christmas gift ideas

Every year I say I don't want Christmas gifts. And every year I receive gifts. They're kinda cool to get but the money could be better spent elsewhere. I am rather poor out here but I can scrape together the money to buy pretty much anything I really need, and I try to stay out of the race to acquire material wealth, so "stuff" generally isn't an issue. Nonetheless, every Christmas season one or more folks out there will insist on getting me something. So if you're going to buy a trinket of any kind for me, at least make it a trinket I need and for various reasons have not purchased yet or something I really want but can't make myself spend money on. To that end, I present Jesse's Tiered Christmas List, separated by price but otherwise in no particular order. There's a lot of stuff here so it will likely serve as my own checklist for the foreseeable future as well. Anyway, on to the list...

Tier 0 (pricey stuff, don't bother looking here unless you have lots of money and want to change my life dramatically -- in other words, if you don't know me)

House. A house would be nice. Real nice. I'm tired of throwing gobs of money away for rent with absolutely no hope of getting any return on it. Something a little more permanent is in order, or at least something that's mine and can be altered/improved/destroyed by me. Nothing big or fancy, just enough space to live comfortably in -- which implies not so big that parts of it go to waste or just get junked up over time. You know, two or three bedrooms, a couple bathrooms, some living space. And yeah, enough land to do something with like play games outside or build stuff on or something. If it's measured in acres and not square footage that's a huge plus. And no cookie-cutter crap with measly yard space. If I were buying I'd spend my money on land and character/architecture and not on space or luxury.

Car/Truck. A new ride would be cool too. I really like that Chevy Avalanche for some reason, and Chevy seems to be making good trucks these days from what I hear. Also, a co-worker was talking recently about a new 300-hp diesel engine Mercedes is offering in some of their cars that burns cleaner and runs quieter than just about anything out there and gets 55/38 mpg to boot. One of those would be damn sweet. Actually, with the ~$50k price tag I'm not sure I could afford to insure it. But if you get the car I'll gladly take care of the insurance and maintenance.

Vacation. As long as I'm at it, any vacation packages big or small are always welcome. I'm not picky when it comes to traveling; I just want to go everywhere. Knock yourself out, and be sure to include at least one guest in the deal.

Tier 1 (also up there in price but at least realistic)

Laptop. With multiple opportunities for overseas trips coming next year, a laptop is rising fast on my short list of big-ticket items. They've been super handy in the past for journaling and picture storage/labeling. And with wireless internet becoming ever more prevalent, a laptop's resourcefulness keeps growing. The computer I have now has been unreliable in the past and seems to be a bit slow. That and it's a bulky desktop that takes up space and is difficult to haul from place to place. Top-of-the-line specs aren't so important, as I'm not a gaming addict or CAD guy or anything. But reliability is huge -- been there, wasted money on an unreliable laptop. I don't want to hassle with that twice in my life. No Toshibas, no refurbished crap, etc.

Camera. A newer, better digital camera would be nice but by no means necessary. Mine works okay but it's a few years old and picture quality is noticeably absent when compared to shots from better cameras. Other than that I don't have any gripes, though, and it's held up well over the years even with its first real use having been in three weeks of scorching Egyptian summer heat. (When a camera can get so hot it's hard to hold and yet still keeps clicking, it must be made well.) But if I get another one it needs to be a good camera, not just a good deal. So don't go here unless you're willing to plunk down decent money on a higher-end model.

Kayak. A kayak has been on the list for years and its necessity is growing. However, those things are very specialized pieces of equipment that involve boat length vs. rider height, body proportions, intended use, skill level, etc., and so I'd probably be much better off getting that one myself and learning more in the process. But if you know enough to buy one then go for it.

Hiking/Trekking/Outdoor gear. Always nice to get. Outdoor outfitters are for me what clothes outlets and gadget stores are for others. I have to be careful how often I go because I have this insatiable urge to trade several paychecks for hordes of items whenever I'm in one. But it needs to be good, as I'm told by folks who would know that quality really matters with this stuff. (Note what tier this is in.) I may end up needing a bigger, more rugged backpack for possible excursions in the Grand Canyon and Peru, but that could be a few hundred bucks depending on specials and such. Hiking poles are also on the list. A smaller, lighter sleeping bag is needed as well, at the bulky one I have is warm enough to get me through an ice age but too big and heavy for backpacking. Other things I intend to pick up over the coming months (years?) include a good weatherproof jacket, lightweight and fast-drying clothes, maybe a small camp stove, and so on.

