I know, I know, this holiday is about Jesus and his birth. I’d wax theological, but I wouldn’t be able to come anywhere near the beauty/wisdom of this post. So having done you the service of linking to something far better than I am capable of writing (read it…) I will instead geek out just a little about my gifts.

Most interesting gift – The Stanley FatMax Xtreme Functional Utility Bar is one of those things that I put on my Amazon wish list that I never thought I would get. I love tools and especially manual things like hammers, knives, saws, chisels, etc. Perhaps that’s odd for someone who makes a living with complicated electronics. I don’t know. But this thing is eighty pounds of functionality packed into a five pound eighteen inch piece of solid steel. No moving parts and about the only thing you use this thing for is demolition. Coooooool with a google Os.
Entertainment-palooza – I’m a John Wayne fan from way back, but I don’t have many of his movies on DVD. So when I got Chisum, Stagecoach, The Cowboys, Rio Bravo, and The Searchers I was blown away. I also got two CDs from the 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection , one for Steppenwolf and one for Hank Williams Sr.
Geek Squad – Finally, from the mecca of geek swag, ThinkGeek.com, I got a small iron-on GEEK patch in white and silver. And the ultimate for me at least the Star Trek 40th Anniversary Phaser. This is “the Type II phaser you have been dying to have since the first day you saw Captain Kirk kick Klingon keister. With full lights and sound, the only thing this phaser can’t do is really fire. There are 4 power settings (with progressively aggressive sounds and lights), a light control knob (and on/off switch), a flip up “sight,” and an overload setting. Oh, and for all those covert missions, the Type I phaser quickly detaches – still with full lights and sound!” Did I squeal like a three year old? Hell yes I did.
So what did you guys get? (Oh and read that Sand in the Gears post. You’ll be glad you did.)