What good things did you get for Xmas ?

[Praetor]

I didnt get a damn thing. I spend time with friends and family and that is the best gift you can get. People are to fixated on materialistic things and the meaning of the holidays are lost for most. I told all the adults in my family, do not get me anything since I am not getting gifts for adults. Kids, sure, adults no. Trying to get my family to understand that we all need to come together for each other, not what we can get. It is working...slowly.

 

I've give kids presents and gave my time and presence to my friends and family, they were very honoured with the gift i gave them

 

yet i've meet some kids that didn't even knew the origin of the Christmas, which is kind of shocking, IMHO.

[Draconian Guppy]

Love me some Belgian style waffles

 

[Ph1b3r0pt1c]

I didn't get anything, and I donated 10k to St Jude's children hospital as I have every year for the past 5.

 

Edit: I lied, I bought myself a Keurig coffee machine

[Draconian Guppy]

I didn't get anything, and I donated 10k to St Jude's children hospital as I have every year for the past 5.

why specific to one hospital?

[Arachno 1D]

I got myself a Samsung sound bar for the TV and as Currys were giving 20% off I picked up a nifty fifty for the camera yesterday [

[Stokkolm]

Samsung Evo 840 250GB SSD - To replace my ancient OCZ Apex 120GB that st..st...st..st...tutters like mad the second the system would write anything to it.

 

Not only are the read/write speeds loads better but no more stutter and with twice the space I was able to move my entire Steam library over to it.

 

Apex:

 

Evo:

 

 

Anywhere from 50% to 1300% faster, depending on the specific test, with 2.6x faster read access times and almost 40x faster write access times (likely due to the old JMicron stuttering when being written to).

 

Skyrim (loaded w/ mods) went from 30 second load screens to 10 seconds max (small areas like shops load in 3-4 seconds, easily 10+ before), but that was on an old platter drive (due to the limited space my 120GB had).

 

Needless to say I am very happy with it, no more waiting around for everything to load or walking away so an installer can finish (stuttering meant I basically couldn't use my computer when it was installing anything). So I'll actually be installing updates and rebooting regularly again.

Don't forget to run the Samsung Performance Restoration Tool on it: http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/us/html/support/downloads.html

 

Details here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/8617/samsung-releases-firmware-update-to-fix-the-ssd-840-evo-read-performance-bug

[DConnell Member]

I got:

 

A nice new Villanova University jacket from my mom. Wanted one for years, especially since my old karate school jacket is shot.

A trip to Wizard World Las Vegas in April with my brother and his wife!

A box of fudge and hand-drawn picture from my goddaughter.

A nine day vacation for which I only had to use 3 vacation days.

My best friend/favorite cousin is waiting for a gift she's getting made for me. I'm very curious about what it is - she always gets me something awesome.

$150 in Visa gift cards from my bosses. And a conundrum - electronic toys or plastic transforming toys?

 

I gave:

 

Mom - an Amazon gift card so she can buy lots of Kindle books, and some Carolan's Irish Cream to enjoy as she reads.

My brother - a radio control drone

His wife - a couple bottles of wine

My goddaughter - a Lammily doll, a fashion doll designed to look like an average/normal 19 year old girl. The anti-Barbie!

My best friend - I paid for her first piano lesson, and got her a tape set of piano lessons for the visually impaired. Her husband got a movie gift card to help with the next family movie night. Their kids got a Metal Earth space shuttle model for the oldest son, kitty ear headphones for the daughter, "Hero Mashers" action figures for the younger boys.

My boss got a Staples gift card.

[sc302 Veteran]

I got:

$150 in Visa gift cards from my bosses. And a conundrum - electronic toys or plastic transforming toys?

titan metroplex from bigbadtoystore.com

[DConnell Member]

titan metroplex from bigbadtoystore.com

 

Got him last year, and refitted him with some nice 3rd party parts. Excellent idea, though. It's a very nice figure.

 

I'm considering Masterpiece Star Saber. Or the reissue of Metroplex's "brother" Fortress Maximus. My original got a lot of water damage when its tub fell over and broke open in my shed during a rainstorm. $150 wouldn't cover it, but it would pay most of it. And I could sell the old one.

[sc302 Veteran]

These are a few on my list

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=HAS22988&mode=retail

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=HAS22422&mode=retail

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/menu.aspx?menu=3593

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=TAK11727&mode=retail

 

debating on this, but I don't like the cybertronian plane...would rather it be the seeker model

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=HAS23526&mode=retail

 

My oldest got one of these for xmas

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=HAS23969&mode=retail

 

has a removable face shield.  The older robotech one was better....too bad the patent on it is tightly held and will not be released for a remake.

[xrobwx71]

[DConnell Member]

These are a few on my list

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=HAS22988&mode=retail

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=HAS22422&mode=retail

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/menu.aspx?menu=3593

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=TAK11727&mode=retail

 

debating on this, but I don't like the cybertronian plane...would rather it be the seeker model

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=HAS23526&mode=retail

 

My oldest got one of these for xmas

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=HAS23969&mode=retail

 

has a removable face shield.  The older robotech one was better....too bad the patent on it is tightly held and will not be released for a remake.

