Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Return of Greg's Gift Guide

For those of you who missed my first gift guide a few years ago here are the basics:

This is not one of those "this is what you should buy for others" recommendation lists - this is what you should by for me - the gifts for Greg guide. Also, I'll accept gifts for almost any occasion- I don't limit myself to Hanukkah this time of year- I will also accept other gifts: belated birthday, Christmas, Arbor day, Graduation, Thursday.

Books
  • Then We came to the End - Joshua Ferris - This is one I keep hearing about. It's a comic novel about a company at the end of the dot.com bubble. Lots of firings and layoffs - hilarious.
  • Beer (Eyewitness companion guide 2007) - Maybe one of the last works by renowned expert Michael Jackson who went to the great pub in the sky this year. Looks like a great book for beer snobs like me.
  • The Looming Tower - Lawrence Wright - This is the book that has become the "book" on Al-queda and the terrorist attacks. Wright has become a go to expert and even wrote a screenplay to a scarily prescient film about terrorism back in 1998 called "The Siege"
  • The Nasty Bits - Anthony Bourdain - One of the coolest guys on TV and a good writer about travel and food. this is a collection of his short writings from a few years ago.
Clothing & Housewares
  • Almost anything "no-iron" as long as it's 100% cotton- or silk, or cashmere I guess. I wear this stuff to work all the time.
  • Electric Kettle - I still want one of these. Good for tea and alternative coffee preparations, but also for boiling water for pasta. Bodum and Chefs Choice make good ones.
  • Good chef's knife - the one I have is still great, but another wouldn't hurt (no pun intended)

  • Pepper mill - one of the kinds that you can use one handed. This comes up all the time when I have schmutz on one hand.

  • Nice new cookie sheet

  • Toaster oven - right now I just have a two-slice toaster and its just not practical.

  • High thread count sheets / flannel sheets - I'm talking at least 600 thread count here, not 200 like my sister thinks is enough. Plaid flannel sheets would be cool.
Stuff I really Want
  • Trunk for my Scooter - The old one fell off a few years ago when I was riding. No one was injured.

  • Guitar Hero for the Nintendo Wii - Really, no kidding- this looks very cool. I sold my guitar on EBay a few years ago and this could replace it.

  • Powered sub-woofer for my home theater system- Because I want to feel the bass. I got a new DVD player with digital-optical outputs and the sound needs an upgrade. It doesn't need to be a big one, my condo is small. My neighbors thank you.
  • Tiger Woods Golf for the Wii - 2007 or 2008 version is OK I think. I don't know why I like golf games considering I've never played a round.
  • Gadget to convert records and tapes to mp3's - I've got a ton of "old media" which I could transfer to my computer (ie: Grateful Dead bootlegs, Mahler symphony box sets) Check this out: http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/mp3/85fb/
  • Flat panel HDTV set - You can pick the size and brand- I trust you.
This should give you a good start on buying things for me. If I see you I may have a few more ideas of things I forgot, or you may find something you know I would like- that's all just fine. Oh, yeah, and if you have any ideas for things you might want let me know. Thanks!





Saturday, November 03, 2007

More about Babies

Since I've already broken my unofficial rule on writing about kids many times, well, here goes. As many of my loyal readers already know, my sister Abby and her husband Chip welcomed their second baby two weeks ago Sunday, just a few days after her due date. Everyone is doing great, thanks. I'm going to take a small bit of credit for the baby being delivered when it was: I called my sister Saturday evening to see what the hold up was and I reminded her that she only had a few more days to be sure the kid was born as a Libra (like her big sister Rebecca) and not a Scorpio (like her Uncles). Mission accomplished. Abby did a good job too.

They named the baby Hannah Molly. Hannah because they liked the name I guess and Molly because it was our grandmothers' name (Of course she was always called Mona because she already had a cousin Molly who was in her class at school. They were probably the only two Molly's in Canada and there they were in one school) It's been pointed out that "H A N N A H" is also a palindrome which may be another reason they like the name- symmetry being important. As we walked her to the hospital big sister Rebecca cleverly dubbed her "Hannah Banana", before even meeting her and seeing if that nickname was appropriate. It's one of those stories she'll remember for the rest of her life because we'll keep telling it.

It was actually very exciting to go to the hospital Sunday morning to meet my new niece. Grandma and I got to watch the baby through the window of the nursery, just like you've seen on TV so many times. They keep it very bright in there- wouldn't the babies enjoy something nicer than fluorescent lights? Maybe that's why they keep their eyes closed for most of their first hours on earth. I have to admit that holding a few-hours-old baby was pretty amazing. She was nice and warm - must have been all the lights.

For the first several weeks of their lives babies do pretty much what we all would do if we could get away with it: eat, sleep and poop. What more do you really need? Everyone is also fascinated by you doing nothing too, that must be nice.

And since everyone always asks:

Sunday, October 21 at 7:42am atPennsylvania Hospital
8 pounds
20 3/4 inches

Proud Uncle Nernie