What's the nerdiest Christmas gift you ever got?

[Richardo]

When I was 12, I asked for a world globe for Christmas. I got one, too. :party:

Best Christmas ever.

[MilesColtrane]

1. Miniature toy Robbie the Robot from a coworker

I was smitten. We dated for awhile. It was very hot while it lasted, but she eventually dumped me.

[mitchum]

8. But you did get to keep the robot, didn't you?

There are lots more girls than Robbie the Robots in the world

[MilesColtrane]

12. Oh, hell yeah.

It was only fair.

She kept the "Fear & Loathing" T-shirt I got her.

[Z_I_Peevey]

2. When I was six, I asked for a real typewriter

and got it. I was a little disappointed that it was a portable and not a big honking desk model. But I practiced my f-d-s-a and j-k-l-; until my little fingers were flexible enough to qwerty with the best of 'em.

[Heidi]

15. Right on!

:thumbsup:

[JBoy]

3. World Almanac & Book of Facts

I asked for and would get it every year from about age 10, then read it cover to cover.

[Odin2005]

4. Chemistry set!

:D

[Archae]

6. Me too!

Oh yes, sulfur makes terrific stink bombs... :D

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. World Book Encyclopedias.

[mitchum]

7. Blackboard, chemistry set, microscope, electronics set, and also a globe...

through the years.
I was quite a nerdy little kid.

[Beverly Prather]

9. hand made ceramic turtle

My sister in law when to pottery class. I think it was supposed to be a plant holder

[applegrove]

10. Bartlet's book of quotes. I wanted that for xmas when I was about 24 and I got it.

[SoxFan]

11. Almanac

I've been getting them since I was about 8 years old.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

13. Chemicals to grow crystals.

From Edmund Scientific, along with a book on how to grow crystals. I grew some for my 8th grade earth science project, and the teacher loved me. I was twelve years old. I explained about the six different crystal structures. Some of them were clear, others were pretty, like potassium permanganate and copper sulfate.

Every other kid in the class hated her because they hated science. I was the only bright spot in her classroom.

I also got a six inch diameter, one inch thick Pyrex blank for grinding a telescope mirror for a Newtonian reflector. It came with all the different grades of grit, but I never ground it. That was also from Edmund.

[Richardo]

18. Edmund was the best catalog store ever. For nerds.

I ordered a lot of stuff from Edmunds.

[Heidi]

14. I think the absolute nerdiest will be this year, but I _lovelovelove_ nerdy gifts!

Presenting my Christmas gift from CMW (it's not here yet):


Pink, Royal Quiet DeLuxe manual typewriter

[Richardo]

19. Wow that is so cool.

you and CMW have quite the thang goin' on. :hug: :pals:

[Heidi]

22. It's truly an objet d'art, isn't it???

Best part: it WORKS! I don't have it yet, but I bought a ribbon for it today, and it should be delivered in about four days from the US.

(This pink Royal Quiet DeLuxe is further proof of what a good guy CMW is. He had to bend over backward to give me this; the seller would not ship to Europe, so CMW arranged to have it shipped to my best buddy in the US, who'll carry this 19-pound objet d'art to the post office today, and send it to me.)

By the way, you're my ONLY friend who agrees that this typewriter is lovely. (That _is_ what you meant, isn't it? That's it's absolutely exquisite?????)

:hug: :pals:

[Richardo]

27. Your other so-called 'friends' are Philistines if they can't see how awesome that machine is.

And you can tell them I said so. :D :hi:

[Heidi]

29. Hahahahahahahaha!

Two of the most vocal opponents of this typewriter are my Swiss-Italian friend, Davide, an art director, and my Dutch friend, Rolph, a branding and design expert. They think this typewriter is the height (or depth) of "tacky."

I'll tell them Richardo says they're wrong. :rofl:

[Richardo]

31. Davide and Rolph: I'm getting a mental image of black mock-turtleneck sweaters, steel-rim glasses...

...and affected looks of disdain. :)

[Heidi]

32. Oh, dear!*

Davide-esque


Rolph-esque

*Not really. They're (fairly) normal looking guys. :)

[Bertha Venation]

34. I think it's terrific.

:)

By the way, :hug: Is it possible to miss someone you've never met IRL? :loveya:

[Heidi]

35. Hello, darlin'!

Thank you for validating my taste in typewriters! :hug:

And yes, it is possible to miss someone you've never met IRL. That's EXACTLY how I feel about Leonard Cohen! :rofl:

:loveya:

:*

[fizzgig]

46. i think is amazing

i'm a bit jealous :)

how've you been? :hug:

[Heidi]

50. How I've been:

missing the presence of my strong, free warrior woman girlfriends, like you, in my life, sweets. I always get like this around the holidays.

