Yay, warm fuzzies all around! It was a pleasure stalking you!
Is it opening week?
Yes it is!
Thank you Santa for a Beloader Pro!
I honestly had no idea what it was when I opened it up but apparently it lets you use Xbox game pads and/or mouse and keyboard on a ps5. Will have to investigate further when I get back from Christmas break.
Behold! An extravaganza!
My santa went nuts!
First they must have seen my recent post of an Indiana Jones story I wrote, and now I have not one but TWO books on writing to dig into! My wife LOVED Writing Down the Bones, and I’ve never heard of the Silverburg, but I’m super interested. It’s coming with me to LA for the holidays!
Then’s the games! A 1000-piece “Game Night” puzzle that’s going to make me super jealous as I work it (I want those games!) and a cool party game that even my in-laws will likely play. That’s coming with me to LA too.
Finally there’s even cool drawing tablets for my kids, which gives me an excellent “I have a treat for you when we get on the plane” teaser that my oldest is already excited about.
Thanks so much, Santa! Not just cool things I’m interested in, but cool things to do when I’m with the family, too.
Dear @Dave_Perkins : Your Santa says a BONUS gift box was mailed yesterday and hopefully will make it to you before xmas (but that’s at the whim and mercy of the USPS).
But was it… a singing telegram??
omg BONUS! yayayayayay
I got the first box!
Dear Santa, thank you so much.
I’m not going to open the boxes until a few days from now, I’m in an absolute mess of uncertainty around this winter storm and my parents 100 miles away and what might happen or needs to happen etc. etc. . . I want to save them for when I’m ready.
But another box came in today, and on the outside it had the word Escazu. It took me half a second to parse that from Quepos, because there’s a poster on here that lives in Ecuador and Quepos is to Ecuador like Escazu is to Costa Rica. (Bar Snoopy is still there though, which I really appreciate.) No idea if you are from CR or the present is from CR, but some of my absolute fondest memories are of Escazu and a little hotel I stayed at there a couple of times, I can’t seem to Google it up (or remember the name, I swear it had something to do with monkeys) but just remembering that place in a time of relative crisis has done me a world of good. Thank you.
When/if we get through this storm and my parents are okay and safe and I don’t have to do a horrible emergency trip in killing weather, I’m going to open these and love you all the more. It’s just funny how that single word made my life a lot better tonight. Thanks.
That said, the orginal box is still suspiciously cubical, I’m hoping for a salt lick:
Edit: I remembered, the Hotel Costa Verde Inn. God I love that place, even if the girlfriend I took there a few times, not so much.
Well I couldn’t be happier with what Santa brought me!
A beautiful Lego Bonsai tree set, and a super nifty magnetic pen. I’d actually just remarked to a friend the other day that it was a virtual inevitability that I’d get into growing Bonsai trees, and it’s been ages since I’ve put together a Lego set.
I’m snowed in this weekend with a bottle of Japanese whiskey, and I can’t imagine a better way to spend it.
Thank you!!
A big thank you to my Secret Santa for a trio of excellent Kindle books! I have a ridiculous collection of physical books that i’m seriously at the point of “I gotta get cracking to read all these before I croak.” I’m trying to finish one physical book for every Kindle book. So in other words, digital is the perfect format because the shelves are sagging! My Secret Santa picked three books off my wishlist that they’d read themselves and enjoyed, and that’s the best kind of gift – sharing something that friends have liked as well.
First up…
Love David Foster Wallace, and this book’s been on my wishlist forever. His writing/humor just clicks for me.
Next…
I have Robinson’s Mars trilogy in my physical collection, and I’ve heard great things about this one. Really looking forward to this!
And finally…
This was one that got added to my wishlist when someone mentioned it (likely on Qt3) but had been there for a couple of years. Now that I have it and look at the description, I think this will be the next read on my list.
So thanks very much, Santa! knowing that one of my Qt3 friends enjoyed these makes adding them to the top of my queue all the more exciting!
Glad you liked the stuff! I’m outing myself because I wanted to explain the Silverberg book. :) When I worked at OMNI, the magazine’s editor, Keith Ferrell, recommended Worlds of Wonder because he said the intros to each story were excellent writing lessons in themselves, and suggested it was a must-read for anyone who wanted to write genre fiction. So when you mentioned writing books, I had to track down a copy. It’s a great book (I have a copy too) and I’m surprised it’s out of print.
Hope the game with the in-laws is fun, and that the kids enjoy the tablets! I had no idea how old they were so went for something that worked for the “3 to 30” range. :)
Seems like the winter storm crisis has been averted, so I chose to treat myself to to some gifts today!
Two boxes arrived, and I already spoke about the one with Escazu on the outside and how much it helped me during that potential crisis. Turns out it was complete kismet, karma, serendipity, call it what you will.
Were I of the rodent variety I would stop here, because that box looks comfy as hell. But digging into it I discovered some sweet treats!
Chocolates in a box and the fanciest chocolate bar I’ve ever seen in my life. I’ll be sampling that after dinner tonight.
Then my cubical friend, which put me on the back foot because the result wasn’t cubical at all, and I’m still hoping for a salt lick under the tree (old farmboy humor.)
BBQ education and sauces and rubs! Hell yes! I’ve always been curious about the eastern NC barbecue world because it’s so regional and the one that is aligned to tangy mustard sauces and man, it delivered. Like that episode on the Simpsons where Shelbyville steals the lemon tree and tries to look cool while biting into a lemon, that was me tasting the mustard sauce, it’s incredible! Far thinner than I thought it would be, tons more flavor, and a lot more subtle stuff going on in between. The sweet sauce is excellent as well and the dry rub is shockingly good and interesting, I’m going to do my best to reverse engineer it.
Thanks so much, and Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
Thanks Kadath.
Cooking and coding.
My life!!!
These are perfect.
My mrs is going to do the lamb dish soon.
Had I opened this book last night I would have done the seeet sour molasses for our duck.
2 regular but cool cookbooks and then…something really special.
Middle earth cookbook. :D
Thank you secret santa for your thoughtful packaging
which contained…
a Chess puzzle book with Tom and Lev!
a t-shirt from a certain litigious Hans Niemann
An expansion to Feast for Odin and…
…wut? I had no idea something like this even existed!
Thanks for the wonderful gifts - my wife and I had a blast opening them!
Many thanks to my Secret Santa for Dune: Imperium - Immortality expansion! As you can see, it is already in use! I love it so far.
And here is the bonus gift. Any guesses?
I’m so glad they hit the mark. A little bit of tech, a taste of America and a Tolkien treat for dessert. Feel free to swap any out if they are dupes
