With regard to the Elf on a Shelf, here's a progress report:

• The Elf, a scout for Santa as to who's been naughty or nice, snuck into my laptop bag and was on the loose in the office. See blog article with pictures.
• The Elf made his way to the Autodesk Gallery. See blog article with pictures.
• The Elf was spotted among some of the exhibits. See blog article with pictures.

As the gallery has LEED Platinum Certification, the HVAC is turned off at night. The Elf was seen warming himself in the wee hours of the morning:

The BioLite HomeStove consumes 50% less wood than traditional cook fires, reduces smoke emissions by 95%, and can convert heat to electricity so it can recharge cell phones, LED lights, and other devices via a USB port. Autodesk Simulation CFD and other simulation software helped BioLite engineers evaluate the relative design decisions, reduce the number of physical prototypes required, and avoid overbuilding — helping the team save both time and money.

Apparantely his earlier flirtation with the Ferrari wet his appetite for cars:

The Biome car concept is that the symbiosis vehicle would be built from BioFibre, grown in the Mercedes-Benz Nursery through proprietary DNA, that collects energy from the sun and stores it in chemical bonds. Although most car manufacturers use Alias Automotive or Alias Surfacing, Mercedes-Benz used Autodesk Maya to pattern the shape of the vehicle after skeletal systems found in biology.

The Biome car brought him to the Bay Bridge:

One of the three busiest bridges in the world, the eastern span of the San Francisco Bay Bridge is the longest self-anchored suspension bridge in the world. Autodesk 3DS Max visualization software was used to gain legislative approval, bring contractors on board, and inform the public — often changing their behavior dramatically.

Perhaps the Ferrari and Biome experiences wet his appetite for riding in general, as he was seen atop the LEGO Dinosaur:

Playing with LEGOs has been the initial inspiration for many of today's architects and engineers, and the dinosaur mega model (62,500 bricks) is a replica from the LEGOLAND theme park that helps spur the imagination. The LEGO Group designs initial brick shapes using Maya, feeds that into a proprietary brick builder application, and then uses AutoCAD to create plans for LEGO exhibit construction.

We are hot on the Elf's trail, so this caper should be wrapped up this week — much like a Christmas present.

Christmas magic is alive in the lab.