Here is the card I made Vanessa for Valentine’s Day this year:

In case it isn’t obvious, this is supposed to be a reference to the famous scene in the Disney movie, Lady and the Tramp. The gorillas were supposed to be nonchalantly looking away, just as they do in the movie right before they accidentally kiss. However, here it looks as though they are breaking fourth wall, anxiously waiting for the viewer to go away so they can eat their banana in peace. While this wasn’t what I was going for when I drew it, I think its kind of funny.

Here is the card Vanessa made for me:

Today is both Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year, and CNY actually has special significance for the wife and I. We started dating on Chinese New Year 5 years ago. While the date of this holiday changes every year, we like to observe it as one of our anniversaries, along with the day we met, and our actual wedding. Vanessa did a pretty good job drawing the dragons, didn’t she? She is a biology instructor at MIT, and I always say that she’s way better at art than I am at biology!

For the past few years, I have been doing this 12-week fitness program through MIT, called Getfit. I’m on a “team” with Vanessa and 4 other of our friends. It’s really not supposed to be competitive, all it requires is that you keep track of all of the minutes you spend exercising each week. For me that is always a lot of minutes, but it doesn’t really matter too much. Anyway, each year they have a t-shirt design contest to come up with the shirt they’ll give out to all the participants. I entered last year, and did not even get nominated. This year, I am hoping to change that. Here is my entry:

So in case it is unclear, that is a fitness machine, along with two figures at “before and after” stages of the fitness process. I am actually really happy with it, and would  wear this shirt even if I had no affiliation with Getfit. We’ll see how it goes. In addition to all the prestige that goes along with winning this competition, the winner also receives an iPod Touch. That would be a nice thing to get for free. Wish me luck!