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Starting my Christmas wish list

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http://www.firststreetonline.com/product.jsp?id=70276&promotion=82590

What a cool toy! To bad it is so dang expensive! Maybe if they didn’t make it so pretty…. 🙁

Got your eye on a toy?

Topic

[i]Got your eye on a toy?[/i]

In reply to Starting my Christmas wish list

There you go again with one of [i][b]those[/b][/i] questions. B-)

I have NO idea

In reply to [i]Got your eye on a toy?[/i]

what you are referring to…

Yes you do…

In reply to I have NO idea

Open ended question… leaves the mind to wonder 😉 :p

Not a toy but I do have my eye on a day of peace – no kids, no work, no chores, just me, a hot bubble bath and a good book 😀

-Tammy 🙂

Yes Tammy

In reply to Yes you do…

a full day of piece would be good…. ]:)

Thank you yes…

In reply to Yes Tammy

I think I will take a piece of chocolate

-Tammy 🙂

Not really…

In reply to Starting my Christmas wish list

Maybe a computer game, but I’m a little picky. I don’t drop hints and I don’t want lots of $$ spent on me, so I am heck to shop for.

Good book or a bottle of scotch – work well together or separately.

James

And / Or I am sure is what you meant….

In reply to Not really…

I would never show that link to anyone to actually get it as I don’t like people spending a lot on me. I tell them to spend the money on my boys instead.

Non-tech gift I will probably ask for is sugar/flower canisters… How sad….

What is probably the next bottle of Scotch you would buy yourself?

I see you keep being premature

In reply to Starting my Christmas wish list

about lots of things. Hmmm, is your whole life like that?? Are you always just a bit earlier than everyone else???

You did know

In reply to I see you keep being premature

my boys were even a month and a half early? ;\

All of my clocks are set 10 minutes early, and I usually get to work 10 minutes early….

If you ask the girlfriends, “finishing” early is not in the books!

😀

Nope

In reply to Starting my Christmas wish list

We’re going to California for Christmas this year. It will be
the first one without Mom and I am very afraid that by this
time next year we won’t have Dad either.

Now I’ve said that he’ll live forever. That’s fine by me.

Hope that works!

In reply to Nope

😡

Enjoy the trip.

Tig

In reply to Nope

Have a Merry Christmas anyway!

Last Christmas as difficult for my husband’s family, but all in all, it was still good to be together.

I’m sending good thoughts your way.

I don’t know

In reply to Starting my Christmas wish list

what I want yet, but I have created plenty of time to think about it. I completed my Christmas shopping on Monday, except for one DVD of Wall-E, which I believe comes out next week.

My main source of gifts is a 7-year-old, which can lead to some interesting choices. Last year I got a drawing of a dinosaur, and two Star Wars toys. No complaints on either.

You… compl.. com. complee….

In reply to I don’t know

man, I can’t even bring myself to say it… :p

I have a month before I will even start…. ;\

No.

In reply to Starting my Christmas wish list

Nuh uh.

That does look cool!

In reply to Starting my Christmas wish list

Personally I’d like a Wii, but we don’t buy stuff for the adults. So I’ll have to use the excuse of buying it for my kids :D.

My 7 year old has been bringing up the point that we need a Wii set for about 6 months now anyway – perfect excuse!

Buy early

In reply to That does look cool!

Those things go flying out of the stores at Christmas and
they don’t restock quickly. I’d be looking to get it before
Thanksgiving if you can.

I wish

In reply to Buy early

But I can’t go Xmas shopping until I get my annual holiday bonus – which is usually on the last check of the year. My shopping is literally done last minute.

OUCH!

In reply to I wish

If you can’t find one in a real store, try the online approach.
It won’t likely be there on the day but will be soon enough.

Last year anyone that had them in stock was doing lotteries
to determine who got one. It was March before anyone had
stock.

Wii…..

In reply to OUCH!

Yeah, I purchased one of those last year for my girlfriends graduation gift… It was so hard to find, but the toysRus people will usually tell you when the next shipment will come in, be repaired to wait in line though… I ended up finding it on Walmart.com of all places. I guess no one wanted it because they made you purchase 3 games along with it (it was a special/extortion)…. ended up being around 500, but the way I saw it, I was going to purchase a few games anyways.

I got one after Xmas last year

In reply to Wii…..

The kids saved up some, and I topped it up.

