Lately I've been enjoying music toys, video games, socializing, and generally trying new things. But something practical/useful would be just as good as something fun.
Misc stuff
- Make a donation in my name to the Free Software Foundation or the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
- Take me to a movie, coffee, concert, lunch, etc...
- A nice pocket knife; Spyderco or similar. Bonus points if it's weighted to open via inertia with a flick of the wrist. I'm fidgety and that's kind of a fun way to fidget.
- Massages are always nice.
- An unlocked (or Sprint) Linux-based phone, such as the Motorola Droid, Nokia n900, or Nexus.
- Vash sunglasses: circular yellow lenses, with a zig-zag on the side of the frame.
- Comics you think I might like.
- A glass surface for my desk
- Zubbles: Colored bubbles
- A compact zoom camera: Canon SX200 IS (12MP, 12X optical, pocket-sized)
- Toys
- Smiles
- Motivation
Music and Sound
- A cracklebox. Here's one type of cracklebox... and a video showing a short demo of it. Or here's a video of a nice DIY cracklebox.
- A nice microphone and a short cable to connect it to a 1/4" stereo jack.
- A Drawdio -- a pencil circuit which lets you draw and play music. (it makes sense if you watch the video(s)) ($18)
- Korg Kaossilator Pro. ($300-$400)
- MicroKORG XL keyboard ($500).
- Korg nanoKONTROL device ($50), to control all the virtual knobs and sliders in a soft synth.
- Some way to hold all my music gear to make it easier to use. A floating desk would be ideal, but we don't have hoverboards yet.
- Double bass drum pedal. (~$150)
- Misc cables / connectors... ask me for details.
Games
- Wii ($199?)
- Playstation 3 ($299?)
- A 1080p display to use with a Playstation 3 ($100-$200)
- Playstation 2 ($130?)
- Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition (for PS2)
- Bayonetta (for PS3)
Dreamcast (~$50?)
ThinkGeek stuff
- Airzooka ($13)
- They have lots of other neat stuff too, but I'm far from familiar with the whole catalog.
Lights
- LED under-cabinet puck-shaped lights which can be plugged into the wall
- Rave'N 2 colorful LED flashlight
- Glowsticks... 1.5" mini glowsticks, and/or other similar products.
Stuff I already received
In case this helps give you any ideas, here are some things I already got and liked:Some nice headphones, such as Sony MDR-7506 or MDR-V700 or MDR-V6. ($60-$100)A Korg Kaossilator KO-1A Korg Kaoss Pad 3 (KP3)Nokia n810 Linux-based "internet tablet"A wooden recorder (sounds much nicer than plastic).(thanks, mom!)Electric drum set -- the type with touch-sensitive pads that can be reprogrammed with various sounds, preferably with midi output and user-definable sounds. The "ddrum 4" or "ddrum 4 se" is pretty nice. (~$2500)(done: thanks, me!) Portable music (mp3/ogg) player.Canon Powershot SD700Canon Powershot S1 ISIBM 31P9490 Keyboard to replace my current Happy Hacker + Cirque Easycat devicesGreen laser pointer(thanks, mom/dad!)head lamp: Petzl Zipka PlusA nice water bottle (Nalgene or similar).Small refrigerator/freezer I could use at work.A taco stand (or two) to keep tacos from falling over.(thanks, mom/dad!)Kill-a-watt power measurement device. ($30, thinkgeek)Nintendo DS LiteM3 homebrew card for the Nintendo DSDiskwars strategy game pieces.A tripod, or similar camera-holding device.Transmetropolitan.(thanks for 4-10, trae!)Books by Carol Berg(thanks, trae!)"Monsters" TV show DVDs (especially "The Moving Finger" episode)(found online, and ... wow, the show is worse than I remembered :)One Pound Bag o' Thinking Putty: Like silly putty, but better. I like all the weird colors: bronze, silver, oil slick, electric green, lilac, scarab, lava, sunburst, amethyst, twilight, and all of the glow-in-the-dark ones.Invader Zim DVDs. I think there are 3 DVDs plus an extras disc. They all fit into a special box modelled after Zim's house, which is available either empty (~$20, with the extras disc), or full (~$90, 4 discs total).(done: thanks Shmoo & Chuck!) Shaolin Soccer DVDFingerworks TouchStream keyboard. (~$330) (note 2005-08: D'oh. Fingerworks died. That'll make it much harder to find a touchstream)DVD writer. (I found a nice one for only $38)done: (thanks, Willfe!) DVD+R media. Preferably, in spools of 50.CDR media. Preferably, in spools of 50. I've been using Memorex ones lately, without any fancy colors.done: multimeter / voltimeterTwo 512MiB RAM sticks for my notebook.Large hard drive for my notebook.Sharp Zaurus 5500 (done: thanks, me!)Palm Pilot (done: I bought myself a m500)(done: thanks, galen!) Grab bag (or two) of magnets: http://www.wondermagnet.com/dev/magnets.html (plus, magnetic field viewing sheet). These guys have lots of neat magnets. The 3/4" spheres are especially fun. But the grab bag is pretty neat too. I'm also interested in a few 1/4" spheres, a lot of 3/16" cubes, and some small oblong box-shaped magnets.(done: thanks, trae!) Liquid ferrofluid: reviewed hereDone (thanks, mom/dad!): A binary clock would be pretty neat.Done: A foam pillow. Mine is really, really old and getting flat.Done: GNU sticker to cover up the logo on my notebook.TV-B-Gone. Turns off almost any TV. (thanks, trae!)(done: thanks a bunch, trae!) Unicycledone: Good NiMH batteries. (probably some powerex ones from here)(done: thanks, mom/dad!) Ionic air purifier. this one seems to be relatively cheap/effective. ($60-$80)"Cuddle Pillow". Big soft cylinder.. About $8 at Mervyn's..?Nice headphones.. either one which wraps around behind the head, or which has over-ear pieces not connected to each other. A good durable cable is a BIG plus, too. (done: thanks, me!)AA and AAA NiMH batteries (Nexcell or Maha, highest mAH they sell), plus charger. (http://www.thomas-distributing.com/)8-bit tie ($20)Doctor Who's Sonic Screwdriver ($15)Anthropomorphizer stickers ($4)Magnetic fridge pins ($5)Gorillapod ($22-$50)Ice glasses ($8)"Uber Orbs" oblong, chirping magnetoids.(done: thanks, Liz!) Bike tail light.. the kind which flashes, and is powered by the back wheel... or perhaps a flashing battery-powered LED light.(done: Thanks, trae!) Forever Flashlight. No batteries; just shake it to charge it up! Power only lasts for 5 minutes, but that is no problem if you shake it periodically.
