Christmas was good!

Its been a while since I could say that I had such a wonderful Christmas. Man I got all sorts of cool loot. Tara really did a number on spoiling me rotton. The picture you see above was taken with my first present my new Digital Camera a Kodak z740. Not the best camera in the whole world, but it sure does a darn good job of taking photos. Its a good point and shoot, plus it lets me learn to do all the manual settings that you can do. I should be able to learn a lot with this thing. I am excited to take lots of photos with it.

I also got a new fleece jacket. Its really sweet its a Giants one of course. I got a Licence plate cover for my car to finally replace "Always Late, But Worth the Wait" that Angelique left on my car. Now at least its a Utah Jazz frame, even if they suck this year. I also got a 12" skillet. Which will double as a weapon for Tara if I am not home. I got a box of Orange Krispies from See's Candies, a really nice Shirt made by quicksliver that feels like silk. Its really nice. I got all 4 Star Wars Movies that I didn't have on DVD before. I got Episode III, IV, V and VI.

I was also spoiled with a bunch of other things, Tara holding me on Christmas Morning. She also got me two little Mr. Potato Heads, that are dressed up as "DarthTater" and a "SpudTrooper". They are a little silly, but pretty cute. The SpudTrooper even has a little potato masher in his hand instead of a blaster. And Granny got me a new school house for my Christmas Village, and Tara got me some silocone Handles for my pans when I put them in the oven when I forget that they are hot and burn my hands. She also got me a bottle of CoolWater, and a Darth Vader Ornament that talks when you press a button.

Mom and dad were nice enough to send us some new cooking chopsticks, something I have needed for a long time. Along with some inari sushi skins and seasoning packet.

I suppose I spoiled Tara pretty bad too. I got her a new bracelette that has a bunch of Saphire's and Diamonds. She also got an exercize bike, some new pajamas, a box of chocolates, a new vase for the flowers I get her all the time, a new purse, and a wallet that will hold all of her stuph that she had in random places in the purse. I also got her some Gardeing tools, that she has needed for a long time. And a new nozzel for the hose which will give her more control over the water, so she can water her plants a bit better. Oh yeah and I got her a lot of Chocolates. She deserves them all.

It was really a good time. We had Christmas Eve with Tara's friend Jina, and Christmas morning we woke up at 5:00am opened up all of our presents, then went back to bet at about 6:30, and got up at about 9. We watched football, and watched my Fantasy Football score as I was playing in the Superbowl for my leauge. I ended up winning that thing and I will take home a cool 500 bucks for doing so. It has been one of the better chirstmases in my life and I can't wait for more of them with Tara. Maybe next time my family will be able to be around.

My brother Link is the only one who called me on that day, except for my parents, who called 3 times before they finally got a hold of me. It was nice to hear their voices again. They sounded so much closer than being in Japan. I am truly greatful for the holiday time. I just have to make it through another brithday now. I will be 28 and that is a bit scary, but more on that later. . .

Acoustics are FUN!

Tonight Tara and I are having people over for a little Christmas Party, and so I was picking up some groceries at the local Trader Joes. I arrived about 10 min before they opened and was pleased to find a little bit of Science fun while I was waiting.

Its hard to see from this picture but there is a puddle at the top of the picture just down and to the right of the big puddle. I guess the dept of the water was just perfect to pick up the sound waves coming from my car. As I sat there waiting for the wonderful people at Trader Joes, to open their doors, I watched that little puddle and it seemed strange. The ripples in the puddle seemed to be going on with some sort of pattern.

So I watched harder, and couldn't figure it out for a bit. Why do they look so wierd? I thought if I turned down my radio I might get a better view of them and be less distracted. So I turned down NPR and watched. To my surprise. No more ripples. "That seems, wierd. I am at least 30 feet away from that puddle, in an asphalt parking lot. How could my radio be doing that?" I thought to myself, half outloud.

So I turned the Radio back up. Sure enough the ripples came back. And this time I was watching to see if they were coming at the same time as the bass in the speakers voices. Amazingly enough it was. How wierd this was. So I hit the "Loud" button on my stereo which gives it more bass, and turned the loud feature off. Amazing again, the ripples were still there but much less intense. So I turned the loud back up, and even changed the station to see if I could get it to happen in time with the music. Sure enough, there were my little ripples. It was pretty cool. I guess no one else waiting had their radio's on.

Life can be very fun sometimes, if you just take the time to look around and see what is going on. I hope that I will keep looking. I took a picture and had to post it. Its amazing to me anyway. . .

Flicks in Riverbank

We went to a restaurant last night called Flicks. Its in Riverbank, CA very close to Modesto. The place sits next to a movie theater, and inside is all sorts of killer stuph from lots of movies. Most of the really cool stuph is from Star Wars of course. They have an X-Wing, a Tie Fighter, a full size version of Darth Vader, a GIANT AT-AT, and so much more.

There are more pictures on my flickr site from the place. The food was also very good. I got to have a Flat Iron steak for the first time. I have been wanting to try one for some time now, and I must admit that they are pretty darn good. They have all sorts of movie themed foods. My Flat Iron was called "Pumping Iron." They also have "Planet of the Skins" which are just regular potato skins.

Everything was very good. Can't wait to go back!