I paid $279. Best Buy was having a big promotion for a new Wii game, and they brought in a big shipment of Wiis for the event. I lined up at 9:30, was out of there 10 mins after the doors opened.

What I like about some of the Wii games is the multiuser modes – we play golf together alot, tennis etc. It plays my son’s old Nintendo games.

Been a good purchase, watching the kids race each other on Mario kart was fun.

James

Layaway

In reply to I wish

Put 10% down and get it out when it is time.

fly out at Christmas?

In reply to Buy early

I find they can be hard to find at the best of times 🙂

It is much more heart warming

In reply to That does look cool!

if you can say it was a selfless act on your part, sacrificing for the kids….. ;\

“We” got an Xbox360 last year…. B-) I used to get more time on it, until the boys stopped going to see their female-parental-unit as much…. ;\ I used to be able to count on every other weekend being mine, now, not-so-much. Fair trade.

Christmas shopping…

In reply to Starting my Christmas wish list

I give, through the following organizations, in the name of friends and family.

Heifer International:
http://tinyurl.com/5mo5cf

SEVA Foundation:
http://www.seva.org/site/PageServer

Favorites get homemade Christmas cookies. B-)

I don’t want any more things. I want a few intangibles that appear unlikely to occur in the remainder of my physical lifetime.
No, I’m not going to list them.

My OH and I pool our money to buy gifts for each other.

In reply to Christmas shopping…

We were just talking about what to get today and neither of us could think of anything so I think that this will be a giftless Christmas.

Last year we bought two 22″ HannsG monitors, his and hers, along with a NordicTrack treadmill but we’re at a loss as to what to get now. Kind of nice to think that you’ve got everything that you want.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to have a Mac Pro but I just can’t justify spending that money now. I’ll probably just buy some Adobe software for myself (not for Christmas) and let it go at that.

Get some hangers

In reply to My OH and I pool our money to buy gifts for each other.

so you can get all the clothes off of that nordic…. ;\

Ha! No clothes on the treadmill.

In reply to Get some hangers

It’s ready to go any minute and any minute now I’m going to walk on it. :0

The hanger idea is a good one for the ‘kids’ though. Thst way they can get all of their sh.. clothes off of the backs of the kitchen chairs.

That’s where

In reply to Ha! No clothes on the treadmill.

my kid’s jackets go as well.

They also have half of the kitchen table piled with their stuff.

In reply to That’s where

My spaces look neat and tidy by comparison.

We’re four adults (and two small dogs) living in a space that was just right for two adults. I could really whine if I put my mind to it but I think that maybe one day we’ll look back on these days as being the good times. That’s how I deal with it. I just let it be.

ACK! BAD VISUAL

In reply to Ha! No clothes on the treadmill.

OTR, running on his treadmill is NOT a “clothing optional” activity! :0

Sorry about the unintended visual.

In reply to ACK! BAD VISUAL

If you ask me it is a little odd that you’d go there. :^0

See his posts about the “300” movie

In reply to Sorry about the unintended visual.

He doesn’t seem to object to near naked Trojans – I’d call that decrimination.

James

Not really, Ropes

In reply to Sorry about the unintended visual.

This is JD we’re talking about. Remember the show tunes?
The Striesand collection? The odd Judy Garland fixation?

I don’t know, I guess I just expected something else from JD.

In reply to Sorry about the unintended visual.

I’m not thinking right today. Need more coffee.

You are clearly anything BUT an audiophile, JD …

In reply to Starting my Christmas wish list

That contraption is a piece of crap.

#1 It looks like it’s constructed out of mdf that’s had some cheap mouldings glued on for effect, then stained to look ‘antiquey’.

#2 Being that the construction is so shoddy, you can guarantee the turntable will NOT be floating (spring-loaded) therefore the cartridge will be prone to picking up rumble. Hell – the speakers are mounted directly below the turntable, so actually listening while you record will generate distortion due to vibration.

#3 I saw no mention of click or scratch removal software – but there wouldn’t be because it’s not a computer.

#4 The compact cassette player design is as old (and cheap) as the hills. It’s one of those crap units that simply [u]drags[/u] the tape past the head. Given that any cassette tape is likely to be decades old now, the last thing it should be exposed to is a crap, one way, SINGLE CAPSTAN, drive mechanism which is more than capable of chewing up a tape that’s already on its last legs.

