And now, for something COMPLETELY different. 

A Christmas-themed progressive rock opera ... complete with snow.

Followed by copious multi-chromatic flames, lasers, fog, wailing guitars, and electro-mechanical wizardry.

My ears are ringing, can I go home now?

 

Yeah, I think 6 seconds of video pretty much sums it up.

 Done, just in time...

High-energy pulsed X-rays.  What could go wrong?

When in doubt, send in the PhD physicist first.  They make great radiation test dummies.  :-)

This dog...  I tell you.  He can get anything he wants.  How can you say no?  Dickens must have had a begging Labrador Retriever.  See?

Progress... A couple evenings of sanding, another evening of router work, and it's starting to look a little better.

Just a few more days in our makeshift paint booth, and it'll be right as rain.  (And hopefully rain-proof!)

Cooking made easy...by Sara.

First photo with my new phone...

The week after Thanksgiving means it's time to get Christmas out of the closet.  Eli loves the closet.

This week we are fixing the grave marker for Sara's Dad.  It's been nearly six months, and the weather, sun, and sprinklers have taken their toll.

The goal will be to refinish the cross, engrave the lettering and generally make it look new and respectable for the 6-month memorial service coming up in a week or so.  The first step is to get the borrowed pantograph up and running.

 After a little cutting, sanding, and drilling, it looks like it's working.  I've never used one of these before, and it's a clever little contraption.

Next, the numbers need to go...  The wood has its original color under the labels.  There is going to be a lot of sanding involved here, I think.

Here's the cross with all the numbers removed.  Once I get the stick-um off there, we're going to be sanding!

Speaks for itself, I think.

Black Friday

All right, people!  Listen up!  This is a serious event, and we need good planning, followed by faithful execution of the plan!  Are you listening to me, soldier?
Wal-Mart @ 8:00pm Thursday...

Home Depot @ 5:00am
Banana Republic 5:45am
Jockey
Fossil
Ecco
Discount Tire @ 9:00am 
The Gap
Harry & David
Fry's Electronics @ 10:23am
Michaels

Sears
Macy's
Bath & Body works
REI @ 12:30pm
JC Penny
Tekken
Nordstrom
Sport Chalet @ 2:00pm
Pacific Sun
Hallmark
Apple Store
Costco
See's Candy
Claire's Boutique
Duncan's Gun Works
Target
Family Christian Bookstore
Barnes & Noble
Ulta @ 6:00 pm

And then the Christmas Shopping was done for the year...and this is what was left of Sara.

*By the way... I want that cannon for Christmas, really bad!

Thanksgiving

 It's Thanksgiving!!!

First, there is the all-important pre-Thanksgiving dinner meal.  You don't want something too big, but you don't want something too small.  We decided on a Happy Meal. (??!?)  This is the proper method for eating the micro-size fries you get.  I think it's been decades since I've had one of these.

This year, Mom's kitchen got a makeover, and was out of commission for the Holiday.  Next best thing is dinner at the RB Inn. --  They have a petting zoo. (??!?)  Honestly, it just looked like a dinner preview to me--maybe like those fancy seafood places where you get to pick your own lobster?

The meal itself was fantastic.  We got to eat as much as we wanted of everything, which is obviously the true meaning of Thanksgiving, right?

 Clearly, Mom found all the deserts she wanted.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Yeah.  So, the scintillator is connected to the photomultiplier is connected to the decoupler is connected to the pre-amplifier is connected to the shaping amp is connected to the delay generator is connected to the pulse generator is connected to the led pulser is attached to the neutron detector is connected to the photomulipliers that are connected to the op-amp is connected to the oscilloscope is connected to the multi-channel analyzer is connected to the computer.  Easy, right?

What exactly is the difference between jealousy and envy?

Nathan is there, and I'm here.

I'm not sure if they joined the circus, or the circus joined them!

From China, with love.

iPhone5 2X

Aha!  I think I found the problem.

Wildlife on the disc golf course.

Sea World Christmas Overload!

Uh, what happened to Thanksgiving?  It's the middle of November!  The do get points for saying Christmas, and not "Happy Holidays", or something...

Someone I know can't wait for Christmas to get here...

Thousands of people playing on ground-up ice cubes.  That's not snow, people.

So, when your goldfish does this...that means something wrong.  What does it mean when Shamu lays upside-down on the bottom?  Is his blowhole itchy?

Mercifully, they don't splash people during the Winter night shows.  Brrr.  Pretty odd to see a choir providing Christmas Carols for the Shamu show.  That's just weird.

Eli sent us a postcard from the beach today.

Thanks for the daycare service, Sarah!

Corduroy and sweater from Sara's Dad.

A gentle reminder to the folks down the street...  Halloween is REALLY over.

Goodbye, old suitcase.

New York, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Hawaii, Wichita Falls...  You took our underwear and toiletries everywhere with dependable diginity.  You brought home trinkets.  You survived long, cold trips in the bellies of airplanes, bumpy rides in stuffy trunks, and the countless cloppity-clops of sidewalks, tile floors, and escalators.  You survived the indelicate probings of TSA agents, and the callous handling of many airport workers.  We're not really sure what fell out of your top pocket on that last trip home from La Guardia, and perhaps that is a mystery you will keep all to yourself.  Before we send you off to the eternal luggage carousel in the sky, I'd like to read you one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite children's books.

"Generally, by the time you are real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out, and you get loose in the joints--and very shabby.  But these things don't matter at all, because once you are real, you can't be ugly...at least, not to people who understand."  -The Velveteen Rabbit

The date book -- 5 years in the making.

Sara put together memories and mementos from every date we went on before we got married.  Incredible.  (And a good reminder that I'm about as romantic as a doorstop these days.)