Guy's Top Ten Father's Day Gift List

I’ve read a few articles about suggestion for Father’s Day gifts, and I am not impressed. These articles miss the point of Father’s Day: To blow away the other fathers when you compare gifts—not necessarily because of the cost of the gift but because of the insight it shows into the male psyche. I submit to you this real man’s list of Father’s Day gifts.

1. $15. Bodum Pavina Double-Wall Thermo Glasses. Very cool, double-walled glasses. Supposedly they keep drinks hotter or colder. I don’t know if this is true, but it’s a great story. Certainly, dad will get a $15 of value talking about it. Frankly, it’s worth $15 just to look at and try to figure out how Bodum makes the glasses.

2. $40. Reef Fanning sandals. What’s the big deal about sandals? These aren’t just any sandals. They have beer bottle openers in the soles. Trust me: this will impress your father even if he doesn’t drink beer.

3. $349. Bose Quiet Comfort 3 headphones. If your father travels, he will love this. I’ve owned three of the previous versions. Sure, other companies make cheaper ones, but when your father is sitting in the plane and looks over at other people with headphones, don’t you want him to know he has the best one? This is version 3. I recently lost my version 2 headphones and immediately bought another because I was flying to Norway, and I didn’t know Bose was coming out with this model—what a bummer. Maybe I’ll "lose" the one I have.

4. $385. Tumi Generation 4.4 backpack. I love to buy bags. I used to buy two or three a year. I think I’ve finally found the ultimate one. I need to carry all this stuff: 15 inch MacBook; charger; Airport Express; spare battery (because Apple can’t make a laptop with battery life anywhere close to Sony...it can’t blame Motorola anymore, but I digress); video adapter; Countryman wireless microphone (something your dad should look into if he makes a lot of speeches); Nikon D200, Nikon strobe, Bose Quiet Comfort 2 (not 3!); three-ring binder; and one book which typically involves a retired Navy Seal who kills terrorists after they kill his family. This backpack is the only thing I’ve found that can do this without looking like a sailor’s duffle bag or a mountain climber’s backpack.

5. $600 (but really $1000). Big Green Egg smoker. This BBQ smoker, without using fancy marinade, produces the best tasting chicken, turkey, and beef dishes. Some fathers may have built-in, stainless steel, gas-powered, expensive BBQs, but this one does the trick the old-fashioned way: charcoal and smoke. A real man’s BBQ must involve charcoal (“propane-powered BBQ” is an oxymoron). $600 for this is mind boggling, but it’s based on “3,000 year old Japanese technology”—whatever that means. And it gets worse: when buy all the other crap like a tray, thermometer, stand, etc., you’re looking at $1,000. Somebody in Japan (or Georgia) is really having a good laugh about this one.

6. $1300. MacBook, 13 inch, black. Let’s just say that you should hope that your father’s company won’t allow him to use a Mac at work, so you can have it. Everybody wins when you read my blog.

7. $1700. Nikon D200 (body only). The is the digital SLR that rules—at least for the next six months until Canon ships something better. High status value: How can you go wrong with a Nikon? Nobody is going to kick sand in your old man’s face when he whips out a Nikon D200 digital SLR.

8. $800. 18-200 lens for Nikon D200. D200 too pricey? Then just buy him this lens. It’s the only lens he’ll probably need—this is why you should buy only the body for the D200. If he doesn’t have a D200, why buy the lens? This is how it will work: You buy the lens, he reads what it can do, and he’ll have to buy the body. Then he’ll give you his old point-and-shoot wimpy camera. Like I said, everyone wins when they read my blog.

9. $2,500. Breitling Aerospace watch. This is the ultimate geek’s watch. Analog hands plus digital readout for stopwatch, second time zone (i.e., what time it is at home?), countdown (i.e., how much longer will this flight last?), seconds/date, and day/date. The latest version has backlighting for the digital features which helps on red eye flights. Yes, you can probably find all these features in a $50 watch, but it won’t be made in Switzerland and made of titanium. (The purpose of a watch at this level is not telling time but showing showing how cool you are.) If you really want to dazzle your old man, then buy him a Breitling Emergency. This watch has a microtransmitter that broadcasts on the aircraft emergency frequency (121.5 MHz). Now that’s cool.

