In my case... a very surprising gift has turned out to be great. A wireless meat thermometer.

I remember we discussed these not too long ago and as luck would have it, my brother decided I needed one for Christmas. I've used it 3x since then and it functions flawlessly. It's a great gadget.

So, how about the rest of you... what was your favorite gift this year?

Jason

Guitar Hero World Tour.

Oh wait, that was for my kids.

The best gift I received was a Springfield XD 9 subcompact. It was a gift from me to me

Hard to pick a favorite so I'll list several:
My 500gb WD "my passport" HD
wireless thermometer from bass pro shop (for reading outside air temps)

and all the grill stuff from my GF:
Weber basting brush/bowl
Weber 'kabob set
Hasty Bake solid wood grill brush (had a dif. kind that broke before)
a griddle for my grill
a grill wok
beer can holder for grilling beer can chicken (helps keep the thing from fallin' over)
2 weber 'oven' mits for the grill

Myrison:

So that meat thermometer works pretty good? I would like to get one of those...

Don't think it would work on a rotisserie chicken though

This is easy. I only got one gift. My mom bought me Shawn Colvin's These Four Walls. I listened to it once, but then I got distracted by other music. I'll have to give it more time.

The gift of giving.

2 ds lites- $258.00
4 Games - $80.00
2 Travel kits with earphones - $28.00
6 hours of driving to my sisters and back in silence - Priceless

Nice.

Christmas dinner with my daughter.

Now that is priceless!!

Only if she picked up the check!

The adult in me says that the best gift was getting to spend a few days with my family, who are all currently happy, healthy, and employed.

The child in me is thrilled with his new Nikon D90. Though a Playstation 3 (a surprise gift from my in-laws) comes in a close second.

Yes, I'm very happy with it. I've only used it 3x so far, but it has been spot on each time. First night we did burgers, and it cooked them to a perfect medium finish. Second night was chicken (this time on the cook top). Again, perfectly done, not too dry, and not at all overdone, juicy and delicious!

Third run was a quick steak test. Came out just like I like it.

The way it works is to first select the meat you are cooking and then how you want it done (Rare/Medium/Well, etc.) Based on what you select, it knows the temperature that corresponds to that "doneness" and monitors for when the meat reaches that point. Also, it gives you a warning about 2 minutes before it's done saying "It's almost done.... it's almost done."

It actually does talk, which is a little over the top, but the gadget geek in me kind of likes it. I'm looking forward to trying it more, but so far, it has saved me a lot of time checking to see if the meat is done and has produced perfectly cooked food each time.

Jason

The child in you had a very good Christmas!

Jason

My parents didn't drive my wife up the wall when they visited.

Also she gave me some new leather hats. My parents got me an ASUS Xonar DX sound card, which I have yet to try. We're exchanging bedrooms with my son...

I am soooo jealous. I'd love to have a Nikon D90.

And then!!!! you got a PS3 on top of that!!!


Um, can I be part of your family next Christmas?

What, you want to buy him even MORE expensive gifts?

Yeah, I'm just itchin' to buy a car for someone. . .

Sure! The more the merrier.

The D90 was a long-time coming for me. It just sort of came together as a Christmas present. Prices on D90 bodies really hit some new lows a couple of weeks before Christmas and I took advantage of it.

Along with home theater, my other big hobby is photography. I'm certainly an amateur but I greatly enjoy it. I've had a D70 since late '04. I've taken almost 8,000 photos with it. It's been a great camera. But after reading months of reviews of the D90, I decided that it was time to upgrade. So far, the D90 is pretty amazing. It's truly a fantastic camera. Amazing sensor & metering, very cool features. I'd highly recommend it to anyone thinking of getting a DSLR, especially if you're a Nikon fan.

The PS3 was a complete surprise. I'm still a little shocked at the extravagance of my in-laws. Apparently I'm taking good care of their daughter

Excellent Jason!!!

Sounds like your meat is in good hands!

To help foster the use of my 2 HT set ups in the house, I got a Tekkeon NavDock to use with my iPod Touch.

It's pretty simple and lets me plug into wherever the party is in the house and play music on the iPod. Comes with RCA cables (decent quality).

The menus show up on the TV screen and there are a couple of screen savers to avoid plasma burn-in. Even shows the album art.

The IR remote is pretty cool and I was able to learn the commands on my MX 850 & 900 remotes. Couple of macros and we're off to the races.

Aww... I guess it didn't come in a man's calibre? Just kidding.

My favorite gift this season so far has been a new short reed goose call... pretty much the most annoying thing I've received in years... wandering around the house going "ha-HONK! ha-HONK!" is good for completely alienating myself from others.

Right now I'm enjoying The Piper at the Gates of Dawn... finally replaced my cassette version (wherever it may be) with a gift certificate from my brother. Been re-collecting my Pink Floyd albums on CD one (or two this Christmas) at a time. This year it was tPatGoD and Meddle.

