What did Santa bring you?

[B4RSK]

In the spirit of commercialism...What'd everyone get (or buy themselves!) for Christmas?

Guess Santa thought I was a good boy this year, cause I got a new camera lens... One of these.

I think I gave some good presents too though. Tickets to Japan for my parents, jewelry for my wife. Daughter got very spoilt by my parents.

It's been a good Christmas, nice to have everyone together.

Ian

 

[CougTek]

Two fruit cakes and a wine bottle opener. And a few chess and Scrabble games with relatives.

 

[Tannin]

Who?

 

[blakerwry]

I wish I could have got a couple scrabble games but I got stuck working on christmas (and the surrounding days).

But aparently I have been very good this year as I got the new Antec p160 case, a logitech cordless optical trackball, some nice boots and a very nice coffee maker... along with a few other goodies.

 

[Mercutio]

Santa doesn't visit. The magic of Craigslist, however, found me a good week's work.

 

[SteveC]

What'd everyone get (or buy themselves!) for Christmas?

Nothing.

This wasn't a very good Christmas for us. My mom is recovering a stroke (which is why I haven't been around much lately), and we were supposed to have a catered dinner for 12 of us at my parents' place, but the caterer called at the last minute and said he couldn't make it because his brother had a heart attack. We wound up ordering take-out from a Chinese restaurant - the only place that was open.

 

[CougTek]

For what it worthes, I sympathise, SteveC. Hope things will improve for you next year.

 

[Fushigi]

It was both good and bad for us. The gift side was good: DVD-RW, HD, RAM, some books, a basic RC car, a framed MC Escher print, and a couple of gift cards. I've also been on vacation from work since the 19th.

The family side wasn't good: My uncle-inlaw (Wife's father's younger brother) had a stroke on the 18th. He was 62. This was followed up by blood clots in his brain & an aneurysm. Draining around the clots wasn't working and he had already suffered brain damage. He was taken off the ventilator on Saturday. He passed away on the 24th. The viewing is today. I didn't know him so my emotional impact is pretty minor. But this is the second time in the past few years her family has had a relative pass near the holidays.

 

[Pradeep]

Sorry to hear about that Fushigi and SteveC.

I got clothes, couple of gift cards (Gander Mountain, Best Buy), a watch. Buffalo Bills t-shirt and cap (a cruel joke from my father in law lol). Wife got a sapphire ring. Boys got spoilt rotten (think over 100 presents). There is no room to move in the house, so I plan to sit in front of the box and drink multiple beers - in commemoration of the Boxing Day test which I cannot see

Present to myself will prob be a case/mobo/ram/Barton 2500+ to OC to 3200+, as the Opterons are still pricy.

And a few hard drives of course.

 

[i]

I went to work for Christmas. Actually I've been at work every day since December 16th. Tomorrow is my first day off since then, but it's only one day. Starting on Tuesday I'll be back at work, and I'll be there through New Years, until January 5th.

I think I have room for a small air mattress under my desk. I think I'll check on that this week...

 

[Pradeep]

Hope you're getting some juicy overtime pay there i.

 

[e_dawg]

Santa went all out this year for me. I made off like a bandit:

- parents bought me a very nice dining room set for my new condo
- a friend of mine from uni moved back into town
- a bunch of my other closest uni friends are back in town to visit... we had a great time last night
- this was a NO RELATIVE xmas: didn't have to deal with ANY of the (mostly) obnoxious relatives this year!
- just finished my MBA
- have a job/promotion waiting for me in January when two-thirds of my class are still looking for jobs

Best. Christmas. Ever.

 

[Pradeep]

Hmm, 200GB Hitachi 8MB drives for $110 after $90 dollar MIR from Outpost.com....

http://shop1.outpost.com/product/3885207

 

[The JoJo]

Sorry to hear about your close ones Fushigi and SteveC.

I, hope your paycheck is humongous.

I didn't get too much, on top of the car I received from my parents as christmas/marriage gift. My father bought himself an Audi A4, and I got his old Opel Vectra 2L 1993 sedan. A great leap forward for me, as I've been driving a Saab 99 1984 for the past...7 years? (My grandfathers car, which is now owned by my wife).

Take care everyone.

 

[ddrueding]

Sorry to hear about your close ones Fushigi and SteveC.

I, hope your paycheck is humongous.

I didn't get too much, on top of the car I received from my parents as christmas/marriage gift. My father bought himself an Audi A4, and I got his old Opel Vectra 2L 1993 sedan. A great leap forward for me, as I've been driving a Saab 99 1984 for the past...7 years? (My grandfathers car, which is now owned by my wife).

Take care everyone.

So you and your wife now have 3 cars?

