turtlegirl37

I voted but I don't understand why or how. Worst poll evah.

Listened to TTGG other day walking in the sunshine with headphones, with nothing to do but cruise, I was feeling good to say the least!

Sounds like a blissful moment to me! There is something about that album that can make me feel as young as I was in '95!

Love Josh Ritter! Still kickin myself for not going to the show when he was @ Liberty Hall in Lawrence. At the time, I was trying to stick to a really tight budget, so I decided not to buy tix. Doh!

Missed Josh Ritter @ Liberty Hall in Lawrence, KS. Actually made a conscious decision to stick with the budget and not go - dammit!

I have a friend who moved from Kansas to CA, and she laughs at how it's "Storm Watch 2009" anytime it rains. Also, we were once in a Middle Eastern restaurant when a big storm blew through, and the Middle Eastern guy working there was completely freaking out. We assured him that we weren't going to die, and indeed, we did not.

Another funny is to see people from more temperate climates react to ice and snow - especially while driving. Yikes.

Happy Birthday from your Kansas neighbor! You were blessed with beautiful weather just for the occasion. It's my Dad's birthday, too.

(sorry to high-jack your thread!)

 

Well, to make you feel better, his birthday is December 31 & I don't have any ideas for it either. I usually end up buying a bunch of stuff & divide it into 3 piles: from mom & dad, from Santa, and for birthday

 

There's a lego store close to my work, I'll go check it out one day at lunch. Great suggestion, I think he'd love the knights or skelton mini-figs.

 

cute story - last month was Hayden's birthday & my husband & I went to the Dairy Queen to order his cake & facetiously asked if they had any "robot on dirtbike" designs & the teenage girl that worked there said, "we're all out". We laughed & laughed. He ended up getting a "Transformers" cake.

Hi-jack away. A little kid talk is nice for a change.

If you know someone who welds, you might be able to get a nice robot on dirtbike special-made just for Hayden. All this robot and dirtbike talk makes me hungry for some They Might Be Giants!!

Have you seen this collection?

http://shop.lego.com/product/?p=9247&L...7&ShipTo=US

 

You can also build your own mini figures on the Lego website in the "Pick A Brick" section. Maybe you can custom build one that looks like him for a stocking stuffer?

Yes, that's the set that I was talking about. Cool idea to get a mini-me Lego mini-fig, though I gotta say it would look like your kid but with severe jaundice.

You mentioned he enjoys reading...other then anime are the specific interests he has? There are some wonderful kids books out there. Or how about buying him an ipod shuffle and buying some audiobooks for him to listen to?

Actually, he was clear that he does NOT want an ipod. Weird, I know. I'm sure that will change in a few years. (The not-wanting-an-ipod part, not the weird part. That will never go away. Weird parents=weird kids.)

Nice. Does it come with a dirt bike?

Seriously, for 250 bucks it should.

If he's into all kinds of anime and not just the sci-fi stuff, then a box set of Studio Ghibli movies can't be beat. There are various editions out there, ranging from 5 to 21 titles.

My other son loves Hayao Miyazaki. I've got to check these out. Thanks for the tip.

I second Lammycat's suggestion - maybe paired with a selection of drawing/art supplies. If he's into drawing has he also explored water-based media yet? Maybe a set of watercolors and/or acrylics and brushes, along with water-soluble colored pencils, colored inks, and a couple of pads of different drawing & watercolor papers.

I'm not sure he's quite ready to go there yet. He's still working on his basic drawing techniques. I've heard that watercolors are more challenging and would probably be too advanced for a 10 y/o (although he is a prodigy, of course). In a few years, though, I can see that as a gift for him, along with a watercolor class like lammycat suggested.

Did I mention you all rock with all of these awesome ideas? Really, thanks!

he sounds just like my kid!

All Fynn (who's almost 10) wants is a Nintendo DS & my mom bought it for him, so I'm stuck too.

 

Stop motion animation software, eh? he would love that.

He rocks at Guitar Hero, so were thinking about World Tour.

Mine would also like a large assortment of Lego men (the little brother loses them)- but, god I can't find decent ones for a good price.

Looked on ebay & kijiji & the good ones (Star Wars, Batman,...) are so expensive! $5- $15 EACH!

 

And the little one (Hayden who's 3) wants "a robot on a dirtbike"... he's been very specific about this.