Bren R.

Nearly 2 weeks off with the family was the best gift I could have gotten this year.

Cool gadget.

A combo:

Ultimate Matrix Collection on Blu-ray
Spriderman Trilogy on Blu-ray

Ray, that sounds awesome. I was going to ask if it worked with a Harmony, but then I looked at who posted that...

I also bought a D90 last month ftom Costco online. This is my first DSLR camera so it was a bit like buying an F15 fighter for someone who has only flown RC planes. In order to understand the concepts little more, I bought Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson and The BetterPhoto Guide to Digital Photography by Jim Miotke. On advice of some friends, I also bought two clear filters, an extra battery, a camera case, a camera bag, two memory cards, a memory card reader, a lens cleaning kit, and a remote for the D90. This is one expensive hobby so far. I hope the pictures to come will eventually justify some of the cost.

Congrats fellow D90 owner!

If you need a little more help with the D90 (or any DSLR), I would highly recommend the Magic Lantern guides. They're unique to each camera model. The one for the D90 is supposed to be released in February of '09.

The Magic Lantern series have always been fantastic. They're like a suped-up owners manual, but written in a way that's actually somewhat enjoyable to read. It tells you how to configure the settings but also the why behind those settings.

Sounds awesome, do you think you could get them to write one for all the Denon owners on this forum? I'd love to see a clear explanation of whether I should set my full range mains to small or large and my sub to LFE+Mains or just LFE...

Jason

Rick, what a great idea for a gift to keep the CW40 and 642 company! As far as how manly it shoots, that Federal HST 147gr load is all that anybody needs.

Thanks John, Once I shoot up all my Federal Hydroshocks that's my next purchase for a defensive round. I hope to finally get some rounds though it tomorrow.

My gift to myself was an EP350 and QS8's with stands.
I ordered them before the price increase and they were sitting in my rec room since November 24th.
Talk about will power!!!

Nice gift! AAHHHEMM...Pics?

Thanks for the heads up and congrats to you as well. I bought the D60 guide (Focal Digital Camera Guides series) written by Corey Hilz that was well reviewed at Amazon. I emailed Corey Hilz, and he was very kind to reply: "What you’d find most helpful is the information about the functions of the camera (autofocus modes, exposure modes, metering, shooting modes, playback information, histograms). Those same functions are in the D90, but you access them using buttons/dials and the top LCD, instead of via the LCD on the back of the camera (as is done with the D60). So if you can find the functions OK, then the D60 book will still tell you what they do. The D60 does not have live view or video, so there’s no info on those features. Menus are a bit trickier. The D90 has more extensive menus than the D60, so the D60 book will be of limited help in that regard. The chapters on light, composition and accessories are very similar. The software chapter is OK, but I’ve updated it for the D90 book as new versions of the software have since been released." His guide for the D90 will also be released in February.

Does that mean you're almost caught up on last years sleep?

I am just catching up from the full day of lost sleep due to Christmas, the kids were up at 3AM and I went to bed at ~1AM and never made it to sleep!! Although I do feel much better than I usually do. I now just have to get my workouts back into the schedule and JAN. 1 seems like a very good day to start!

I hear you on the workouts. I feel like a tub of lard since I moved to a desk job again.

Thankfully I have a job where I'm always on the move, but even just having the weekends off makes me feel sluggish. I've only been working out during the week, too. I should switch a couple days so I'm working out on the weekends instead of doing so much concentrated nothing.

Jeez, I guess I should remove my quote that says the photo is really me??

I was blessed this year. Have 3 favorite gifts. My favorite gift was spending almost a month at home with my wife because I was layed off in mid November. Have had some interviews and have a very promising one next week. Second fav was taking my niece to the gun range. She's never fired a handgun so I got to work with her and teach her how to shoot one. Next stop is CCL class for her. Took mine 6 months ago but haven't got my license yet. Texas is soooooooo slow... Third was tickets to TSO concert. All I can say is WOW!!!!!! What an awesome performance and show.

After that, maybe I only feel like a dallop of lard.

LOL!!!

Ken - I ended up using the learning function to get the codes from the Tekkeon remote. If your Harmony has that function, you should be golden.

My wife purchased a very nice throne for my new e-drums. A surprise because just allowing me to purchase drums was the best gift I could ask for.

My brother was also very thoughtful and stayed within the drum theme, in that he got me a clamp-on drumstick pouch and most importantly, a clamp-on beer holder.

My best gift this year was a little device (with keyring attached) that has eight buttons. Eahc button corresponds to a sound bite from THUNDERBIRDS, the 1960s British SF series.

This is the kind of unexpected off the wall stuff I love.

Thunderbirds...are...GO!!! my fave was Thunderbird "2" when I was little.

My best gift was my extended California vacation (and "vacation"). I'm currently on the "vacation" part -- attending a conference for work in San Francisco. However, since the conference covers a subject I'm no longer responsible for at work, it seems kinda like vacation.