Christmas and beyond

Like my parents before us, T and I have pretty much given up on surprising each other at Christmas. This year, we bought both of our presents at Barnes & Noble while we were together. On sale, too! We did have to wait until Christmas to open them, though. In fact, T waited until after Christmas, since his was too big to tote on our trip - and he couldn't have played with it, anyway.

I got a new Nook GlowLight Plus e-reader. I had the previous model, but it was getting tatty. Even though I have a tablet, I find that I read more on the Nook. It's smaller, lighter, and can be dimmed so I can read in bed after lights out.

T got a small 3D printer. Its a da Vinci Jr., and it appears to be the gateway drug of 3D printing. He's had some start-up woes with it. The software isn't working with Linux, and he couldn't even make it work with my half-Windows laptop.

Still, when I came home from work on New Year's Eve, he handed me this pendant.

My man made me jewelry!

 
Apparently there is an auto-print function that lets you print something without going through all of the set-up. XYZPrinting cagily realized that anyone who got this printer probably had a mom or wife who okayed it, and it would be smart to make your first print something you could give to her.

T thinks I should paint the pendant. I haven't decided. For starters. I need to find out what sort of paint to use. If I have to invest in model car paint or something, I really don't see that happening. But if the $1.50 craft paints from Michael's will do it, I'm game.

Also this week, his telescope finally came back from the repair facility in Mexico. It broke at the star party in July, and has been getting repaired for months. But now it is home. Between the scope and the printer, T has nerdy fun waiting no matter what the weather.

And I have books.