For maximum results in copying old cassette tapes, you must have a front loading mechanism that affords you access to the azimuth alignment, so that you can adjust for those tapes that have stretched slightly, mainly caused years before by being fed through one if these crappy players.

#5 AM/FM Tuner?? ~ Once you’ve completed the restoration of all your golden oldies albums, and noticed the curve has disappeared from your ceilings and walls due to the emptying of your attic, you settle down to the continued use of your splendid sound unit. What’s that? FM has been cancelled? Sh!t !!

I’m particularly suspicious of the spec which claims the turntable has a [b]”50 hour needle life”[/b] – [i]I haven’t seen a turntable equipped with a ‘needle’ since I used to play Bakelite records on my Grandad’s wind-up HMV gramophone. (Spike Jones and the City Slickers “Chloe” was among my favourites).[/i]

If it indeed turns out that the turntable is equipped with a needle, would you fancy introducing all your precious vinyl to the cutting edge of hardened steel?

Trust me – this one is a nightmare waiting to happen. 😉

It is more the idea

In reply to You are clearly anything BUT an audiophile, JD …

than the actual product, because even this is out of my price range at this stage of my life.

I will probably get a pair of socks…. ;\

Here you go JD. Use existing equipment.

In reply to It is more the idea

http://www.xitel.com/USA/prod_inportdl.htm

http://www.dansdata.com/inport.htm

The problem with existing equipment

In reply to Here you go JD. Use existing equipment.

I haven’t had a working turntable in about 20 years….. 🙁

It has been quite a while since I spent money on myself. Oh well.

That is a problem.

In reply to The problem with existing equipment

Socks might be a good idea.

The prices some people will pay…

In reply to The problem with existing equipment

http://www.bornrich.org/entry/top-10-most-expensive-turntables/

Check the pawn shops….

In reply to The problem with existing equipment

I’m sure you can find a working TT there for cheap.

James

Don’t know about your pawn shops

In reply to Check the pawn shops….

but around here, they are not a bargain.

There have been several occasions that I saw guitar gear that was priced higher than what I had paid for the same thing, brand new.

Gotta be careful but….

In reply to Don’t know about your pawn shops

In Toronto, we have an area with a bunch of them, so the competition keeps the prices reasonable.

We also have a chain called cash converters, can find some bargoons there sometimes. I got a mountain bike for $50 for my son that would have cost $300.

James

Yeah, almost no competition in the area

In reply to Don’t know about your pawn shops

If I were to drive further south to the bigger sh1tties, I am sure I could find the deals, but what I would pay for gas to get there…..

Was told the local one has a trumpet for a good price, so going to go look at that for ThingTwo. His has seen better days.

ThingOne would love to get a sax if we could find a good used one affordably….

You never saw this?

In reply to The problem with existing equipment

http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/digital-conversion/90a0/

It has been on thinkgeek for a couple of years now

Saw that

In reply to You never saw this?

but I think it was Oz and a few others tore that one apart for being low grade as well….

Tell you what, for a middle age guy with damaged hearing and a tight budget, a high end system is like a 80 year old driving a corvette.

I could see $100. The converter was $75 and would have to get a turntable AFTER that.

The only reason I didnt get one

In reply to Saw that

I went through the albums that I hadnt replaced yet, and found that at $10 ea. I would need to spend $120 for new cd’s. The LP’s have been boxed in different locations for more than 10 years. So I figured, $100 for this, or just replace them. I ended up replacing half with cd’s, and the others I just downloaded mp3’s for, and spent less than the $99, as most of the cd’s were les than $6

Oh, and who cares if it is cheap quality, it would likely only be used for a few days and then just sit there right?

I always had rationalized my way out of it too

In reply to Saw that

When I switched from lp’s to cassettes, I went with music I didn’t already have, and recorded what I did.

When I went from cassette to CD, I did the same, but didn’t convert the cassettes or lp’s into digital.

Some of the lp’s and cassettes you just can’t get on cd, unless you get lucky on ebay.

I recently bought the Pat Travers, Black Pearl lp off of ebay, but don’t have a turntable to play it on! :_| And yes, that is the only format I could FIND it on. 🙁

I think there was 2

In reply to Saw that

albums that I couldnt find. But I am not worried about either one, they had their ‘live’ versions, but not the full album that I wanted. Oh well, not worth $100 to me.

Do you remember what you couldn’t find?

