CES 2019

I was fortunate enough to be able to go to the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) again this year. It's one of Las Vegas' largest shows and it's truly mindboggling.

I stayed at the Luxor at the south end of the strip. I love the Egyptian theme there.

There were a couple of VR flying squirrel simulators. This one even has a fan to blow wind in your face. I don't get it.

Flexible screen for your tablets & phones.

Electromechanical version of Pong. The knob moves a physical paddle and the ball is a little cube that slides around.

Cat food dispensers that use facial recognition to dispense food in order to keep the dog from eating the cat food.

Tiny sensor chip to the right of a sewing needle eye.

Deere brought in a complete harvester with head. 

This had Grampa written all over it. There's even a southern Utah backdrop! It's a 4-rotor personal death machine. 

There were drones of every shape and size. This one snaps into a phone case. Pop it out, unfold it, and it will fly a few feet away from you and take your selfie.

This was the most ridiculous thing I saw at the show (and I saw a lot of ridiculous things!). It's a personal submarine/jet boat shaped like a sailfish. It has enough power that it can jump clear out of the water. I suppose if you were 5, it would be the coolest thing ever.

Here's a video of it in action:

 

AI (Artificial Intelligence) is really taking off. Nvidia has traditionally made video cards for video gaming. These have thousands of processors all running in parallel and are well-suited for solving complex problems like those used in AI. Now Nvidia is making AI-specific hardware that is being used in autonomous cars. Without video games, we wouldn't have this.

JP wants one of these. It's a suitcase with kitty ears. When you scratch it between the ears, they wiggle.

This is a sensor that is currently on the market. It's less that 1/4" square and it contains a 3-axis gyro, a 3-axis accelerometer, and a hyper-sensitive barometric pressure sensor that can detect elevation changes of less than one foot. It's being used for fitness trackers to count stairs climbed.

These are some directional speakers. They are made of an array of ultrasonic speakers that create a spatial sound that can only be heard in one spot. If you're not in that spot, they're completely silent. Move into that spot, and they sound like normal speakers.

This is a proposed commercial death machine put out by Bell Helicopters. It's a six-rotor VTOL aircraft that can hold a few people.

There were quite a few companies selling STEM educational things. This is a set of smart Legos that can be used to create circuits and programmed with an iPad using a simple graphical programming language. It's pretty cool to think that grade school kids are learning this!

Fully automatic kitty litter box. After the cat exits, the drum rotates 360° and separates the litter from the clumps and dumps into a plastic bag. It looked like a very solid design that would work well. Only $500.

Mellow Weekend

What do you do on January 5th when it's warm, sunny, and not windy? Sit outside, of course!

Every weekend we pick up Cam for the weekend and take him back on Sunday afternoon. Sometimes we can't pass up a lunch at our favorite place in the Haymarket: Leadbelly.

New Year 2019

In addition to our old neighbors from IL, we also had our old neighbors from across the street and the boys each had a friend over to celebrate the arrival of 2019.

Old Friends, New Year

Our old neighbors from IL came out for New Year's. On the 30th, we hit the Lodge.

New Buddy

Nana's cat and S got along like Tom & Jerry.

They both like a good game of string.

M would sleep the whole trip in the way-back. S likes to sit on someone's lap while going bye bye.

Christmas 2018

We spent X-Mas day @ Nana's in IL. For the past three months, the boys have been talking about what they will do when they pool their resources and get a Nintendo Switch (the latest gaming system). Without their knowledge, we got them the system, two games, and an extra pair of controllers. JP gave them an extra game and the controllers to open. At first they were ecstatic when they saw the Nintendo logos, but then they realized that 1. They controllers were useless without a main system, and 2. the game they opened was not the one that they had been talking incessantly about for the last three months. They both feigned happiness and said Thanks.

Then JP gave them the boxes with the main system and the right game.

Much of the day was spent playing Super Smash Bros. on the new game system.

BD came over for dinner and Super Smash Bros.

X-Mas Dinner

We don't eat much meat, much less steaks. JP found these @ Costco and we indulged.

The boys each finished their steaks. JP & I left some for leftovers.

Warm Nap Space

S & W are getting along like peas & carrots, especially when it comes to warm nap places.

Pre-Christmas

Since we were going to go to IL for X-Mas day, and we didn't want to drag a carload of gifts, we opened some at home on the 23rd. W is a good helper when it comes to keeping empty boxes from blowing away.

