What do I want for my birthday and Christmas? 2011 version

[Paelos]

I have to update my Amazon wishlist so my family can get me presents.  I have nothing I want bad enough to update that fucking list.  I'm too apathetic to get free shit.  This is sad.

I can give you stuff to list you can send me. Like new pillows and a comforter and such.

And a fucking job.

What is is you actually do? Are you averse to Atlanta? I mean I deal with clients in tons of industries, but it's mostly small businesses.

[schild]

I'd prefer to stay in Austin and not downgrade myself.

Real Housewives of Atlanta commercials have made me damn sure I'd rather nuke Atlanta than ever visit again, let alone live there.

[Nerf]

A new TV. And a stand (which seems to be the bigger sticking point, not pleased at all the stands or any other furniture that would serve this purpose) as the current TV is now a vintage 1998 style 56" old-school projection (yes, it is HD 1080) that mostly works if it warms up for a while. Before it warms up and sporadically, the colors "rainbow", though a fist applied to the top of the mammoth set quickly remedies this condition. Color is still good on it, but it hard to hook things into it as there is no HDMi connectors (think there might be one that my satellite hooks into, but all other connections are via component cables).

Find someone on craigslist to build one?  My dad and I put this together a week or so ago, cost us ~$75-100, and it's real wood, not that particle board+laminate veneer bullshit that will fall apart if you sneeze on it.


73" Mitsubishi DLP on top of it, and now it has an Onkyo ht-rc 360 sitting under it along with some shitty $40 KLH speakers I got off craigslist until I setup the in-wall 7.2 system this winter.

I'm pretty sure I'm getting a Kuerig coffee machine for christmas from the folks, probably a game from my brother.  The insurance company of the gal who hit me just gave me a nice christmas present though - $8,500 after the salvage retention fee for my car.  Driving it til the wheels fall off may happen a lot sooner now, but they paid me 94% of what I paid for the car 6 years ago, so I can't complain.

[Lantyssa]

It's not complicated.  I'm looking to spend a similar amount of money. My wife loves antique jewelry and she really loves sapphires.  I can get her a nice antique vermeir pendant with an amethyst in it that I think she would like or I can get her a ~4 carat flawless sapphire pendant but it 'lab grown' because I ain't got that kind of money.

I would go for the antique pendant with amethyst, but I'm horribly biased in that I like both quite a lot.

I also detest gaudy jewelry, and any stone of that size I would consider such.

[Strazos]

For Xmas I'd like for all of my stuff that was packed up yesterday to make it to my new posting intact.

[Ingmar]

Man that TV is going to fall over even in a little earthquake.

[Bzalthek]

Not necessarily.  Those fuckers are pretty damn hard to move even when you want em to.  My father has a huge ass toshiiba and it's center of gravity is about 3 floors down or some shit.

[Nerf]

It only weighs about 90lbs, and earthquakes?  I live in Texas, what the fuck is an earthquake?

[ghost]

Man that TV is going to fall over even in a little earthquake.

Yes.  You need to mount that fucker on the wall.

[Paelos]

It's Texas. The weather will actively try to kill you, but they don't get earthquakes. I only lived there for 15 years, and it's more likely to get taken out by a tornado.

Then again, if a tornado hits, mounting it on the wall won't make any difference.

[tgr]

The wall will be 2km away from where it was supposed to be, but the TV'll still be on that wall!

[Chimpy]

Dear Santa,


I would like a full-time, permanent day job (aka with benefits).


Thanks.

[Azazel]

I'm generally very difficult to buy things for because if I see something I really want I usually just buy it.  Thankfully my wife is almost as much of a dork as I am.  She's not into video games, but partakes in almost every other dorky activity I do.  

I do this as well for most things. I've got my eye on an Ultrasonic Cleaner, and have been wanting an Airbrush & Compressor for some time. So maybe I'll end up with one of those.

[Sky]

Crap, those aren't cheap are they?

Anyone have any more moderately priced kitchen ideas worth asking for? My sister is bugging me to tell her what I want, and I know she's on a budget this year.

http://www.amazon.com/Lodge-Color-6-Quart-Dutch-Island/dp/B000N501BK

VDL will bitch that the coating won't last, if she hadn't spawned :) But I've had one nigh on seven years now that's still banging away without a spot of rust on it, coating is still intact.

