Avoiding Stores on Black Friday

While some people like my sister live to find great deals on Black Friday, I am one of those people that avoid shopping at all costs on this day. This year's Black Friday is coming to a close and I can safely say that I did not visit any stores. I didn't purchase anything online either. Instead I spent some time outside hiking, spending time with family, and doing things around the house.

My wife took some downtime today to do some online shopping for me. She thinks she is done with buying Christmas gifts for me. Unfortunately I have not even started for her. I know what she needs and wants so it should be easy once I find some time to get the gift purchases taken care of.

I did notice an unusual amount of e-mail in my inbox today. I had so much e-mail I had to empty my inbox twice. I had the usual mix of outdoor equipment, guitars, and consumer electronics solicitations, Alaska airlines knew my one weakness and sent me information on their BOGO sale. That means they have airline tickets available at a two-for-one price. The last time they did that, I bought tickets to Hawaii and climbed Mauna Kea with my wife. I mentioned the sale to my wife and she told me to buy tickets to places we know we are headed next year. Where's the fun in that? Fortunately the sale only lasts today and if I can hold off experimenting with flights, I'll be good . . . until Cyber Monday when I am sure they will offer the same deal again.

Printing 3D Christmas Tree Ornaments

Recently my wife found some interesting Christmas-tree ornaments in a print catalog. She showed them to me and I told her I could 3D print them for significantly less money. While I had filament that would have worked, I ordered special stuff with metallic flakes in it. I picked up a spool of gold flake and a spool of silver flake. Once it arrived, I printed up an ornament very similar to what my wife found in the catalog. It only cost me about 30 cents.

The ornament turned out well but I got to thinking there is so much more I could do and I still had a lot of filament left over. I found a few more designs and gave the prints a try. The first one turned out a lot different than expected. The pictures showed it with a lot of intricate cutout work. That means someone used a sharp razor to remove some of the plastic. I didn't want to do that so I found another ornament. It is a beautiful 8-point snowflake with a nativity scene in the middle of it.

I had been using the gold filament and rather than swap it for the silver, I printed a test ornament. It turned out very regal. Then I swapped colors and the silver turned out amazing. I shared it with my son who also has a 3D printer. He took it one step further and scaled the ornament so he could print 4 at once. My one ornament is so large it takes up most of the print bed so I can only print one at a time. Scaling it down to 75 percent is all it took to increase that number to 4.

This week is Thanksgiving and my son plans to hand 12 of the ornaments out to his extended family so they can decorate the tree with them this year. It is a little thing to help start the Holiday Season right. I'll be interested to hear how the ornaments are received.

2021 Christmas List

It is that time of year when people are starting to panic about what to get that computer nerd for Christmas. My wife hates trying to guess what I will want for Christmas and so I have to present a list for her early in September. This year that is probably a good idea as the news keeps talking about supply-chain issues and if you don't order gifts now, they might not arrive before Christmas. So for those of you that have procrastinated getting that computer geek in your life something special, here are some things that I would like.

The Gift of Learning

Technology changes at a rapid pace and I am constantly trying to keep up with new advancements. Several years ago I received a catalog from The Great Courses and ordered a few DVD classes on the National Parks and some others on Photography. Since then I have picked up a guitar course and several others. For a few years, my employer provided me with an unlimited online subscription to all of the courses. My wife and I would sit down about every other night and learn about quite a few number of topics that we both found interesting. Early in my career, computers were also my hobby and so if you have someone like that in your life, I would suggest finding their interests and seeing if there are any courses that match their level of experience. There is a great introduction to Machine Learning course (Christmas special of $50 right now) but if your gift recipient is beyond the beginning level, I would look for something else.

