who just happened to need an Assistant Coach. Coach told me that it wouldn't be difficult to do and she needed the help. Being the eager helper that I am, I said ok. I even bought a whistle. I read the rules for the kiddie league. It seemed easy enough. I saw the movie Kicking and Screaming. Very funny. I get to be a part of my daughters adventure. Fun bonding time. How hard could it be?

Until we got our asses handed to us. The girls were lost. At one point we were yelling, "get on the the line!" and the girls got IN a line. Another girl attempted to play tag with one of the referees. Another girl decided in the middle of the game she needed a drink of water. One of the more competitive and experienced girls started crying. We lost 1-6. Well, 2-6 in the girls mind because one of them kicked the ball into the goal during kickoff... which doesn't count. But, we let her believe it did. Everything you could possibly do wrong in a soccer game was done.

I noticed how hard they were working to 'figure it out'. How overwhelming and confusing it must have been to have lots of people yelling at at you from the sidelines during their FIRST game. My all girls team consists of 6- to 8-year-olds. These girls (some whom have never played before) are teamed up with strangers, practice twice on a field without markings, and then yelled at by me and the other coach to execute plays.

So, out of sympathy for my girls and in the spirit of adventure, I will be donning my very own shin guards on November 2. I'm sure it should be very entertaining. I'll keep you posted.

Sunday Stealing: The Starrlight Meme

Yeah, it's Monday. But, I'm bored. So, here goes...

1. What was the last thing you put in your mouth? VOJO Extreme Energy Mints

2. Where was your profile picture taken? Supercuts.

3. Can you play Guitar Hero? Probably. I really want the Metallica version... bad... it's on my Christmas wish list.

4. Name someone who made you laugh today. What was it about? Terri, colleague

5. How late did you stay up last night and why? Too late to look at clock, watched Dexter, got sucked into Californication, made whooppee :)

6. If you could move somewhere else where would you and why? I can move somewhere else. Hadn't thought about it because I like where I live right now.

7. Ever been kissed under fireworks? yes

8. Which of your friends lives closest to you? Jennifer.

9. Do you believe ex's can be friends? With benefits? Nope. Yep.

10. Do you like Dr. Pepper? Nope.

11. When was the last time you cried really hard? Really hard as opposed to just sniveling? About a month ago.

12. Who took your profile picture? My little boy. He was entertaining himself while waiting for his turn.

13. Who was the last person you took a picture of? My daughter playing in the dirt at soccer.

14. Was yesterday better than today? Why? No. Yesterday is history.

15. Can you live a day without TV? Yes. I do all the time.

16. Are you upset about anything now? No.

17. Do you think relationships are ever really worth it? Yes.

18. Are you a bad influence? Sometimes.

19. Night out or night in? It all depends on my mood.

20. What items could you not go without during the day? Food.

21. Who was the last person you visited in the hospital? David.

22. What does the last text message in your inbox say? Redbox Free Monday Rental.

23. How do you feel about your life right now? Pretty good. But, I'm always trying to improve.

24. Do you hate anyone? Lord no. That's such a bad thing... and trust me, there are people I SHOULD hate. It's just not worth it.

25. If we were to look in your Facebook inbox, what would we find? Total strangers trying to email and add me as a "friend" and emails to + from my family members.

26. Say you were given a drug test right now, would you pass? Yes.

27. Has anyone ever called you perfect before? Yes.

28. What song is stuck in your head? Monday, Monday... can't trust that day... every other day of the week is fineeeee, yeah. But whenever Monday comes you can find me crying all of the time... Been singing all day. I can't think of who sings it. It's an oldie song.

29. Someone knocks on your window at 2 a.m., whom do you want it to be? NOBODY! WTF are you doing at my window at 2 a.m.!? Go ring the doorbell, a-hole.

30. Do you (or did you) want to have grandkids before you’re 50? No.

31. Tell us your Saturday night. "Your Saturday Night." :)

32. Do you think too much or too little? Too much.

33. Do you smile a lot? Yes.

What's in a Company/Brand Nam?

Now, I didn't check my source on this one. But, here's what's rumored and entertaining nonetheless...

Mercedes
This was actually the financier's daughter's name.

Adobe
This came from name of the river Adobe Creek that ran behind the house
of founder John Warnock.

Apple Computers
It was the favorite fruit of founder Steve Jobs. He was three months
late in filing a name for the business, and he threatened to call his
company Apple Computers if the other colleagues didn't suggest a better
name by 5 O'clock.

