CES 2012

In case you're not aware, CES is the Consumer Electronics Show - it's the largest trade show of its kind in the world, and it's geek heaven. It is held in Las Vegas every January.

We made the exactly 500 mile trek out there this past Monday. The drive was pretty good, just really boring, like you'd expect a drive through the desert to be. Once we arrived, we checked into The Carriage House. It was exactly what I was looking for. The room had a little kitchenette, which was comprised of a refrigerator, microwave, and two-burner stove. They provide all of the dishes and cleaners for you. It's also located near the Strip, but not on it, and very near a Monorail station. Sorry, I was so tired that I forgot to take pictures of the room until it was too lived in to post publicly.

CES was interesting. Unfortunately, they really didn't have much to look at that wasn't there in 2010. The push this year was still 3D TV, just like in 2010. I do have to say that in my opinion, the electric DeLorean stole the show:




What else did we do in Vegas you ask? We gambled, of course. $20 each, woo hoo! Michael actually won about $12.50, enough to pay for his Schweddy Balls!



He's been looking to try that flavor for at least six months, but all of the ice cream retailers near us are prudes.

We also went to the Valley of Fire. For those of you that don't know, part of Star Trek Generations was filmed there. Specifically here:



Yeah, Michael had to see that in person. The rest of the park was pretty cool, too. I even made a friend!



It's only about 45 minutes outside of Vegas and costs $10 to enter. The park is open during daylight hours, unless you make reservations to camp. Sunset is the best time to visit.

We exited the east entrance of the park and drove down the shore of Lake Mead, ending up at the Hoover Dam.



Michael had always wanted to see it, and yes - we let the Dam jokes fly. Didja know that Nevada wants $7 to park at the Dam? Well, us brokies drove across the Dam and parked on the more charitable Arizona side where we were not charged at all. It's a little further away than the paid lots, but not by much. We then walked across the Dam, visited the gift shop, and walked back to the car. $30 each for a tour? Not this year.



The trip back on Friday was also pretty non-eventful, just more boring. I managed to stay awake the entire ride this time! I normally drift off quite a bit on road trips, as I'm not allowed to drive.

All in all, the trip was worth it. We'll see if we decide to go back next year - it's all going to depend on what the tech companies announce in 2012 - that and how much dough we have to take with us. Being broke in Vegas is the pits!!

Christmas

Christmas at our house is always a little strange. We never host the actual day of, but my parents come down a week or two later. This year, we're not doing Christmas with them until the 7th, so our decorations are still up. We didn't put up as many decorations this year as we couldn't quite get into the spirit of things. I think that me hurting my hand had a lot to do with our humbugian attitudes.

Either way, here's what we did:

The inflatable Mickey that my father sent us

Michael's outside lights spectacular

My dad has had these since I was little. I have no idea where they came from, but he passed them on to us this year.

These were a Christmas swap gift from Michael's uncle's girlfriend. She painted them herself, not knowing that my Christmas theme is blue, silver, and white!

Here we are in front of the tree. It took us 10 shots to get one that I was ok with, but I still don't really like it. Next year I'll feel better about our Christmas picture as I'll have lost more weight.

Christmas isn't complete without a curious kitten!

With the living room light off

Christmas card display, just ribbon and clothespins that I painted white with a glitter overlay.

Living room light on. We had to store all of the gift bags separately due to the above curious kitten.

We buy a Disney ornament every year. This one is from 2011. It is designed to plug into one of the lights on your Christmas tree. We had to hang it here instead as the lights on our pre-lit tree were the wrong size.

I'm still working on finalizing my Christmas style, like that's ever going to happen. There was more decor through the house, but I didn't want to overload this post with pictures.

Anyone have shots from this Christmas that they'd like to share?