Ask HN: What do you want for Christmas? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What do you want for Christmas?

23 pointsSoupy48 comments

I'm curious what you all are asking for this holiday season since it seems like many of us have similar interests and tastes. Personally, this is my (small) list:

- subscription to Fast Company

- Delivering Happiness (book)

- Do More Faster (book)

- The 4 Hour Body (book)

- Tie Fighter Lego Set (always need at least one Star Wars gift)

- Synology 110j NAS server

So what awesome things are you asking for?

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I don't really need anything you can buy with money, but my family made me pick something anyhow, so I'm getting a board game (Thunderstone). Not technically a board game, actually, but I hear it plays like Dominion (a deck building game which is fun, quick, and is crack to the programming part of my brain -- seriously, facility with discrete math is almost cheating).

What I want want for Christmas: to go to Mass with my family, pray for the usual, see my high school friends, eat some mashed potatoes and turkey and absolutely no raw fish, drop in on the guys at Matasano and DOS their dark artistry with a poundcake, and call a young lady to let her know I'm thinking of her. (Christmas in Japan is like Valentine's Day in America.)

I want very badly a '79 Yamaha SG2000, but have decided to spend the money ($1700) on charitable donations instead. I have led an exceptionally lucky life and this is as good a time as any to spread some of my good fortune around.

Personally, I want vinyl records (Dischord is re-releasing their catalog!) and a weekend away from the startup with my girlfriend.

Oh, and the elimination of the null pointer and a relational database system NOT based on SQL. WHERE'S MY CLOSURE UNDER COMPOSITION?

I want a Manhattan made with rye, port instead of vermouth (man is this good), and Cynar instead of angostura bitters. And a pound cake. And for my planned sous vide goo-du-cken with Activa RM not to be an abomination before God and mankind; I talk a good game, but I'm 40/60 on execution.

I have everything else I could possibly want right now; the only deficit in my life is of good cocktails. And gooduckens. I've got the Vince Gauraldi Charlie Brown music playing, I'm expecting light snow, Christmas is already a win.

It's been a fantastic year for us. I hope it has been for you as well. Happy holidays!

Same as every year: Peace on earth and good will toward men & women.

"We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing."

-Sneakers

Yeah, we do. We've had a really bad start to this millennium and are definitely at a lone point in regards to the quality of our political debate but I still believe that in the future we will once again stand for what is right and good in this world.

I so hope that you are right.

You're just gonna have to try.

When I look back at previous christmases I have great difficulty recalling anything I was given. But I can remember the things we did, stuffed ourselves with lovely food and no guilt, prolonged low level alcohol intoxication and then on the day after christmas hill-walking and off to see a football match afterwards. I'll have that again thanks

I kept waiting for the new ereader to be launched this Christmas that was going to be better than the Kindle3, but it seems that no new, better product was launched so I'm going to have to wait some more and just get some deadtree literature.

Got a kindle3 few days ago. Best decision I made this year.

Same here. I got one from my wife for my birthday. I don't know if it's due to the shorter pages (reformatting layout), clear easy text, a battery that goes on forever, or just the excitement of a new gadget - regardless, I've already read 2 books. The eInk is amazing and worth every penny.

I'll third that. I was dubious for a while, decided to get one for my birthday. Definitely the right move, fantastic device.

Fourthed!

That is what I would like for Christmas. I am thinking about buying one for my kids too.

Time to read some fiction books and spend time with the family and leave the digital world behind for a few hours

A weeks break would be nice, but likely it will just be a couple of hours and then back to the grindstone.

No rest for the wicked and the self-employed.

I don't have much to wish for in a material sense, but it would be nice to see a certain young someone take his first steps unaided :)

A Kindle is top of my hope-for list.

Soupy I just got a free copy of delivering happiness, I'll mail it to you when I'm done.

That's incredibly kind of you but I think my girlfriend already bought one for me (there are 3 book shaped presents under the tree right now and considering I only asked for 3 books...). Thank you for the thought though! Perhaps another HN member wants to take you up on this offer?

no problemo. merry christmas :-)

anyone else want the book? Maybe I should put up a post offering to mail people my already read books...?

I want a CR-48, Google Chrome OS laptop.

I just ordered Do More Faster as a small gift to my self. =)

I would love some noise canceling headphones, they would be very useful for when I go to the library to study.

Time with family.

Sales.

I always have a hard time thinking of items I "want" for Holidays (Birthday, Christmas, etc.). In most cases if I needed/wanted it badly enough I just buy it for myself. Unfortunately (in my social circle at least) no one ever believes that and thinks I'm being polite, and press for an answer.

So this year I folded and said an Apple TV. That and time to sit and relax with food, wine, friends and family.

Finding more homes for things I no longer need.

I actually have very little compared to most, but I can afford what I need and I only keep around what is used.

Anything I sell, I donate the proceeds to my favourite charities, but often friends or family can use the things, especially the tech.

So, I want to have distributed my pile of goodies by the New Year. I'm doing well so far.

I would also like a NAS, but I haven't picked out a specific model.

I also want a PC Engine LT (http://cgi.ebay.com/PC-ENGINE-LT-rare-game-still-working-con...), but I can't really justify spending $600 on a toy I won't use that much.

I personally chose the Synology one because of its support for Apple's time machine. The additional features are only a bonus (http, ftp, etc).

Simple - a job.

what kind of job? maybe the HN community can help.

NY Metro CTO would be nice - been there, got funded, done that :) - check my profile.

I ordered myself a TypeMatrix 2030 keyboard with a DVORAK skin.

Can hardly wait for it to arrive.

I loved making Christmas lists as a child. I knew that the amazing and impossible things I asked for weren't always even possible but it's the only time of the year to ask!

For Christmas this year I want a suitable house to raise a family in.

Well, you lot made me feel all guilty about my list, so I trimmed it down.

I'd really like a good pair of noise canceling headphones, and if anyone has recommendations, some good fantasy / sci-fi books that I can just relax and enjoy.

http://head-fi.org will give you more discussion about high end audio gear than you could read in a century; I'd do some research there about what kind of 'phones to get.

As for books, I'd suggest the Culture novels by Iain M Banks if you like science fiction, pretty much anything by Guy Gavriel Kay if you like historical fantastic fiction, Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss for being simply amazing, and the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R R Martin, if you like fantasy that's gritty and realistic.

I've asked the same question of my friends at http://www.bestgifty.com

So far the best suggestions I've received has been Chia Obama - Determined Pose. Yes. It exists.

The Pragmatic Programmer (book) - New office chair - Candy/Chocolate/Wine/other goodies

The wife and I bought a new car this Christmas season, so I think that counts. We already have it though. '06 Volvo S60.

A MacBook Pro

An iPhone

Loads of Nice People Around

I'd really like a SSD for my notebook. Unfortunately it is too expensive - I think we'll rather save the money (I want at least 256GB).

Fortune and glory, kid. Fortune and glory.

Black athletic socks (all I wear) and a continuation of my membership to Netflix.

a5 speakers,

some of those isolating earphones such as shures 535s or Monster Mile Davis Tributes etc,

Defy 3 Racing bike for commuting

synology 211j

ability to lucid dream.

an iRobot Roomba, 'cause I am sick and tired of cleaning 'manually'

I really want 23andme

i want to get that new job; to be near my wife.

Cr-48

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