CISCO
It is not an acronym as popularly believed. It is short for San Francisco .

Compaq
This name was formed by using COMp, for computer, and PAQ to denote a
small integral object.

Corel
The name was derived from the founder's name Dr.Michael Cowpland. It
stands for COwpland REsearch Laboratory.

Google
The name started as a joke boasting about the amount of information the
search-engine would be able to search. It was originally named 'Googol',
a word for the number represented by 1 followed by 100 zeros.
After founders- Stanford graduate students Sergey Brin and Larry Page
presented their project to an angel investor, they received a cheque
made out to 'Google'

Hotmail
Founder Jack Smith got the idea of accessing e-mail via the web from a
computer anywhere in the world. When Sabeer Bhatia came up with the
business plan for the mail service, he tried all kinds of names ending in
'mail' and finally settled for hotmail as it included the letters "html"
- the programming language used to write web pages. It was initially
referred to as HoTMaiL with selective uppercasing.

Hewlett Packard
Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whether the
company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett.

Intel
Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore wanted to name their new company 'Moore
Noyce'but that was already trademarked by a hotel chain so they had to
settle for an acronym of INTegrated ELectronics.

Lotus (Notes)
Mitch Kapor got the name for his company from 'The Lotus Position' or
'Padmasana'. Kapoor used to be a teacher of Transcendental meditation of
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

Microsoft
Coined by Bill Gates to represent the company that was devoted to MICRO
computer SOFTware. Originally christened Micro-Soft, the '-' was removed
later on.

Motorola
Founder Paul Galvin came up with this name when his company started
manufacturing radios for cars. The popular radio company at the time was
called Victrola.

ORACLE
Larry Ellison and Bob Oats were working on a consulting project for the
CIA (Central Intelligence Agency). The code name for the project was
called Oracle (the CIA saw this as the system to give answers to all
questions or something such). The project was designed to help use the
newly written SQL code by IBM. The project eventually was terminated but
Larry and Bob decided to finish what they started and bring it to the
world. They kept the name Oracle and created the RDBMS engine. Later
they kept the same name for the company.

Sony
It originated from the Latin word 'sonus' meaning sound, and 'sonny' a
slang used by Americans to refer to a bright youngster.

SUN
Founded by 4 Stanford University buddies, SUN is the acronym for
Stanford University Network. Andreas Bechtolsheim built a microcomputer;
Vinod Khosla recruited him and Scott McNealy to manufacture computers
based on it, and Bill Joy to develop a UNIX-based OS for the computer.

Yahoo!
The word was invented by Jonathan Swift and used in his book 'Gulliver's
Travels'. It represents a person who is repulsive in appearance and
action and is barely human. Yahoo! Founders Jerry Yang and David Filo
selected the name because they considered themselves yahoos

My Rant to the easily influenced by the media.

Would someone please explain to me why the leader of our country gets Opted Out on to address our school children but, Bin Laden gets a platform on every major network this morning? And, don't give me that "free country" and "it's the media's fault" crap.

Yes, the media is doing their job to report. But, you can send the media a great big 'I-don't-give-a-damn-what-Bim-Laden-has-to-say' message by simply not watching. If the networks get no ratings, they will get the message to change the content. Hence why I'm mad at the ignorant people.

My irritation started with the media reports and controversy surrounding the fact that Barack Obama wanted to Welcome school children back to school and encourage them to focus and work hard via video. Here is a link to the text. I had a Facebook Friend comment about how the President should let parents do their jobs and AND I had a very suburban colleague that chose to keep her kids out of school. My facebook friend has no children so what does she know about being a parent? And, my colleague mentioned here allows her young children to Souja Boy super man dance. She was telling me how cute her 3-year-old was doing it and asked me if my kids could do it. That would be a big fat HELL NO. Read what that song means here. I'll wait... Uh, huh.

Let me get this straight... you (and probably countless others that were outraged at the President) allow your kids mind to be subliminally bombarded with explicit sexual content but don't want your kids to hear the President of these United States quote successful people and say things to the them like "Make us all proud. I know you can do it."

At the rate society is going, please allow the President to plant seeds so the kids don't turn out like the mindless folks that are raising them.

Is it Blogger's Birthday?

...or are you trying to tempt me from my diet with the birthday cake image? Happy Birthday, Blogger. Thank you for this platform.

