Hilarity without dicks: togolosh FTW!
Yesterday, in the absence of wrapping paper, I cut out 6 pages from a Land's End catalog, chosen for maximum image and minimum text, and taped them together. The result wasn't bad aesthetically.
I have strangely few people with whom I exchange winter holiday gifts.
My sister's considering getting my mother a tablet. I think this is a good idea: she travels a lot (she's retired, and does part-time stuff as something of an educational tour guide), but her laptop (netbook, actually--my bad, there) died awhile back, so now she only has my father's old Mac Mini. The question is: which tablet?
I really like my Nexus 7, which is much cheaper than the iPad Mini ($230 v $400, or $350 vs $530 with cellular antenna). But after having an Android phone for 2+ years, she doesn't seem to have really gotten comfortable with it. Perhaps she'd get more out of an iOS device, especially because of the Mac/iOS integration. Also, iPads now come with Pages, and editing Word documents would be one very real use case (she has a bluetooth keyboard she could use); my sense is that Android doesn't have anything as good for that.
But then there's the question: mini or full-size? I've heard the smaller one is actually better for reading and browsing and general media consumption, although maybe that's no longer true with the lighter "air" version.
So: does anyone have relevant experience with giving older, not-very-computer-savvy relatives tablets?
3: My mom always used the Sunday comics. The thought of receiving a daily paper makes me break out in hives, though, because it would accumulate and need to be recycled, and feel like more shit I was failing to read.
What does she want to do with it? The Kindle Fire line is worth considering as a media-consumption device that's cheaper than Apple and somewhat more polished (but arguable less capable) than straight-up Android.
Oh, I'm curious about 5 as well. There's so much technology that I think my mom would love if she weren't so flummoxed by irrelevant little front end details.
I think the main uses are email, web browsing, some document editing, maybe movie/TV watching while traveling, maybe reading. Oh, and online dating. Her local library has Nooks to borrow, and she seemed to like that, so she's not averse to reading on a device, although even the best screens aren't the same as eInk. I really don't like how tied the Kindle is to Amazon.
Most old people should stay away from Android stuff, and from Windows unless they're already familiar with it.
Presidential for what should be obvious reasons:
My wife wants a new vibrator. Her current one is old and has gotten noisier and is just mechanically falling apart. It's a Wahl, and she likes that style. So I could spend $20 and get her a new Wahl, but that seems boring. So the question is, what can I get her that's approximately that style of toy but different/more interesting/seems more gift-worthy? The "Form 2" from Jimmyjane looks like a possibility, but of course I don't have direct experience. Hitachi-style has been tried and rejected in the past.
12: The JJ Form 6 is very cool. I'm not really into vibrators, so I don't really use it, but it is quite impressive.
That sounds like a walk-into-your-local warm-and-affirming sex shop and ask the nice saleslady problem, if you're in the kind of city where there are shops like that.
9: I've really liked the iPad (pre-Air version) for all of those things except document editing. What little I've tried to do in that regard has been annoying anough that I haven't gone out and actually bought a Bluetooth keyboard even though I intended to do so when I got the thing. I don't know if any other tablet would be much better, though.
Of the JJ vibrators, the 6 is probably the most versatile and powerful, though it's also the most expensive. I bought one as a gift for a friend getting married (she had a secret sex-related wishlist), and she seems pleased.
A digital picture frame is a nice present for a photographer - she can put a selection of her own work on her desk at work or wherever.
It's a Wahl, and she likes that style.
The company that makes beard trimmers n'at?
21: Yeah, that was kind of inevitable in retrospect.
Yeah, same Wahl as the clippers and other personal care devices. The classic Wahl "massager". Like Hitachi, they are not really willing to admit where so many of their sales come from.
My partner hates hates hates to shop but needs new clothes post pregnancy-birth-losing weight again, so I'm thinking of trying to get her time with a personal shopper. But I'm worried about A) getting the right one (someone who suits her style, etc.) and B) whether this would be an obnoxious gift. She is always complaining about how she hates shopping but needs clothes.
For photography, not pretty, but GorillaPods are handy. (Flexible tripod.)