 

Ooh, Predaking! I've always shied away because of the odd proportions due to all 5 bots being the same size, but at that price it might be worth trying!

 

I've actually found some of the Combiner Wars figures at retail. I got Powerglide the other day. A drastic improvement over the last version, even if it is a lot smaller.

 

The Cybertron Starscream mold is a lot of fun. Its one of my favorites, though I prefer the Voyager class version simply because its less unwieldy.

 

I had the original Jetfire and sold it - I actually didn't care for it. The best version IMO is the Classics one from 2006.

[Nagisan]

Don't forget to run the Samsung Performance Restoration Tool on it: http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/us/html/support/downloads.html

 

Details here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/8617/samsung-releases-firmware-update-to-fix-the-ssd-840-evo-read-performance-bug

Ran it before I even installed Windows on it.

 

Those complaining that people have become too materialistic and lost the reason behind Christmas, I disagree. Some people have gone that way, sure, but just because we are posting what we got (or gave) in this thread doesn't mean we are materialistic and/or lost the reason/traditions for Christmas or forgotten about the kids. Christmas has always been about family for me.....the adults don't typically get much while the kids get loaded with stuff, but it's still a nice excuse to get each other something that they want. The adults in my family typically get like 2-3 gifts, whereas the kids get 20+ each.

[DConnell Member]

Ran it before I even installed Windows on it.

 

Those complaining that people have become too materialistic and lost the reason behind Christmas, I disagree. Some people have gone that way, sure, but just because we are posting what we got (or gave) in this thread doesn't mean we are materialistic and/or lost the reason/traditions for Christmas or forgotten about the kids. Christmas has always been about family for me.....the adults don't typically get much while the kids get loaded with stuff, but it's still a nice excuse to get each other something that they want. The adults in my family typically get like 2-3 gifts, whereas the kids get 20+ each.

 

Exactly. While getting and giving gifts is a lot of fun, the best part of Christmas is time with family.

 

The quiet Christmas day with my brother. Especially since he made dinner and is an excellent cook!

 

The movie marathon Saturday with my goddaughter and her family (a bunch of my cousins) - and then seeing the Hobbit with them the next day!

 

And sharing my biggest secret with one of my cousins - made her day that I trust her that much! 

 

Even the biggest gift I got - Wizard World Vegas - the best part is having a great time geeking out with my big brother!

[Stokkolm]

I didn't get anything grand, a couple shirts from my in-laws, a check from my parents, some candy, etc... My wife and I didn't exchange gifts because we didn't really have the money to do that and still get the kids presents. We get stuff throughout the year, so we really like to mainly get them things for Christmas. That being said, we got my daughter (11 yrs old) a pair of skis, our oldest son (9 yrs old) a Ruger 10/22, our next son (8 yrs old) an iPad Air 2, and our two youngest (2 & 1 yrs old) a Little Tikes Cozy Coupe and some other smaller gifts for all of them.

 

Overall it was a really great Christmas for them, it was especially exciting to watch the joy that the two older boys had upon opening their two gifts.

[T3X4S]

More importantly, what did you give ?

I wont list the things I rec'd, but I will say - I was happy to give my ThinkPad T430 to someone who couldnt afford a good computer, and was going to college.

[ultimate99]

More importantly, what did you give ?

I wont list the things I rec'd, but I will say - I was happy to give my ThinkPad T430 to someone who couldnt afford a good computer, and was going to college.

Nice

but how do you live without a thinkpad??

[T3X4S]

Nice

but how do you live without a thinkpad??

You know.... thats a good question.

Gonna have to track that little $^&^+_){}|  down and get my T-Pad back.

[T3X4S]

I celebrated the birth of a man who, by the age of 30, changed the world forever.... Happy Birthday Sir Isaac Newton ! - (1/4/1642 Julian calendar = 12/25/1642 on Gregorian calendar)




(kinda stole this idea from Neil DeGrasse Tyson's tweet)

[MtnDewCodeRedFreak]

Some cool cash from my parents - I'm planning on buying a new laptop sometime.

 

Oh and some gift cards to restaurants - I'm planning on saving those gift cards for a hot date (yes, with a guy).

[DConnell Member]

I finally used the gift cards - I put them toward a Surface Pro 2! Spent much of yesterday afternoon updating and setting up, and so far I'm happy with the purchase.

 

Meanwhile my mom is trying out the Surface RT with my old touch cover.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

Basically, I got a Wok (wanted a nice new one), a flash gun for my camera and a grand to drop on a new PC.

 

So now just deciding between a Mac Mini or a custom PC.

[Draconian Guppy]

Basically, I got a Wok (wanted a nice new one), a flash gun for my camera and a grand to drop on a new PC.

 

So now just deciding between a Mac Mini or a custom PC.

So why aren't you posting in the digital gallery thread?

 

 

Got from a friend a Dr Who license plate cover. Will post pics asap.

[Kreuger]

I picked up the full Harry Potter collection on BluRay ($40 on Amazon, what a steal!) and Heavy Rain for PS3 (later I used some money to pick up a PS Move). As well as some tv shows on dvd and the South Park movie on dvd.

[dipsylalapo Supervisor]

Not a good thing, but I got fat