Presents

Cat got me a new didj for holiday/birthday/anniversary!

The instrument pictured here comes from Marko Johnson, creator of the compact Didjboxes. Instead of hauling around a five foot piece of wood (and try explaining that "club-like object" to the TSA) while globetrotting, you can use a 16-inch long traveling didj instead! The Mindblower, which I now have, measures about 9 x 5 x 2 and can easily fit into a laptop bag. It gets its name because of its awesome sound from the player's perspective. The top has three holes- the center is intake, the other two function as outtake- one for each ear. Imagine a letter M, if you will. The musician (that's me) plays the center point of the M, and the sound ricochets back along the legs of the M and towards the ears. Stereo, baby! I play more sidesaddle than straight-on, but I can really hear the difference. That doesn't totally alleviate the bizarre sensation of playing a didj the size of a cigar box that actually sounds like a didj.

My second blogworthy present came from my brother. It's a TV-B-Gone, a keychain-sized device that acts like a remote control with one function- it turns off televisions. This genius little gizmo has a database of IR power off codes for most every make and model of television. You press the button, it starts transmitting these codes. The practical upshot of all this is that it lets you turn of virtually any television from 20-50 feet away. Mischief and distraction-free restaurants are in my future!

BEST. PRESENT. EVAR.

Tomorrow will find me hurtling through the air at some tens of thousands of feet toward the Left Coast of our nation. Have a good weekend and a happy holiday, folks.