People are always complaining that they don't know what to get me. I'm putting my wishlist down here just in case someone actually wants to know.
Books:
I love books. It's tough to say which ones I have, which ones
I'm looking for and what I'll still be looking for when someone
actually would present me with a gift. Gift certificates to
bookstores however, will be greatly appreciated be it Logos,
Barnes and Noble or Computer Literacy.
There are a few series that I'm reading:
David Weber's Honor Harrington series. The last one I read was
"In enemy hands"
Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. I have not yet read "Carpe Jugulum"
They are releasing all of Ted Sturgeon's short fiction in
anthologies. Teh two books that I'm most interested in are
the ones with Killdozer and Rollerball. Two of my favorite
short stories from childhood.
Music:
Most of my CD collections got stolen when my house was burglarized.
I replaced some of it with the insurance money, but it's still pretty
sparse. It's easier to list my dislikes:
Opera, rap, disco, easy listening, disphonic experimental jazz.
Some of my preferences are:
swing, progressive rock/fusion, instrumental jazz, celtic, celtic-rock,
rock and roll, baroque
I'd love to get some more CDs by Beigh Arya swing bands to bring to
Singapore.
Stereo:
My CD player is just limping along. I'm not interested in "features"
as much as good sound.
Toys:
I've recently gotten back into collecting Hot Wheels. I prefer
the ones that actually look like real cars, or real race cars.
I have quite a few, but if I were to get a repeat, no problem,
my nephew also likes Hot Wheels.
I still have my old Hot Wheels track, but the little connector
tabs have gotten lost in time. I could use more of them.
I just got a catalog in the mail for 30th anniversary hotwheels
collectibles. Some of them are pretty cool.
Of course, toys in general are cool.
Glassware and Crystal:
It's scary, but I really like nice glassware. I especially can
use wine glasses. I'm also always looking for small brandy
snifters. I like to use them when doing a scotch tasting.
While I really like "nice" crystal, any sort of decent glassware
would work, and would probably get used more often.
Clothing and related:
My measurements are:
neck: 17 1/2
Chest: 42
waist: 36
inseam: 30
Some all cotton Tuxedo shirts to wear at Gaskells, as I
need to put on a dry shirt each set.
Cool threads that the chicks will dig, especially to wear swing
dancing.
Hats:
I think that I wear about a 7 3/8.
My flatcap recently turned up missing.
A fedora for when I go swing dancing.
A tophat for Gaskells.
Briefcase, luggage etc.:
I could really use a decent briefcase. Hard case, respectable
appearance and room for a couple books and some papers.
I also do not have any decent luggage. Sapient pearwood would
be nice, but anything that will hold a couple days worth of clothes
without them getting all wadded up would work.
Dancing:
I've been working a lot on my Lindy Hop, Swing and Charleston lately.
Dance things that I'd groove on are:
Some private lessons.
Car stuff:
I'm hoping to get my MGBGT back on the road soon. I don't have
a shopping list, but gift certificates to either British Motorsports
(in Campbell) or Seven Enterprises (mail order from Newport News)
would go a long way.
The MG could use some better wheels. Ideal would be a set of 15 inch
Minilite style mags set up for tapered lugs. MGBs run the same bolt patter
as 240Zs.
The steering wheel hub for the MGB has turned up gone. I need a hub that
will fit the MG, but will work with a Formuling steering wheel.
Cooking, food, booze...
I've been lusting after an enameled cast Iron Skillet for years.
I just found out that they are made by a company called Le Crueset.
I'm always up for new single malts that aren't already in
my collection.
In addition to Islay Malts, I also enjoy Big Red Wines:
Zinfindel and Syrah (Shiraz) are two of my favorites.
I always appreciate interesting new spices and condiments.
I also groove on quality cooking utensils of most any kind.
Bicycling:
A kickstand for my mountain bike.
A sidecar for my 47 pound wonder commie chinese bike.
Blades and Armor:
I like cool knives and swords. I prefer clean, simple pieces to
flashy (kitch) ones. My aesthetic runs towards functionality.
A lot of the cheap swords have tangs that are so thin that the
handle would break if you were to actually hit anything with the
sword. For knives, I prefer handles that are of natural materials:
wood or bone, but there are some very nice ones with simple, functional
hi-tech materials.
It's been years since I fought in the SCA, largely because I don't
have armor that fits well. The piece that I most need is a right
arm, with good gauntlets short behind.
I've never done fencing, but I do like to play with shinai (bamboo
kendo swords) and it would be good to have fencing masks for playing
with them. They don't even have to be "legal" masks since you
don't have to worry about poking through the screen with a 1inch diameter
tip.
Geeking:
I seem to collect obsolete computer equipment. One advantage of
Linux is that it will happily run on systems that you wouldn't dream
of trying to run Windows 98 on. I'll happily recycle old computers,
at the very least they can be used as terminals to log into more
powerful boxes on my network.
I'm really bummed. I recently busted the screen on my Gatway 2000
Liberty notebook. I'd love to have another notebook computer so
that I can geek "on the road". In the meantime, I'm planning on turning
it into my network/phoneline server.
I could really use another svga monitor for my laptop, or a card that
I can use to run a Sun Monitor off of a PC.
I'm always looking for keyboards that have the control key next to the 'A'
key so I don't keep hitting Caps-Lock when I switch between keyboards.
The notebook has a SCSI card, and I don't currently have a reasonable means of doing tape backups. A SCSI tapedrive would be a wonderful thing to have.
Last modified 01/24/99