For tablets, all the medium-savvy oldsters in my family have Kindle Fires, which they love. I think my parents got one and bought them as gifts for their siblings. I've heard from several friends who bought their non-savvy parents iPads and then had to do tech support because their parent didn't realize that hitting the "home" button didn't exit an app. Their iPad would eventually crash because they were running every app they'd ever opened. I hate using my iPad for typing and text editing, but I suspect that would be true for any tablet.
Christmas is about Jesus, not presents, which is why I'm not going to get that Millennium Falcon yet again.
||Help me come up with a winning caption. So far I have "Christ, what an asshole" "Yeah, I'm a talking penguin. I'm still more realistic in this scene than the black chick" and "Row harder -- your Ivy League status is pulling away"
"Cornell? That's a super safety school!"
24: Getting the right person sounds hard, but as a fellow hate-to-shopper, it sounds like an awesome gift.
What I'd really like is a personal tailor, as I think I've said in a "if I won the lottery" thread.
30: There are cheaper options these days: you could try one of the online, measure-yourself places, like Indochino or Thick as Thieves.
I was going to say GorillaPods as wel.
Hey, someone had a good eggnog recipe. Is it in the archives somewhere, or can it be sent to me? (Preferably with recommended brand names for any liquors, so I don't get insecure about either having gone too cheap and getting an unpleasant result, or alternatively wasting overly good booze on something that's going to cover it.)
24: Mimi Smartypants had a recent post about how awesome an experience she found it. Print that post out and attach it as "This is why I thought it might make life better?"
Penguins actually live in many places besides Antarctica, but come on, Ithaca? Even fat flightless birds have more self respect than that.
Might be in the archives already, but I'll repeat it here.
"Old Quaker Lady" eggnog:
1 quart liquor - a fifth of Ancient Age bourbon topped with Bacardi light rum works well.
2c sugar
12 egg yolks
3c (2 cans) evaporated milk
1 qt whipping cream
nutmeg
Dissolve the sugar in the liquor (maybe heating gently if necessary). Pour very slowly over egg yolks while beating yolks with an electric mixer on medium speed. Strain into a container and let stand overnight.
Add evaporated milk, mix, let stand overnight again.
Whip cream until frothy but not thick; fold in. Grate fresh nutmeg over each serving.
Hey, someone had a good eggnog recipe. Is it in the archives somewhere, or can it be sent to me?
Didn't Alemeida have a truly frightening recipe? I wonder if I can find that.
Fat flightless birds should have more self respect than that: not a good caption.
I'd like to thank the people who, a few days ago, called out Snap Circuits as a present for older kids. I asked and my niece has some but would love more. So she is getting some more from me.
Any other suggestions for kids 8-11?
Kids should be in school at those times.
I couldn't find anything by Alemeida, but here is Sifu Tweety's recipe and there's some advice about bourbon brands.
Sifu's uses bourbon and brandy instead of bourbon and rum. I like brandy better than rum. However, the recipe in 36 has way more alcohol per unit of dairy product and that's got to be a help.
39: Scroll down and there are posts specifically for 10, 11, 12 ages. I like her recommendations a lot.
39: Depends on their personality, of course, but crafty stuff like origami kits or crochet/knitting/cross-stitch might be good, especially if their parents are decent about helping if the kid gets stuck. Also, I think that's the perfect age for fantasy novels, although it can be hard to guess what they have and haven't read.
Oh, and my sister was pretty into magic tricks at the younger end of that age range. A how-to book and a few props is pretty easy.
A very specific caption where rowers are asking for eggnog advice?
36 would be an equally odd caption, but more informative.
"Yeah, I'm a talking penguin. I'm still more realistic in this scene than the black chick"
Thumbs down.
24: I hate hate hate shopping for clothes but two things that made a big difference in the past couple of years for me are:
- Getting good advice from a couple of smart clothes people (near and dear to me) about classic brands that would work for me and then just buying one of every color when I found a size that fits.
- Giving up on the goals of trying to be ethical, environmental, and affordable. It ain't happening, absent unlimited shopping-time, so now I buy expensive, less-ethical and less-environmental clothes, and make donations to labor and environmental organizations to sort of compensate. It's amazing how much more effortless that made shopping for me.
I still spend at least 2-3 days a year shopping and that's way more than I'd like, but it's livable. And I feel lucky to be able to afford it.
Shorter me: Is there a friend or family member whose clothing judgment she trusts? Can you have that person play a role?
