what gift did you get this year

a subscription to the second best magazine (Racer), sorry Classic is 3rd best only because it is so long between issues.

a B&N gift card, with which i bought

and

And my Girlfriend bought me Can Am: the speed odyssey, a peacoat, and a pen.

pretty good year for me.

A set of vintage china. Which I promptly filled with lots of feasting items.

It was a good Christmas.

Margie

now that the dust has settled and everything's been unwrapped, i ended up with a flannel shirt, a sweater (both surprisingly not bad even though picked by the in-laws), some wool socks, a set of magnetic-tip screwdrivers, a restaurant gift certificate, a set of gearwrench metric combination wrenches (win!), and some office stuff since i'm working from home for a while.

not specifically christmas, but we've finally gotten rid of everything from my parents' estate, and i came home with the 1950's electric train set. i will definitely set up a webshots album with pix of this stuff, just because it's old and cool. probably not any top-dollar stuff, but i don't care since i'm not selling it.

AngryCorvair wrote: not specifically christmas, but we've finally gotten rid of everything from my parents' estate, and i came home with the 1950's electric train set.

I've got my Dad's old American Flyer S gauge setup. when my kids are older I'll set it up.

I still have my birthday coming up so more presents will be coming. For Christmas, I got a Dremel 300 series rotary tool, new clothes, some gift cards and extra spending cash, Empire Ramp paintballs, and this book from Racing Beat (Tim Suddard contributed to it, FWIW):

Twin_Cam wrote: Excellent. Now head over to homebrewtalk.com for some advice if you need it! I'm SkinnyShamrock over there. And may I suggest an English Brown or American Pale Ale as your first brew...they're very easy to get right and end up awesome 99% of the time. I got some CDs, a couple t-shirts, some brewing supplies, and cash from the grandparents.

I've been lurking over there off and on for a few months. Seems like a good community, I suppose I should go ahead and sign up. I still haven't decided on a style, I haven't warmed up to most brown ales for some reason. I guess I tend to like bigger or more complex brews. Of course I don't think it would be the greatest idea to try a Russian Imperial Stout, a Tripel, or an Imperial IPA for my first shot at brewing, even if that is what I'd rather be drinking most days. An APA doesn't sound like a bad idea though, if I ended up with something along the lines of my favorite "garage beer", Stone Pale Ale, I'd be pretty happy. I'm tempted to do something a little less ordinary, but keeping it simple the first time out is probably wise. There is a wide variety of pre-measured kits at MBS, and I may just pick out one of those.

Here's one question though - I have a large stainless pot that holds 5 gallons (just barely - 5 gallons fills it within an inch of the brim). Is this going to be large enough to be useful, or am I going to need something bigger before I get started?

I got a three day pass for the Monterey Historics at Laguna Seca(with the camping pass, and I have a generator) also I got the delux disk brake retractor tool set from Santa.

I got a Kodak Z1012 IS superzoom digicam.

I got a new name.....

"Dad"

We announced to our families on Christmas Eve that there will be a new little wrench turner in the house due July 30th. We got our parents all matching mugs with "Grandma" and "Grandpa" on them. Took them all a few seconds to register that they all had matching mugs and what they meant. I'm just glad we don't have to keep this quiet anymore.

And boy or girl, they'll be out in the garage with me. I say that learning fractions can be fun, one socket at a time......

Oh yeah, and I got a Dremel, mechanic's gloves, and new speakers for the '69 Olds.

slefain wrote: I got a new name..... "Dad".

Congrats! My daughter and son-in-law gave us the Grandpa and Grandma mugs last Christmas.

Number one granddaughter has been great fun for us.

Nuvi 250, Rolling Stone box set--every issue from '67-07 on CD-ROM (w/ coffee table book) and a very cool art/skateboarding book from my wife (Art, Skateboarding and Life by Andy Howell).

Good haul.

maroon92 wrote:

That's pretty sick.

I'll be buying a couple of architecture books w/ a gift card.

I really like the a+u magazines/books. Unfortunately you pay out the nose for them, and they seem pretty hard to find.

um...it was on Barnesandnoble.com....pretty easy to find actually.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/BMW-Racing-Cars/Karl-Ludvigsen/e/9781583882016/?itm=3

15 seconds tops.

I was replying to Gamby. a+u is a Japanese architecture (and Urbanism, to be exact) magazine. I found a place to get a subscription... $300 a year for 12 issues. I don't think this includes postage (from Japan) either.

Speaking of which, here is an issue that has to do with automobile manufacturing. The cover story is the Bugatti facility where the Veyron is built.

sorry for the confusion...my bad i guess.

cool magazine though, that one has the BMW Welt, the Ferrari Factory, and more...whats the exchange rate on a yen nowadays?

I think it's a little less than 100 yen to the dollar.

The complete MacGuyver series (!) and rock sliders for my truck

Mrs Sonett goy me a "Jawhorse with the welding attachment" Already used it to repair 3 more seat frames for her brother's BMW E 3 collection. I've probably welded up 8 of 'em now. And have it down to leass than 5 mins each!

Also a new Sony Cyber shot to replae my ancient Cannon e bay camera..

She got a Tivo, digital frame (one from her Bimmer brother too) jewelry, and "comfort " stuff to keep her happy.

Congrats on becoming a dad.

THE most important name anyone of us can have. ( other than , Mom ..)

I got metric Gear Wrench ratcheting open-end wrenches. Standard length and stubby (small wrenches for a small car).

The G/F gave me an Ipod, an auto-up switch for the windows on the MINI and the complete DVD set of Dean Martin's celebrity roasts.

New GT28 and mild cams for the racecar

New shoes for the bike.

Oh, did you mean gifts from other people?

Josh wrote: Here's one question though - I have a large stainless pot that holds 5 gallons (just barely - 5 gallons fills it within an inch of the brim). Is this going to be large enough to be useful, or am I going to need something bigger before I get started?

That'll work fine. I use an Indian stainless pot that holds maybe 3 gallons total and I typically brew it with about 2 or 2.5 gallons, then pour it into my 5 gallon jug and top it off.

I got a 3TC engine and T50 transmission for one of my Corollas.

One of those deals where it was in the town the folks live in so I asked Dad to pick it up for me. When I got there for Christmas and tried to pay him for it, he told me to consider it a Christmas present.

Cool...like this guy -->