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I like french films, long walks on the beach... wrong website, sorry.
I like American history, small time local music and my favorite color is grey, honestly it really is. General nerdy interests in gaming and comic books, I'm not super into Star Trek/Wars like many nerds but I have prayed to Batman once or twice.
I am not a small man in regards to girth nor height so I wouldn't suggest any kindly intended clothing gifts, its hard enough for me to get the right size.
Science is fun! I actually just got a Nasa invented ant farm for my cousins little girls, about forty percent of the reason was because I just thought it was so fascinating the other sixty because I thought any kid with a sliver of curiosity would as well.
Intellectual puzzles are like crack, I can't help but monkey with them for as long as it takes to open it or take it apart. Its a fulfilling conquest when you can take the puzzle apart and put it back together again only to hand it off to another poor soul to be mocked by its intricacy.
I love books (how else would I have ended up here!) and biographies of odd people are of great interest to me, not just those with accomplishments in time but who are unlikely to be comparable to another. Such as Miyamoto Musashi, living more than half his life in infamy and open awe yet never having a teacher in any the arts he took so much time in and living a lot of his life on the road alone, by choice.
Clowns, in fact the more likely it is to incite coulrophobia the more I love it. I actually own a jester styled furby, if that ain't evil I don't know what is.
And if you happen to be personal friends with Henry Rollins or Fiona Apple and can arrange a meet and greet, that's cool too.
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Hopefully today. I was worried as some who had expressed interest had not emailed me. For those who have not emailed me your mailing addresses, tomorrow will be the last day you can do so.
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I'm going to copy my spiel from the last time we did a gift exchange. It ended up getting me some great gifts!
quote:i love computers and technology. I listen to a lot of classic rock. I read speculative fiction, and anything to do with science, religion(though i'm not religious), philosophy, the mind and brain. I have pet ferrets. I love to gamble, particularly poker. I love doing anything active outdoors. The Big Lebowski is my favorite movie. I like long walks on the beach, pink unicorns, fluffy bunnies, skittles, rainbows and butterflies.
In general, I'd rather be surprised with something meaningful to you or from your area, than something that fulfills my "like" list.
Blackblade, I'll have an email to you shortly.
Posts: 8741 | Registered: Apr 2001
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Well due to a combination of factors, I'd like it if we could have gifts sent by January 10th. I also hope we can all get it done and have a good time thinking up gifts, rather than me being obnoxious and nagging you to send your gift.
Fortunately that wasn't an issue last year.
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Was hatrack down for a while recently? It seemed like every time I came back here to check, it wouldn't load.
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I will be mailing mine this week. If any of you have lost or not received your assignment, PLEASE let me know immediately.
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I launched mine from ebay today so they might not have my name on it. I hope they are liked and kids might like them too.
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My gift came today. AchillesHeel gave me some graphic novels, a book of Japanese gestures, and a beanie feturing an anime character named Domo. I love Ghost in the Shell.
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Mine arrived yesterday, from DDDaysh, I believe (real name was on box, no Hatrack ID included but a little online sleuthing provided it).
When I opened the box, I was a little disgruntled to smell smoke. "Oh, great, this came from a smoker's house. I'll have to air it out," I thought. But no, it did not. It had (in addition to peanut brittle and a book about Polish settlers in Texas telling ghost stories that I have barely begun to read) homemade jerky.
The jerky has two flavors: hot and regular. I, of course, had some of the hot first. It is clear-your-sinuses, make-your-eyes-water hot. The regular is also a bit spicy (peppered maybe?) and they are both good.
My 16-year-old took the regular jerky into her room last night and I don't think I'll see that again. So that leaves me the spicy jerky, which should last quite a while taken in small doses. (And as long as I keep it away from the cats, who managed to get into the Canadian bacon when I made homemade pizza last night.)
And, as the package arrived on my birthday, it does double-duty as a birthday present. I'm quite impressed with the contents and the timing. Thanks!
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I was staring at the manga in the book store, not knowing what an anime fan would and would not like let alone already have, I'm glad you like Ghost in the Shell.
That Japanese hand gestures includes some... odd explanations. Such as the gesture for 'boyfriend' also mentions that the gesture should not be used by women. That stopped my curiosity pretty quick.
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Strider: Your present should be arriving today. Sorry I couldn't send more, the other part of your gift had certain...issues.
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I got mine today! There wasn't a username on the box, and I don't want to "out" anyone, but I love it! I got a bunch of beautiful stickers featuring different types of butterflies, and there are even enough to share with all "my" kids! I can't wait to wear them on our shirts to the Natural History Museum's butterfly room and look for the ones that match us! Thank you so much. :)
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YAY! It was totally me. You are lucky they weren't spiders because I love spiders as much as butterflies. There's also going to be a second set too because I had two sent out.
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Thanks, Synesthesia! I got both sets together, sorry I didn't mention it. I'm glad you went with the butterflies. Smithsonian might have an interactive spider exhibit too, for all I know, but I'm not sure I'd want to visit. :angst:
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I've never participated, but they have a lot of insect exhibits, but I've only ever participated in the butterfly one. It's my favorite.
