**My Favorite Things of the Year**

This year has been filled with joy and excitement for me and my family. One of my favorite things that I've experienced is playing the Nintendo Switch Labo kit with my kid. The Switch Labo kit is a new addition to the Nintendo Switch family, and it's absolutely blown me away. While some might think it's just a piece of cardboard, I can assure you that it's so much more than that. My kid loves playing Mario Kart on the switch, but what really makes this experience special is the process of building the kit itself. It's like a fun little project that we get to work on together, and my kid has really enjoyed it. The elegance of putting the kit together, particularly the driving wheel, has been some of the best times we've had together. Building something with our hands, especially when it's something as fun as this, has brought us closer together and made me realize just how much joy a simple piece of cardboard can bring.

As for my favorite book of the year, I have to say that it's a tie between "Labo" and another science book titled "All Over The Map". "Labo" is actually a collection of Nintendo Switch Labo kits, but I'm assuming you're referring to the cardboard lab kit. If not, please let me know, and I'll be happy to discuss my favorite book with you. On the other hand, "All Over The Map" is a fascinating book that tells the story of the world in 200 different historical maps. From looking at the bottom of the ocean to the surface of Mars, this book delves deep into the stories behind how these maps are created and explores some of the most famous images in all of science. What I found particularly interesting was the section on neurons in the brain, which laid out the history of neuroscience in a way that's easy to understand. It's a beautiful book that's full of hidden gems, and I think it's one of the best science books I've ever read.

Another favorite thing from this year is my family's new hobby: playing board games together. We started going to a local game parlor called The Game Parlor, which has become our favorite destination for a fun night out. My wife even built and sold her first board game! While we didn't spend as much time at the parlor as I would have liked, when we did go there, it was always a blast. Our family's favorite game is "Dragon Wood", which is a simple dice game that can be started in just two minutes. It's like a quick game of D&D for my son, and we've had some great times playing it together before dinner or after a long day. The game is easy to learn, fun to play, and wraps up quickly, making it perfect for our busy schedule.

Lastly, I want to talk about the Air Mega 300, an overpowered air filter that has been a lifesaver in my household this year. We live near a transit line, which can bring a lot of soot into our home through our windows. When the smoke from the wildfires invaded San Francisco and made the air quality worse than anywhere else in the world, I was worried about what it would do to us. But with the Air Mega 300, we've been able to breathe easy again. This filter is not cheap, but it's easily the best in its class, providing incredible air filtration inside our home. Every time I look at it, it reminds me of how lucky we were to have something like this during those difficult times.