And a stand

http://www.target.com/p/Camden-TV-Stand/-/A-13148468 We've got something similar to that.

We priced a new wood stove today, hoping santa might smile on us. $3300 installed says santa is not smiling on us. We've zeroed in on what we want, and it will be awesome when we can swing it, should pay itself off in 3 years, because I can basically heat the house 24/7 from Dec through Apr with it. Instead, I'll put pennies in the jar and send along my prayers to those looking for work.

[ghost]

Actually, I'm thinking I would either like a banjo or a reasonably valued acoustic guitar for Christmas.  Any suggestions from the crowd?

[Trippy]

Seagull S6.

[CaptainNapkin]

Have a look at Deering Goodtime Banjos. Great first banjo that will last you until you decide you need to spend thousands on something better.
Got mine off Amazon for well under 400 bucks, and I love it.

[ghost]

Anybody got an opinion ( ) on the banjo versus guitar debate? 

[CaptainNapkin]

Two different animals. Choose the one you are more interested in and therefore more likely to stick with.

[Trippy]

Or get both

[Lantyssa]

Anybody got an opinion ( ) on the banjo versus guitar debate? 

"Everyone" can play a guitar.  How many can play a banjo?

[ghost]

Anybody got an opinion ( ) on the banjo versus guitar debate? 

"Everyone" can play a guitar.  How many can play a banjo?

This was my thought.  I have also considered a mandolin, but I think they are fairly pricey.  Is one of them easier to learn/maintain? 

[Evildrider]

Anybody got an opinion ( ) on the banjo versus guitar debate? 

"Everyone" can play a guitar.  How many can play a banjo?

This was my thought.  I have also considered a mandolin, but I think they are fairly pricey.  Is one of them easier to learn/maintain? 

I'd totally go Ukelele.

[ghost]

That may be a joke, but Ukelele might be pretty fun to play.

[K9]

I have a friend, and a cousin who both play Ukuleles and provided you don't buy them and own them solely out of a sense of 'irony' then I think they can indeed be great fun.

[Samwise]

What kind of music do you like/want to play?  The main factor in me picking up the guitar (god, that was half a lifetime ago now and I still mostly suck) was that I wanted to be able to play Beatles songs.

[Trippy]

I have a friend, and a cousin who both play Ukuleles and provided you don't buy them and own them solely out of a sense of 'irony' then I think they can indeed be great fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puSkP3uym5k

[Furiously]

I added a corsair a70 heatsink for a cheap easy gift.

[ghost]

What kind of music do you like/want to play?  The main factor in me picking up the guitar (god, that was half a lifetime ago now and I still mostly suck) was that I wanted to be able to play Beatles songs.

I would probably play more folky stuff.  I'm not ever going to be a guy that is trying to play Metallica or what have you. 

[Samwise]

What kind of music do you like/want to play?  The main factor in me picking up the guitar (god, that was half a lifetime ago now and I still mostly suck) was that I wanted to be able to play Beatles songs.

I would probably play more folky stuff.  I'm not ever going to be a guy that is trying to play Metallica or what have you. 

If you mainly like American folk music, then I'd say go for the banjo.  It's one of the more challenging stringed instruments IMO (that damn weird fifth string), but that'll make you all the more popular in folky circles if you can master it.  I even know an excellent banjo teacher but he's in SF so that probably doesn't help you much.   

[Selby]

I have a friend, and a cousin who both play Ukuleles and provided you don't buy them and own them solely out of a sense of 'irony' then I think they can indeed be great fun.

The jam sessions I attended used to have several ukuleles in the group and combined with 3-4 other guitars and a gut bass can make for a pretty rich sound.

[Sky]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W0B-1iF6S4

I bought a $70 classical guitar from the local shop that gets the job done adequately. Not a nice guitar at all, but good for learning proper hand positions until I dig up $2500 for a real guitar.

[ghost]

My in-laws bought that Eddie Vedder album thinking it was going to be actual Hawaiian style ukulele music.  They hated it and gave it to me.  I think it's pretty decent.

[Paelos]

Now I want my friend to get a job in addition to the other people needing jobs.

[K9]

I have a friend, and a cousin who both play Ukuleles and provided you don't buy them and own them solely out of a sense of 'irony' then I think they can indeed be great fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puSkP3uym5k

Yup, he's amazing.