Every year, I put together a stationary-based box of things I really like for my wife, her sister, and my brother-in-law. I spend a lot of time talking about bits and pieces each year, and this year, since there's so much to talk about, I'm writing up why everything made it to the box this year.
Field Notes: Three Missions
Papercraft spacecraft. I bought these in June on a whim. I wonder if Jenny remembers that she looked in the box in the office at some point in the summer and I accused her of trying to ruin Christmas. Folks always call me thoughtful when I pull out a notebook to take a note when they tell me something.
Engineering Pad
It took me from failing calculus in 2012 until this year to get over my aversion to this particular setup: engineering pads are kind of magic with the one-side printing. One can easily see the grid from the front, but if you scanned or photocopied the front of the page, the lines are invisible! I also enjoy using them for quick diagrams, something about these not being bound in a notebook means I'll slide a sketch across a table during a meeting or just to work out some process and not think twice. I like not thinking twice. Once is usually too many times.
Mnemosyne B5 notebook
I was given a specific request for this inclusion. I'm a man of the people. Believe it or not, I had a fourth kind of notebook I would have included if common sense didn't take over.
Explanation of the testing triangle (or pyramid) on my trusty engineering pad
Stickers
There's an artist in union city who shared some amazing-looking Star Trek the next generation stickers on tumblr that she was intending to sell on etsy at some point. I guess she got sued by Viacom later on since when I went to her Etsy store they weren't there. But what she did was pretty awesome. I don't know who will end up with what at this point. I purchased a 500 sticker pack to find a Ganesha sticker for Manish (if you like things that are bad I have 499 bad stickers extra). I ended up getting a Google cloud sticker from a training I went to in September and remembered his newfound Android fandom.
Mars Lumograph Pencils
I know that I make a living writing code on computers for the most part, but I am always kinda amazed at what happens when I use analog instruments to organize, annotate or sketch out ideas. I have used these specific dumb pencils because they feel a lot more "pro" than the kind you got issued in school. I also included a little pencil sharpener that makes a little mess on the table as you work which I somehow find endearing instead of annoying.
Jetstream SX-217
I like Jetstream pens, so does practically everybody. 90% of Jetstreams you'll see for sale the 1.0mm ones which feels like brush-painting a house in comparison to the Japanese .5mm ones I like to use (but those can be scratchy). These .7mm ones that seem to hit the goldilocks zone for most reviewers. I specifically like the capped ones for their non-business end: it's sharp enough to punch through packing tape and screws on and off giving me something to fidget with. Jenny is a known un-liker of these versus the clicky kinds.
Chinese Gameboy that's actually a NES except for the extra arcade games part
This year was the year of the retro console. Most were bad (the playstation classic) this is also bad but since these were under $12 a pop, even a couple hours of Dr. Mario will get your money's worth out of them. They also take not-stupid chargers. As I write this they're still not in my actual grasp since I only ordered them 26 days ago and they did have to come all the way from the Pearl river delta via 64th class mail.
Anyways, I grew up playing a lot of these games on pirate cartridges like the Action 52 at friends' houses and there's something fun about exploring all the games, finding out which ones work and don't, that stuck with me.
Note: I'm writing this linearly as I remember what I bought. I just looked up my Amazon order history since I lost track. I am taking off doing this next year as I went ham and lost the spirit of the season this go-around.
Chrome Utility Pouch
I bought this guy in the large size and love using it as a cable-stable for all of my stuff - the power brick to my macbook/matebook/switch, a USB charger for my iphone, and some USB cables to charge my stuff from my other stuff. I think that everybody has a go-to, but how well made and bombproof this is in general I'm sure you'll find a good use for it. It'll fit a lot of office supplies, which are also in the box.
Christmas Light Necklaces
The real gift here is two CR2032 batteries that you can use for your household. If you can somehow not break it you can wear it to next year's office christmas party.
Picador Modern Classics (the books)
I bought these on Halloween. That has a lot to do with why this list is so long. Anyways, about half of the time I'm actively reading some book or another. (Right now it's a collection of a column Hunter S. Thompson wrote for espn.com of all places right before/after 9/11) - the pulp fiction that fits in my coat/jacket pocket is a real feature for me since it's easy enough to read in one hand and read on the train and make it more likely to get carted around with me on my adventures.
They had exactly three books on offer in this format when I went looking but it worked out great!
- The virgin suicides is a super readable and critical darling of a novel that I hope my critical darling Jennifer will be inspired to read through since I get so much out of reading somewhat-literary fiction.
- Nickel and Dimed is a classic socioeconomic text written by a professor that goes undercover as someone broke in the US. It talks all about how expensive it is to be broke and without a strong support network in a way that really reframed what I thought about poverty and "brokeness" which is not like wokeness.
- Jessica gets the Joan Didion collection since it's format is likely to take nicely to be being read in fits and starts which is how you read when you wanna read but can't really read.
Economy Blu-Rays
The movies you people haven't seen never ceases to amaze me.
Goodfellas is a great movie. Taught me how to curse at age 10. I watch it every year, at least. I wonder what I would have thought of the rest of Ray Liotta's career if I didn't see this first. It feels like one long disappointment. It was somehow cheaper than The Departed which I hope you have already seen. Lie to me if you gotta.
American Gangster was kind of a big deal at release but I wonder if seeing it nowadays on will put it in the Scarface-ripoff category. Russell Crowe's character makes absolutely no sense in this film.
Boiler Room is the movie I think of whenever someone tells me they work in Finance. Not Barbarians at the Gate, not Wall Street, not Margin Call, stupid Boiler Room. The soundtrack is way too aggressive and Vin Diesel actually pulls off acting great. I stole calling something yellow "Big Bird Mode" from this movie.
I'm a meat and potatoes man.