Josh Renaud

Swimming in PowerBooks

Well, the past few days I've been trying desperately to find a good deal on an Apple PowerBook or iBook to take with me to Bolivia. While I'm down there I'll be designing a website for the Seminario Teologico de Hebron, and probably helping some other missionaries with publications.

Twice I thought I had hooked up with somebody who had the perfect computer at the right price, but both times it hasn't worked out, and not because of anything I've done.

I know if I am patient God will lead me to a very good deal. I just have to trust him. But it's not easy... I've got a lot of offers from folks... and none of them are exactly what I need. Some are less, some are more. But I know it will work out.

A rollercoaster day

Today was a mix of emotions. I was delighted to get an hour to chat with Yoli online this morning and to find out that our god-child was delivered safely last night. She doesn't have a name yet, so I suggested a few names from the Bible.

But unfortunately, other things happened that clouded my day.

I visited the doctor and found out I have a throat infection, so I'll need 10 days of antibiotics. Worse, this means I'll have to delay getting immunizations for the trip. It may also mean that I need to delay the trip a week in order to do everything properly. This is all my fault, I should have looked into what was necessary for immunizations months ago. Well, planning has never been one of my strongest suits.

I decided to try and get some work done today for some of my web clients. But my efforts were hampered by some dumbos in UMSL's Information Technology Services department.

UMSL traditionally uses semester breaks to do maintenance on servers, and this year was no different. They emailed everyone a list of servers that they planned to take offline for maintenance. The server I used for email (called Admiral) was not on that list. So imagine my surprise today when I can't access my email and I call the University they tell me Admiral is being worked on. Wonderful.

I've also decided to begin pursuing other leads for a laptop Mac, since the guy I originally had a deal with seems to have fallen off the face of the earth. Unfortunately, since my email address wasn't working, I may have lost potential sellers' emails. Well, I am praying that God will work it out so that I can have a laptop in the price range I can afford before I go on my trip.

In any case, I *am* making progress in finding travel insurance. I wish I didn't have to buy it, but it will give my family peace of mind and it will help them if anything were to happen to me.

Christmas has come and gone

I was pretty happy with Christmas this year. I received some very thoughtful gifts... some things that will be quite useful for my trip (camera, luggage, etc) and some things that will be great for when I come home (bowling shoes, etc).

My brother Justin and his fiancee were in town, and it's always good to see him. This Christmas is probably the start of big changes in our traditions. He'll be married in a little more than a week, and I'm sure it won't be long before I am, too. The family is changing, and that takes getting used to, but it's been exciting.

Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve, and all's quiet here. I spent the last hour and a half tweaking the stylesheets for this weblog, and I think I've finally found a format that I like.

The main thing on my mind is going to Bolivia and seeing Yoli again. I miss her very much.

I hope to use this weblog to talk about what's going on while I'm down there. I know it will give some of my family members peace of mind to be able to read that I'm doing okay. Plus, it will probably be cheaper to update this weblog than to make overseas phone calls.

Of course there is always the strong possibility that I will procrastinate and fail to update this thing regularly. But I'll try my best to post a little every day or so.

Anyway, the trip is still about 2 weeks away. But there are things to do -- get immunized, fill my allergy prescriptions and get a few medicines to take with me (Orudis for aches and some sort of anti-diarrhea medicine), finalize my plane tickets, and purchase a laptop computer.

Actually, the latter is a source of consternation right now. I had found a guy who agreed to sell me his iBook for $650. He told me he shipped it, but it hasn't arrived yet, and I have had difficulty reaching him. Well, I'll keep trying to reach him, but if I can't, I'll spend my money somewhere else.

Well, I suppose I should finish writing this and get to bed. Christmas is tomorrow, and with any luck I'll get some nice presents. :)

Test post

This is my first test post!

This is my first test post!