Christmas Gifts

While we're not all graced with a christmas present from parents each year, while I'm still in my youth I am! I've just ordered my Asus WL700gE (my present, joined with the Elite I got a while back).

What would all of you lot like? - or what might you get, even?

Merry Christmas!

I got a pair of vintage Rayban Aviator with the required green lenses.

You can't beat the classics

We don't do boxing day, but we had our own gift-giving holiday yesterday. I got a bunch of books and a DVD. Also, I bought myself the gift of Windows Home Server. [Y]

(HP doesn't know when the Mediasmart will be released over here, so I just bought an OEM CD for my beta machine. I guess I'll give it to my parents if the Mediasmart does eventually get released.)

Bas wrote:

We don't do boxing day, but we had our own gift-giving holiday yesterday. I got a bunch of books and a DVD. Also, I bought myself the gift of Windows Home Server.

(HP doesn't know when the Mediasmart will be released over here, so I just bought an OEM CD for my beta machine. I guess I'll give it to my parents if the Mediasmart does eventually get released.)

Sorry to disappoint you but I've had my MediaSmart 1TB Home Server for nearly a week now and since the manual is one of those annoying "lots of European languages" things I'm guessing HP have rolled it out across Europe (that's what they claim to have done?)

VERY nice it is too although I can't get the remote access to work with my router (keeps telling me to set UpnP but it is set).

I pre-ordered mine from play.com.

irascian wrote:

Sorry to disappoint you but I've had my MediaSmart 1TB Home Server for nearly a week now and since the manual is one of those annoying "lots of European languages" things I'm guessing HP have rolled it out across Europe (that's what they claim to have done?)

I emailed HP Netherlands, and they told me they didn't yet have a Dutch release date. Closest they could tell me was "We're hoping before april." That was enough for me to give HP the figurative finger and use my own hardware.

I wonder if Play.com ships abroad, because Amazon.co.uk wouldn't. Is the manual also in Dutch?

Well, in the grand scheme of things I think I got a bit jipped.

Slackmaster K got me a WD Raptor 150, which got him 150 arbitrary cool points awarded. But in return I got him a job that pays 2.5x what his last one did, so the $200.00 expendature was minimal at best, so I deduct about 92,850 arbitrary cool points.

My wife (which means an extension of my checkbook) got me two Dell 2407WFP's, which was also nice. But in return I just signed off on a $400,000 home loan, so adding the fact that the monitors came from me anyway, I deduct 401,200 arbitrary cool points from her.

My mom got me the Get Smart DVD collect, so for originality and since I didn't pay anything myself, she is awarded 75 arbitrary cool points that are not deducted.

My in-laws got me a $50 gift card to Best Buy, which awards them 25 arbitrary cool points, since I pre-deducted 25 due to the fact I can't buy anything I want at Best Buy for $50, and using the gift card actually takes about as long to utilize with cash/credit as it would for me to make that much at work. I then deduct the dinner I had to take them to to acquire said gift card, which their share came to 76.25. So a total of -51.25 arbitrary cool points are awarded.

I bought all five kids gifts, which combined came out to about $3,500. In return I got a hand made Christmas Card. 100 arbitrary cool point are awarded for the original gift, 3500 are deducted. Giving them -3,400 combined or -680 per child.

So the leaderboard is as follows:

Mom: 75
Kids: -3400
In-Laws: -51.25
Slackmaster K: -92,850
Wife: -401,200

Total: -497426.25

So, in conclusion, Christmas is about the least Merry part of my year. So unmerry, I have to backbuild months in advance to get to this unmerry point.

Happy Holidays

Bas wrote:



irascian wrote: Sorry to disappoint you but I've had my MediaSmart 1TB Home Server for nearly a week now and since the manual is one of those annoying "lots of European languages" things I'm guessing HP have rolled it out across Europe (that's what they claim to have done?)

I emailed HP Netherlands, and they told me they didn't yet have a Dutch release date. Closest they could tell me was "We're hoping before april." That was enough for me to give HP the figurative finger and use my own hardware.

I wonder if Play.com ships abroad, because Amazon.co.uk wouldn't. Is the manual also in Dutch?

Oops! My bad! I bought the HP Home Server and a Canon Ixus camera on the same day and was getting the two confused - it was the Canon camera that had endless pages of foreign language versions of the same few pages.  The HP Home server "in the box" manual and CD "User Guide" is English only. Sorry for the confusion.

Play.com quote prices in pounds AND Euros so there's a good chance they ship to the Netherlands but I suspect the biggest problem may now be supply (which would perhaps explain the April Netherlands launch date) since I gather there were shortages even in the USA, despite the low profile the launch seems to have had. Currently play.com have it listed as "Temporarily out of stock".

A computer...