The Gift of Experiences

I find that the older I get, the less stuff I want. This may be because I already have everything I want or maybe I am just tired of throwing technology away when it becomes outdated. In any event, I always appreciate the gift of experiences. My son is giving his children a trip to Disneyland for Christmas and my wife and I have been invited. Of course we have to pay for ourselves but we are looking forward to the trip and have decided that it will be our gift to each other for Christmas. While a trip may be well outside your Christmas budget, there are a lot of ideas to help reduce the cost of a trip for someone. You might give them a gift card to help with airfare. There are a lot of airlines that allow you to give gift cards. Southwest and Delta are my two favorite. You could also give gift cards that can be spent at a destination such as Disneyland.

One of the best deals you can get someone that is looking for experiences is an America the Beautiful pass. It is a card that lets a car-load of people into any of our National Parks and National Monuments. It is only $80 for a year and pays for itself after only 2 visits. This year I have visited Volcanoes National Park, Kilauea Lighthouse and Wildlife Refuge, and Yosemite National Park. I got it in May and will probably use it again for Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park before it expires.

The Gift of Photography

When I found out I would be leaving Sony, I made a list of all the purchases I wanted to make at the online company store. I knew I would lose my discount and so I made sure to pick up a new television. Another thing I wanted was Sony's top-of-the-line digital camera. I have helped plenty of friends pick up cameras and lenses over the years. I figured I should get one for myself. I got a great deal on a Sony A7RIV. The only downside is I also needed to get lenses. I did a bit of research and picked up 5 different ones. I won't go into too many details but I am very happy with the purchase. Now if my wife would let me play with the camera before Christmas I could provide a nice review.

You don't need an expensive camera to give someone the gift of photography for Christmas. Perhaps they already have a great camera but could use an additional lens. My guess though is that a newer smartphone might be a better purchase. I generally go several years before upgrading my phone. Check with your carrier to see if there are free low-cost upgrades. While I have a spectacular camera, I use my mobile phone's camera a lot more. The cameras in the latest phones are nothing short of amazing.

The Gift of 3D Printing

My final gift idea for the year is that of 3D Printing. My youngest son got me into 3D printing while he completed his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering. Now that he has graduated, he purchased his own printer but continues to send me ideas of things to print. You can get your own 3D printer for around $200. If that special nerd in your life already has one, there are countless upgrades and supplies that would make great gifts. Just be sure to make sure any upgrades will work with the existing printer. You can also never have enough printing material and that you can find for around $20. Again, make sure it will work with the printer as filament comes in various sizes.

The Gift of Choice

I hate recommending generic gift cards as a Christmas gift but sometimes that could be the best choice. If you want to get some PLA for your nerd's 3D printer but are not quite sure of the filament size, just get a $20 gift card to Amazon and eliminate any worry about if you got the right stuff. It also allows you to tailor your gift to fit your budget exactly.

Christmas List 2020

It is that time of the year when I try to share some ideas for that hard-to-shop-for person on your Christmas list. In the past I have tried to focus on practical gifts that I would want. This year I am going to take a completely different path. In our family we have the idea of a "Christmas-Day" gift. It is a gift that you get on Christmas morning and play with for only a few days before you lose interest. This year I actually want something like that. When you only receive practical gifts, there is nothing to play with on Christmas day. This year, I want something to play with. A good example is something like a puzzle or a complex Lego set. Once you put everything together, you admire it for a bit, and then take it apart to possibly be played with at a later date.

The beauty of a Christmas-Day gift is that it is not something I would get myself. So without further explanation, here are some gifts I would enjoy receiving this year:

Just a box of Legos - This is just a set of Legos to go with my existing sets. It is great for allowing creative people to play and build.

Hogwart's Lego set - While I am on the topic of Legos, this is a set that I think would be fun to spend the day putting together. There are plenty of other large sets I would also like but this one I found quite easily.

Electronic Breadboard kit - Moving away from Legos and onto something a bit more practical yet fun is an electronic breadboard kit. This is something to get that budding electrical engineer in your family. My brother seemed to get one or two of these growing up but I never did. Perhaps that is why I studied Electrical Engineering in school as I always wanted one. No that I am grown, I would love to take some time during my Holiday break and just play with some electronic projects for fun.

