One of the side benefits of living in the San Francisco Bay Area is the occasional rumble - a typically gentle bumping and shaking that reminds you the ground below isn't exactly made of reinforced steel and concrete. Though the region has escaped drama for nearly 20 years, ever since the 1989 Loma Prieta quake, we still have shakes every now and again from the 3 to 5 range that have us jumping on USGS online to see just how high we tickled the Richter scale.

Tonight, we felt one. Here in Sunnyvale, on the 4th floor of our condo, we noticed the shaking, and figured it wasn't anyone on the roof or running in the hallway. Instead, it was the Hayward fault, in the East Bay, doing what it does best - slipping. Not much, mind you, but enough to make us aware of it. The quake, if you can call it that, registered at 3.7, and didn't cause any damage.

Though we don't get warning of quakes, I'd trade that uncertainty for the yearly battles with tornadoes and hurricanes other regions face. And, honestly, we actually like them. They're fun. They're different. But we're not impressed by anything in the 3's. Let's get this place and shake it up a bit.

(Previous: Earthquake Shakes Things Up)

The year saw Kristine absorbing the tomes of history as she continued her pursuit of a Masters, Louis expanding his Web reach in an attempt to dominate Google, and both keeping long hours at  the office. Somehow, we found room for a little fun now and then. 

As 2006 draws to a close, and we look back on all we’ve done, and all still left to do, we’re grateful for what we have, for each other, our friends, our family and colleagues. As you and yours approach the holiday season, we wish you the very best - that you can take pause, reflect... and keep pushing ahead.

To keep ourselves tech-focused, you can download our family's Christmas letter in PDF from the blog. Even if you're just visiting, we wish you the best holiday season possible.

Listening to ''The Darkest Star'', by Depeche Mode (Play Count: 13)

Cross-posted at Sactown Royalty...

They say that the NBA season truly doesn't kick off in earnest until Christmas, and given an 82-game schedule, plus month after month of TV-extended playoffs, who can question it? But, here, where we bleed purple and black, we just don't see the wisdom in holding a last-place berth, a full seven games behind the Pacific Division-leading Phoenix Suns, by the time Christmas rolls around. It's one thing to say we're just getting started, and quite another to be that far behind already.

With such Grinch-like cheer to go around, I present my Sacramento Kings Holiday Wishlist - a small smattering of items I'd like to see this holiday season. Please do add your own, for our team could use your charity.

Catch the rest here: My Sacramento Kings Holiday Wishlist

Listening to ''Spikee (1993)'', by Underworld (Play Count: 8)

I've been eyeing the flat-screen market for a long time, and I can't exactly get geeked up over pixel counts, I/O ports and the eternal debate of Plasma vs. LCDs or one brand vs. another. All I know is that the TVs my wife and I have in our living room and bedroom need to disappear. Their time has come and gone. They're old, they lack elegance, and they are bulky CRT monitors, incapable of making us look like we are on the cutting edge of technology.

Given how we have embraced iPods, the Blackberry and all things Apple, a change is obviously needed. Kristine and I had come to the conclusion that this holiday season was as good a time as any to take the plunge and upgrade both TVs, but budget and timing hasn't gotten us to flat-screen paradise yet.

This morning, that all changed. On one of the bigger "impulse buys" I've ever done, I found via CNET and eventually on Amazon, a 42-inch HD-capable plasma flat screen, for the low-low price of $699. While I know it's not the latest and greatest, its a huge upgrade from our current set in the bedroom, and should be a significant improvement to our viewing experience. By 7 this morning I'd clicked through and ordered both it and a wall mount for ideal enjoyment. Now, I just have to wait until the second week of January or so to see how the thing looks in our home. I'm looking forward to it already.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Amazon's even sending it with free shipping. Forget about $2,000+ sticker prices and $200 shipping. The whole package, including wall mount, is coming in for less than $800.

Listening to ''On Stream'', by Ron Hagen & Pascal M (Play Count: 3)