Hello everyone, it has been in forever since I write a post. If you look in the history it all started to go down hill since the UM lost to Virginia Tech…. ‘What a terrible day?’
Anyway, I’m writing this post, because I know how hard it is for me to buy presents for others. I usually want to get them something that will seem thoughtful and different, but that they would like and use. Sometimes, giving a present that would introduce the receiver to something new is good, but the giver has to be aware that not everyone likes the same things. Just because you like bungee jumping from trees, doesn’t mean your girlfriend would find it interesting.
In the spirit of making it easy for my friends and family to shop for me, keeping away some of the queries from V and giving ideas to others with friends with the same interests as I do; I have compiled a list of 10 present ideas. These ideas are categorized on six areas that I’m interested on: Health/Fitness, Cooking, Home, Home Entertainment and Photography.
Ordered by relative price:
| 1. Good Eats: The Early Years Interest: Cooking Idea: Give the gift of new cuisines (recipe books) Info: $19.50 in Amazon.com (here) Effort Level (1-4): 2, May want to know the receiver’s tastes and interest I like trying new stuff and experimenting in the kitchen, a recipe book is a good way to open the doors to different tastes, techniques and experiences. Maybe you’ll get an interesting dinner out of it :-). In this case I’m a fan of Alton Brown, but with recipe books you can experiment from exotic foods from around the world to local cuisines. |
| 2. Smugmug.com Yearly Membership Interest: Photography Idea: Web Platform for Sharing, Storing, Printing & Selling Info: $39.95 per year (here) Effort Level: 1, May want to know if using a service already If interested in photography the odds are that they are sharing their work online and depending on their level, they may be using free services for this purpose. There are benefits to have a paid service like Smugmug or Flickr including: - Unlimited Storage - No File Size Limitations - Ease of sharing - Professional Groups and Collaboration - Backups In my case I’ve been testing Smugmug.com the last couple of days and I like their following features: - User Interface is very Nice - Sharing Security Features - Visitors do not need an account to see my pics They have three membership levels, basic for regular users like me, power for users with more visitor demanding needs and pro for professionals who sell their work from the smugmug platform and make profits. |
| 3. Play On Software Interest: Home Entertainment Idea: Bring the web entertainment content to the TV Info: $39.99 (here) Effort Level: 1 PlayOn is a software program that runs on your Windows PC, giving you access to a wide range of Internet content on your TV -- Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, Amazon VOD, and many others. In my case it is particularly useful at allowing me to watch Hulu.com content through my PlayStation 3. |
| 4. 100% Whey Gold Standard Protein Shakes Interest: Health/Fitness Idea: Supplement his fitness Info: $42.95 for 5lbs (here) Effort Level: 2, May want to know his needs Being ‘healthy’ is an expensive business, have you seen the prices in Whole Food lately? Keeping fit ain’t easy and fitness supplementation could be very expensive. Here is when you come to the rescue with a good protein product, vitamins or any product the gift receiver is in need of. This type of gift never goes to waste. Creativity comes in on taste, but don’t get too creative. Fitness supplements are notorious for their bad taste. This is one where you may want to stick to the classics Vanilla, Chocolate or Strawberry. In my case, I’m in need of some protein. My favorite taste is Double Chocolate. |
| 5. Wedding Tux Rental Interest: Wedding Idea: Help With Wedding Preparations Info: $60 - $100 Effort Level: 3, Here you may want a recon partner Planning a wedding is very stressful project and expensive. There are major and minor expenses all over the place…. Giving your time to help with wedding preparations is always welcome and highly appreciated, but not everyone has time to do it. So here is where you can give a thoughtful minor donation to the cause by paying for a small detail needed on the wedding. For example, the groom’s tux, a table arrangement, an extra song by the band, etc. |
| 6. Neat Image Pro Edition Software Interest: Photography Idea: Add to his Digital Photography Toolkit Info: $59.90 (here) Effort Level: 2, What does he have? In this suggestion the question is more likely to be, What does he has? than, What does he need? Because in this area, we need it all of course lol. Neat Image is an imaging noise reduction filter, similar to Noise Ninja. They have four versions: - Home – for 8-bit images - Home + – for 8-bit images and Photoshop Plugin - Pro – for 16-bit photos (RAW) - Pro+ – same as pro with Phtoshop Plugin |
| 7. Month of Aikido Classes Interest: Health/Fitness Idea: Introduce him to a different way of fitness Info: $80 a month, (here) Effort Level: 3 In my case I take Aikido, but this can be any other type of physical activity for example, a physical trainer, salsa classes, martial arts, rock climbing, etc. If he or she already practices something you can just buy the next month for them, but if they don’t you can buy a month to something where they can experience something new. |
| 8. Calphalon Contemporary Nonstick Wok Interest: Cooking Idea: Facilitate his culinary experimentation Info: $99.99 in Amazon.com (here) Effort Level: 2 The point of this gift is to get someone a new kitchen tool that they would not normally have in a typical American kitchen. The gift becomes much more special if you are able to match the brand, style, or colors to their already existing set thus making it look like it should be there. In this case I have owned a wok before and know how (geeky alert) cool they are, but you may want to look into different countries kitchen essential tools, for example: - Japanese – Sushi roll tools - Spanish – Paella pot (can be use outside) - Indian – Masala Dani (Indian version of a spice rack) |
| 9. Wall Art Interest: Home Idea: Improve decoration with his taste Info: Insert your price range here Effort Level: 4, Where will it go? What does he like? Guys are notorious for having a bunch of empty walls in their house. Not because we don’t like art, but mostly because we can’t stand the thought of paying so much for something that looks like a kid could have done it and then hang it in a wall….. I can buy some sort of electronic with that money. Anything that plugs into the wall has to be more useful, right? This could be a very hard present to pull off, but if done right it can be a great one. The trick is to get him something that he likes!!! This art is going to be hanged in his wall for a long time, make sure that he has a nice thought every time he looks at it. You need to know what type of art (photography, painting, etc.), style and colors he likes. It is almost as important for the art piece to go with the already existing decor. |
| 10. Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM Zoom Lens Photographers like ‘glass’ (photographer’s lingo for camera lenses) and enthusiast like myself like to act like real photographers. That and the fact that this is a sweet professional level lens for the price makes it a great gift. But, if you feel more generous you can get the IS version for $1132.55 in Amazon (here). |
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