10. $50,000. Ford Shelby Cobra GT 500. Let’s say you work for Google as a part-time receptionist. Post IPO lockup, you’re worth $25 million. What the hell, buy dad a car. You could buy him an Audi, Mercedes, BMW, or Porsche, but that’s flaunting your wealth, and you should not only “do no evil” but also “not show off.” The Cobra is the perfect gift. Rare, fast, sub-$100,000, built in America, and inspired by a real American (Carroll Shelby). If you buy your father a German car, he really can’t even drive it to the office without appearing to show off. But if you buy him this car, it’s so cool/retro that there will be a line of fathers who want a ride in it. If you can’t afford buying him a Cobra, then you could rent a Shelby GT-H from Hertz.

There you have it. You have only two days to do your shopping, so you probably won’t get any of these in time. That’s okay. Your father will be happy to wait for any of these gifts, and a gift that’s worth waiting for is worth giving.

Comments

[Active Noise Reduction]

Great blog.
Great list- I'll pass it to my mom...

[Dr BLT]

As a father, material gifts don't matter much to me. I wrote a song for my daughter that I'd like to share with all of you. A son or daughter is the greatest Fathers Day gift a father could ask for. We must treasure, and never take our children for granted.

Daddy's Girl
Dr BLT
words and music by Dr BLT (c) 2007
http://www.drblt.net/music/DaddysGirl.mp3

[foo]

whenever people mention sennheiser or bose, i want to point out akg (http://www.akg.com). they tend to produce cheaper and better sounding earphones.

[Rob]

Before switching over to a business career I was a Coast Guard officer for a few years. We used to track the 121.5mhz signals, the type that comes from the Breitling watch you suggest. Well, one day I was in our command center and we picked up an emergency signal. For the life of us we couldn't find it and were worried that somewhere a sailor was in distress. Learned from police later that some thieves had stolen a shipment of watches and accidently set off the Breitling alert. Sometimes you dont want to be found!

[Grant Henninger]

Guy,

That is completely the wrong watch for that price. For $2,500 you can get an Omega Speedmaster Professional, a true geek watch. It has no digital readout, in fact, it doesn't even have a battery. It's a manual winding watch so you have to either reset the time every other day or remember to wind it when you put it on in the morning. What makes this a true geeks watch is the fact that it's the only watch to ever be worn on the moon. It is still flight certified by NASA and many astronauts still use it, and what could be better than a watch you can take into space. It's almost like giving your dad the hint of a future present once commercial space tourism becomes a reality.

[Mike]

Guy,

Love the blog, keep it going. A friend designed this shirt at Cafe Press, and the wife got it for me for Father's day. I think it fits your sense of humor:

http://www.cafepress.com/waggz

Your posts on moderating panels have been very helpful. I get to do a lot of speaking on alternative fuels, and have used a few of your tips.

Mike

[Matthew Cornell]

Hmmm. I'm with Vishnusaran. I'm reminded of this quote, which I grabbed from "CrazyBusy: Overstretched, Overbooked, and About to Snap! Strategies for Coping in a World Gone ADD" by Edward Dr Hallowell:

"Happiness is not having what you want but wanting what you have."

Children. Wife. Time to be with each. Being present with above. Etc.

[Rolphus]

Morgan,

I've tried in-ear and earplug-based headphones many times, and I find them deeply uncomfortable. I can just about get used to foam (or whatever they are) earplugs for seriously noisy environments, but for extended use (like 12+ hours in a server room; the office is actually too crowded for me to work out there), they're simply impossible for me to use.

The key point about Bose (and this is where audiophiles hate them and Joe Consumer loves them) is that they perform "reasonably", but are very easy to live with. The Lifestyle series of speakers might be pretty nasty when it comes to accuracy, but they sound "nice" and no-one is generally going to complain about having a few small cubes around. The QuietComfort headphones are like that; they sound pretty reasonable (if overly warm and somewhat lacking in midrange, and the dynamic equalisation can occasionally get caught off-guard), and they cut out a reasonable amount of sound, but most importantly for me, they do all of this while being comfortable.