I would never have imagined that the device linked in 23 would be used by anyone for sexual stimulation.
27: "An unconventional egg for an unconventional family"
Dunno why Tweety specified confectioner's sugar in that recipe. We use regular sugar. For the bourbon we usually use Evan Williams, but if you wanted to splurge a bit, this is a place where the over-sweetness of Maker's Mark works really well.
I would never have imagined that it is possible to make egg nog at home. I'm not sure whether is or 53 represents a greater failure of imagination. Regardless, I am going to try this.
57: I think this conversation has happened before, with "egg nog" replaced with other things. What do you think life was like before you could buy prepackaged food products in stores? People ate only seared chunks of meat and raw vegetables?
I'm not sure why I envision that meat in the urpleworld is cooked and vegetables aren't.
I pretty much eat mostly seared chunks of meat and vegetables. Sometimes the vegetables are cooked.
On the vibrators subthread, I went into a Brookstone, which is a store that for some reason still exists, and maybe 30% of their products were clearly vibrators and almost-but-not-quite marketed as such.
Brookstone, which is a store that for some reason still exists
Mostly in airports, IME, where they have a captive market I guess.
I think this conversation has happened before, with "egg nog" replaced with other things. What do you think life was like before you could buy prepackaged food products in stores?
We have had this conversation before, with "egg nog" replaced with other things. Hell, we may have had it before about egg nog, and I'm just forgetting.
I just underestimate the sort of things that can be made from normal ingredients in a home kitchen. I consistently think industrialized foods required industrialized machinery.
Can I make Swedish Fish at home?
Help me come up with a winning caption
"We can reattach it."
Can I make Swedish Fish at home?
Begin by acquiring some herring. The first step is to salt it....
Regardless, I am going to try this.
Just don't burn your clit off.
My mother used to pickle her own herring, but gave it up after having kids. Along that vein, I recommend glogg (umlaut on the o) over eggnog. Traditionally it's made with red wine and grain alcohol, but I think it's best without the grain alcohol.
I can't believe no one has yet gone for the incredibly low-hanging fruit in the OP and suggested that heebie give her sister-in-law dick pics.
(Maybe because it's so low-hanging that it's brushing against the ground and is all dirty and gross.)
Small and pretty but not silly or gimmicky, of course. Best to run them through that critique Tumblr first.
Small and pretty but not silly or gimmicky, of course.
That does kind of rule most of us out.
re: photography gifts
If they have an interchangeable lens camera [dSLR or mirrorless] then a Lens Baby of some kind might be a fun gift.
68. Feuerzangenbowle FTW. We used to be invited to a feuerzangenbowle party every year, but I fear this may be in the past due to collateral damage from somebody else's messy break up. Very sad.
I sent gifts anonymously to a couple families this year who would never expect gifts from me but who touched my life in particular ways this year. It was a very happy-making exercise. You all should do it, too.
73: Feuerzangenbowle sounds great, but I am afraid I am barred from going due to my ironclad "Avoid everything that sounds creepy or threatening when translated into German" rule.
"Avoid everything that sounds creepy or threatening when translated into German"
Doesn't this mostly require cowering motionless in the middle of an empty room?
Ah, the old Leerenraumkauernslust. Nope, I avoid that as well.
Oh, great. I went to the Brookstone website to see what Halford was talking about (dual stimulation!) and now Facebook is advertising the same products to me.
This is a longshot, but I'm trying to find a place in NY to buy something particular in person, because everyplace I can find it online, I'm too late for Christmas delivery unless I pay a ridiculous amount for shipping.
What I want is roughly this, a small cabinet that can be hung on the wall suitable for displaying a dozen or two smallish objects. Someone in NYC must sell this sort of thing, but all the search terms I can think of are leading me either to places that sell shelving, or restaurant supply stores that want to sell me a refrigerated display case for dairy products.
Anyone got any ideas for how to find a local store that carries this kind of small cabinet? It's probably not that hard a problem, I'm just stuck.
I think some place like West Elm or Crate & Barrel must sell curio cabinets of some sort, although maybe more shelf-like than with closing doors.
The query term "shadow box" brings up what you want. There is a domestic mfr, maybe see if they have NYC vendors by calling?
http://www.displays2go.com/AboutUs