Horizon Zero Dawn - Now if you get the chance to play video games on Christmas and you have a PlayStation 4, I recommend this one. It is a game that I really enjoyed playing and might be willing to play again. You can find the game at Best Buy for less than $10, which is less than I paid for my copy. Remember I work for PlayStation and so this might not be an unbiased recommendation.

Microsoft Flight Simulator - This is a game for your PC and is not one that I have played. This is something I would be interested in playing though. At $60 (from Best Buy for the standard version) it is the same price as most new video games.

If you are looking for low-cost gifts that fit into the Christmas-Day gift list, I really do enjoy a good 750 to 1000-piece puzzle. Puzzles are something you can always do with others and can be great fun for small groups.

Hopefully this gives you some ideas for that hard-to-shop-for person in your life.

The Perfect Gift

One of the best things about this time of year is family gathering together. That is unless it is your in-laws and then it is one of the worst things about this time of the year. Last night my wife's sister showed up at our place with her daughter, son-in-law, and two grandchildren. Neither my wife nor I knew that they would be staying but we have the space and so it is not that big of a problem. We can host them for a couple of days without any difficulty.

This morning at 5 am, a two-year-old girl did not want to sleep any longer and started making noise. So as I sit here this morning thinking about the upcoming Christmas morning and gifts that will be exchanged, I have one suggestion for those looking at any last-minute gifts: noise-cancelling earphones. Both Sony and Bose have some excellent ones that do a really good job. I have an inexpensive pair that do great at drowning out plane noise, but not crying babies. For those with visiting children, I would suggest the more expensive models. They work very well and I recommend a set. Sure they may set you back a couple hundred dollars but how much is your sanity worth?

If you find yourself looking for something a little less expensive, you can get a 50-pack of foam earplugs from Home Depot for less than $10. They may help you sleep through the night. I know I could have used them this morning.

A Late Christmas List

Normally I am much more together and have my Christmas Gift Idea list put together long before now. This year I have been procrastinating it. Part of the reason is that I have pretty much all of the material possessions I could want. Getting more just means I have to find a place for it all. My house is overflowing with stuff to the point that it is time to start getting rid of some of it. Perhaps it might help you to know what things I would keep as I mentally catalog my computer equipment.

One of my favorite gadgets is my color laser printer. You can find them for around $200 and I highly recommend one. A lot of people don't print because they think it is bad for the environment. I agree but sometimes you need to print something and if you are going to use a sheet of paper, you might as well print it in color. In this day and age, I think a black-and-white printer is a waste of money. There is probably a joke in there about how it will practically print money. Just don't try that at home or the secret service will come after you.

Sticking with the theme of printers, my next favorite gadget is my 3D printer. If you have someone on your Christmas list that loves building prototypes or playing with computer aided drawing (CAD) programs, a 3D printer should be on your list. They can get rather expensive and so I only recommend one if you can get away with a less-expensive model. I still enjoy my Creality Ender 3 and think it is a great beginner printer. I must confess though that my son uses it more than I do but that is why I got it.

My next recommendation would be for dual monitors if you have someone on your list that doesn't already have them. While in Japan this past week I did not have the luxury of dual monitors on my laptop and I really missed it. With a bit of searching you can find a second monitor that will work with most computers for only around $120. I suggest a minimum resolution of 1920x1080p. All of my computers have dual monitors at work and at home.

Another peripheral that is often overlooked is a USB CD/DVD/Blu-ray disc drive. My last several laptops have not had internal drives and that is fine most of the time. However every once and a while you really need one and when you do, you need it badly. I have one that I keep on my desk at home and another one that I have in my office at work. They both come in handy every so often.

Finally I have one more recommendation for those of you that might have a really tight Christmas-gift budget. I do not have enough phone charger cables. I use USB-C for one of my phones and a Lightning connector for the other. I carry all sorts of spares and am amazed at how many times other people need to borrow them. On occasion I need them too. A couple of each would make great stocking stuffers.

I don't think there is any big surprise in this list. Perhaps you might not think about how important a color laser printer is or how useful a spare phone charging cable can be. My experience has taught me that they are and you really miss them when you don't have them.

