I should've been packing, and then sleeping, before getting up at 0600 to catch a flight to the ’rents for the holidays. Instead, I spent the day (after work, of course) finishing the car, an HPI RS4 Pro 4 Hara Edition electric R/C. Three long nights, perhaps a total of 25 hours' build time. Here's a picture of the (more-or-less) finished car:

Click for a larger image

There's also a large Gallery of pictures taken throughout the build process.

Overall the kit is well-crafted, with high-quality parts and a clear instruction manual. I do have a few complaints about the parts references, which caused me to waste a bit of time searching parts bags, but in the end, no necessary part was missing. I'll try to post a more thorough review, along with descriptions of the specific issues I had.
This car will be my (actually, my team's) entry into next semester's EE192 class and next year's Natcar competition. Hopefully the professor will allow us to use this car, and our intended processor, the Cypress PSoC.

The North American Solar Challenge is a great race in which college students from all over the US & Canada build highly aerodynamic and efficient solar cars, then race them thousands of miles across North America.
I'm watching a bit of the race on INHD right now, and something ridiculous struck me: each solar car is trailed on the road by five or so gasoline powered cars! Irony in the extreme.

Okay, my family doesn't know me very well, and they tend to get rather lame gifts (with the exception of my mom...she gets great clothes). So, here's a little help for you guys. This list is roughly in "most-desirable" order.

• Tori Amos' version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." I believe it to be from the album Spark, but amazon doesn't list that song among the ones for Spark parts 1 & 2. I don't know where to find it. The only online link was broken.
• Freescale ZigBee Dev Kit, $209, OR Chipcon Zigbee Eval Kit, $140
• Agilent MSO6034A Mixed-signal Oscilloscope, $9,729.20.
  
• A machine shop, with a CNC Bridgeport Mill and lathe
• Agilent E3630A Benchtop Power Supply
• My Amazon Wishlist has more reasonable items on it, and yes, I really do want those books on the list! :-)
• Apple Intel MacBook Pro 15", ~$2500

I'll update this post as I think of more things to add.

I thought the A-10 was cool, but this beats it: An R/C A380, with four microturbine engines.

Thanks, Alice. You had to go put it there, so I would click it, and learn the depressing truth.