On the 14th this computer goes back to my employer...thus leaving me without one

creditcard wrote:

Hanukkah > Christmas

*cough* errr.. so, how about them Dolphins?

Sinterklaas > all holidays. Sven knows.

irascian wrote:


Oops! My bad! I bought the HP Home Server and a Canon Ixus camera on the same day and was getting the two confused - it was the Canon camera that had endless pages of foreign language versions of the same few pages.  The HP Home server "in the box" manual and CD "User Guide" is English only. Sorry for the confusion.

That explains things. I would've been mighty annoyed with HP's customer support otherwise. Thanks for checking, anyway!

I set up my present to myself last night and I owe the inspiration to both Jamie and SlackmasterK.

I'm the proud owner of 2 samsung 24" widescreens and 2 8800GTSs

3 widescreens FTW!!!

That said, a 500W PSU will actually not cover the power requirements of those cards and can in fact cause the PSU to die.

At least Best Buy was open.

ixdatul wrote:



Well, in the grand scheme of things I think I got a bit jipped.

Slackmaster K got me a WD Raptor 150, which got him 150 arbitrary cool points awarded. But in return I got him a job that pays 2.5x what his last one did, so the $200.00 expendature was minimal at best, so I deduct about 92,850 arbitrary cool points.

My wife (which means an extension of my checkbook) got me two Dell 2407WFP's, which was also nice. But in return I just signed off on a $400,000 home loan, so adding the fact that the monitors came from me anyway, I deduct 401,200 arbitrary cool points from her.

My mom got me the Get Smart DVD collect, so for originality and since I didn't pay anything myself, she is awarded 75 arbitrary cool points that are not deducted.

My in-laws got me a $50 gift card to Best Buy, which awards them 25 arbitrary cool points, since I pre-deducted 25 due to the fact I can't buy anything I want at Best Buy for $50, and using the gift card actually takes about as long to utilize with cash/credit as it would for me to make that much at work. I then deduct the dinner I had to take them to to acquire said gift card, which their share came to 76.25. So a total of -51.25 arbitrary cool points are awarded.

I bought all five kids gifts, which combined came out to about $3,500. In return I got a hand made Christmas Card. 100 arbitrary cool point are awarded for the original gift, 3500 are deducted. Giving them -3,400 combined or -680 per child.

So the leaderboard is as follows:

Mom: 75
Kids: -3400
In-Laws: -51.25
Slackmaster K: -92,850
Wife: -401,200

Total: -497426.25

So, in conclusion, Christmas is about the least Merry part of my year. So unmerry, I have to backbuild months in advance to get to this unmerry point.

Happy Holidays

Aww come on man, you messed up my Google rank for Arbitrary Cool Points. Thanks to this thread, my blog is down to #2 of 1,400,000! At least I still have very widescreen(Google) and Christmas Dreamscene (Google).

What I want for Christmas?

A 42 Towel!

SlackmasterK wrote:



Aww come on man, you messed up my Google rank for Arbitrary Cool Points. Thanks to this thread, my blog is down to #2 of 1,400,000! At least I still have very widescreen(Google) and Christmas Dreamscene (Google).

**** Link Farmer, get a job! <shakes fist>

ixdatul wrote:



SlackmasterK wrote:  Aww come on man, you messed up my Google rank for Arbitrary Cool Points. Thanks to this thread, my blog is down to #2 of 1,400,000! At least I still have very widescreen(Google) and Christmas Dreamscene (Google).

**** Link Farmer, get a job! <shakes fist>

... Said the guy who sits three feet behind me at work.  Thanks for doubling (and thusly helping me triple) the number of votes Google sees from this high-PR site.

Having said that, you stole my thunder!.... Except that nobody had Googled for Arbitrary Cool Points before

Bas wrote:

Sinterklaas > all holidays. Sven knows.

I hate to disappoint you but since most of my family is Swiss we've always done more for Christmas than Sinterklaas. We did celebrate Sinterklaas when me and my brother were younger, but not for a long time now.

And of course I had to make "surprises" for seascouts each year.
There the goal was to cause the recipient as much inconvenience as possible, for instance by making a really disgusting one or one that was impossible to open without power tools. Being a more cultured man, my approach was to write insanely long poems (it's customary to include a poem with a Sinterklaas gift) that they would have to read out loud.

ixdatul wrote:



Well, in the grand scheme of things I think I got a bit jipped.

<Rambling/>

It's only December 6th, how do you know what everyone has chosen for your gift?

Sven Groot wrote:



Bas wrote: Sinterklaas > all holidays. Sven knows.

I hate to disappoint you but since most of my family is Swiss we've always done more for Christmas than Sinterklaas.

Bah. Blasphemy!

Ah, Sinterklaas. The only saint who still has black slaves and who will punish bad children by putting them in his bag.