A random collection of news today:

Harry Potter VI: The Half-Blood Prince is coming out July 16!

You can build your own Apollo guidance computer at home (if you aren't an engineer and want to bore yourself silly, I can tell you all about the lunar landing guidance algorithm).

Finally, I saw the most awesome baby gift ever. Unfortunately, with the youngest child in my family at 18 months now, I couldn't get it (plus this gift could possibly be seen as a bit of an insult to my father). Though the thought crossed my mind to just go ahead and buy it for Gavin and Jen's potential future offspring. Its an all black baby jump suit, with a Darth Vader head on it, with big writing that says "Who's Your Daddy?" I giggled all the way through the mall. But, a picture is worth a thousand words.

As for the Christmas party, it was fun. I got boxer shorts and chocolate candy at the gift exchange. As is becoming traditional, I "dj-ed" the gift exchange again. Its hilarious what people give and what they want (the bottle of wine and bottle of Baily's traveled around the room, and so did a stuffed monkey wearing a NASA t-shirt). I managed to miscount the children's gifts and ended up giving away the gift intended for my coworker's 2-year-old daughter who was at home sick. Anyway, I gave him a pink fuzzy unicorn to take home for his daughter to relieve my guilt for basically stealing a little kid's gift.

After the part I went to the mall to finish up my Christmas shopping there (8:45 - 9:30 p.m.), then back to Toys 'R Us to grab a few more things (9:30 - 10 p.m.), and then to Barnes and Noble for the last of the stuff (they are thankfully open until 11 p.m.). While there, I was convinced to donate copies of my favorite children's book Where the Wild Things Are the local hospitals. What a gimic for Barnes and Noble, they sell the books at cover price to you (with a profit for them) and just add the service of putting them in a box and taking them to the local children's hospitals.

My recommendation for holiday shopping: do it late at night. The crowds were thin and the lines were short and the traffic was non-existant. Now, all I have left is a gift for Allie. So, send any ideas for a 5th grade girl my way, I'm making one more trip to Toys 'R Us tonight.