Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

A Wilson Tennis Racquet Christmas Tree. ("Oh, Tennisbaum...")

Unconventional Christmas Lights
This year, as a follow-up to the Christmas Plunger Tree, I bought a wooden tennis racquet at the second-hand shop and spruced it up as a gift to K.

I wrote up instructions and took pictures as I went, and made an Instructable. I've visited the Instructables site many times and thought this would be a good time for me to contribute, after having gotten so many good project ideas from them.



The Return of the Plunger

I don't know what my next project will be. There is a recent trend among makers of installing speakers into novel containers, such as suitcases and tool boxes. Speaking of tool boxes, I'm still only half finished with the one I'm making (or not making, depending on how you look at it).

Maybe I'll make a pinball machine. It looks pretty easy, right?

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Out And About

Wharton’s stage at the Brian Regan show. Not pictured: Brian Regan, because you’re not supposed to take pictures during the show.

Out and About
The Family Unit traveled north to East Lansing (Home of the Michigan State Spartans) to see Brian Regan at Wharton Center. Brian Regan is a comedian, and one of our favorites. He is family-friendly as well as being incredibly funny. We had a great time. On the way there, we stopped at J’s parents’ house to have pizza and watch UM’s basketball team on TV.

The next night, J and I went to the Michigan Theater in downtown Ann Arbor to see a preview of the first show of the upcoming season of PBS’s Downton Abbey. Scandal, humor, and glib Englishness abounded.


The Michigan Theather in Ann Arbor. The weather was much nicer for this Downton Abbey preview than it was for last year’s, so we didn’t mind waiting in line outside.


This is the organ in the Michigan Theater. The organist played Christmas carols before the show.

Important Book Report
Recently, I reported that I found an interesting book at the school where Mark takes his sax lesson. I was there earlier this week, and found a new book whose title I really like.


I think the word “Donald” in the title should be in larger type, don’t you?

Yes, this book is a take on “Where’s Waldo?” and contains pages similar to one of the boys’ old favories, “The Big Book of Search and Find”

I think it is important to sometimes Detect Donald.

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