The primary purpose of this page is to help me remember the things I want to buy for myself… something of a personal wish list. (I’m terrible with remembering this type of stuff.) I opted to keep this list here so that I could access it from anywhere, but also so that you, dear friend, could have some guidance to the desires of my heart should you want to purchase me a gift. But first a primer…
Probably the primary thing to know about me is that I’m something of a geek. That doesn’t mean that I have a hankering for video games, iPods or other such entertainment devices. Instead I find more entertainment in education, science, et cetera. I like to measure stuff, build stuff, take stuff apart and, ultimately, learn how things work. If you’re looking to find a “thoughtful” gift, anything that will allow me to do those things would be thoroughly enjoyed. Here’s a list of subjects I find interest in that may guide your shopping: aviation, photography, weapons, radio, space and astronomy, computing, travel, sports, camping and hiking, so on and so forth. A complete list of my interests would be entirely too long, almost defeating the purpose of even listing them.
So here it is… my personal shopping list.
Books
- Sam Harris
- Christopher Hitchens
- Thomas Paine Collection: Common Sense, Rights of Man, Age of Reason, An Essay on Dream, Biblical Blasphemy, Examination Of The Prophecies
- The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
- The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
- The Chomsky Reader by Noam Chomsky
- Andrew Bacevich’s The New American Militarism
- Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace by Joseph Williams
- Crisis Economics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance by Nouriel Roubini
- The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook by Joshua Piven
- alcohol
- Charles Pierce’s Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free
- textbooks (yeah… I’m not kidding)
- science: physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy
- math: algebra, trigonometry, geometry, statistics, calculus
- economics: macro and micro
- computing: advanced SQL, database security, data structures, algorithms
Clothing
I’m in the process of adding classic styles to my wardrobe. Quality suits, ties, watches, coats, shirts and the like. So here are some measurements for you to work with if interested… I have a 44″ chest, 16 1/2″ neck and a 36-37″ arm. My pants generally would need to be tailored as I have legs longer than my waist is around so I’ll leave the measurements of anything at or below the waist off of this list.
Outdoor and Sports Gear
- mountain bike
a quality, 10′ jump rope- heart rate monitor
- internal frame backpack
- Powerblock’s U-90 Stage I
- handheld GPS
- weightlifting rack
- Fat Gripz
Automotive Kit
- mechanic’s tool set
- floor jack and jackstands
- N-FAB light bar
- 2x off-road lights
Photography
- 75-300mm zoom lens
- 100mm macro lens
- new flash
- new tripod
- motorized equatorial camera tripod for astrophotography
- white balance cards
Electronic Gear
- a 2TB NAS
- quality, simple home theatre system
- mustache and beard trimmer
- a used Macbook
- Grundig G6 AVIATOR Portable radio
- simple audio mixer
Guns
- CZ 75 SP-01 Tactical
- Remington Model 870 Express Tactical
- Remington 700 SPS Tactical
- an M-4 Carbine
- gun safe
Other
- authentic wooden propeller… like from a Sopwith or a Jenny
- an authentic kilt