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I came home last Thursday to find a package waiting for me.  After some confusion (I didn't order anything and wasn't sure why I was getting a box from Costco.com), I opened it to find:

GPS (moleskine sold separately)

a brand new Garmin Nuvi 650 GPS unit that my awesome parents had bought for me as a present!  I was so excited that I set it up to use for the very next day on my way to work, and now that I've had a chance to play with it, I can't tell you how much fun it is.  Obviously, it's not really necessary for use on my drive to/from work (although it is fun to see the turns coming up ahead, or know how long I've been sitting stock-still in traffic), but it's going to be VERY handy for me.

I tell people that I have absolutely NO sense of direction.  Seriously, I could get lost in a walk-in closet.  I have managed to get lost in a 3 block drive between my grandparents' house and the local video store.  Not something to be really proud of, but I've accepted that I just can't handle the spatial relationships that make up directions until I've driven a route a few times.  This GPS looks to be a lifesaver for me for those times that I've been to a place less than 2-3 times, especially as it recalculates any time I go off route (e.g. make a wrong turn a street too early and end up spending another 20 minutes trying to find my way back to where I was).

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<Rant>

I came home a couple days ago to find my daughter playing with her new happy meal toy:  a small figurine from The Spiderwick Chronicles that has a little button on the back that makes a small light in the birdhouse? the character is holding light up.  I tried shining it on the wall to see if it made a dot, but it didn't seem to do much.  Then I found the instructions:

McDonalds’ Spiderwick Toy

So basically, you look through a little viewfinder which is backlit by the figurine's light, and you see an image, either a crow or a goblin.  I'm sure this is in line with the premise of the movie somehow. I've got a little problem, though, with this toy (and McDonald's, by association) advocating that my child shine (bright) lights into her eyes from 12" away. 

Sure, I can (and do) tell/teach her not to do this, but she's young enough still that she doesn't understand the consequences of staring at a bright light or at the sun, etc, even if I were to explain them to her.  So I would appreciate if McDonald's wouldn't compound the issue by making it seem like it is OK to do this by way of a toy.

</Rant>

And now for something completely different – I finally got around to scanning the picture of Violet w/ Santa from this past December….

Violet poses with Santa

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