 

[CougTek]

I didn't get too much, on top of the car I received from my parents as christmas/marriage gift. My father bought himself an Audi A4, and I got his old Opel Vectra 2L 1993 sedan. A great leap forward for me, as I've been driving a Saab 99 1984 for the past...7 years? (My grandfathers car, which is now owned by my wife).

So you and your wife now have 3 cars?

Re-read. They have two cars. Unless wife had a car before and somehow decided to keep it in addition to the '84 Saab (which is unlikely).

 

[jtr1962]

My father got my new bedroom fixture and an additional shoplight for my workroom. My mom got me a sweat jacket and another gift of my own choosing (maybe that will be a power supply to replace my flaky one). My brother gave me $50. Santa brought me a lump of coal. Christmas is really for kids so I don't even care if I get anything. We had my sister, her husband, and their daughter over for Christmas eve. My brother was there, too. My mom managed to get through the day despite being pretty sick (she went to the doctor Friday and was diagnosed with bronchitis).

I'm generally at the point where I need to pick my own gifts as my interests are so esoteric that buying gifts I actually want is a near impossibility. Of course, people can always get me clothes, but I personally hate getting clothes. Always have from the time I was a kid.

 

[The JoJo]

Only two cars.

I'm still thinking about what to get myself for christmas. If I wait a bit longer, I won't have to think about it as the Visa bills from our holiday comes...

 

[Santilli]

The JoJo wrote:
Sorry to hear about your close ones Fushigi and SteveC.

I, hope your paycheck is humongous.

I agree.

Well, new school district says it pays on the last work day of every month. Apparently they just sort of neglect that's except for December, when you get no pay check until Jan 5th.

I decided, and it works out ok, that Christmas is going to be around January 5th.

So far the only things I've bought are presents for the other half. I did sneak in a Matrox 550 refurbished card, 60 dollars. Forgot the 500 rounds of 45, and 200 rounds of 375 H&H.
I've had this damn flu, and I just finished the anti-biotics that are supposed to knock it out. It's better. At least the snot os clear, not opague yellow.

Been trying to catch up on school, but really haven't done much.

Have some toys being regripped, and I need to go pick those up.

Other then that, hoping the guys kicked but in San Diego, and they had a good tourney.

Not real happy with life. I've spent the last year and 4 months really trying to put my life together after the doctor almost killed me, giving me blood clots, and failing to diagnose them.

I have not passed the bar, and, the financial aid stuff is tough, combined with the cost of living around here, and an out of work, problem other right now. Besides the De La Salle Varsity Basketball team, and my cat, I'm not real jazzed about much in my life, except, that I am starting to be able to really run, and play basketball again. I hope by the end of the season to be close to where I was two years ago.

Currently, between taking a credentialing program, and refing basketball, I'm burnt to a frazzle.

My mother is also in a near altzheimer state caused by removal of a brain tumor. It makes it really hard when she can't remember who you are, when you visit...

I hope the rest of you are having much better holidays.
I really miss the ocean...

s

 

[The JoJo]

Currently, between taking a credentialing program, and refing basketball, I'm burnt to a frazzle.

My mother is also in a near altzheimer state caused by removal of a brain tumor. It makes it really hard when she can't remember who you are, when you visit...

I hope the rest of you are having much better holidays.
I really miss the ocean...

s

I'm so sorry to hear about this. Hang in there Greg.

My grandmother (from my fathers side) is quite similar, I think. She has had a few bloodclots in her brain, which has resulted in her not recognizing her sons most of the time, or me, at all (which is quite a blow, as my grandparents have always been the one to take care of me when I was small and also after school when I was bigger).
Grandfather was similar, he had Parkinsons desease. Can't really be sure how much he recognised me the last years.

Damm, wheres the handkerchief....

 

[The JoJo]

I'm slightly thinking about bying myself a digital set-top box for cable-tv (a bit late for christmas but....) .

We have cable in our house, and I'd like to see national geographic or the discovery channels, which can't be seen without a box and some cards. It would cost about 10-20 euros a month for some of the channel packages with those. The box would cost about 250 euros, or 14 euros a month when rented.

 

[Santilli]

Thanks. The irony is the ocean has always sort of kept me sane, or maybe close. I end up land locked, and, on last veterans day, it took us 2 hours to the SF zoo, and 2 1/2 back. It's about a 45 minute drive, on normal traffic, and, the Zoo is right on my favorite surfspot.

HAVE TO FIGure out a solution, or change...

gs

 

[The JoJo]

My plan is to get Rescue diver certification next summer, and then Dive Master on my next trip abroad. And then the next step is Instructor, after which I'm ready to forget all about computers and start working somewhere warm.

