The Ragas Report

Tales of adventure from the exciting lives of Matt and Traci Ragas
About Me

Matt, Traci, and Clark Ragas live in Gainesville, Florida.

Matt is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, though he has called the Sunshine state home for over a decade. Traci hails from St. Petersburg, Florida and has never lived anywhere but Florida.

Clark originally hails from - well, we aren't totally sure. We're just blessed to have him in our family. He's a "rescue dog" as we say. :)

Here is where you can learn all about our exciting lives and our upcoming transition to a much colder climate (aka Chicago)!

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Off goes the dissertation to first submission!

   
Click here to download:
Off_goes_the_dissertation_to_f.zip (2600 KB)

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Posted 18 days ago by Matt Ragas 

SAINTS-ATIONAL!

This is something I never thought I would say - The New Orleans Saints just won the Super Bowl!

Sports may be just sports. But this victory means so much for the city of New Orleans and its recovery.

GO SAINTS!

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Posted 29 days ago by Matt Ragas 

Getting ready for the big game...

Someone in New Orleans is looking over us as we get ready for the big game.  A special delivery of Zapp's greeted us as we came home tonight.

We'll enjoy these watching the Super Bowl this weekend!  Yummy! 

Thank you, Ms. Yvette (a.k.a. Mom!).


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Posted 1 month ago by Traci Ragas 

Looks like the fans might be a little excited.

Thanks to Ms. Yvette for this addition:

http://www.wwltv.com/video/featured-videos/Raw-Video-Saints-fans-put-on-dresses-deliver-on-Buddy-D-promise-83211992.html

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Posted 1 month ago by Traci Ragas 

Dudley Farm Donkey

We visited Dudley Farm today. Dudley Farm highlights the evolution of Florida farming from the 1850s to the mid-1940s.  It is still a working farm, with originally restored buildings, and staff that still raise crops and tend to livestock.  It is located just off Newberry Road in Alachua County (and not too far from our house).  It always amazes us how rural things are just a few miles outside of Gainesville.

We’ve wanted to visit since we’ve lived here. The weather today was perfect (in the 60’s) and not a cloud in the sky.  It couldn’t have been a more beautiful day. 

The first set of pictures is with Dudley the Donkey.  He was the star of our visit and we spent a majority of our time with him.  Donkeys are stubborn as they say, but he came over to us eventually and even let us pet him.  Then he stayed forever and looked disappointed when we left. 

All in all a wonderful day!  This marked off our third Florida State Park visit in Alachua County, only Paynes Prairie is left on our list.

           
Click here to download:
Dudley_Farms_Donkey.zip (20617 KB)

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Filed under  //  Gainesville  
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Posted 1 month ago by Traci Ragas 

The Saints Are Coming...

The Dome will definitely be rockin' tomorrow for the Saints-Vikings NFC Championship Game.

This New Orleans native says - go Saints!

 

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Posted 1 month ago by Matt Ragas 

Coke Happiness Machine

Here is the first exclusively viral ad (i.e. no TV support) created by Coke. Looks like it has been up for about a week on YouTube and already has over 700,000 views. Should make a good example of a current campaign to show at the beginning of class tomorrow. It also makes Traci smile.

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Posted 1 month ago by Matt Ragas 

We know we can handle the low 20's, at least!

Shockingly, it is cold here in Florida.  There's snow in Ocala, just a little south of us.  Crazy! 

So, we donned our new coats, ear muffs, scarf and a hat (me) and took the dog for a walk (and snapped a pic before stepping outside).  Clark's not fazed at all and we had to drag him in.  So we know he can handle 23 degrees too.

I know I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for a little snow flurries tomorrow.  :)  But I'm sure I'll see plenty by this time next year!

I promise more non-weather related stuff in the next coming posts.

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Posted 1 month ago by Traci Ragas 

Frisky Clark

(download)

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Posted 2 months ago by Traci Ragas 

Keeping warm

We continue to stock up on cold weather wear.

Here are a couple of pictures of our LL Bean parkas from Matt's parents. :)

   
Click here to download:
LL_Bean_and_the_us.zip (4387 KB)

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Posted 2 months ago by Traci Ragas