How to do Holiday Grab Bag

Traditionally on or around Christmas, my dad's side of the family gets together. The cast isn't always the same, but one tradition is: grab bag.

Rules

The deal with grab bag is that one must adhere to certain rules, which can change depending on the year. Examples include:

• No food
• Made in a specific location
• One must shop for one's own gift

Gift Selection

Selecting a gift should

1. adhere to all the rules of the particular year
2. be unexpected

Naturally, I chose an eco-friendly door mat.

Decoys

Strictly speaking, decoys are an optional part of the tradition. I prefer to include them, because these gifts are likely to be shaken, rattled, and, yes, rolled.

Level 1

Don't forget to label your decoy

And position it appropriately

Level 2

My 2nd layer of decoy is planted within the packaging.

Packaging

If one is going to shop for his or herself, one may as well create the packaging as well. Kids tend to create the most memorable packaging, especially when young. That's a tradition that I like to keep alive with my fine paper craftsmanship.

The Riddle

Lastly, and new this year, is the riddle.

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Fun Fact Riddles are now required

Pinnacle Mountain

I've never been much of an outdoors person. That changed with my recent infusion into the Little Rock hiking scene.

Together with my girlfriend, who could seemingly climb the north face of the Eiger without breaking a sweat, we've probably skipped our way to the top of the rocky trail half-a-dozen times. It's an understatement to say this trail is rocky.

At one point, Ginger even pulled off the heroic move of keeping this giant boulder from falling. And with a smile on her face!

Finally, after a little over an hour in the [heat, rain, fog], we made it to the summit. As I've dove deeper and deeper into programming and virtual problem-solving I've found various senses of accomplishment, but none really compete with finishing a challenging physical, well, challenge. It's completely worth the effort.

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NOTE If you're planning on a nice hike up the rocks, you could join one of the many who bring their dogs. Be prepared to carry your dog back down though. They apparently have a much easier time with up than down.

NOTE Need more pictures of Pinnacle Mountain? Check out the Flickr Group these were pulled from.

Project 2

Way back in September, I took a 1x2 plane that touched down in Little Rock. The flight itself was delightfully uneventful — those tiny planes get to skip the \heartfelt\ update from Jeff Smisek "and [his] 80,000 coworkers".

After landing, all 30 of us aboard the plane shuffled out of most-delightfully-sized airport I've seen, but not before I checked in to gate 11, of course — this airport isn't going to mayor itself!

I've come to expect personality, conversation, and, well, danger out of late-night airport cab runs. Little Rock's James, just entering his 53rd year, gleefully delivered on 2 of 3, albeit silently for far too long as I dug deeper and deeper into the details of my destination.

James	Where to?
Me	The DoubleTree
	*awkward pausation*
Me	...in Little Rock
	*no response or movement*
Me	...downtown
	*continued awkward pausation*
Me	...on Markham Street
James	MmmHmmm. I should hope so. Only one we got.

I could tell early this place was going to be memorable.

NOTE While sarcasm has recently gotten a font, it isn't available everywhere, hence \heartfelt\

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