Diving is the only place for me where I TOTALLY forget what is happening above the water, and just enjoy looking around. Very relaxing.

 

[Jan Kivar]

I've thought of getting a DVD+-RW and a digital camera. Are Canon A70 and the new 8x Lite-On any good? [My findings after spending ½+ day on the Net...]

Cheers,

Jan

 

[Will Rickards WT]

Kodak CX6230
Dirt Devil Hand Vac

My son, 15 months old, made out like a bandit.
I think he has the complete little people collection now.
Trucks, cars, vacuum, learning toys, wood puzzles, clothes.
And we didn't buy a tenth of it.

 

[The JoJo]

I've thought of getting a DVD+-RW and a digital camera. Are Canon A70 and the new 8x Lite-On any good? [My findings after spending ½+ day on the Net...]

I'd say both will keep you happy .

 

[B4RSK]

First off, very sorry to hear that some of us on SF have not had good Christmas seasons this year. I hope that by the time Christmas rolls around next year that things have improved immensely.

I've thought of getting a DVD+-RW and a digital camera. Are Canon A70 and the new 8x Lite-On any good? [My findings after spending ½+ day on the Net...]

Can't say anything about the DVD burner.

But the camera has good and bad. My mother has an A70 and really likes it a lot. I have both a PowerShot S40 and an EOS D60 (which is what the Christmas lens mentioned above was for!). Have used various other Canon photography products and always been happy. Currently I have the D60, an EOS3, 17-40 F4L, 28-70 F2.8L, and 70-200 F2.8L. All are excellent.

Anyway, about the A70. The only real downsides I can see are that:

1. It uses standard AA batteries which makes it kind of heavy. Also, Alkaline batteries are NOT designed for digital cameras. Alkalines are designed for items like a walkman that require a small and constant amount of power. Digital cameras want large amounts of power for a short burst (flash + censor). You can improve on this by using rechargeables. NiCad or even better NiMH. Either will be better than alkaline in a digital camera. Lithium is best of all, but I have not seen LiIon AA rechargeables yet. (The upside to using standard AAs is that you can buy them anywhere if you run out of power...)

2. The LCD on the back is very susceptible to nose-prints. Wish they had put some sort of texture on it instead of making it smooth.

Otherwise it is great! 5cm min focus, options to do various things manually if you wish, uses CF format memory which is fast and cheap, good quality pictures, etc etc. A good all-round compact digital camera.

The only other thing to consider is pixel-count. The A80 is 4MP, A70 is 3MP, and A60 is 2MP. 2MP is fine for printing postcard size 4x6 images. If you have no desire at all to enlarge images, and do not want to edit them on the computer and cut out bits of the picture, then the A60 is fine -- use the extra money to buy memory, a case, or just pocket it!

If you want to be able to cut out part of a picture and get a print of just that area, then more pixels are definitely your friend. This lets you "zoom in" on a specific part of the picture, or to cut out power lines or other parts of a picture you do not want. You can also change the way the picture is composed by cutting more from one side. If you have a large tree stuck right in the middle, you might want to move it off to the side a bit. More pixels often lets you do this, resulting in a much better picture.

If you have any questions let me know and I'll do my best to give good answers.

Ian

 

[Jake the Dog]

best wishes to all this holiday season. to those that aren't well, get well soon and to those that are, keep well.

Will, I know what you mean about your sone making out like a bandit! our son too completed his "Little People" collection amongst treasury of gifts he scored (my wifie and I were guilty for 50% of this though :wink: )

I personally did well too:

• 18ct Longines Les Grandes Classiques Presence watch with champagne dial
• $250 Bunnings voucher (Bunnings is a local hardware mega-store)
• video DVDs (Gross Point Blank, Michael Moore's Awful Truth Series 2)
• music vid DVDs (Best of David Bowie, Foo Fighters - Everywhere But Home)
• books (Contact - Carl Sagan, Stupid White Men - Michael Moore, Ubiquity - Mark Buchanan)
• Gary Larson's Far Side 2004 calendar
• obligatory jocks'n'socks

the best XMas of all though was the perfect summer day, spent with my wife and son and our close families

 

[CougTek]

the best XMas of all though was the perfect summer day, ...

For an instant, I thought you had lost your mind...until I remembered that seasons are reversed in the southern hemisphere.

...We received almost a foot of snow on Christmas' evening.

 

[Jan Kivar]

...We received almost a foot of snow on Christmas' evening.

Same happened here two days before Christmas.... and then on Christmas day it rained, and most of the snow melted.

