I asked for (and got) a Perplexus puzzle sphere for Christmas. I had thought I'd bring it to work, as a companion to the Rubik's 360 I keep on my desk (it's a great conversation starter, and fun to play with while I'm on phone meetings - shh! :-). But the Perplexus has become so popular with everyone at home (even 3yo Gabe, who does surprisingly well with it once you get him started) that I don't dare take it to work for fear of angering Emma, Gabe and Rachel.

What is a Perplexus? It's like one of those marble labyrinth toys, where you twist and turn to move a steel bearing along a path. Except it's in 3D, and completely encased inside a 10 inch plastic sphere. The insides of it look like colorful plastic brain matter, and it's lots of fun to play with. I first heard about it in Make magazine, where they did a story on its creator, Michael McGinnin, and the giant-sized "Superplexuses" he creates (I WANT one of those!). BoingBoing also wrote about it (again) recently.

Here's a video of Emma playing with it and explaining it. Watch to the end to see her highly advanced technique. :-)

The Perplexus is available at ThinkGeek, and you can also now pick it up (a little cheaper) at Amazon.com (affiliate link). If you like brain exercise toys, you should definitely pick one up.

Oh, and to Jayden and Seth, who were so pleased with themselves for finishing the Rubik's 360? This is your next challenge. ;-)

I am so mesmerized by marble runs. Played with Gabe for an hour this
morning.

Hope your house is in as much merry chaos as ours this morning. :-)
Merry Christmas and wishes for an awesome New Year from the
Bancrofts! :-)

First stop was the gingerbread replica of the Benson Hotel, in the
Benson lobby. It was pretty impressive. Here are a couple of merged
TrueHDR iPhone photos, along with an Autostitch panorama of the lobby.

More to come! :-)

     

Click here to download:

Portland_Christmas_Fun_Gingerb.zip (1375 KB)

Click here to download:

IMG_0946.MOV (1833 KB)

We've been playing Queen's "We Will Rock You" in Lego Rock Band, and
it's also Emma's school's theme song (or something), which adds a
little "rock you like a volcano ready to erupt, Gooooooo bulldogs!"

This is Gabe's adaptation of it, which he's been singing constantly
the last few days. :-)

Shot from inside my car, through the ice on the windows. I took two
shots then combined them in TrueHDR - I love the color range that gives!

I was a bad dad, and didn't bring all my camera and tripod gear to set
up in the back, capturing the priceless memories, but I at least shot
this panorama with my iPhone. :-)

I brought my Rubik's 360 puzzle with me to the Thanksgiving
Festivities, for people to noodle on. I haven't solved it yet, nor
have I resorted to Googling ways to do it.

But this morning, my ten year old nephew Jayden solved it - got all
six colored balls out of the concentric spheres and into the
corresponding domes. Nice job, Jayden! :-)

(And yes, he's wearing a Gnomedex t-shirt I gave him. :-)

I told him I'd give him something cool if he did it, and now I have to
decide what. A harder puzzle, perhaps? I'm thinking something like a
Perplexus... :-)