Whoa!

Death Drive Home

I ended up behind this guy on the way home:





Two dead deer tied to the bumper. Delightful.

Lesson learned: my phone takes terrible pics.

Microsoft Songsmith is funny

I caught this on pitchfork this morning. Apparently Microsoft has a new software that creates a musical track to accompany the singers voice. Hilarity ensues. Here is a nugget:



More here. I especially like Oasis - "Wonderwall." I am pretty sure it is better than the original.

Yule Blog

Well, the holiday season has come and gone extremely quickly once again. It was an especially long break this year, as New Years day fell on a Thursday and most places of employment extended the break through the weekend.

We had the first of many Christmas celebrations here in New Jersey with my dad, Nancy (step-mom), and Sean (bro). We decided this would be the year of the Lego because Sean is now 6 and has the patience and fine motor skills to handle it. He really liked the Lego's, especially the Star Wars themed kit. We also got him this awesome dinosaur set that turned out very cool. A picture of it is on my phone, I will be sure to post soon.



My dad and Nancy got us this awesome, and much needed set of luggage. It got a lot of use over the holiday and was extremely convenient.

On the 23rd we headed to MN for the start of our long break. We stayed with my mom and Ken (step-dad) in Somerset, WI, which is just across the border from Stillwater. It was quiet and peaceful and nice to spend a few days with family. We spent Christmas at my Grandma's house, which is literally just down the road from my mom's house. Erin and I decided to walk there, which tuned out to be much colder than anticipated. Apparently they have a pretty steady wind through the development, and we were pretty chilled on arrival. Grandma and Grandpa made a Christmas turkey with lots of fixin's.



After G & G's house we headed to my Aunt Sue's house (my dad's side) and had dinner and family time. It was nice to hang out for a few hours and catch up with cousins, aunts and uncles. Unfortunately at this point I was feeling ill and was not able to enjoy everyone like I had hoped, and banished myself to the couch so as to infect as few as possible. Over there, the Christmas was all about the kids, and they racked up a lot of fun gifts.


Taiylor and Connor patiently wait for presents

After that we headed to Connoy's for the annual Christmas party. It was great to spend time with friends, catching up and listening to music. Unfortunately I did not take a lot of shots and the ones I did take we not good. I need to work on my low light camera skills.

On the 28th we headed to Sheboygan to spend time with Erin's family. We left early (6:30 am) in order to get to the big Marx family get together. It was a wonderful family celebration with crock pots filled with midwestern delights. A good old fashioned midwestern pot luck definitely does have an unmatched charm. Again, the children enjoyed gifts and we all enjoyed their smiles and holiday enthusiasm.


Becca enjoys her gift (a baby)

We had a great week in Sheboygan that included taking Grandma Donna to bingo, an evening out with siblings, New Years Eve at City Streets, and lots of family time.





We headed home on the second, complete with flight delays and other miscellaneous travel mishaps. Anyway, so glad to be home. Hope all of your holidays were great!

More pictures on Flickr. I had some fun with notes on these, which I like and will do more often now.