
Ask HN: So HNers, whatd'ya get for Christmas? - colbyolson
I think I made out like a bandit! Lots to read now over the break.<p>http://i46.tinypic.com/24pmip2.jpg
======
maxklein
I got the skin of a leopard. Completely unasked for, totally illegal and now
I'm feeling very guilty, but unsure what to do. It's not good to have naive
family members go on safari.

~~~
DanielBMarkham
This probably isn't a popular thing to say, but assuming it's legal, I'd keep
it. Anything that rare and precious is worth cherishing for the rest of your
life.

~~~
Confusion
So he should cherish something just because it is rare and precious? It sounds
like he couldn't care less and would probably store it somewhere in a closet.
And good for him: we shouldn't care about what _others_ think is valuable
(except to prevent ourselves from needlessly offending them).

------
gaius
I got woken up at 1:30AM for a database replication problem, which wasn't a
problem at all, there was no new data because IT WAS CHRISTMAS and there were
no goddamn transactions to replicate. FFS!

Anyway, Merry Christmas!

------
portman
At our ultrasound in October, we asked the sonographer to write the baby's sex
in a sealed envelope. Instead of exchanging presents, my wife and I opened the
envelope this morning.

It's a girl.

~~~
harisenbon
Congratulations! Our first girl is coming soon as well!

~~~
portman
Congrats to you as well!

------
quizbiz
I'm Jewish... but I got a winter break from college to spend with the family.
For that, I thank you all (while my patience with my mother lasts).

~~~
shaddi
Amen from your Muslim brother. :)

~~~
i386
And your atheist friend too :)

~~~
chanux
And from the Buddhist friend :)

------
dmarble
From my dad: A card that says, "This card is redeemable for cash in the amount
of the cost of the Feb 2010 bar exam if you pass it." He's trying to
incentivize me to study since I'm such a procrastinator. I have to admit,
that's pretty creative of him.

From my two younger married sisters who each have kids: a box with a stuffed
baby bunny and a handwritten sign inside urging me to "MAKE BABIES!".

FYI: I'm 30, male, single, working on a law-related software startup, and
considering a New Years' resolution of flying away from the bay area to other
cities on weekends to meet more women. Good idea?

~~~
jamesbritt
"handwritten sign inside urging me to 'MAKE BABIES!'."

Oh, nice; a start-up idea!

~~~
araneae
One with very little return on your investment.

~~~
ramidarigaz
Not true. If all goes well, they'll be there when you are too old to do stuff
on your own.

------
shaddi
An IR thermometer! I've always wanted one but never got around to getting it.
I've been measuring the temperature of /everything/ since this morning. It's
awesome to see how fast heating elements get hot, or quantify just how cold
your coffee has gotten.

------
kyro
Rejection from a grad school and a call from a collecting agency!

~~~
chrischen
Hey I got that too, the collecting agency that is.

------
cpr
Hey, there are 12 days of Christmas, so I've got 11 more days to find out what
I'm getting... ;-)

(Seriously, we celebrate most gift-giving on Epiphany, the traditional 12th
day of Christmas, when the Magi brought their gifts to Bethlehem. Takes the
"gift whammy" off Christmas itself, though we have a few minor gifts.)

~~~
araneae
Are you Russian Orthodox Christian?

------
BrentRitterbeck
I got Monopoly City, an old Chase Manhattan stock certificate, and a mint
condition 100 trillion Zimbabwe dollar note.

~~~
zandorg
I have (though I bought it myself) a Carolco bond (which covered Terminator
2), and framed it, and I point at it and go "Without this paper, no Terminator
2!"

~~~
BrentRitterbeck
I am a huge fan of finance. I used to collect assets from other banks for
accounts I opened, and I always loved looking at the old stock certificates.
By far, the most amazing certificate I have ever seen is one from Disney. It's
a piece of art.