Video Games for Christmas

Yesterday I posted my Christmas list for 2018 and so I thought I would follow it up with a list of games that might make good gifts. Normally I include video games that I would like to play during the Christmas break and have done so at the end of October. Now I am a bit more realistic. I won't be trying to play a lot of games. Instead I will probably just play Red Dead Redemption II. I loved the first one and know that this one will be equally awesome. At least that is what all my coworkers are telling me as they play the game. If you have someone on your Christmas list that loves playing video games and they don't yet have this one, get it. They will love you for it.

There are a number of other video games that I can also recommend should your video game junkie be a bit to young for a game with an ESRB rating of M for Mature. In case you missed one of my earlier blog posts, Horizon Zero Dawn is a great game that can be picked up for $20. That includes the extra DLC.

At the end of October, I recommended Fallout 76. When I made that recommendation, I thought it was an open-world-action-adventure-campaign game. Now I discovered it is a multi-player-online game. While that would have interested me a decade ago, it is not the type of game I play now. It does have me thinking about picking up a copy of Fallout 4 though. I can get a digital download of that for around $22 and so I may do that as soon as I am done with my current game.

One more game I would recommend is the remastered version of The Last of Us. It started out as a PS3 game and then Naughty Dog remastered it for the PS4. I have yet to play it and so my recommendation comes from coworkers telling me I need to play it as well as an hour or two of watching my son play. I am told it has one of the best stories of any video game. You can pick up a copy for only $20. Part 2 will be released in the near future and so I want to be ready to play that when it becomes available.

There are a lot of really great video games available for this version of consoles (PS4 or XBox One) and so you should not have a shortage of ideas. Simply figure out what kind of games the person on your Christmas list likes to play and do a bit of searching. It shouldn't take long to find something with good reviews. Just be sure to stay away from the bad games as there are a lot of those as well.

Early Christmas Gift Ideas

Normally I wait a bit before trying to post my Christmas Gift ideas but my wife and I have been trying to come up with lists for each other. I thought it might be a good idea to write my list a bit early this year. That gives you time to stalk the Black Friday deals.

Early in my adult life I felt a good Christmas gift is something that you wouldn't get yourself and that you played with for several hours on Christmas morning only to never use it again. Then my wife and I matured and decided to only get things that our children would use for a long time. Since then we have always tried to get gifts that would get used for more than just a few hours.

Recently I have flown a lot with children. Not my own but other peoples. While I have nothing against flying with someone else's children, I do notice that they make a lot more noise than the adults around them. One of the most important pieces of high-tech equipment I bring on the plane is a good set of earphones. I have one set of ear buds that act better then most earplugs, even when they are not connected to anything. So if you have someone on your Christmas list that spends a lot of time on airplanes, make sure they have a good set of earphones.

This year I have noticed that while I have some great electronic gadgets, some of them are a bit dated and could be replaced. I think everyone can sympathize with this situation. I have made a number of videos recently and while I have a perfectly capable video camera, I could always use a new one with higher resolution and more features. My personal computer is also quite old and could use a replacement. Even my monitors are getting old. With Walmart and other budget stores selling 43-inch 4K televisions for less than $200, one can get a screaming deal on computer monitors with a lot of screen real estate. So take a look at those on your Christmas list and see if they need a newer version of something they use frequently.

Hopefully this gives you some ideas before the Black Friday deals get announced. That way you can take advantage of them. If you come up with some really good ideas, please share as others may benefit from your suggestions.

Vinyl Records

Now that Christmas is over I can share a gift that I picked up for my wife: a record player. Naturally I also had to get a record for her to play. I recently received the Top Gun soundtrack as a vinyl record and so I threw that in with the record player and wrapped them both together.

