It's that time of year, once again. The treats have been given, and the turkey has been eaten, so for Inklings and Impressions that can mean only one thing... it's time for the yearly wish list. This year I'm publishing my top wants and must haves... six amazing gifts made the list this year.

1. PS3 and/or Nintendo Wii - All of you loyal gamers eat your hearts out or tear them out as you argue the best gaming system for the holiday season. I must say both are awesome and since I already own the Xbox 360, these two share the number one spot on the list.

2. Dell 30'' UltraSharp Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor - I now swear by screen real estate for the home desktop of any computer guru. This one made my wish list this year. Maybe next year there will be something bigger.

3. Fujitsu P1610 Notebook - This was a difficult one for me to pick. I knew I needed a UMPC on my wish list this year, the question was which one to go for. For now I stick by the long time industry leader in tablet pc's, Fujitsu.

4. Pioneer AVIC-Z1 - I want one now. Check this in-dash vehicle navigation/cd/dvd/mp3 system out online. The web site shows off its amazing features. It is my current dream machine for my vehicle.

5. Gears of War - This one I already own, but I'm adding it to my wish list as it is worthy of any gamer. This has become my favorite game and has revolutionized my expectation of all new games to come.

6. Verizon XV6700 - This one made my list as it's a smart phone with wifi capabilities. Any smart phone with wifi could have been added to the list, but I'm convinced that this one is the way to go. Here you may read one of my colleagues interpretation of this "Genius Phone".

Well, this is a random topic, I suppose. I have however had this on my mind for some time and have been meaning to do a post on the topic. A habit of mine is to highlight in a dictionary, with a nice yellow Sharpie or the tablet pen turned into a nice yellow Sharpie, the words I look up in the dictionary. I suppose this tells me whether or not I've looked up the same word more than once (which I have yet to do). Am I the only one that does this? Here is the last word I looked up as I'm sure you're wondering:

entropy (noun)
1. measure of disorder
a measure of the disorder that exists in a system

Hmm... that's interesting, sounds like an oxymoron to me.

My wife and I moved into our new house earlier this year, so as you would expect much of my time that used to be spent gaming, playing softball, etc., has been spent working on our home. Don't get me wrong, it's a joy to work on our new home. One recent project has been to move into my new home office (I prefer the term workspace). My new workspace will eventually accommodate my need for software development as well as function as a home music studio.

When researching ideas for my workspace I came across a great book that I recommend to anyone looking to design (or redesign) their home workspace. Although the designs are out of my league, it offers concepts that can invigorate personal creativity and help to outline objectives for the design of a workspace that fits your needs.

You may have heard through the grapevine, that my wife and I are entering the world of parenthood. My wife is currently 13 weeks and 3 days along. We are both blessed and very excited!

What does this mean for me? Well, I’ll be able to tell you for sure once the baby arrives. For now, I can only tell you what I’ve heard from the experienced:

“Your world will never be the same, and that’s a good thing.”
“So much for sleep.”
“It is going to be the best thing you will ever do.”

Until then, it’s on with the usual, loving my wife with all my heart, programming for hours and hours, live and breathe softball, and the usual gaming as expected. Everyone’s prayers are well received and we look forward to introducing our baby to this wonderful world, family and friends, in April.

Inklings and Impressions is born to the world of blogging. It is a host for ideas (inklings) and for impressions of those ideas. It may be used as a selective knowledgebase for enthusiasts with the same interests as the poster to the weblog. Emotions often flow freely as a result of inklings and impressions and that is a great reason to post to the blog.

For older posts (and the original birth place of Inklings and Impressions) refer to the old web address:
http://inkling-impression.blogspot.com