Jan

 

[Santilli]

Damn. I loved Christmas in Hawaii, on the beach, in 1985. I lived right on the beach, at Sunset Beach, and my mother, and brother came ove


gs

 

[Jan Kivar]

The only other thing to consider is pixel-count. The A80 is 4MP, A70 is 3MP, and A60 is 2MP. 2MP is fine for printing postcard size 4x6 images. If you have no desire at all to enlarge images, and do not want to edit them on the computer and cut out bits of the picture, then the A60 is fine -- use the extra money to buy memory, a case, or just pocket it!

I'm especially interested in good macro abilities. I'd like to shoot few photos of my computer and my two cats, maybe some nature pics if I ever have the time. The Ax0 series has also some features that the normal point n' shoot cameras don't have. Good practice, if I'll ever get a really good camera (those EOS series cams look really nice... but they are darned expensive also!)

A80 is bit too pricey for my needs at the moment, it costs nearly $100 more than the A70, and offers little more to the A70. I'd look for used G2/G3 before buying A80, as they have more features. (they are bit hard to find used though...)

I'm getting some NiMHs, mostly as I've been planning to get some for my wireless mouse a long time. Apparently the more mAh's the better? I'm thinking of getting 2300 mAh, as they are only a bit more expensive than 1800 mAh ones.

I think 256 MB CF is enough, yes? Should hold nearly 100 pics.

Cheers,

Jan

 

[blakerwry]

The best deals I have seen are walmart/Target sales on Energizer/Rayovac rechargables. The energizers in store are upto 2100, Rayovac is always a step behind.

But online the PowerEx batteries look good.

A good place to check out is: http://www.imaging-resource.com/ACCS/BATTS/BATTS.HTM

You'll find just about every battery you're looking for and you'll see some trends. If I remember correctly the Energizer cells are actually manufactured by Sanyo.

 

[Will Rickards WT]

http://www.thomas-distributing.com/
Charger
Batteries

 

[Jan Kivar]

Thanks Blake, that's a very good link. Not to my surprise, those 2300 mAh batteries I mentioned are Lenmar. Even if they are overrated, as the test shows for other Lenmar batteries, they'll still be near the top.

I must see if there are any other batteries sold here that are on the list.

Cheers,

Jan

 

[Pradeep]

Well looks like Santa had a sneaky late present of coal, in the form of a deer which ran straight into the side of the car. Took out the passenger front door, and right headlight. All I saw was his/her head before Bham!, impact. A few hairs on the front bumper and a ton of deer poop on the damaged door handle. Luckily I was the only one in it, otherwise the wife would have been wearing a bunch of safety glass. So there goes a $500 deductible. Filthy bastard, why couldn't he have been running around the bush during regular gun season? Worst of all, where I hit him, I couldn't stop the car for long to go look for him. The least he could have done is die on the road so I could take him home for supper. On the plus side driving a nice Nissan Altima 2.5 as a rental. Might have to get one myself. So for now my dreams of Opterons and widescreen TVs are on hold *sobs*

 

[Handruin]

Wow dude. Sorry to hear that. Glad you are OK.

 

[jtr1962]

Funny, something very similar happened to my sister a few years ago. The deer put a big dent in the rear quarter panel.

I'm also glad you're OK. I was thinking of saying that maybe this deer is exacting some revenge for all his cousins that you shot but then that wouldn't be very nice of me, would it? :wink: Main thing is you didn't get hurt, although a $500 deductible and no deer for dinner sucks.

 

[Mercutio]

That's a very expensive way to hunt, Pradeep.

Everyone in my family except me has hit a deer. It's a fact of life.
A few years ago I was driving to work at 4:30 in the morning. I'm doing 45 in a 25 that should really be a 40, completely straight except for a couple gentle hills and some farmer's driveway.

So I'm cruising along when all of a sudden I realize there's SOMETHING in the road ahead of me. I'm about 100 feet from it and braking HARD when I finally realize it's a deer.

I come to a stop maybe five feet from it. It just stands there. Not "caught in the headlights". Not even LOOKING at me. Just staring into the empty field.

I'm afraid to go around it 'cause I'm not sure what it would do, so I just sit there, maybe two minutes, my heart at about 200 beats a minute.

Finally I start to get a little annoyed. I start laying on my horn, and I can see lights coming on at the farmhouse down the road The deer gives me this "Screw you" look and trots - doesn't even bound or leap but leisurely trots off to the side of the road. Deer Attitude. I actually flipped the stupid thing off as I drove by.

 

[Santilli]

ROFL!!!

At Tilden Park, in the Berkeley hills, we have tons of tame deer.

They go out and feed on the driving range.

I've nailed them with a very fast moving golf ball, and they look up, like,
"What was that? A mesquito?"
And go right back to dinner.

S