I own a nice pair of open-back Sennheisers for quiet home listening, and while I love them dearly, they're utterly useless for the environments I spend a lot of time inhabiting. I'm not convinced I'd get on at all well with in-ear earphones, no matter how good they are. I always have trouble with earplugs at noisy events, and don't like the "sealed in" feeling that they give, especially for more than an hour or two at a time.

[vinnie mirchandani]

Guy, Without Remorse was one of his earlier books which focuses on John Clark's early life, He is an ex Navy Seal...probably Clancy's most violent and moralistic book...

[Pramod John]

Guy, Check out the in-ear style headphones such as the Sennheiser CX 300, Shure E2c and Etymotic Research ER6. These have the benefit in that they cut out the sound rather than trying to actively reduce it, which has a negative effect on the sound quality. These also can be used at a much lower volume level than traditional headphones. Getting them in your ear can be an experience, but they are worth the effort.

[vinnie mirchandani]

and I was going to buy you Clancy's Without Remorse but see you already have it -)

************************

Is this a new book? I haven't seen it yet. I love Clancy books!

Guy

[Morgan]

Simon:

If you want noise reduction, use ear plugs. If you want high-quality sound, go for professional studio headphones. By default, you don't need to overspend on noise-reduction technology when you use professional headphones, especially Ultrasone headphones which use a unique technology that enables safer hearing and uses S-Logic™ Natural Surround Sound.

I think the PROline 750 costs around $300 USD. The PROline 2500 costs a lot more, but you get more from Ultrasone than what you get from Bose.

I use the beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO headphones. If I had the Ultrasone PROline 2500 phones, I'd be in heaven as a recording artist.

[Paul]

I have the Breitling and it is a lovely understated but functional watch. (Yes, I am a Mac user). But I'm a son not a dad, so I'm not sure if this prematurely ages me!

Wow, that's an expensive bag!

Let's not go into the Canon-vs-Nikon debate (says a Digital Rebel user). I commend this post of Gruber's to you all in this regard: >

[Patrick]

When you are ready to purchase a Classic car, please go to the best on this side of the Mississippi and the other side to. http://mikesclassiccars.net

[Qian Wang]

Guy, right on about the importance of charcoal in BBQing! The Egg is definitely over priced compared to a similar sized Weber (and it weighs like 100 pounds), but it still beats spending mega bucks on a gas grill. I mean, why not just cook on your kitchen stove if you're just going to use gas anyway.

The GT500 is nice, but if your dad's a Chevy man, there's also the Corvette Z06 that will humble most cars 2 or 3 times its price. I think my dad would take a Porsche C4S Cabrio though. To quote Tom Cruise, "You don't know the history of psychiatry..." Uh, I mean, "Porsche, there is no substitute."

[Jens E]

Interestingly, your blog is now on the favorites list of my wife's laptop. What a coincidence.

And anything you can hide in your shoe is cool, I must say. In a James Bond way - not a Richard Reid way.

[jf.sellsius]

here's a father's day gift which dad can enjoy with his family. A fathers greatest gift is after all his family. It's called Washers and its a new & fun toss game--dad will LOVE it.
details here:

http://blog.sellsiusrealestate.com/?p=750

[Joe]

Guy, I need you to talk to my wife. I need someone to convince her that the Mustang is a necessity and not a simple want.

[Brody Vercher]

If you're gonna get a Shelby, you might as well go all out and get one of these bad boys http://www.uniqueperformance.com/base.aspx

They're all $100,000+, but the lust factor more than makes up for it...if you have that kind of money.

[Neil Sagebiel]

I'd settle for the BBQ or MacBook.

My kids are at the tender ages where they still draw pictures and make stuff for Father's Day, which is hard to beat.

[Doug Hanna]

I have a tumi bag (not the one you mentioned), but I can say the quality and durability is top notch.

