And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

So far Stephanie and Justin have flown away. Beth and Matthew have driven home. Marylib flew out today. All we have left is Katie who flies out next Saturday. Then it will be back down to the two of us - the nuclear couple. The house is getting quieter and quieter.

Happy Holidays from Austin

from Justinsomnia: Happy Holidays from Austin

Back: MaryLib (Kathy's mother), Stephanie (Justin's girlfriend), Justin, Katie, and Matthew; Front: Brian, and Kathy

Update: Four previous years of Christmas photos (all courtesy of Justinsomnia).
2006

2005

2004

2003

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care

Lego Construction 3

Nearly done... nearly done. I've been saying that over the past few weeks, but somehow I keep finding another kit to extract from the rubble of Lego blocks, plates, tiles, and other parts. Here is what happens. One or two parts in the rubble catch my attention so I look up what kits they are in and I realize that I've got yet other parts that are from that same kit. So TADA I sort that kit, and register the missing parts to be ordered. So another ten kits have been done this way.

Yesterday I received the remaining parts for the 6971 Intergalactic Command Base that I had purchased. That night Katie and I built it while watching some of our favorite TV programs. This morning I took it all apart and re-bagged it. Another one hits the dust.
Here are all the kits that I've sorted (ordered by release date and part count) from the mass of parts I had. For each one I printed the assembly instructions and inventory list and put both of them in a binder. I still have about ten kits that are missing some parts and they are waiting for me to order the parts when I get the money (probably after the holidays).

Number	Title	Year	Part Count	MSRP
7720	Battery Train Set	1980	406	?
6871	Star-Patrol Launcher	1984	66	?
6971	Intergalactic Command	1984	312	?
390	Helicopter	1986	24	?
6845	Cosmic Charger	1986	48	?
6039	Twin Arm Launcher	1988	73	8.50
8832	Roadster	1988	85	?
6590	Vacation Camper	1988	106	?
6054	Forestmen's Hideout	1988	198	17.50
6085	Black Monarch Castle	1988	665	68.00
6675	Road & Trail 4 X 4	1988	793	?
8865	Test Car	1988	892	?
6895	Spy-Trak I	1989	143	15.00
6060	Knight's Challenge	1989	160	22.00
8054	Universal Building Set	1989	194	?
8854	Power Crane	1989	508	?
6896	Celestrial Forager	1990	87	?
6923	Particle Ionizer	1990	187	24.00
8064	Motorized Universal Building Set	1990	211	?
8820	Mountain Rambler	1991	139	?
6261	Raft Raiders	1992	78	13.25
6057	Sea Serpent	1992	117	16.50
6852	Sonar Security	1993	60	6.00

So for now I'm done. I've boxed up the remaining parts, and stored them all in the garage.

FLL Volunteer

I spent the day as a FIRST Lego League (FLL) volunteer. It was an all day event from 7:15 AM to 5:30 PM. This was a Lego robotics competition called Power Puzzle. There were about 60 teams comprised of 3-10 elementary and middle school children and two adult coaches. I was a judging room monitor. I wasn't a judge. I just helped make the judges better. There were two judges, and two monitors for each room. One monitor worked the door lining up the teams, and the other one did the timing. I was a timer. This allowed me to watch the teams work. As a timer I started the stop watch when the team entered, called out five, two and one minutes to go, and stop when it was all over. I helped in the technical room in the morning where the teams were judged about their robot's design and implementation. Then I helped in the teamwork room in the afternoon where the the teams had to build a non-robotic figure on the spot with movable arms and legs while being judged for their cooperation. There were lots of other things going on, much like a geeky sporting event, including head-to-head non-destructive robot competitions and research presentations/skits. It wasn't hard, but it was fun especially watching the young people being so creative

Pantry Shelves

Katie and I have been building pantry shelves at Matthew's house this week. A few weeks ago Matthew removed the old wire shelves leaving his kitchen pantry naked. About a week ago I filled in the hundreds of holes left by those old shelves. Last weekend we purchased the wood for the shelving at his nearby Home Depot. We purchased two 4x8 sheets of 3/4" MDF for the shelves (very heavy), and about a dozen 1x2 for the supports. The people at Home Depot used their fancy linear saw to cut the sheets into six 16" strips that are 8' long. Five of them are to be the primary shelves and one of the strips we further cut into four 4" strips for can shelves. This week Katie and I decided to work together while Matthew was at work and build him new shelves. We've had a good time working together on this project. On Monday we taped and painted the pantry white. We also carefully measured and layed-out where each shelf would go. On Wednesday we cut and mounted the 1x2 supports onto the walls. This consists of five primary shelves including a can shelf on the left-hand wall, and four separate intermediate can shelves also on the left-hand wall. We also cut and fitted the shelves for mounting. On Thursday we predrilled and counter-shunk the shelves in preparation for mounting (over one hundred holes). Then we mounted the shelves and caulked around them. For mounting we screwed the shelves into the 1x2 supports and we also screwed the shelves into each other. The caulking took hours because we had to caulk every edge top and bottom and every hole smoothing them all by hand. Our next job is to paint all the new shelving white and to touch up the walls.
Putting up 1x2 supports on Wednesday.We've been spending about five hours each day doing this work, and we probably have five more hours of painting. Somehow I don't think Matthew knew how much work this was when he tore out the old wire shelves. Oh, and have I mentioned that he took out the shelving in the master bedroom closet too. But that's another project. So right now we're his sweat-equity home improvement "elves". We appear after he leaves for work, make a mess, clean up and disappear before he gets home.

Update: See Katie's "This is what I have been up to since I been home" blog entry about painting the pantry shelves.