PLC + software. A decent PLC with a reasonable scanning frequency and plenty of I/O capability would be cool to have just to mess around with, but even more so than kayaks these guys are very technical and require some background to know how to use and what to look for. So if you don't even know what a PLC is, just move on. I need to do a bit more reading myself. But I'd love to have one just to toy around with and see what I could automate and such. It'd be a good hobby that would have the side benefit of putting to use some of the few solid engineering skills I have -- or had at one time anyway. But one issue here is that for a PLC to be fun to mess with I'd pretty much have to have a laptop as well.

Tier 2 (still kinda expensive but workable)

Luggage. Good luggage is an absolute necessity at this point. The stuff I have works but it's tough to use when it comes to packing delicate stuff because it doesn't have a hard shell. In other words, it puts precious souveneirs at risk. So something pretty big with a sturdy shell/outside and handle/wheels is called for. I've already had to borrow a friend's once (for the Philippines trip) and I need to go ahead and get my own.

Good clothes. Believe it or not, clothes would be near the top of this list, mainly because whoever you are you probably know more about styles and what looks good and such than I do. It's become obvious to me over the last several months that I have very little really nice clothes to wear, and being the professional adult that I am that stuff is actually necessary every now and then (unlike my college years, when I could get away with being a slob pretty much all the time except in interviews). I've been slowly trying to acquire some nice stuff but I haven't done a great job of it. So any good shirts (17 neck, choker shirts suck; my arm length seems to fall conveniently between the common 32/33 and 34/35 sizes such that neither fits too great) would be nice. I mean good ones too, not Wal-Mart stuff that I've got plenty of from my own forays in clothes shopping. I also have zero good sweaters -- make that zero sweaters of any kind -- as I've avoided wearing them in the past because they're uncomfortably hot. But maybe there are some nice ones out there that don't have this problem. They'd be slick to have for stuff like dinner parties and such, which I find myself going to on occasion. Pants and ties aren't as much a necessity, so I'll probably acquire more of them over time as I start replacing or at least supplementing the crap I have.

Electric razor. It's crossed my mind to get one, but this is another thing that one can't try to scrimp on. Good ones are good ones and bad ones are bad ones. The extra money would be well worth it for a good razor that actually does its job well enough that I'm not forced to give up on it. A razor that doesn't cut close is just junk that I don't want to store. It needs to do at least as well as I can do the hard way. My gut tells me I'd better handle this one on my own, but if you want to...

Tier 3 (the list that folks like me would generally buy from)

Books. They're always welcome, though I don't read enough these days and own a lot I haven't read. No book in particular comes to mind, but I've looked at Civil War stuff (Foote) and C.S. Lewis boxed sets recently. Sooner or later I'll probably come up with that stuff.

Music CD's. Again I can't think of anything specific. There are some good Christian artists out there, like Aaron Schust (or something like that) and Casting Crowns. Good bluegrass music would be nice to have since I own so little of it now. A good hymn CD would be awesome but I've done some looking and haven't found one that's the right mix of singing and music that I really like. Some mandolin stuff would be good too, so I can have a sound to aim for.

Cooking stuff. A good, BIG mixing bowl, would work well, as long as it's basic enough that someone like me would be able to use it. Stuff like rice cookers, toaster ovens, and other small stuff (not a blender or crock pot, already own 'em) comes to mind, though it might belong in the next tier up based on price.

Mandolin songbooks and self-teaching stuff. I've actually got a little bit of that now, but I've been so terrible about picking up my mandolin enough to make any progress that I've used barely any of it in what's been almost a year. I wonder if that wouldn't change if I had something a little more user-friendly and angled at total novices like myself. But the main problem there is a lack of time and/or discipline on my part. So I probably ought to learn more so I could at least know what I need.

So there you have it. Happy shopping! Again, I don’t request or expect anything, and if any of that were vitally important I'd have already forked over the dough myself. But inevitably someone out there will get me something. (Actually, I have a good idea of who the usual culprits are, as adopting a no-gift policy has not been tremendously successful in the past. But I guess I don't obey theirs either so we're even.) So there are some ideas for ye to start with.