This was pretty much our X-Mas at home. Very mellow all day.

Someone's in My Bed

The kitty sits in the dog bed just to spite him. She doesn't really want to be in it.

Shop Til You Drop

This has been the ultimate retail shopping season for Lincoln. Thanksgiving was early, so we have an extra week, and the weather has been perfect every weekend.

NGD!

NGD! is short for New Guitar Day! JP felt bad for me having to go to work every day, so she got me a new guitar for X-Mas/birthday. She's the best!

W doesn't seem to mind it.

Hey! Let me up there!

Season of Darkness

Mid-December and it's dark when I go to work, and dark when I come home. Time for playing music, board games, and 1000 piece puzzles!

Family Photo 2018

Happy Holidays from all of us.

Fluffy but Sharp

This is S's new friend from up the street. He comes over once a week to play. He weighs about a pound and is made of nothing but fluff and sharp puppy teeth. He looks cute as a button, but he's still a puppy and he like to chew on EVERYTHING.

Stripes on Lions @ Night Owl Pub

GP's band played a double set at the Night Owl Friday night. They totally rocked it!! It was obvious that all three guys were really having fun.

X-Mas Lights

We were blessed with a couple of relatively warm days for X-Mas light installation. JP went to town and did it all. Our little skinny Alberta Spruce is now as tall as the house. I wasn't there to help, so I imagine she acted out a scene from Christmas Vacation while trying to get lights to the top of the tree.

Thanksgiving 2018

S is a pretty good traveler - he likes to look out enjoy the scenery.

We did a fast in and out trip to see Nana for Thanksgiving in Lanark. As usual, we all ate too much.

The day after, we went back to Woodstock to our old friends. This was the 10th (?) annual lunch @ Biaggi's in Deer Park.

Another Fluffball

This is the other new fluffball in the neighborhood. She's a cokapoo just like M was, and she's a terror.

Best $30

We have been fighting the volume on our Netflix and Amazon videos to the point that we literally wore out the volume buttons on the remote. I picked up an audio compressor at the local used music store for $30 and it's AMAZING!! when the TV signal gets loud, it automatically turns down the volume, and when it's real quiet, it lets it all through. We were able to watch an entire scary movie (they're usually the worst) without touching the volume control.

Chilly Football

We scored another set of tickets to see the Huskers. This time we beat Illinois - it's good to see our season is turning around. Saturday morning it was 12° when we arrived downtown. By kickoff, it was up to 24°. Brrrr.

In addition to the chill, we also had a breeze. The banner-flying plane had a hard time making any headway flying south.

Latke Feed

We ventured onto campus to take in some yummy vittles at CP's SAM Latke Feed. It's their annual philanthropic fundraising activity. I'm now hooked on latkes! They're like ginormous tater tots that have been smashed flat.

Let it Snow

My least favorite tradition of fall is installing the snow tires. GP has been working out, and it showed as he manhandled the tires.

We cut it pretty close this year - it snowed a couple days after we did the tire swap.

Fluffball

There's a new fluffball in the neighborhood. 

New Sammy

CP had his induction to the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity last weekend. It's a great group of guys that are focused on academics and success. We're excited for him.

Senioritis

GP got his senior photos done by our friend downtown in the Railyard.

Stripes on Lions @ Southpointe

GP's band played last Sunday afternoon at the mall. It was a picture perfect day. Between the game on Saturday and being out Sunday, my lips got sunburned.

Here they are doing their own version of Country Roads

This is Rio (Duran Duran 1982). It's really challenging on the bass - I can't even begin to play it, but GP has been after it for a while. I think it's his favorite song to play.

This is a song from GP's favorite band, Gorillaz. (Same band he saw in Boston)

Best Friends (Sometimes)

With S growing a few brain cells, he's become much more of a friend for V. 

Puppy Friend

We have a new puppy in the neighborhood. She's a brown version of Maggie. Same sweet disposition and also has the need to dig.

Cheap Seats

With the dismal Husker football season this year, ticket prices are at an all-time low. CG & I got some seats for $20 a piece. We got to see watch the Huskers get their second win of the season!! We played a small school from FL, Bethune-Coleman, that was a makeup game for the season opener that got called off due to lightning.