On Christmas morning, my wife opened the gift and liked the record player. My kids, on the other hand, had never even seen one before. They had only heard about them. When compact discs first emerged, we were all told that they did a better job of reproducing the sound than cassette tapes and vinyl records. Everyone believed that to the point that those older forms of media almost completely disappeared. Now the trend is reversing and experts are saying that analog signals provided by a record are superior to digital signals provided by streaming services, mp3 files, and CD audio discs. Personally I believe that record companies are figuring out a way to become relevant again and are bringing back vinyl. Will it last, I'm not sure but I did get a record player for my wife.

My wife is not the only one that wanted a record player for Christmas. My oldest son's sister-in-law also wanted and got one. My son enjoyed listening to it on Christmas morning as he spent time with his wife's family. It is a more basic one than my wife's and so when we finally set up the one I got, it blew him away that the tone arm moved by itself when I started the record. I had to laugh as I explained that this is not new technology. I find it funny that an electronics device phased out 20 years ago seems amazing to my children. They say that if you wait long enough, old becomes new and that is the case with vinyl records.

Am I Ready for Christmas

We are a few days from Christmas and I wonder if I have enough gifts for my wife and children. This is a common occurrence for me and I imagine it is for others as well. If you ask my wallet, I probably over spent. If you ask my kids, they probably want more.

Yesterday I picked up one or two more gifts for my youngest son. He has been out of the country the past 2 Christmases and we really didn't send him much. Putting extra money in his bank account seemed much easier as we didn't have to worry about shipping costs nor everything arriving in the package. So this year I have kind of tried to make up for a lack of gifts in the previous years. My wife isn't happy about that at all. Oh well.

One thing I do when I am worried if I have selected enough gifts for everyone is to pull out a simple spreadsheet. I use the rows to list everyone's name and then I list out the gifts I know they are getting. I do this with my wife and so we use fake names for the gifts we are giving each other. It quickly becomes apparent if we have favored one child or another. If one child seems neglected compared to the others, my wife and I make a purchase or two. If someone seems more favored than the others, we hold a gift for a birthday or other event unless it is easily returnable.

In the case of my youngest son, he is sort of getting a large package of gifts that are all related. Unfortunately they all go together and leaving one out is kind of like giving him a car without tires or wheels. Sure he has a great gift but then has to spend his own money to complete the package. That doesn't seem fair and so I hope the other kids forgive me. I think they will as they have each spent several Christmases away from home and enjoyed the extra gifts upon return. We will see.

Christmas List 2016: Video Games I Want to Play

Every year I try to put together a Christmas list for that technically minded person in your family based upon what I want. Sometimes I have listed feel-good gifts but most of the time I list video games and other items that I would like to receive. Today I am going to restrict it to just video games. I must confess that I already own a bunch of these games and so this list is what I would like to play during the Holiday break when I am not skiing. Some of these are old games while others have just come out. That should give you a healthy mix of economical gifts as well as more expensive ones. Here is the list, in alphabetical order:

Battlefield 1: I really enjoyed playing Battlefield 3. I tried Battlefield 4 but lost interest after about an hour. I understand that EA figured out they need compelling story lines so that Battlefield 1 is much more engaging. I already have my copy of this game and look forward to finding some time to play it.

God of War 3: I have finished playing both 1 and 2 on the PlayStation 3 so now I want to play the remastered version of 3 on the PlayStation 4. I had hoped to start this evening but am getting really tired after waking up at 4:15 this morning to catch my flight to California and may begin tomorrow. Naturally I have a copy of this game already and have had it for quite some time.

Rise of the Tomb Raider: The Tomb Raider reboot is one of my favorite video games. It is along the same lines as the Uncharted series with a female protagonist instead of a male one. Those of you with XBox One consoles have been able to play this game for the past year, while those of us that favor the PlayStation 4 console have had to wait. The exclusivity is now over so I am looking forward to picking this game up and continuing the adventure.

Steep: I am a huge fan of skiing and so I look forward to any well-done skiing or snowboarding video game. When the oppressive heat of summer kicks in, I head to my cool basement and pretend it is winter again. That will probably be the case with this Ubisoft title as I don't own it yet. However I have it on my Christmas list in the hopes that someone who loves me will get me a copy.