[DC Stultz]

Nice list IF you have a kid that's a VC or who is named Gates. I would like that Shelby parked in my driveway. Er, any chance I can adopt you before tomorrow?

[Vishnusaran]

Am going to give two things

1. Hug and a kiss.
2. An old photo of me, dad and mom framed beautifully.
:)

[Andrea Lorenzi]

Nice post, as ever - if you don't know them, you may want to have a look at Crumpler bags, re. point 4 on your pretty nice wish list. Smart for design and "usability", colorfull and nice, and astonishing about quality of the materials. It is an Aussie brand, which is being rolled just now in the US. cheers :)

[WTJ]

perhaps a plasma tv for world cup?

[Rolphus]

Morgan,

Perhaps I'm being dense, but none of the Ultrasone cans do any form of active noise-reduction - this is a pretty key reason to get the Boses, as they cut out background noise like no other pair of (non-aviation) headphones I've ever heard. They're very comfortable, too. The sound reproduction may not be particularly accurate (overly "warm", slightly too bassy, weakish midrange), but in a noisy environment (server room, train, aeroplane etc), they're unmatched.

Guy,

If you do get a set of QC3s, I'd love to hear your take on them - especially how they perform in noisy environments such as airports. My QC2s are held together by superglue and sellotape after an, uh, incident involving a friend and some "inadvertant" standing on things, and I'm looking to replace them. I'd get another set without hesitation, but if the QC3s are better, then I'd rather go with them. Whenever it is that they actually come out in the UK.

I had a set of Sennheiser PXC300s, which are over-the-ear like the QC3s, rather than around-the-ear like the QC2s, and the noise-reduction was entirely inadequate for my uses.

Cheers,

Simon "Rolphus" Rolfe

[chuckk gerwig]

oh no Guy , you've given me something else to lust over, the new Shelby. A friend in high school had an old Shelby fastback with a 427 cobra jet in it, ahhh memories!

I will forward this blog as a wish list! Every Pastor needs a Shelby for .. ah ministry purposes...

[head.zoo.keeper]

I enjoyed this list but somehow I don't think my 75-year old Nisei father would really care for any of this stuff. :)

But if the point is to blow other fathers away well, the D200 is very nice but nothing beats a Hasselblad -- especially a 39-megapixel Hasselblad!

http://engadget.com/2006/01/11/hasselblad-h2d-39-megapixel-medium-format-digicam

Slightly cheaper than a Shelby Mustang...

************************

As an old Sansei, my advice is that never underestimate the geeky interests of a 75 year old Nisei.

Guy

[Dennis Bullock]

Great list guy. I will pass this on to my wife and have her start at the bottom.

[Fuat]

Regarding the bottle opener sandal, it seems kinda yucky to put the bottom of your sandal which may have stepped into who knows what against the bottle near where your mouth goes.

[Derek]

Loved the thermo glasses. After that, well, lets just say I'm trying to teach my kids thriftyness.

Minus points to the Breitling site, as all I got was a puzzle piece wanting me to load more plugins (sorry, no thank you).

Oh, and Canon always kicks Nikon's butt for cameras.

[Marian Crkon]

I got few laughs off this post, but I couldn't help wondering when this blog became affiliated with the Shopping Network...

[Phil Gilbert]

Hey Guy... good list and, as a Dad, can't wait to receive this stuff... question: I have been carrying the original (pre-cursor) Tumi backpack that the Gen 4 is modeled after... I looked at the new one the other day and it looked to me like they've sewn in the notebook carrier and that it wasn't big enough for my MacBook. Was I wrong or did you rip that bit out? Thanks,
Phil

************************

There's a zippered slot at the bottom of the top compartment. If you open the zipper, a 15 inch can easily fit in the notebook slot. It's a clever solution, actually.

Thanks,

Guy

[Morgan]

> 3. UltraSone PROline 2500
Your headphones suck.

www.ultrasone.com

> 9. Binary Code LED Watch
Now that's a watch for geeks.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/watches/6a17/