Nerding 1.0

One of my friends from the SLC area came up to visit this weekend and we simply had to play some DDR (dance dance revolution). I borrowed a projector from work and set it up in the basement as you see here. The projector is powered by the laptop, which also broadcasts the audio wirelessly because I didn't have long enough wires for my speakers on the opposite side of the room. I also didn't have enough USB ports for the transmitter and the DDR pads so I had to borrow a monitor from one of my computers because it has a built in USB hub in the base :).

Alas, I didn't have any white sheets to cover up that "lovely" wood wall paneling so I had to tape up a bunch of paper to the wall to get a nice, white background to project onto. The "projector screen" consists of exactly 42 pieces of computer paper, and was a lot harder to put together then you would think. Once the lights were out it worked quite well!

Birding and Sauvie Island

Seth and I have taken up a little birding. He got a good camera, I've been the spotter and we've been hitting the local wild life refuges. Here are some shots from the last two days. The top picture is a cormorant, the middle picture is as yet unidentified. The bottom is a tundra swan. Have you ever heard a swan fly? Their wings just rip through the air and it is so loud! -

Petting Sharks

Some of our friends from Indianapolis (who used to live at the University of Utah with us) came down and we went to the aquarium in Cincinnati (technically, Kentucky). This is us trying to pet the sharks. Brock, who didn't want anything to do with petting the sharks, our friend Abe, then me and Kaylee trying to touch the shark. There were about 10-15 sharks and sand rays (they look like sting rays). The ranged from about a foot long to 3 feet long. On this pass, Kaylee and I didn't get the shark - but we did on another occasion.

Tangerine

Last night, he was so fussy, we gave him a tangerine to keep him occupied while we ate. He entertained us for a long time.

Christmas at the Smythes

All bundled up to ride the horse carriage and look at Christmas lights in Hermiston. It's not temple square, but there are horses. It was COLD. Jimmy was loving it.





The next day we went shopping in the Tri-Cities. This one fell asleep and woke up grumpy.















In Seth's family, the smallest child gets to go into the Christmas room first. Since Seth lost that privilege about 28 years ago, he was more than happy to reclaim it as Jimmy's personal assistant.

















As predicted, Jimmy's favorite part of Christmas was the wrapping paper, but he loved his loot as well.