Just an Aussie tech guy - home automation, ESP gadgets, networking. Also love my camping and 4WDing.

Be a good motherfucker. Peace.

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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 15th, 2023

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  • Maybe a small piece of personalised luggage for the holiday. Does she wear makeup? Maybe a nice makeup case with her initials on it.

    If that’s not her thing, what about something for your home (assuming you live together)? My wife and I tend to buy ourselves the “bigger” things for Christmas, as our gift to each other - some furniture we’ve been wanting, or similar.

    If that doesn’t sounds like you guys, there’s the tried and true jewelry option. Or maybe just cruise Etsy for the sorts of things she likes (does she like knick knacks, or ornamental stuff?) that might be customisable.

    Failing that, have a think about what makes you special as a couple. Is there a shared interest or experience that got you together or you always talk about? Is there something in that?

    Finally, I’ve been holding on to some ideas for future inspiration should I need them:

    • Waveform art: record yourself saying you love her, have the waveform turned into a print, or a piece of jewelry, or similar
    • Anamorphic art: a skewed picture that reveals itself when a specifically shaped mirror is put behind it
    • A glass lamp base filled with something meaningful: I always thought of filling one with origami love hearts
    • Ambigrams: maybe you can figure out an ambigram with both your names, and have it made into something - a print or a wood carving (this will probably take a lot longer than the time you have before Christmas)
    • Birth stones, star signs, birth flowers, birth fruit: admittedly these are probably better suited to birthdays








  • Nearly 30 years ago, I worked for a tiny li’l anti-virus software company that got acquired by one of the big boys, and everyone’s performance-based options they were holding were suddenly worth a lot. Being hungry for career growth at the time, I’d left the company and forfeited those options. Less than 6 months later, they announced the sale of the company.

    My options woulda been worth a few million at the time, maybe double that in today’s money. Importantly, it would’ve set me up with a nice house, car, etc, without any debt, in my early 20s.

    Not rich, but certainly comfortable.





  • One of my best mates is someone who I’ve worked with, at a few jobs, over the past 30 years. We met in our first ever technical support job then, over the following decades, kinda landed at the same places around the same time. At one point, I even hired him as a contractor into a team I was building.

    We’ve helped each other move houses, we’ve been there for each other’s weddings, and our kids have pretty much grown up together. We get together for pub meals and barbecues as often as we can - sometimes just he and I, sometimes with the wives and kids.

    My point is, over those 30 or so years, we’ve discussed a lot about our respective histories, families, school mates, hobbies, etc. There’s probably not much we haven’t shared about our lives with each other.

    Literally two weeks ago, he randomly sends me a picture of the back of a family photograph that was taken when he was a little kid. Had the name of the photographer and the photographer’s phone number stamped on it.

    Turns out my grandfather (a professional photog at one stage in his life) had been my mate’s family’s photographer all those years ago. Used to visit them once a year to take all the family photos. My mate remembers him quite well - just funny that we never connected the dots before now.