Photos from Elena's 21st are up, and seeing as I probably won't be able to speak to many of you before then, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Let's hope 2006 is as crazy as 2005 was.

Photos from our Christmas eve dinner and the few days after that are up, and yes, those are squash goggles!

Candice's photos from her trip around the West coast of America are up. There are around 300, and they haven't been sorted really but they are generally good!

It's not very often that a podcast (Wikipedia definition) is released and shoots to the number one spot on the iTunes podcast directory in less than a week. Well that's exactly what happened with the "Ricky Gervais Show." For the uninitiated, Ricky is one of the hilarious comics from the British series "The Office" and his show is even funnier than the TV show ever was. You can check it out on iTunes, or on the web. Though, do note, these podcasts are a tad on the explicit side.

This is proof that just because you own a massive luxury sedan, it doesn't mean you're a gas guzzler. Here, Jeremy from Top Gear manages to drive an Audi A8 800 miles on a single 19 Gallon tank. It aired sometime in 2004, so is a little old, but incredible to watch nonetheless.

The always fantastic Mercedes Benz Mixed Tape is out again. Released every 6 weeks, the mixed tape is a completely free downloadable CD of new funk and acid jazz tracks from upcoming artists. This one, once again, is fantastic. Check it out: http://www.mixed-tape.com

Tags: mixed-tape

Not for everyone at Penn, but I officially finished all of the work that I had to do for finals on Friday morning at around 2 am. I came to a strange conclusion this semester, if you don't party too much, and hence don't go out 3 or 4 nights a week, and in the time you gain not having a hangover actually pay attention in class and do your reading before class and all of your homework on time, then there really isn't a hell of a lot to do when it comes to finals. In fact, I'd say that I've had one of the most relaxing weeks of my life whilst everyone else has been sweating blood! granted, I did sit in front of my computer for about 30 hours straight, taking short breaks for food and water, in order to finish the two take home exams I had to to, but ten thousand (sense making) words later, and I was done. Candice is currently in San Francisco, she's doing one of those Contiki tours through Las Vegas, San Francisco and LA. She'll be back on Tuesday at which point I promise to post all of her photos, of which there are many, I hear. I've done a decent amount of Christmas shopping too during my relaxing exam time - have to keep everyone who is helping look out for Candice whilst she's here happy, which is why I've bought a lot of alcohol for them! Must get back to doing nothing now! Life is good! (I think this is the longest post i've ever done on the new site, interesting!)

Gregsmithies.us That's my new web address, so you no longer need to have to worry about the long www.gregsmithies.sytes.net all you need is gregsmithies.us. Of course the old address will get you here for a while, but you should change any of your favourites and any links you have cause the redirecting will only keep happening for a few months. As an added bonus, I also have a new, really easy to remember email address: greg@gregsmithies.us - Yes, I know, I'm a serious geek, but I love it anyway!

I had a wonderful time at our annual Christmas Formal, held, as per usual, at the house. Colleen, once again, did a fantastically brilliant job of cooking. Dinner was splendid. The champagne flowed freely and we danced the night away to our usual jazz ensemble, this time doing some soulful Christmas carols for us. Photos here.