------
mickeyben
I had an arduino board and the books "don't make me think"
[http://www.amazon.com/Think-Common-Sense-Approach-
Usability/...](http://www.amazon.com/Think-Common-Sense-Approach-
Usability/dp/0789723107) and "programming clojure"
<http://pragprog.com/titles/shcloj/programming-clojure>

~~~
ErrantX
Yup I got an arduino too. Absolutely GREAT fun.

So far the best project I want to aim for is a UAV
(<http://www.diydrones.com>) - either that or as a controller unit for a coil
gun.

Any other suggestions for us?? :D

~~~
bnmrrs
I got an Arduino last year and just finished a medium scale project. I hooked
it up to a <http://hexbug.com> for remote control over a network with XMPP. If
you want to take a look all of the code is at
<http://github.com/bnmrrs/HexBugNc>

------
RevRal

      Andrey Tarkovsky's Sculpting in Time
      Milorad Pavic's Landscape Painted With Tea
      A signed and framed picture by Will Cullen Hart
      Herzog Zwei for my Sega Genesis
      Planescape Torment for PC
      Leadbelly collection
      A brick of soft lead (I need this for swaging).Someone found it and thought of me :)
    

Just the coolest stuff this year. Enjoy your day :)

~~~
yread
+1 for the tarkovsky. and the landscape. and the torment. Damn I want your
presents!

To stay on topic I got a Michal Palin book signed by himself! :)

~~~
RevRal
I've been apprehensive about the Tarkovsky book, which was why I never bought
it for myself. But he's my favorite director. It just seemed badly translated
to me, from the preview I read on Amazon.

But now that I've read a few chapters, I have to say that this book is a must
own for anyone who loves Tarkovsky. It still may be the case that the
translation sucks, but I am over it. I'm going to to go through each of his
movies one-by-one again, and read his corresponding chapters.

I recommend this book.

------
ccollins
A food processor! I can't wait to use it!

[http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-DFP-14BCN-Processor-
Brushed-...](http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-DFP-14BCN-Processor-Brushed-
Stainless/dp/B0000645TW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=home-
garden&qid=1261764490&sr=8-3)

~~~
dryicerx
Will it blend!

~~~
matttah
I've got one, the home Blendtec, it has yet not to blend.

------
caryme
A WakeMate! Well, a printed email confirmation of a WakeMate preorder.

------
SwellJoe
Rejection letters from several banks for a small RV loan, even _with_ a co-
signer. So my Christmas gift to myself, an RV, will have to be paid for with
cash, and will be a few years older than the one I thought I was getting. I'm
also wondering where my tax dollars are going, if they aren't going into
consumer loans for people with great credit and reasonable income. (Note to
other startup founders: Getting a loan as a startup founder is _really_
difficult, even if you have a reasonable salary and credit score in the 700s;
plan accordingly.)

A Kindle. Which allows me to get rid of all of my books, making my transition
to RV living that much easier.

Cash from my parents, as contribution to my RV fund.

~~~
dtby
_I'm also wondering where my tax dollars are going, if they aren't going into
consumer loans [...]_

Is this some young geeks joke that old geeks don't get?

~~~
pmorici
I think he is referencing the fact that politicians gave money to banks to
encourage loans to consumers and it apparently didn't help this case

------
DanielBMarkham
I had an HN-Christmas. I got stuff that I saw other HN'ers recommended over
the last year.

First was the CDs. Arvo Part Fratres. Arvo Part Tabula Rasa, Gorecki' Symphony
#3, and Steve Reich Music for 18 Musicians (These are REALLY GOOD) I am
enjoying the heck of of them so far this morning.

Then, from another HN thread, the ultimate nerd game, Settlers of Catan. Can't
wait to try it out later today.

Finally some custom teas. Good stuff! I'm drinking a double-spice chai with
milk and Splenda. Delicious.

By the way, if you haven't figured it out yet, you can be bad and Santa still
brings you cool stuff. I think this whole "making a list" stuff is just a big
lie. If you ask me, the big fat man is a pushover.

~~~
charliepark
Settlers is great. It has a bit of a learning curve, though, so if you have
any friends who know how to play (and who would be okay with a few "open hand"
rounds), you might invite them over. Have fun!