Uncharted 3 & 4: I love the Uncharted games and have finished both 1 and 2. Now that I have more time, I will try to finish 3 and 4. It may take me some time as I don't have huge amounts of time to play video games. I already have my copies of each game.

The Walking Dead Season 3: I just saw that this will be released shortly. I played the first and second seasons and am eagerly anticipating the next one. I have yet to purchase the game but will look for it as soon as I complete one or two other games on my list.

Yes I work for a video game company but I have tried to include a number of titles from other game publishers. I have also listed those games that have risen to the top of my want-to-play list. As I browsed through the catalog of video games I own and those available for video game consoles, I came across a number of games that sounded interesting but I didn't want my list to be too long. I want it to be honest. Now we will see how many of these I actually play this Christmas season.

2011 Christmas List

It is that time of year where some of you may be still looking for gifts for that computer nerd in your life. It would be easy to list a lot of expensive gifts, but not everyone has a huge budget and so I will concentrate on gifts around $20.

Gift Cards

1. iTunes gift card. Not only is it good for music, you can get apps with them.
2. PlayStation Network gift card. There are a number of games that come in under $20 and you can let your recipient pick his or her own game.
3. Xbox Live Points Card. Like the PSN card, you can use it to download games as well as watch movies and game add-ons.

Video Games

1. Ratchet & Clank (any of the them). These are always a good choice and now that SCEA has released some of them as "classics," you can find them between $20 and $30.
2. Uncharted 1 or 2. Sure, Uncharted 3 was just released, your recipient may want to play episodes 1 and 2 first.
3. Need for Speed. There are a number of different versions of these games available for a number of platforms and right around $20.

Computer Accessories

1. USB Key Drive. They even have ones that look like keys and you never know when you are going to need one. I keep one in my jacket and it came in handy for a friend two nights ago.
   
2. HDMI Cables. What better way to connect your PS3, BluRay Player, or Computer to that high-end TV or monitor. Nothing ruins Christmas like looking for an open store because you don't have a cable.
3. Solar Charger for your phone. It's green and it can charge your phone.
   

Sure it would be nice if everyone could afford one of those new 3D televisions, but there is no need to take the next 3 years to pay it off. A little online shopping can go a long way. Good luck and Merry Christmas.

Last Minute Gifts

Christmas is quickly approaching and I still have one gift yet to get. Then I will be done shopping and ready for the fun associated with this wintry holiday. The gift is for my oldest son who will be heading off to college next year. I have finally decided what to get my son but, it was a difficult task.

When my kids were all young, my wife and I used to go for quantity when it came to Christmas gifts. It didn't matter that most of the gifts were quickly broken and discarded. When kids are young, they just want to open gifts and lots of them. Then there came a point when we decided to shift from quantity to quality. We had one requirement: the gift needed to last for at least a year. It was tough shopping for gifts that were meaningful, useful, and long lasting. However each of my kids still have those gifts from that monumental Christmas.

Since then we have tried to get things that will mean something but also be used. My youngest daughter has gotten me some nice sweaters that I constantly wear during cold weather (I even have one on today). Sometimes we have gotten the kids ski equipment, which gets used a lot. This year, that is what my two youngest kids have gotten. They already know about them because tomorrow is the first ski race of the season and they need the new skis and boots. It will make for a somewhat anti-climactic Christmas morning, but they are fine with that.

This brings me back to my oldest son. What do I get him? He is no longer racing and so he doesn't really need anything relating to skiing. He is going off to college shortly and so anything he gets will need to be small or it might get left home.

To help pick out his gift, I leveraged the Internet. I did a search for "college packing list" and got one or two ideas. But I doubt he really wants bed sheets for Christmas. I looked into a new computer but have already decided he is getting my current laptop when I replace it sometime in June (it is a sweet MacBook that I am very reluctant to part with). In the end, I decided on something that is perfect. Unfortunately, he reads this BLOG and so I can't go into too many details. However, he will be very happy on Christmas morning.