At times, people ask me what I want for my birthday or other occasions. My usual response used to be an incoherent grunt accompanied by helpless gesturing. This is not so much because I am so obsessively nonmaterialistic that I don't actually want anything, but mostly because my memory for such things is terrible. The list of books and music, at least, is actually only a small part of what I'd like to own (mostly things that I remembered to write down at some point--this list exists at least as much to give me a unified place to record these things as for any other purpose).
There are enough things on this list that I consider the likelihood that people will get me duplicates of any of them to be fairly small. However, for the time being, since Alex asked me to construct this list, you can let him (or Megan) know when something should be crossed off the list. (If I get really ambitious I may eventually set it up so that you can directly mark things to be removed. Don't hold your breath, though.)
Megan's wishlist is currently (Nov 2009) hosted below, since Geocities went *foom*. Please contact me if you get something on it, or if you want to find out if anyone has done so.
One probably unnecessary note: please, no audio tapes. Right now I have no equipment which is capable of playing them. While I hope to rectify this at some point, it probably won't be soon.
Items (or categories) which are in green are things that could be given to Megan also (or instead).
Forest green, medium to dark purple, black, gray. Occasionally dark blue. My clothes tend to be monochromatic, patterned in closely allied colors, or (in the case of some T-shirts) possessed of silly/erudite/event logos.
These are specific albums that I'm interested in, that is, there shouldn't be any real ambiguity here. If you want to buy me music, this is by far the easiest route to take (as opposed to the "Compositions" section, below).
This next part of the list is more problematic than the "Albums" section, above, that the compositions in this list are available in (at least) several different recordings, with varying quality (of orchestra, of sound, of conductor, of performance), and I am about as picky about this as it is possible to be (especially about the stuff which has a French horn as the solo instrument). So the main reason why I don't have recordings of most of this stuff is that I haven't taken the time to find a recording that I like. The upshot is this: if you are quite confident in your ability to identify good recordings of these pieces, you can give it a shot . . . but I wouldn't mind getting the details first.
This is another category (like 'Classical' Music) that is mostly here so that I'll remember it. Getting the things that we want on this list more or less requires us to do some research, so we'd generally prefer to get them ourselves.
Shirts should be (X)LT or 18" neck/36" sleeve. (Don't even try to buy me pants.) My physique has the amusing property of being anything from a M to 3XL depending on what you measure.
Powell's is an independent bookstore based in Portland, OR. They have an excellent selection--their main store is approximately a cubical block in size, and their technical bookstore is about half that size--and it is often possible to find books there that I have not been able to find anywhere else (yes, including Amazon). I would rather support Powell's through my book habit than any of the various bookstore chains (Buns and Noodle, ThoreauBooks, etc.) which have been merging into a single store with a single acquisition policy that leaves a lot to be desired.
You can buy the usual sort of gift card (the usual reuseable gift certificate) at Powell's if you live in Portland. If you don't, Powell's is now also offering "virtual credit", whose only drawback is that we can only redeem it online . . . and since Megan and I currently live about 3 hours from Portland, "virtual credit" works just fine.
REIREI is a camping/hiking/recreation equipment store with locations in most places that I'd be interested in living in (and here in Southern California, too). Megan and I go camping or hiking a few times a year, and so we have occasional need for stuff from there. They sell gift certificates (paper, email, and gift cards) both online and in their (physical) stores.
I hate to create this section. But every once in a while I get presents that just really don't work, and I feel terrible about returning them (or otherwise getting rid of them), and about not liking them as much as the giver hoped that I would. I appreciate the fact that my friends and family like to try to get me stuff that I wouldn't have thought to ask for . . . but there are a few things that should generally be avoided.
This is also a good place to emphasize that you don't have to get something for me just 'cause it's my birthday/Christmas/whatever. I have lots of stuff, and while I don't have lots of money, I generally have enough to get the stuff I'm really jonesing for. Nor will I be annoyed because you didn't get me something; I don't always get my friends/family presents on these occasions. Often I just give presents to someone when I've found something that I'm pretty sure that they'll like, regardless of whether it's the "right" time of year or not.