After Christmas Sale on Features

The holiday rush is over and it is now time to catch up on the weekly features.  The top five list this week consists of the top five Lego pieces that came in the numerous sets my kids received for Christmas this year:

5. Large blade - made to deter dinosaurs from escaping, but it can also be used for ninja weapons or even Lego horror film scene remakes.

4. Phone handset - I've seen this piece used in all kinds of ways, including on the Millennium Falcon.  It always intrigues me at how many different ways it can be utilized and I look for ways to use it in my own builds.

3. Raptor - Technically it is four pieces, but it's cool nonetheless.  It's always nice to have a new Lego adversary for your minifigures.  The menacing teeth and razor sharp claws give you plenty of excuses to dismantle your minifigures.

2. Syringe - Maybe you'll use it as a tranquilizer or in a medical scene.  Or maybe you want to portray an overly accurate, gritty, inner-city scene in Lego.  Regardless of the purpose, it's a very unique piece to be sure.

1. Alien clinger - If you're going to have aliens invade your Lego city, clinging to their yellow heads and controlling their minds will definitely be a top priority.  That way they can infiltrate the human ranks and create an uprising from the inside.  Brilliant.


















This week's cool-ass thing you will never own (unless you already own it) is the accurately minifigure scaled Lego Ultimate Collector's Edition Millennium Falcon #10179.  Currently on the market for over $2,000, the set originally sold for around $400 might cause you more problems in finding enough space to display it than finding the money to purchase it.


This week's sign you are a nerd is that you have organized all of your kids' Lego sets from Christmas.  More than likely, you have them stacked up in the order you want to assemble them.  It's also possible that you organized them by product line, alphabetical order or model number, which would make you an even bigger nerd.


This week's nemesis is space.  Not outer space, but physical space.  With a whole ton of new products in our home, finding somewhere to keep them, especially after they have all been opened, makes me wish I had paid more attention in physics class... or maybe geometry.


This week's lesson learned is to check the box and keep the receipt.  If you check every box before you make a purchase, you greatly reduce the likelihood that you will have to stand in the infuriatingly long and slow moving return line at the department store where the gift came from.  But mistakes will inevitably be made, which is why it's important to keep the receipts handy until you are certain the purchase is sound.  There's few feelings that can cause your stomach to sink like walking into a toy aisle to make an even exchange and finding the toy you need to come back home with isn;t on the shelves anymore.


This week's equation is meant to help you track holiday weight gain:

The weight you gain over the holidays in pounds (W) can be calculated by multiplying the number of holiday parties you attend (p) by the percentage of food at said parties that would qualify as dessert (d) then subtracting from that product the result of the total number of leftover dishes you take home from various parties (l) divided by the product of the number of other member of your household said leftovers will be distributed amongst (f) and the number of hours you will spend this week doing cardiovascular exercises (h).


Finally, this week's Star Wars quote is, "Having trouble with your droid?"