At the start of that I picked up an MBA (OK, more work than hobby) and followed that up with a range of night classes over the years to 2001. That’s when I thought that I’d up the ante with my French and started on what turned out to me a modern languages degree that, recent exam results permitting, I should be picking up just before Christmas.

In that I’ve run off the end of the degree, I’ve been leafing through the prospectus recently and it’s just filled with courses that look really interesting. In theory, I should really finish off the diploma in English first as it only requires me to do one more course but neither of the courses that I’d need to do for that have any interest for me at the moment so, at least for now, that’s shelved.

I’d quite like to do the child development course to help with bringing up the little guys but that’s quite a major undertaking and in the coming year I’d prefer something more doable. Looking at the artsy courses I thought it might be interesting to do the art history one but one look at the recommended text put me right off that plan; the history course text seems fascinating for the most part but it has a tendency to delve into very detailed lists of events which isn’t really me so I’m not sure about doing it.

Moving on to more likely candidates for the coming year, I looked at the astronomy courses and both of the possible ones seem fairly doable though the observing one causes me complications in the coming year so I’ll likely end up doing the planetary science one. I looked at the geology course too which sounds really fantastic but it’s not practical for me in the coming year so I’ll have to add it onto me “to do” list.

If only the world archaeology course started in January/February I’d have jumped at that. 12,000 years of history over five months has a lot of appeal but the September start doesn’t work for me in 2009.

Or, of course, I could just plump for the “do nothing” option

However, although clearly the financial foundations of the place are very much built on the income for gambling that means that non-gamblers get a substantial subsidity on the cost of a vacation based there. Yes, you can pretty much assume that a hotel in las vegas will come with an integrated gambling complex but it also comes with substantial amounts of free or cheap entertainment for the non-gamblers too.

Many years ago “the” place to go for the kids was Circus Circus which amounts to a pretty much non-stop walk-through circus with small-scale acts going on pretty much constantly and larger events on a regular basis too. However, these days you’ll find many more places targetting families with kids and range of family friendly entertainment on offer is unbelieveable.

Even getting there is usually fairly cheap too!

Anyway, we’re actually looking to upgrade the camcorder at the moment as it’s quite ancient in technology terms though it works just fine otherwise. However, the snag is that you can rarely upgrade just one item as doing so just shows up shortcomings in everything else.

Therefore, we are likely to find that our brand new HD camcorder will push us towards looking at home theater furniture to go along with the full theatre experience that, hopefully, the new camcorder will bring us. It’s strange to think that just 10 years or so back and it was just the fanatics that would have considered home theatre furniture but nowadays it’s well into the mainstream.

So, looks like we’ll be out some serious cash on technology and technology related items in the coming year….

This makes a surprising difference and can transform the feel of the room. For example, moving from chrome to gold effect makes a very noticeable difference right away as can moving towards antique style fittings or perhaps modern looking Danze faucets. All of these style choices are easy and quick to install and transform the overall feel of your bathroom in a few hours.

If you were really organized last year you’d have picked up a whole bunch of Christmas cards at knock-down prices but few of us are that organized usually. However, if you’ve not got a stash from last year, that gives you the opportunity to look into photo holiday cards instead of the cookie cutter cards that we’re all so used to these days.

If you are considering one of these cards, it’s best if you have thought ahead and taken an appropriate photo earlier in the year but if not you can always take a special one now. That’s usually what we end up doing ourselves though we did manage a lovely scene from the Swiss holiday late last year which was very appropriate for Christmas. Haven’t got anything similar this year as yet though we’re off to Venice soon so there’s still time to get that organized.

For a start, babies are pretty small when they start out and rather than cart a massive lump of a pram around with you (and they’re all massive things), I found it a good deal more practical and pleasurable to carry juniors 1 and 2 around. Now, you’ll often be told that you just have to have a pram for their first three months or so (basically until their back is strong enough to allow them to sit up by themselves) and it’s certainly true that you can’t use one of the strollers until they can sit up by themselves but then, as I say, they’re pretty light for the first few months.

In fact, we hardly used the pram at all for the second little guy. The stroller though saw use for years after the first little guy got into it as, of course, babies get pretty heavy before they can walk sensible distances by themselves.

Garden and household furniture is one of the most surprising that I’ve come across lately which are a whole class of item that I’d never have thought would have been economic to ship any kind of distance (which goes to show that we’re getting ripped off by the house movers!). At the other end of the scale there are Christmas cookies which sound like they’d be that little bit fragile to arrive in one piece but then again my last backup drive arrived in just that way with minimal packaging so either stuff is a lot more sturdy these days or the mailmen don’t handle the packages nearly so roughly as the joke assume.

Anyway, whatever you’re looking for at the moment, it’s worth having a look online. Large, heavy and fragile no longer seem to be showstoppers for shipping.

That’s a real shame as to give the area the justice it deserves you really need to be thinking in terms of vacation rental rather than overnight stays. Fortunately, that’s a market that’s well looked after by Outer Banks rentals where you’ll find a wide range of places to suit all budgets and all family sizes. Availability is surprisingly good for what’s a very attractive area to use as a base for your vacation explorations.

Perhaps more importantly if it’s your first time, it give you a mid-way point between Florida and Virginia which makes it a fairly easy sell to your family.

However, it doesn’t need to be like that as there are quite a number of websites around these days offering unique baby gifts which offer you a selection much, much wider than that which you’re likely to come across in your typical baby shop. Definitely worth looking at if you’d like to make your gift that little bit more memorable than the rest.

That makes for quite an active market in the likes of Harley parts (and, of course, the parts of the various makes of bike). It’s not just in the area of basic supplies like tyres and so on as with the closer interest taken by bikers in the workings of their vehicles they also look towards little addons to make their bike that little bit more unique.

That’s why you’ll rarely find a “standard” bike when almost all cars are pretty much factory issue.