We bought a cheap Christmas tree a while back and decided to set it up.  C-Monster’s first Christmas tree!  (And Thao’s first Christmas tree, for that matter.)  We bought some lights, but they were so cheaply made that they didn’t seem safe so we didn’t use those.  (That’s life in Vietnam where there are no safety standards.  For anything.)  Here are some photos from us setting up the tree earlier tonight:

The always exciting opening of the box:

Getting started:

Thao gets ready to put on the star:

And, it’s on:

Check out that belly:

And that belly:

The happy couple:

1/2 of the happy couple:

Something freaky with the flash:

C’s little buddies waiting in his crib for him to arrive:

There you go!

. . . that the touchstone for quality in a movie is really whether it features Cedric the Entertainer?

I got hosed.  They originally said the photos couldn’t show our whole faces or eyes.  They changed that rule after I’d (a) already submitted my photo; and (b) shaved off my moustache.  However I think I should get extra points for being the only person who is:  (a) shirtless; and (b) incorporating what is clearly a phallic symbol into my photo.  Candy Riverview and Fred Russell should be disqualified for having coordinated their poses, and Bunny Cat should be disqualified for apparently having started growing his moustache in November 2006, not November 2010.

A Kinect costs $150.  So two of them costs $300.  So for $300, we can equip robots with 360-degree vision to better hunt down their human prey:

I don’t think Microsoft had any idea what the hacker community was going to do with the Kinect.  It’s only been out for a few weeks and people are using it for all kinds of things.  Undoubtably more to come.

We had our last ultrasound on Saturday.  The baby is looking good.  Weighs 3.4kgs already, which is 7.5 lbs.  So he's ready!  He has a big head and a big abdomen.  Based on the size of both his head and abdomen, his gestational age is already 41+ weeks!  We're 19 days out from our official due date of December 18th.  I'm still predicting he will be early – my guess is December 10th.  We'll see.  Thao's still feeling well – no problems at all.

We're eagerly awaiting our little C-Monster!

The company 23andme.com (founded by the wife of Google founder Sergey Brin) is offering a limited-time discount on its comprehensive genetic test.  It’s usually $499, but through 11/29 is only $99.  They send you a kit, you send them a sample of your saliva, and 6 to 8 weeks later they send you your results.  It gives you a lot of information – diseases you’re genetically predisposed to, your ancestry, and how you will likely fare with other traits like baldness, muscle performance, etc.  I think it would be really cool to do, and I would do it myself if I could get my saliva from Vietnam to the U.S.

Here’s the link:  www.23andme.com