Sunday Stealing: The Ellie Bellie Meme

What are your most common nicknames? I allow small children to call me Nay-nay. The other day, I corrected someone who slipped and told him to call me Goddess, queen, you highness. Other than that. Call me Renee. It's what my momma named me.



what is today's weather? cloudy, rainy



where did go on vacation this year? no funds. we did a quick weekend getaway to a golf resort in Florida.



what did you do there? beach, fishing, beach, pool, spa, pool, sleep, pool... :)



where did you stay? golf resort



what job do you do? I have several. Mainly, trying to evolve.



describe where you live? My children call it the forest. We have bunnies, birds, frogs, chipmunks, bats, big fat-ass squirrels that probably eat the food we leave for the other forest creatures. I'm surrounded by trees in an old house that has major personality. I can't wait until we do some remodeling. I love it.



what do you usually do on weekends? nothing. I love it... keep in mind. I grind it during the week. I do more in a day than most people do all week so I deserve to sit on my bum.



what food hits your 'bliss spot'? ice cream



what drink really does it for you? water. But, if your talking about alcohol, I might be allergic to patron. I can't even do one shot of that stuff! It's my kryptonite



describe the first friend that comes to your head. I'm married to him.



what was the last restaurant you went to? last weekend we went here with another couple. One man jazz band, cozy setting, great food. It was very cool.



where would you like to live if you had unlimited moneys and nothing stopping your dreams? on an island but, I'd need a jet to get to other humans because I'm a people person... when I want them around. :)



what is the likeliness of you achieving this dream home? very



what do you like to do in your spare time? nothing. I'd like to be listening to my higher self a little more. meditation.



what's your favorite genre for TV programs? Boy, aren't I the eclectic fickle one... I just don't have favorites of too much of anything. I consistently watch Dexter, Weeds, American Idol, most cartoons, anything on FitTV, and SciFi.



what's your favorite genre for music? heavy metal



what's your favorite song that's sad? One (metallica)



what's your favorite soppy film? Kill Bill



how about your favorite chick flick? Sex in the City the movie. I used to watch when it was still on HBO so the movie was the ending I never got. Loved it.



what are you looking forward to at the moment? completing an acknowledging some things from my past so I can move forward with new projects.



what are you dreading at the moment? nothing



how would you describe your personality? laid back



if you had a personality eraser, what part of yours might you erase? caring so much. It's an alone place because most people are so unaware.



you are given $5000 to spend in 1 day, what do you do with it? remember, no limitations! put it towards remodeling something in my house



what is your biggest fear? fear



Your odds are pretty good if you want to win 200 custom post cards in my contest. Click here.

To keep in mind if you're headed out tonight...

The other night I was invited out for a night with the girls. I told my husband that I would be home by midnight, "I promise!" Well, the hours passed and the margaritas went down way too easily. Around 3 a.m., and a bit loaded, I headed for home. Just as I got in the door, the cuckoo clock in the hallway started up and cuckooed 3 times. Quickly, realizing my husband would probably wake up, I cuckooed another 9 times. I was really proud of myself for coming up with such a quick-witted solution in order to escape a possible conflict with him. Even when totally smashed... 3 cuckoos plus 9 cuckoos totals = 12 Cuckoos (MIDNIGHT!)

The next morning my husband asked me what time I got in, I told him 'MIDNIGHT ' . . . He didn't seem pissed off in the least. Whew, I got away with that one! Then he said, "We need a new cuckoo clock." When I asked him why, he said, "Well, last night our clock cuckooed three times, then said 'oh shit' Cuckooed 4 more times, cleared its throat, cuckooed another three times, giggled, cuckooed twice more, and then tripped over the coffee table and farted.

Contest Reminder: There is still time to win 200 postcards to send out this holiday! Click here

Wordless: Tallest Man in India?

Just to put this into perspective, my husband is 6'4" tall.

Wordless: Shopping + Dancing in India

Wordless: Traditional Indian Dessert

Traditional Indian Dessert, Carrot Tart.

It tastes like Sweet Potato Pie.

Wordless: A Few More Wedding Shots from Hyderabad, India

My husband grabbed some more shots of the tear down and say you have to be there to see how grand and breathtaking this set up was. They re-created temples. Apparently it was the wedding of the daughter of a Hotelier so they must have lots of money.

Wordless: Hand Tattoos of Woman in India

Wordless Thursday: Getting ready for a wedding in India

Wordless Wednesday: Sign o'the times

On our road trip, we ordered cream and sugar with our coffee from McDonald's and got this...





At least the worker was smart enough to give us a container that would allow us to store leftovers...