Every year I know CES is just around the corner, and every year it surprises me.

This Sunday I'll board Southwest Airlines in Oakland and touch down in Las Vegas 90 minutes later. By 4pm, I'll be at Mandalay Bay for the first press event of the week.

Aside from the usual suspects, CES (short for the Consumer Electronics Show) will highlight home automation and wearables. Of course, the biggest wearable of the year, the Apple Watch, won't be present. So that feels weird. How can I get excited about anything else until that shoe drops?

As for home automation, well, it has been a slow train coming. I think 2015 will be the year, however, where some of this stuff becomes practical for the average, somewhat nerdy, consumer. To be honest, I would like a coffee pot that I can turn on from my smartphone.

There will be lots of news about drones in every shape and size. Lots of them. I might write a story on the latest and greatest quad-copter. Or I might not.

As for photography, which is our collective first love, there will be some news. I'm just not sure how much of it I'll be able to report right away. I have a handful of meetings with nondisclosure agreements, presumably about new products in the pipeline. I'm hoping that I'll be able to discuss some of those in January. I like new photography announcements.

CES will also be my final dry run before stepping on a plane to Miami later this month for the Cuba assignment. I'm feeling confident about my gear selection. If my final test goes well, I'll publish a report with the kit I've packed. There'll be some surprises in there. And I think you'll enjoy the post.

Until then, it's Las Vegas time. You'll hear from me there. And I promise,

there won't be one article about 4K televisions.

-Derrick