~~~
bradbeattie
If you find yourself enjoying Settlers, take a look at BoardGameGeek's top 20
list of games: <http://www.boardgamegeek.com/browse/boardgame>

While Settlers is a nice gateway game, there's a fair amount of chance
involved that can be frustrating. I'd highly recommend Puerto Rico, Tigris &
Euphrates, and Caylus. Good games, although they're a bit more involved than
Settlers.

~~~
yread
Puerto Rico is indeed amazingly chess-like; deterministic to a point where you
start to pull your hair out because you didn't take the corn field in the
beginning when you could. It also has the nice point that the situation can
turn extremely quickly and your opponents start pulling _their_ hair :)

I would also add Agricola which is similarly deterministic but notoriously
diffucult to develop a strategy for!

~~~
bradbeattie
I'd argue that Agricola isn't deterministic. The cards dealt out at the
beginning are done so randomly and often lead to asymmetry. Beyond that, I
don't recall any chance.

One feature of Agricola I don't like much is that it's difficult to assess
another player's score at a glance. In Caylus, for example, it's quite clear
how well another player is doing.

Environmental attributes in board games:
<http://www.cognitivesandbox.com/posts/board-games/>

------
vaksel
I just got cash. I'm impossible to shop for, since I just buy whatever I want.
So about 5 years back we just agreed that I just get cash, since that allows
me to buy the stuff I really want, when I get the itch.

~~~
maxklein
My rule is exactly the opposite - I have cash and I can buy anything I want
basically, and I can always save for more expensive things.

So the rule is simply - I neither give nor receive cash or gift certificates.
That way I get things I may not have known I wanted, or unexpected things. It
also brings a lot more fun into unwrapping presents.

~~~
Flemlord
Gift certificates are like being given a ToDo list.

------
Flemlord
My present was my extended family agreeing to play Werewolf for the first
time. I've been dying to play ever since I heard about it, but haven't had
enough people to try it. (It requires at least nine; eight players and a
moderator.) It was a huge hit and we're playing it again tonight with even
more people.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_%28party_game%29>

I also got a kegerator.

------
verdverm
2010 scion tC... Totally sweet ride, korman book, and much needed socks

~~~
ahlatimer
I have an '07 tC and love it. I've put 40k miles on it in 2 1/2 years, and I
haven't had a single problem besides bent rims. Speaking of the rims, I don't
know if they've changed in the past three years (doubt it), but if they
haven't, be careful with them. My dad bent one hitting in pot hole in San
Antonio, and I bent two at some point (no idea how). It might not be
immediately obvious they're bent, but they can suffer pretty nasty blowouts
when the sidewall does finally deteriorate. Neither my dad nor I have done
that in any other car, so I think it has something to do with the rims
(although we _can_ be a little rough on cars).

------
Mz
Four days off. :)

------
nailer
The Guggenheim Museum & Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright in Lego.

<http://architecture.lego.com/en-us/default.aspx>

Ordered by Mrs Nailer and shipped to the UK.

I've loved Lego and modernist architecture since I was a child.

------
danudey
From my girlfriend: an Atari shirt (since I'm always lamenting that the one I
have now is literally falling to pieces); a copy of The Bro Code; A bunch of
amazingly delicious homemade chocolates; A stocking shaped like Kuribo's Shoe
from Super Mario Bros 3 (<http://bit.ly/kuribo>).

From my mother, a $25 sbux gift card and chocolates.

Given that I don't actually celebrate christmas and didn't want gifts, it's a
pretty good haul.

I also got my girlfriend a sock monkey patterned after Rorschach from Watchmen
(<http://bit.ly/5h0nfB>), which she liked (huge Watchmen fan and loves sock
monkeys).

------
RiderOfGiraffes
I got CDs of the Brandenburgs, a desktop sundial, and a build-it-yourself 1/20
scale model of the Wright flyer.

Also socks and some other stuff. But there are more presents to come tomorrow
as we visit the in-laws.

------
flooha
Some old Piers Anthony/David Eddings books from my 14yr old son, which was
possibly one of the most personal gifts anyone has ever given me. My daughter
got me a laminated Spanish vocab foldout which was really awesome because I've
been meaning to make up my own. Finally spending a Christmas with my European
wife was the best though. ;)

My gift to us all as a family was to go see Avatar in IMAX 3D tonight. It was
amazing.

------
PStamatiou
bought myself another 80GB X25-M SSD along with MCE optibay so I can RAID-0
them in my 17-in unibody macbook pro. Also a 32GB Class 10 SDHC card for my
Kodak Zi8. And a UI stencil set for making website mockups
<http://www.uistencils.com/>

I got my family a 23andme ancestry DNA test and they LOVED it. Gave bro-in-law
& sister a Flip MinoHD for baby vids