 

sorry, I'm of no help, but you gave me an idea, so thanks!

Here I thought that I was the worst mom ever since I couldn't think of a good idea. Glad I'm not the only one.

Yeh, I know that lego minifig biz is a racket! They do sell sets of minifigs on lego.com that are reasonably priced, but they're kind of generic (like a chef minifig and a fireman minifig).

Could you like glue a robot on a dirtbike? Would that work? It actually sounds cool to me; I just don't know that it's been done before.

How about signing him up for a kid's photography class or Art studio class? Check your local paper, hippy magazine, YMCA, schools, craiglist, etc.

Good ideas, too. My dh and father in law are both very talented photographers, so he has personal teachers. He's taken several art classes in the past and there will be some drawing books and supplies under the tree.

How 'bout a guitar?

He already has one - got that when he was like 4 or 5. Hope it doesn't sound like he's a spoiled brat, cuz he's not. He's just always wanted specific, reasonable gifts and has therefore received them. Good idea, though.

His 12 y/o brother wants armor - I'm still working on that.

This is awesome too: http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/science/91e4/

Holy cow, they have astronaut icecream. I remember sending off for that as a kid. The thinkgeek site is cracking me up. All that nerdy humor - reminds me of the little non-jokes I hear on NPR. llynn, I'm your biggest fan right now. (Hope that doesn't creep you out.)

How does he feel about space-stuff? I think this is way cool.

Lots of cool science goodies on that site. Even if you don't actually order from there, maybe a bit of browsing will at least give you some ideas to keep in mind while browsing toys-r-us or something. Good luck!

Wow, everyone thanks for all of the ideas!

thinkgeek- what a great site! We are definitely geeks, but cool geeks, you know? (That's what we tell ourselves, anyway.) This looks particularly cool and might be a keeper for him: http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/science/af4c/

Okay, here it is Dec. 1, and I am absolutely stuck on what to get as a "Santa" gift (i.e. the big one) for my 10 year old son. I've searched high and low and asked practically everyone I know for ideas. I'm looking for ideas in the $50-100 price range. He likes: photography (has digital camera), stop motion animation (has software), film making (has access to a video camera), Bionicles (has 'em all), anime (especially Naruto), Heroscape, Legos, dragons, drawing, reading, science, history, building his own action figures, and cooking. He's not into sports, cars, or things like that. I don't want to give him money, gift cards, or anything directly video game-related. Any brilliant ideas? Thx, I know I can count on you, VC brain trust.

"That's not the issue" last night @ Chipotle.

"Sky blue sky" today on mpr.org (but they always play good music).

I also hear Wilco all the time at the goodwill. There's a guy who has his ipod hooked up to the speakers when he works, and he has very nice taste in music. It's like the double bonus shopping experience.

I've never seen him live, but it sounds very fun.

Yep, I didn't get really into these guys until a few years ago when somehow the "Jupiter and Teardrop" song surfaced in my head and wouldn't go away. We were in Columbia, MO, that weekend to see Wilco and picked up the GLB greatest hits disc at Slacker's. I've collected just about everything of GLB and GLP since then and love it. Highly recommended.

Thanks for the tip, Analogman. Myboyblue was kind enough to post it on sendspace for me, so I've got it.

Anyone know of a legitimate source to download Westerberg's 49:00? Thx.

Might be a good time to go back to school, if that is a need/interest.

BTW, where I work, we are also in a hiring freeze except for urgent, essential positions. All other vacancies are being held open until who knows when. The big wigs say we are balancing the budget through "shrinkage," which always makes me think of that Seinfeld episode. Oh, those silly administrators!

I have no problem with them not having a TV. I have never once been hanging out with them and thought "I wish I was watching TV right now". My issue was with the invite to come over on election night. If there's one night when I want to be camped in front of a full-on cable/satellite/whatever extravaganza, that's the night.

No, no, I get that. I wasn't implying that you have a problem with their TV status or that you think them lame. They're your friends, after all. I found the invite rather charming and you charming by extension.

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Is it tacky that I haven't taken down my Obama yard sign?

We still have ours up, yo. All three of 'em. We only had 2, then someone stole 1, so my husband put up 2 more. Net gain of 1, take that! We also still have our Boyda sign up, although she lost the reelection. The one big disappointment of election night. The people of the 2nd district of Kansas preferred that cocker spaniel Lynn Jenkins.