Finally, on a lighter note, I want to share with you one of my favorite things that always cracks me up: a candle called "Nazi". Yes, you read that right - a candle that makes Nazis face melt. Normally, I wouldn't recommend such a thing, but there's something about the absurdity of it all that just makes me laugh every time I light this candle. It's become a fun little tradition for us to have when we watch our favorite movies at The Alamo Drafthouse.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey it's cash or from tested and these are my favorite things of 2018 I'm doing something a little different this year I'm showing you kind of my year in a nutshell through some of my favorite items of this year and that has to start with what I said last year during this video which is that 2018 was going to be the year of Thanos and it sure was and that's why I have my Thanos Jersey my Infinity Gauntlet but my most prized Thanos possession is definitely this Bowen statue that actually came out a number of years ago it's an incredible sculpt of Thanos sitting on his floating throne this is most reminiscent of the Thanos quest series and I love just the look on his face it's one of my favorite toys but it's much more of a collectible than anything else it's a rare item these days it typically goes for a fair amount of change but I managed to finally gift myself one and it sits atop my office looking down upon me in all its glory and it's easily my favorite Thanos sculpt of all time we got to talk about video games now and my favorite video game system of the year has to be the switch my kid plays it all the time and while video games and kids don't always go together in terms of bringing the family together Nintendo just absolutely blew down the water with a new lab Oh kit this year and I get it you're about to make fun of me for recommending a piece of cardboard but I haven't had this much fun putting together a cardboard kit with my son in all of my years of making stuff with him he's not the greatest natural gifted maker and cardboard is like a great entry point for him to just get started and just the elegance of putting this kit together particularly the driving wheel which we hooked up to Mario Kart was just some of the best times we had together building something it was really accessible and while he hasn't used that driving kit every time he plays Mario Kart it was really about that build process and getting him excited to do much more with cardboard that really made it worthwhile I get it's a lot of money for some cardboard but the elegance of the build process and that time to build a product like this makes labo easily one of my favorites of the year I read a ton of science books this year like I do every year and there's so many to choose from but my favorite has to be this one from science writers Betsy Mason and Greg Miller it's called all over the map it's the story of the world in 200 different historical maps from looking at the bottom of the ocean to the surface of Mars and delving deep into the stories behind how these maps are created there's some of the most famous images in all of science enshrined in this book and then ones that are just unforgettable below the radar this is one of the most beautiful books ever created in science I have to say if I still had a coffee table that's where this would live but what I was really surprised about was just all these hidden gems of stories behind some of the drawings in here especially the ones of neurons in the brain and some of the earliest drawings of neurons and how they connect to each other which are history in neuroscience that every neuroscience student sees but seeing the story sort of laid out as told through those images easily the best science book of the year for me this year was a year of board games in my family on Father's Day my family took me to a new game parlor it's actually called the game parlor it's a board game cafe in my neighborhood and it became our favorite destination to play video games pretty much like a couple nights a week my wife actually built and sold her first board game but the game that we went to most of all is this pretty simple dice game called dragon wood dragon wood is just basically a community card game where a number of creatures come out and you roll dice to nab and kill the creatures and collect enough points by killing these creatures to earn the victory condition I have to say it's one of those games that you can start in like two minutes really enjoyable wraps up in 15 minutes we sometimes would play a just before dinner time when we're all sitting there it was basically like beginner D&D for my son and it was the best like quick game of the year that we played lastly this year was a tough year for many in California with all of the wildfires and I made one purchase early this year that ended up being one of the Savior's which is this way over powered air filter called the air mega 300 it moves about 1,250 square feet of air every every day which is a ton of air power for a filter like this it has multi stages involved has a nice design it actually has an integrated light system that tells you the quality of the air inside I bought it because we live near a transit line and there's all this soot that usually comes up and hits our house and invades our windows and I thought it would be great for that but when it came down to the time when all the smoke invaded San Francisco and the air quality was worse than anywhere else in the world this was a lifesaver it's a really expensive product but one that is easily the best in its class that gave World crafts air filtration inside of our home and it just reminds every time I look at it it reminds me of how lucky we were to be able to have something like this in those devastating times these are some of my favorite things of the air and I'll just leave you with one that just cracks me up every time I look at it I started a series at the Alamo Drafthouse where we watch movies we love and we watch Raiders of the Lost Ark earlier this year and from that I bought a candle of a Nazi now normally I wouldn't recommend that but when you light this one up Nazis face melts and I think there's no better message for 2018 than that youhey it's cash or from tested and these are my favorite things of 2018 I'm doing something a little different this year I'm showing you kind of my year in a nutshell through some of my favorite items of this year and that has to start with what I said last year during this video which is that 2018 was going to be the year of Thanos and it sure was and that's why I have my Thanos Jersey my Infinity Gauntlet but my most prized Thanos possession is definitely this Bowen statue that actually came out a number of years ago it's an incredible sculpt of Thanos sitting on his floating throne this is most reminiscent of the Thanos quest series and I love just the look on his face it's one of my favorite toys but it's much more of a collectible than anything else it's a rare item these days it typically goes for a fair amount of change but I managed to finally gift myself one and it sits atop my office looking down upon me in all its glory and it's easily my favorite Thanos sculpt of all time we got to talk about video games now and my favorite video game system of the year has to be the switch my kid plays it all the time and while video games and kids don't always go together in terms of bringing the family together Nintendo just absolutely blew down the water with a new lab Oh kit this year and I get it you're about to make fun of me for recommending a piece of cardboard but I haven't had this much fun putting together a cardboard kit with my son in all of my years of making stuff with him he's not the greatest natural gifted maker and cardboard is like a great entry point for him to just get started and just the elegance of putting this kit together particularly the driving wheel which we hooked up to Mario Kart was just some of the best times we had together building something it was really accessible and while he hasn't used that driving kit every time he plays Mario Kart it was really about that build process and getting him excited to do much more with cardboard that really made it worthwhile I get it's a lot of money for some cardboard but the elegance of the build process and that time to build a product like this makes labo easily one of my favorites of the year I read a ton of science books this year like I do every year and there's so many to choose from but my favorite has to be this one from science writers Betsy Mason and Greg Miller it's called all over the map it's the story of the world in 200 different historical maps from looking at the bottom of the ocean to the surface of Mars and delving deep into the stories behind how these maps are created there's some of the most famous images in all of science enshrined in this book and then ones that are just unforgettable below the radar this is one of the most beautiful books ever created in science I have to say if I still had a coffee table that's where this would live but what I was really surprised about was just all these hidden gems of stories behind some of the drawings in here especially the ones of neurons in the brain and some of the earliest drawings of neurons and how they connect to each other which are history in neuroscience that every neuroscience student sees but seeing the story sort of laid out as told through those images easily the best science book of the year for me this year was a year of board games in my family on Father's Day my family took me to a new game parlor it's actually called the game parlor it's a board game cafe in my neighborhood and it became our favorite destination to play video games pretty much like a couple nights a week my wife actually built and sold her first board game but the game that we went to most of all is this pretty simple dice game called dragon wood dragon wood is just basically a community card game where a number of creatures come out and you roll dice to nab and kill the creatures and collect enough points by killing these creatures to earn the victory condition I have to say it's one of those games that you can start in like two minutes really enjoyable wraps up in 15 minutes we sometimes would play a just before dinner time when we're all sitting there it was basically like beginner D&D for my son and it was the best like quick game of the year that we played lastly this year was a tough year for many in California with all of the wildfires and I made one purchase early this year that ended up being one of the Savior's which is this way over powered air filter called the air mega 300 it moves about 1,250 square feet of air every every day which is a ton of air power for a filter like this it has multi stages involved has a nice design it actually has an integrated light system that tells you the quality of the air inside I bought it because we live near a transit line and there's all this soot that usually comes up and hits our house and invades our windows and I thought it would be great for that but when it came down to the time when all the smoke invaded San Francisco and the air quality was worse than anywhere else in the world this was a lifesaver it's a really expensive product but one that is easily the best in its class that gave World crafts air filtration inside of our home and it just reminds every time I look at it it reminds me of how lucky we were to be able to have something like this in those devastating times these are some of my favorite things of the air and I'll just leave you with one that just cracks me up every time I look at it I started a series at the Alamo Drafthouse where we watch movies we love and we watch Raiders of the Lost Ark earlier this year and from that I bought a candle of a Nazi now normally I wouldn't recommend that but when you light this one up Nazis face melts and I think there's no better message for 2018 than that you\n"