~~~
jaxn
That optibay, is that the thing that replaces the DVD drive? I have been
tempted to do that too.

~~~
PStamatiou
Yup, that's the one. The only issue I ran into with install today was that in
my unibody 17-inch (latest gen, got it just a few months ago), the bluetooth
module does not screw into the optibay (it was originally screwed into the
superdrive). There are holes in the optibay for it, but the screws don't fit.
Not a big deal though, the module is very small and won't move if left by
itself (attached to a larger display cable).

------
randrews
A Novation Launchpad, which I have already hacked to play Connect 4 with. I
really wanted to play with a Monome a couple years ago but I could never get
my kit to work very well (electronics were no problem, building the case was),
so this is perfect.

Also the world's most awesome toy car:
<http://www.geekfu.org/things/delorean-1.JPG>

------
jaxn
I got a watch, scarf, and gloves. I am at the airport on my way to visit my
girlfriend and am interested to see what she gives me (she is getting a sweet
camera).

But now that I have kids the giving is so much more fun than the getting. I
got them a Samsung N130 netbook, mini helicopters, some books (DIY Diary of a
Wimpy Kid looks fun), moleskines and no socks or underwear. Being santa is
fun.

------
hardik
Am not a Christian but happened to close a big project last week so took the
Christmas week off; so got holidays! Am using this time to explore new
MacBookPro my wife gifted me earlier this month for my b'day.. ..and (this is
the part where I remm saying 'Jesus sure does not love me all that much')
results were out for one of the professional exams I gave in Sept and I
flunked.

------
i386
I received a Kindle 2 from my boyfriend and this awesome ceramic electric slow
cooker. Anyone for pot roast? :)

Kindle 2 is absolutely amazing. I bought "The Business Of Software" and
noticed that the graphs and tables didn't render legibly at all. So I emailed
the Kindle feedback folk and within an hour I had a reply offering a refund.
Best service ever, Amazon - and on Christmas Day too!

------
jseifer
I got a really nice citrus press - [http://www.amazon.com/Breville-800CPXL-
Die-Cast-Stainless-St...](http://www.amazon.com/Breville-800CPXL-Die-Cast-
Stainless-Steel-Motorized/dp/B000A76VCY). I make orange juice with breakfast
every morning and this will cut juicing time from 5-15 minutes to 2 depending
on how many I'm juicing for.

------
kellishaver
Nice digital picture frame (I was running out of room on my desk for all the
photos, so it's nice to have them all in one frame on a slideshow),some DVDs,
new speakers.My biggest joy today has been watching my daughter, who is 7.5
and has taken a serious interest in digital art/design, as she learns all the
ins and outs of how to use her first WACOM. :)

------
Emore
I got Lego! Brilliant idea from my brother, and I must say that I enjoyed it
just as much now (I'm 22) as I did ten years ago.

------
Osmose
Samsung N130 Netbook, A $50 bond and a coffee mug. Oh, and a Rubik's cube that
has been eating up far too much time.

For my Dad, I promised to pay for a golf club he has on backorder. For my
girlfriend, I got a PS3 with MGS4 and Little Big Planet (which is really so I
can play LBP). Still trying to get my Mom to tell me what to get her, sadly.

~~~
jaxn
I bought my kids an N130 too. Pretty sweet little machine and you can put a
2GB RAM chip in there (which I did for $60).

------
daeken
Capicola and some Italian bread dipping sauce from my Mom, with a bottle of
raspberry ice wine (yum!) on the way. New York hard rolls (oh how I miss New
England sometimes) from my dad. Investments by Bodie, Kane, and Marcus and a
hangover from myself. It's been a good Christmas already.