In reply to Saw that

I have since been able to track down some, like the first album from EZO. What a rocking collection. B-)

Realistically speaking, I will probably get a ipod broadcaster for the car before a turntable. For how much time I spend on the road (minimum of 12 hours driving a week, just for work) I need to get some more variety.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3517131&csid=_22

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3591559&CatId=2569

I found a website that has all the old radio dramas, and have already downloaded several gigs worth.

http://www.imeem.com/people/gh9XoV2/playlist/gIkhAbZT/radio_sherlock_holms_music_playlist/

http://www.imeem.com/people/gh9XoV2/playlist/QSobf3P9/radio_the_shadow_music_playlist/

http://www.imeem.com/people/gh9XoV2/playlist/iblPVgVC/radio_the_saint_music_playlist/

http://www.imeem.com/people/gh9XoV2/playlist/C08gbfix/radio_haunting_hour_music_playlist/

http://www.imeem.com/people/gh9XoV2/playlist/9qD2L586/radio_groucho_marx_music_playlist/

I think one was

In reply to Saw that

the original Armored Saint album. Maybe it was Grim Reaper, I dont recall. However, I couldnt find it online, or as mp3, or in the used/new sections in the local store.

What annoys me is that the price infers quality !!…

In reply to It is more the idea

At least with a pair of socks you generally get what you pay for. (Sometimes more than what you paid for – Dayglo Reindeer tend to generate free embarrassment when worn). 😀

Hey JD! I’m with ya. But check this out…

In reply to It is more the idea

Here is a better solution for converting vinyl to digital:

Audio-Technica AT-LP2D-USB Stereo Turntable
http://tinyurl.com/5jzymz

Plus, here’s the software for easy conversion:
Golden Records Vinyl to CD Converter
(with noise and click & pop reduction)
http://tinyurl.com/5w4cm8

or Roxio Creator:
http://tinyurl.com/59lcv5

Or a free one:
Audacity
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

My personal Christmas list is always too long. But it’s OK to dream.
😉

It is my version of window shopping

In reply to Hey JD! I’m with ya. But check this out…

Look at crap that I will never buy. B-)

Maybe at tax return time, if I still have a job…. ~sigh~ yeah, things are that slow around here….

“…if I still have a job…”

In reply to It is my version of window shopping

I was laid-off once just before the holidays and I remember the angst I felt wondering if I was going to lose my job. Not good and I have no effective way of dealing with that possibilty. Platitudes like “hang in there” just don’t cut it. All I can say is damn. Sorry to hear about it being that slow.

Thanks, been there before

In reply to “…if I still have a job…”

and will probably be there again.

At least I spent the last 8 years removing debt from my life [i](soon as I found out the ex wanted a divorce) [/i] so I have zero credit card or car debt.

Only have house payment, car insurance, and student loan, plus food, so I could make it. Hell, not going to work would save $60-100 a week fuel costs…. B-)

I have already told the boys this was going to be a tight Christmas, and will be taking more food to dear camp than normal instead of going out to eat. Need to try to get some savings built back up.

Thanks for the sentiment anyways. 😀

This is what I want for Christmas

In reply to Starting my Christmas wish list

http://www.lafuente.com/product.php?pid=4909&ovchn=NXT&ovcpn=Nextag+Furniture&ovcrn=Square+Dining+Table&ovtac=CMP

The matching chairs would be nice, too.

Wow, look at the delivery costs

In reply to This is what I want for Christmas

$134 for just the table.

How would cactus wood go with purple paint? 😀

It’s not purple anymore!

In reply to Wow, look at the delivery costs

Red with white trim now.

I didn’t pay attention to the delivery cost. it’s getting less and less likely.

Gee..you just spoiled my christmas!

Bah! humbug!

In reply to It’s not purple anymore!

:p

WTF is a humbug anywho? A bug that doesn’t know the words? close relation to the humming bird?

I have learned with on-line, the FIRST thing I look at is the shipping AND HANDLING. A lot of places make all their profit on the handling/fondling of your package….

My sisters BF goes to the dollar store, buys crap that he sells on ebay for $1, and then charges $10 for S+H and costs about $1 to ship.

Sorry to rain on your Christmas parade… 🙁

Well, the weekend starts in another 10 minutes, so better start wrapping things up around here.

I see Sonja didn’t get the memo that the TROLOV is suppose to get moved to Thursdays since I don’t work anymore Fridays this year…… Going to have to talk sternly to her…. :^0 ;\

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