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quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: Strider: Your present should be arriving today. Sorry I couldn't send more, the other part of your gift had certain...issues.
I'm not sure what that means!
Thanks for the book! Should I be worried? I didn't know my life was in such peril.
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Hank: Thanks so much for the fantastic game and mix tape! I used to play Gomoku a lot as a child and for whatever reason just stopped, and I've always kinda wanted to get back into it. I haven't had a chance to listen to the CD but rest assured I love me a random smattering of music.
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Strider: No. There *was* a second part to your gift but it got destroyed. I'm currently debating whether to do something else. I hope you enjoy the book, I initially was cool towards it, but I was very impressed with the material.
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I'm glad! I was worried that it would be A) not cool enough for a "gamer," or B) One you already had.
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Hank: I put your CD in my car (inside the trunk's CD deck) and promptly forgot to turn it on once I started driving. But hey, at least I'm totally ready right!?
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My home computer is currently broken. I am currently posting from work where I don't have time to write the emails. My video card comes in the mail today though, so...
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AchillesHeel's gift is now on the way - mailed today. I sent a tracking number to JanitorBlade.
Sorry for the delay. It was a combination of my natural procrastination combined with my natural perfectionism, followed by a comedy of errors involving forgetting to bring stuff into town when I would have time to work on it between work hours, driving into town to get photos printed and realizing I forgot to transfer them to my flash drive, running out of glue stuff and having to buy more, running out of photos and having to get more printed (today, half an hour before the post office closed) ...
(All of this will become clear when the package arrives, which should be Monday.)
And I'm "outing" myself because although I put my name on the package, I forgot to put my nickname, so there you go.
And imagine me trying to pack the box that was in my trunk while standing outside on a windy Iowa winter day. I finished packing it inside the post office literally minutes before they closed today. So it's finally, actually on the way.
And the final part of the comedy of errors: realizing on the way home after mailing the package that I forgot to add one item, which will have to be sent later.
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Thanks Cay, I know how it can be when you have to drive a ways just to pick up your mail. You have now made me extremely curious!
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I was hoping to whet your appetite. I had fun with the photo part of the package. After you get it, I'll explain more.
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I am awestruck by the gifts Cay! Thank you so much, really, even my own family has difficulties getting me presents and you have surprised me!
Linky link. 1. A book of historical photo's from Fort Dodge, signed by the author. 2. A handmade photo album of early 1900's clowns, and hand written notes throughout with names and tie-ins to Fort Dodge! I adore this so much, both books are going on my special book shelf. 3, 4 and 5. Porcelain clowns: one that looks decidedly like a spotted mushroom imo, a young hobo-clown-boy with puppy and my favorite is the hobo-clown looking through the trash.
Edit to add, and that clown on the bottom left was actually on the box itself, I saw it fit to save it. You rule Cay.
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The portion that didn't get sent was a set of the same clown stickers as the one on the box. So I'll get that sent out sometime, too.
As I mentioned, the process didn't go smoothly. I took a long time to figure out what I wanted to send. I had the history book but didn't get it signed for the longest time, which is silly, since Roger Natte is a friend of mine. I started putting the scrapbook together using glue stick for adhesive, which made the pages stiff and curled, so I had to start over. Luckily at that point I didn't have the photos yet. And at the last minute I had to have more photos printed because I didn't plan ahead.
But it all worked out and I'm so glad you liked it. I think I'm going to have to do another one or possibly two - I showed the scrapbook and the photos to a friend (before the photos were actually in the scrapbook) and she really liked them. I might do one for her, and maybe one for me.
Oh, and the hobo clowns are candle holders. I thought they might be a bit too cutesy for you, but also thought you probably wouldn't have anything like them.
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Just about the first thing I noticed about the book was the signature, which prompted me to treat it as the third most fragile book I own, I was wondering what your relation was to the author. To be honest, the smell of elmer's glue kind of endeared the scrapbook to me even more, the photo of the girl surrounded by clowns is my favorite by far (so much so I included it in the picture I linked.)
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Roger Natte is a local historian who has written several books. He's a member of the local historical society and historic preservation commission. I designed the current website, although I think I could do better now. (Actually I think it needs to go to WordPress, but I'm really into WordPress now.)
And Roger is a really nice guy. He's always willing to talk to me about local history, and he's involved in creating history programs in the area. (which I usually miss, either forgetting about them or having to work)
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So I'm sorry to say that it's looking like Strider's gift to Rabbit and Rabbit's gift to Synesthesia got stuck in the postal system.
I don't know if it's related at all but in my work I've recently been trying to deal with USPS and it's complete inability to deliver products to the Virgin Islands. It seems like that entire region is a mess when it comes to delivering the mail.
I've tried to check with USPS about what specifically is going on but the agents I talk to aren't clued into the situation and just give me standard CS lines about the issue. I'm not holding out much hope the packages will ever arrive, and I am truly sorry we couldn't get everybody a package this year. But thanks so much for all of you folks' participation.
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Well, could I at least know what it was? Maybe they might be able to get them out, but sometimes mail gets mangled.
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Rabbit, I'm bummed to hear my gift didn't make it to you! I don't know if I could've done anything differently to have ensured delivery, but I'm sorry nonetheless.
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