------
cschep
The little schemer! I knew I forgot to ask for something. I seriously love
getting books for Christmas.

~~~
steveeq1
Dude. . . this is a great book. I plan on finishing it today, in fact.
Warning: the last two chapters are mind-bending.

------
mattyfo
I got a cool Threadless shirt (101 cameras), a nice vest, a David Sedaris
book, a nice light, 'The Ruby Programming Language', 'The Definitive
JavaScript Guide' and a wonderful day with family.

I'm digging into the JS book now and loving it, very comprehensive.

------
dnewcome
I got some beer brewing equipment. Now I won't have to use old water jugs and
spill stuff all over the kitchen. Come to think of it, this may have been just
as much a gift to my girlfriend as to me... (she got me the stuff)

------
roundsquare
2 hangovers in a row (maybe 3? we'll see...)

Coupla magazine subscriptions since I don't really want much else right now.

By the way, just finished Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance a few
weeks ago. Great read even though I don't agree with it all.

------
pasbesoin
A llama.

(Go, Heifer! <http://www.heifer.org/>)

~~~
jaxn
My dad gave me bees.

------
teuobk
A new set of tires for my car and a really nice scarf. I love practical gifts.

------
brutimus
The foodstuffs I received this year. Didn't get much outside of foodstuffs.
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/brutimus/4216683268/>

------
axod
Batman cufflinks. Unfortunately they do not fire poisoned bat darts.... yet.

------
mcav
An Intel SSD. Best speed-up I could get short of getting a new laptop. :-)

------
aschobel
Sleep! Having family over is forcing me to take a break. Bah! :P

------
kabdib
A "Wiz" ARM-based open handheld gaming platform. And socks.

------
ekpyrotic
Logicomix. Paul Theroux travel books. Borges short stories.

~~~
latentflip
Logicomix is brilliant, got it for my birthday in November. Enjoy!

------
dhimes
Celestial navigation stuff. Books, including Nautical Almanac and some
"layman" items, sextant, watch synched to radio time signal; all cool stuff!

------
yannis
Christmas came a bit earlier here, so I got a hangover!:), but I used the
break to get my next Project to 95%, I am targeting release in January!

------
araneae
I got more ram, pocky, a gift card to amazon.com, and money.

Also lots of bdsm gear from my SO, including some really nice suspension
cuffs. (Is this TMI?)

~~~
DanielBMarkham
No, but I missed the "bdsm" and just went for an interesting Christmas jaunt
on Google.

On second thought probably so?

------
DaniFong
A necklace, a lamp, a dress, the 'inventor's almanac' book 'They Made
America,' and several socks, the limiting factor for startups.

~~~
kellishaver
Socks are indeed an important business asset. We've always said that when our
startup is actually profitable enough to have a proper office, it will include
a dry-erase floor and a large supply of corporate socks... you know, for all
the planning meetings and UI sketches and what not.

~~~
ratsbane
That is a brilliant idea. I've wanted some dry-erase wallpaper
<http://www.walltalkers.com/> since I worked in an office that had it, but the
dry-erase floor is now on my list.

------
jasonlbaptiste
Logitech DiNovo Mini Keyboard. If you have an HTPC, this is a must have. I
have it working with ubuntu plug and play. It rocks.

~~~
andrewcooke
i have a logitech mouse waiting for me in the states, which is a present to
myself (i have a glass desk and they just introduced a mouse that works on
glass).

but what i received was a very nice black jacket kind of thing. not sure how
to describe it - like a thin fleece, but not very fleecy. i am sure it's a
horribly technical piece of clothing for climbing up mountains or something,
but i will be using it when i go north next week (summer here in the source -
just had a xmas day picnic!).

------
TrevorJ
2 Books, a grease gun and shop light (I'm teaching myself car repair) A case
for my new droid phone and lots of candy.

~~~
mrbad101
The shop light was a good choice. I'm a little confused about the grease gun.
I've worked on cars since I was really young, and honestly cannot remember
pulling one out, except on farm equipment.

I'd recommend a set of wrenches, sockets, socket adapters (get EVERY combo you
can here), and 2 really good socket wrenches. Don't skimp on the socket
wrenches. Money well spent. Also, a hammer, (rubber mallet, and metallic
kind). Last but not least, some sort of ginormous pry bar and a 2-3' section
of 1/4" steel pipe, that fits snugly around your socket wrench. Trust me, you
will understand why very soon.

