May 23, 2004

Birthday List

Ok, so I have it written down somewhere, here is my birthday list (the partial one I mentioned a few days ago needs more):

Bookstore Gift Certificates

These I will bundle together in order to buy "The Complete Far Side" and other things at the bookstore (I am tempted to also buy Brunson's pker book "Super/System", and I saw it at Sam's for less than $20 ... it used to be $50). I could also spend the rest on more "Ringworld" books (though I have been told long ago that the rest aren't as good as the first). Hell, I can always find something to spend for at Bookstop.

Yu-Gi-Oh Cards

Yes, we're still playing, and we can always use more cards. I love opening packs. They're overpriced, and I want them, so that pretty much fits the perfect definition for a birthday gift.

Return of the King

Well, we already got suckered into buying the regular versions of the first two, why not the third? We'll watch it (among everyone in the house) several times I'm sure before the extended edition comes out, so we'll get our money's worth, and it happens to come out two days before my birthday.

LOTR Soundtracks

I'd like the CD's from the extended versions of the first two movies (and ultimately I'll want the third as well). If I don't get them, I'll probably check them out of the library, if I can find them, and dump them into iTunes, but I'd rather have the CD's. I hope they have good (extensive) liner notes similar to the way they re-released the Star Wars trilogy music. I learned a lot from that.

Barbecue Table

You can never have too much countertop space when barbecuing, and right now, I'm using up one of those long office-type tables. It has lots of grease spots and such on it that won't come out. I'd like one of those hosable plastic long tables like the kind I've seen at Academy.

Frisbee

The frisbee I got from back in my grad school days (the last time I was on an Ultimate team) was lost two weeks ago. Some stupid little shit friend of Cody's walked up to us while we were at the park (right next to the school building). Cody was playing with the soccer ball, and I was sitting in my chair devouring a Brust novel, and the kid picks up the frisbee and just flings it straight up for no apparent reason. The wind caught it and sent it sailing onto the roof. I've never gone to recover it, so we need a new disk. I chewed that little kid out, though.

Matrix Revolutions

Yeah, ok, it probably sucks, but I own the first two on DVD and I haven't seen the third. I want to own it to complete the set. I've waited a long time for this just so I could maybe get it for my birthday (I'm bad about buying stuff for myself so that when holidays roll around, no one knows what to get me).

Poker Chips

I mentioned this a few days ago. I want some of those heavy wooden casino style chips. I'm about ready to start playing with the boys again (maybe during the summer when they need some structure and some indoor activity), and it would be nice to have some smooth chips. I've caught a lot of poker lately while riding the exercise bike (thanks to the DVR), and I love the way the chips stack and spill over onto the felt when a professional poker player throws them in.

So what am I missing? What should I be asking for?

Posted by Observer at May 23, 2004 07:31 PM
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Good poker chips are plastic or the $$$ fancy ones are clay. Not light plastic but heavy plastic. My friend found a place that will print whatever logo you send them onto chips, but the minimum order is like 500 chips at a couple bucks a pop.

I'd like to read Super/System. I'm always tempted to play 10-2 hands... heh.

Phil Helmuth Jr's "Play Poker like the Pros" is kinda interesting but not real useful. More anecdotes.

Posted by: Humbaba on May 24, 2004 12:39 AM

Oh, and my brothers have climbed onto the roof of Kane Hall (chimney crawling up a narrow gap) to recover a frisbee, as well as taken a dip in Drumheller Fountain in December to rescue a frisbee. The brother who did the dip lost his keys in the process, and it required putting a beefy magnet on the end of a string to "fish" for the dropped keys.

I love having crazy brothers. Not a wonder why I'm always laughing.

Posted by: Humbaba on May 24, 2004 12:41 AM

Wait, a frisbee is worth a dip but the keys aren't? What am I missing here? Particularly since most frisbees will float barring some specific problems and can eventually be rescued without incident by patient or crafty people (says the person who used to play Ultimate on the field below Drumheller)...

Posted by: Seattle Astronomer on May 24, 2004 12:52 AM

It was December, below freezing, and the frisbee was in obvious sight, the keys were who knows where on the bottom of zero visibility GooseShit infested water...

99.5% of the frisbees that ended up in that fountain were rescued without incident...

Posted by: Humbaba on May 24, 2004 08:36 AM

I'm jealous! I'll be happy if the kids make MY favorite kind of cake instead of THEIRS!

Posted by: Shamhat on May 24, 2004 09:03 AM

One of the few old things I have is a set of poker chips that belonged to my great aunt (maybe my great-great aunt; Dad used the term "Great Aunt Flora" but I don't know now whether that meant his great aunt or my great aunt). My dad remembered the family playing with these when he was a kid, so that is the early-mid '40s, and who knows how old they really are; they're heavy plastic of some sort. I've never encountered chips that held a candle to them, even in the casino room on the cruise I went on. About the only thing that felt better in the hand were real silver dollars.

Posted by: Feff on May 24, 2004 02:39 PM