I am so grateful that people continue to prompt me for suggestions and interests of the things I would appreciate as gifts. I’m hard to shop for and worse at reciprocating, but for some reason people continue to express generosity towards me. This page is intended to show the interests and excitements I am shopping around, some of which are reasonable and some of which are crazy and aspirational.
About this list
I’m trying this format out, since I don’t want to limit ideas to those available on Amazon and further enrich them. One disadvantage is that it may be harder to tell if someone has gotten the same thing for me (not that so many people are shopping that this tends to be a problem). If you have concerns, please coordinate with my partner and she can serve as a clearinghouse for such things.
Video Games
The big video game release of the fall for me will be Factorio; Space Age (coming out October 22). With the ability to build space platforms and sprawl factories across three new planets, I am sure to spend several hundred hours playing it when it finally comes out.
I have also been looking forward to taking a turn on Cyberpunk 2077 (with Keanu!), which will certainly start me lusting after new gaming hardware with its glorious graphics.
Also on my list are Timberborn, Going Medieval, Elden Ring, the Riven remaster, and Red Dead Redemption 2.
Books and Movies
Looking for something more physical? There are several books I’d like to have on my shelf. I have a friend setting up a gaming group and I’d like the City of Mist Player’s Guide for fun and reference.
I’d also like to read Do The Work: A guide to understanding power and creating change by Megan Pillow and Roxane Gay in order to foment revolution and improve the world around us. I’d like a physical copy of The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. by Bessel vsn der Kolk for understanding the inner change. Finally, I’ve been looking at Force: What It Means to Push and Pull, Slip and Grip, Start and Stop, by Henry Petroski to challenge my intuitions about the physical world.
As the streaming sites get more expensive and continue to remove content (or worse, modify it) I’m getting back into collecting physical media of things I’d like to be able to watch again and again. Here’s some good old Blu-rays I’d like on my shelf.
Fun With Research
If you want to get me something that I’m not expecting, here’s a couple things that I want, but I don’t know what I want.
Jamie got me a lovely display light saber at Galaxy’s Edge, and since then I’ve really wished I had another one that I could hit things with (such as other light sabers!). There are some wonderful builders in the niche collector world. I don’t want something crazy fancy like the combat sabers at Vader’s Vault, but I would like something nicer than the cheap knockoffs on Amazon. The lightsabers reddit is a good starting point for researching options and finding something robust and with good features without spending too much. Primarily I’d like a decent saber with a quality core-soundboard like the Proffie, CFX, or Verso. It’s a fun topic to research and poke at options, but I haven’t had the time and would enjoy the surprise as a gift.
The other thing I would like, but I haven’t had a good chance to research is a new mechanical keyboard. The main things I’m looking for in a new keyboard are that it runs on one of the programmable firmwares that let me map keys and macros and that it has very quiet key action during phone calls. I’ve heard good things about the Topre Rubber Dome keyswitches, and there may be others out there that are very quiet (I definitely don’t want loud and clicky).
Music and Listening
Listening to music, I’ve been enjoying my first set of high-quality wired headphones and I’ve heard amazing things about the Qudelix-5K Reference DAC AMP, which can simultaneously take computer audio and music playback from a phone and amplify the signal with deep power and exceptionally fine equalization. I’m Ready for It.
I already have a good entry level pair of audiophile headphones, and have made the decision to practice with some of the “good” ones before getting crazy with any of the top-of-the-line Sennheisers and whatnot. New headphones are not a huge priority for me yet, but that said, if I were to get a next pair, I’d try the HiFiMAN Edition XS Planar Magnetic open back headphones. The reviews say they would be a solid step up on my Phillips set and that they are large enough to fit comfortably on my mellon.
One of my nostalgia favorites is radio drama, and I’d love to have a good copy of the 13 episodes of Doc Savage from the NPR radio series of 1985. CD Sets are available from Pulp Radio.
I guess we all know what I’m listening to most, though. So, in that vein:
Handy Household and Home Office Stuff
I’ve spent a lot of time rewiring the outlets and switches in the house and if I’ve learned one thing, it is that I’m done with wire nuts! I would love to have a selection of Wago Wire Splicing connectors handy for the next time I’m pulling off a wall plate.
I’m also continually working to keep the heat out of my office. I’m thinking a solar-powered outdoor shade would keep a lot of light and heat out in the streets and glaciers where it belongs.
Tech Stuff
I’ve been playing more with making videos, and I’d like to get a full license of DaVinci Resolve (the free version is so very nice, but I’m longing for some of the advanced features now). The thing is, folks say it is silly to just buy a license for it at $300, when the full license comes gratis with many of the Black Magic hardware products. So, I’ve been eyeballing the Speed Editor controller, which comes with the license I want, and has a shuttle control to cut down on my RSI at the same time. And it’s cool. B&H Photo.
Beyond that, my other tech focus is building a new workstation/gaming machine. I’m done with Apple for a bit, and all of my computers are getting on five years old. My current build list looks something like:
- AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 4.2 GHz 16-Core Processor (I’d be as happy with the 7800X3D, but it currently has it’s prices spiked enough that the chip with double the cores is a better deal)
- ASRock B650 LiveMixer AM5 ATX Motherboard
- ZOTAC Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super Trinity Black
- Kingston Fury Beast 64GB 6000MT/s DDR5 CL30 DIMM kit KF560C30BBK2-64
- Samsung 990 Pro 4 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive
- Fractal Design Torrent Case (white)
Spa Shelter
I use the hot tub every day, and I’ve jury-rigged a good solution for providing shelter from the sun and rain in our collapsable umbrella, since having a stick built cover built (at ~$15,000) was way out of reach. This year, though, Costco started selling a beautiful pre-manufactured gazebo that would fit perfectly over the spa, and provide perfect shelter year round.
Don’t Even Think About It