Get those items, which shouldn't break the bank, and you are ready to tackle
damn near everything, aside from a crankshaft replacement.

------
sordidarray
<http://calcul.biz/amazon_covers/007054235X.jpg>

New.

~~~
jawngee
How do you keep the ladies at bay?

~~~
sordidarray
I have a /lot/ of Expos.

------
dryicerx
Suffering from a serious case of GAS (Gadget Acquisition Syndrome) :( Canon
70-200 IS 2.8 and a 17-55 IS 2.8.

~~~
callmeed
70-200 is a great lens. The only non-prime I've owned.

------
zitterbewegung
Some sweaters and $280 in cash. I'm thinking about a ebook reader to read
scientific papers on any ideas?

~~~
barmstrong
Kindle (latest generation) seems like the best from the people I've asked.

------
JimmyL
Several nice sweaters, a suit, some decent stationary, a watch, and a plane
ticket home to see my family.

------
bgray
For Christmas I got an ESX losing power and bringing ~10 clients down with it.
Merry Christmas!

------
jamesbritt
I got a book on making pop-up books and cards, and some glue sticks.

Time to make stuff people can touch!

------
barmstrong
Kindle (latest generation)

And some books, notably Hackers & Painters, although not in eBook format.

------
whatusername
Cash towards a Canon 500d. Really looking forward to getting into photography.

------
asdflkj
Nothing.

------
dkokelley
Repair manual and performance handbook for my 1993 Mazda MX-5.

~~~
mattyfo
Even though I drive a Ford Explorer I think I would have enjoyed getting a
repair manual for it. I derive way too much pleasure from fixing my own car.

------
andreyf
The Little Schemer! You've got a lot of fun ahead of you :)

------
jeffreyg
convertible mitts! <http://www.ems.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3651700>

------
ratsbane
I want a Winnebago.

~~~
mikeytown2
I want the phone number of the girl with the uzzy gun.

------
spencerfry
A Panasonic DMC-LX3 camera was my big present.

------
callmeed
Magic Mouse, an AeroPress and some cigars

~~~
wfarr
How's the mouse?

~~~
callmeed
Great, so far. I haven't used it much as I promised the wife I wouldnt get on
the computer today :)

But so far, it seems like a keeper. And this comes from a guy who has never
liked any of Apple's previous mice. (using a logitech until now)

------
klodolph
Kitchenaid mixer. Totally awesome.

------
adam-_-
Massive wooden chopping board :)

~~~
Kaizyn
Hopefully you'll get the knife set either for your birthday or next year?

~~~
joshu
Superstition says giving knives as gifts is bad.

------
jarsj
Kindle ;-)

~~~
ropiku
Kindle 2 or DX ?

Any idea how are the PDFs on Kindle 2 ?

~~~
daeken
PDFs on the Kindle 2 are effectively unusable in 99% of cases. There's no zoom
function, so unless you break out a magnifying lens, you won't be able to read
a damn thing on most PDFs. Quite sad, as I was looking forward to the update
:(

~~~
DanielBMarkham
With a DX in rotated mode I've never had a problem -- and I've downloaded and
read dozens of different PDFs, including e-books with lots of diagrams.

~~~
chengas123
They might be okay on the DX due to the bigger screen. But I agree that PDFs
on the Kindle 2 are completely unusable.

------
ptn
New tennis racket.

------
AdamGibbins
Chocolate :D

------
TriinT
A massive hangover...

------
dnsworks
I was treated intolerantly and kicked out of a fat guy clothing store by a
crazy catholic store clerk for not caring that the Pope fell down.

~~~
hachiya
Given that most people would care if even a stranger were assaulted and pushed
to the ground, perhaps the clerk reasonably assumed you didn't care because it
was a Catholic figure who was the target. In that case, he would be right in
assuming YOU were intolerant - of Catholics.

Well, at least people around you must be tolerant of fat people.

~~~
dnsworks
Forgive me, I don't watch fox nows, and generally do not find myself making a
fist over the scandal of the minute. If anything, I'm intolerant of the
tabloid nature of the press, and the people who find themselves filled with
righteous indignation over every single sensation in the news.

------
quinto42
PSP Go!