And don't be jealous of my geekishness. It's both a blessing and a curse. :rofl:

[EFerrari]

16. Compact OED.

That was great. :party:

[sakabatou]

17. Does Optimus Prime toy count?

[nuxvomica]

20. An almost full-size Mercury space capsule

It was made of corrugated cardboard and included a plastic, authentic-looking astronaut helmet.

[Richardo]

21. I'm seething with envy

:D

[Heidi]

30. I'll tell you a lil secret about nuxvomica...

he has a manual typewriter. :D

[nuxvomica]

39. Yeah, but it's not as awesome as the Quiet DeLuxe

:hi:

[Heidi]

40. Au contraire, my friend.

Every manual typewriter is an art object, and yours is lovely! :hug:

[nuxvomica]

38. The helmet required batteries

It had a small microphone and speaker so people could hear me with the visor down. It simulated the tinny, crackling sound of earth-to-capsule communications at the time.
I imagine your envy is all-consuming now. :D

[Richardo]

41. You are imagining correctly.

The 1960s Space Program was an all-consuming obsession for this kid. :hi:

[GoCubsGo]

23. A microscope

I was 12, I think. My parents, thankfully, recognized my aptitude for science early. I didn't ask for it, and it was one of the best presents I ever got. This makes me miss my old Wild M5A scope from my old job. Used it for 20 years. That was one hell of a piece of equipment!

[Richardo]

26. I'm pretty sure I got my microscope from the Edmund Scientific catalog

See upthread :D

[TZ]

24. My older sister got all the nerdy gifts

Microscope, telescope, Invisible Woman, Rock Tumbler, Chemistry Set. I was sooo jealous of those. And it was me that ended up being the science nerd. Go figure...:shrug:

[Richardo]

28. That's counter-intuitive

I would have totally pegged you for the queen of the nerd gifts. :pals:

[Gidney N Cloyd]

25. "The Star Trek Compendium"

I think I was a freshman in college at the time.

[Bertha Venation]

33. I am not a bit surprised at this, Richardo.

Clearly you are the inquisitive type. (I love maps too.)

My nerdiest gift was from my Grandma. It was a free drug store calendar. :)

[Richardo]

36. My globe was superior because there were *two* Germanys

:D

:hi: Bertha!

Drug store calendar? Geez, Grandma! :wtf:

[Bertha Venation]

37. Oh, she was the queen of the cheap-ass gifts.

One year it was the free drug store calendars, along with rolls of 35mm film. Expired.

One year it was cheap plaster animal figurines.

Soon it got down to the five dollars in the decades-old x-mas cards.

I remember all of this fondly. I miss my Grandma. I last had a conversation with her in 2000, before the dementia really settled in. I last saw her in 2005. She died in 2007.

[Brickbat]

42. A battery charger for my car. It my first Christmas present as Mr. Brickbat's wife.

True love.

[Call Me Wesley]

43. Too many to count:

Microscope, chemistry set, full collection of ELO (vinyl,) music activated disco-lights, first Walkman (no, wasn't a Sony, was a Toshiba with two headphone outputs and a blue cassette you could put in and listen to radio, and a book about the Beatles, just to name a few.

We actually already had a world globe, and, guess what, a moon globe, too! :woohoo:

[Richardo]

44. *I* had a moon globe!

nerd:pals:

[Call Me Wesley]

45. LOL!

The one we had was made of some thin metal and sat on a plastic thingie (grey) that looked like the moon surface. Pretty cool!

Nerd yourself! :pals:

[Bunny]

47. You two nerdboys are adorable!

:loveya:

[Call Me Wesley]

48. We'd nerd you to sheer death. ;)

CMW: I have a moon globe. You can see the Mare Tranquillitatis on it!
Richardo: On mine, too, and it's lighted from the inside!
CMW: See the reflections of my laser pointer on it?
Richardo: I wrote all the locations with my Dymo tape on it!
CMW: Okay, you win this round ...

:hug:

[Richardo]

52. Mine was made of plastic and had that sulphury glow-in-the-dark coating on the earth-facing side

It was about the size of the grapefruit and oh yes, was also a piggybank (moonybank?).

I liked it because it was smaller than the earth globe and therefore they were much closer to their actual relative sizes. /nerdus maximus

[fizzgig]

49. a home planetarium

it had at least six or eight little plastic domes that you fit over the light. there's a carpeted crawl space in my dad's basement with a very low ceiling and it was perfect for the little set up. i wish i knew what happened to it.

[Lucian]

54. I had one of those too.

[TheMightyFavog]

51. Book: The Physics of Star Trek

Back when I was a trekkie as a kid.

Before the retconned travesty known as First Contatct. (grumble, grumble, harumph.)

[Lucian]

53. Chemistry set, crystal growing kit, and a microscope.