Here we are, on Christmas Eve, all in the house and attempting to get Trevor settled in for the evening. Does he know who is "coming" tonight, yes. Is he excited about it? I think so. But I would have thought that at the ripe old age of 3, he would be brimming with excitement. I don't remember being three myself but I would like to believe that I was pretty excited about the arrival of Santa Claus. Perhaps he is just a little too young to get it, or maybe kids aren't the same as they used to be.
Our economy has changed in such a way that families are almost always forced to have two incomes, therefore bringing in more money, the circle begins. Is it possible that because of this new lifestyle change, getting toys on one specific day of the year is not what it is cracked up to be because they are treated to these items so regularly? What do you think?

This is the second test of movable type for liloia.com. I am trying out the image upload feature. It is really easy to put the images into a new blog with this tool.

This is the first entry that I am making to this blog tool. I hope that the rest of this tool is as cool as this first taste of it seems to be. It will take some time to get the site tweaked to how we want it to be but so far so good.

This is the baby quilt I finished this week for soon-to-arrive Scott Morey. It was actually done before the baby was born - quite a feat for any quilter! 

Last Friday, Amazon.com revealed it's new shopping site for the visually impaired. While the new site may look sparse and uninteresting to you, it may be just the thing to allow a blind person access to the world of online shopping. This streamlined site contains no graphics and the choices are simple and clear. But without access to a text reader, I can't comment on the design from a usability standpoint. However, I will note that I generally dislike the use of dropdown lists as menus. They can be tricky to navigate - and it's always better to see all of your choices in one glance. But a text reader may be able to use this type of menu without a problem. Oddly enough, some disabled users have complained that Amazon's new page 'ghettoizes' the visually impaired. Blind users are no longer welcome to use the original version of Amazon.com because a scaled-back version is available. Is this just a case of people playing devil's advocate, or is there really a problem with creating a specific site area for non-standard users? Others complain that while Amazon has made strides for blind visitors, they have left the handheld users in the lurch with missing ALT tags and other lacking features. If you have a comment about Amazon's new look, you can join the discussion on the CRM Daily forum. 

You can make shiny things with Crazy Aaron's Thinking Putty. Like faces. Go get some! 

 It's nice to see that even good old Wil Wheaton is getting into the weblogging thing. You may remember Wil as JJ on from the hit show Good Times or from his Oscar-winning role as the Bandit in Smoky and the Bandit II: Electric Boogaloo. My personal favorite was his stunning performance as Anna in the Danny Elfman remake of The King and I. Wil Wheaton rocks. I, unfortunately, found out about his weblogging site after all of his entries had been eaten by Greymatter (make your own content management system like us, Wil, and never have that problem again!) so I can't comment on the entries, but the content that remains is pretty funny. Just keep an eye on Wil's site until he gets the weblog under control and the content is back. 

Move over Tickle Me Elmo and Cabbage Patch Kids - the Lego Hogwarts Express is apparently THE hot toy this holiday season. I saw them in the stores about a week ago and wasn't ready to purchase. This week, as I'm doing my Christmas shopping, this train is sold out at ToysRUs, KayBee, Amazon and Zainy Brainy. I started getting desperate and even put a bid in at eBay (got outbid at the last minute). Dave finally scored one after lining up like a groupie at Zany Brainy as the associate unpacked the truck - even then he said they were disappearing fast. So, my advice to you... dear consumer... is that if you want this toy and see it anywhere DON'T WAIT. For example, Amazon was sold out all week, but today it's back in stock.. GO GET IT. And, if you're an enterprising sort, pick one up and sell it on eBay where they're going for up to double the retail price.