[Flasken]

Quote:

Originally posted by Audio Redneck Flasken, I hope for your sake that it is 5-10 years before you get married or I don't think you'll see 5-10 years OF marriage

LOL, i get the message. So I'll just **** in future marriage threads - and then I'll hopefully join you again in those 5-10 years..

 

[tangent]

I never really had a problem with this -- my family understands that there are some kinds of things they just shouldn't buy for me. I think it's because they realize I'm the family techie, and that the chance that they'll make a gear choice that I'd agree with approaches nil. Or maybe it's because I've occasionally let my tongue run loose and sneered at the stuff they've bought for themselves. <wince>

I hope you can work out an understanding with your family without hurting feelings too much.

 

[eric343]

My situation is pretty much the same as tangent's- usually the only way I ever get given *anything* technically-related is if I've been talking about it, in detail, for several weeks so everyone has the model number, manufacturer, features, price, dimensions, weight, and all possible purchase locations within 300mi burned into their brain

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Um, what does 'burning up' mean? I thought it meant going red in the face and going like 'um, honey, you know, er, I really liked the gift you gave me, ahem--I mean I really liked the fact that you GAVE me a gift--but...

'

Or does it mean something more like

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Well, being on the receiving end of this "advice", I have some advice to...erm...pile on:

I used to be married. My wife and her family were the more "socially aware" ones, so they introduced me into their ritual of the secret lists. Basically, the way it works is this -- give plenty of lead time, and ask someone close. In my wife's case, it was her mother or me; in my case, it was my wife; etc. We were instructed to find out what they wanted for...whatever...and then we just paid attention, and supplied the list ...whenever...

And I have to say -- do try to do it. We (the clueless ones) want to please (we don't want to be clueless). We may get all defensive when first told, but we really do ultimately want to know.

Everyone knows better than to get me something like CD's -- I pretty much get myself whatever I want. If asked, I just tell them, "get me something expensive that I would never get for myself, like a new dress shirt, or chemo-therapy*".

[size=xx-small]*...with apologies to Emo Phillips[/size]

 

[dhwilkin]

Fortunately (or not), most of the things I really want are out of my family's average budget. They also are not shy about just asking what I want, and if it's something they can't find around town (almost always), they just give money or something else generic. Works for me.

 

[Flasken]

Quote:

Originally posted by Joe Bloggs Um, what does 'burning up' mean? I thought it meant going red in the face and going like 'um, honey, you know, er, I really liked the gift you gave me, ahem--I mean I really liked the fact that you GAVE me a gift--but... ' Or does it mean something more like

Ooops, another danish term that doesn't work very good in english... Sorry, what I meant was "being in pain".

 

[Audio Redneck]

Well it definately wasn't the end of the world. While not the best, it played DVDs just fine (my TV is nothing special), handled scratched disks as well as or better than my Yamahahaha CD Changer, and did a decent job playing MP3's (they're still MP3s, but they sounded better than they do from my SB64 Gold into my system). And any way you slice it, its better than my VCR.

And thanks for reminding me, guys, "Its The Thought That Counts."