Wednesday, August 04, 2010

A One-Of-A-Kind Post

Several months ago I got a new Android smartphone. I hesitate to use the word phone, because it's far more of a hand-held computer than any kind of phone. There are apps galore that can be downloaded for it, and I've been having fun trying out a bunch of them, particularly astronomy apps. Some apps (Google Sky) are great for identifying stars and constellations, and others (Iridium Flares, Satellite Flybys) are great for spotting iridium flares, satellites, and the space station.


The Android OS has its own little mascot. This guy:

And a while back, a company started selling collectible Android figurines like this:

They turned out to be hugely popular, and sold out nearly instantaneously.

This brings me to my birthday! Wendy let it be known that:
  1. She was making me a birthday present.
  2. The magnitude of its dorkiness would be off the charts.
  3. She waited too long to start it and was now hurrying to finish it in time.
I honestly had no idea what it could be.

So, on my birthday, the mystery was solved when I unwrapped this:

I loved it! It was way cooler than anything I had imagined she was making, and I was totally impressed with her mad crocheting skillz.

A few days after my birthday, the company got more figurines in stock, so I jumped at the chance to get some friends (minions?) for my custom-made Android:

The little guy on the right, by the way, is a glow-in-the-dark "radioactive" android.

The Android wasn't the only hand-made gift I got, either. Long-time readers of our blog know that Wendy and I love books, and we have a lot of them. So, some months ago, when my Mom mysteriously asked for a list of authors and books I like, I knew something was up. And when Cory blogged about his Concorde birthday gift a few months ago, I knew something cross-stitch-y was up.

Once again, the mystery was solved when I opened the box and found this:


(click to embiggen)

A very cool, not to mention very creative, gift that goes quite well with our tall bookshelves and stacks of books piled high.