2025 Gift Guide
Here's some stuff I enjoy, divided into a few categories
Handy Person Stuff
DriDuck Laramie Canvas Work Jacket
Thorogood American Heritage 8" Moc Toe Boots
Thorogood wedge boots are a staple of construction sites for a reason. They're super comfy (break in is not long) and they come on-and-off pretty easily. I was skeptical of the shallow treads but now I understand. 1) the urethane truely wears slowly so they last a long time and 2) the shallow, wide grooves mean that you don't track a bunch of schmutz back into the house when you're working some place dirty. These would last a typical handy home owner a decade. You can get these on ebay pretty easily with minimal wear.
KÜHL Rydr Pants
KÜHL Ryder Pants are my preferred work pants. The articulated knees and gusseted crotch let you move around athletically (in-out of tight spaces, hiking, whatever). The fabric is quite thick and durable but, oddly, not hot in summer. Instead, they're roomy enough to get good air in summer and also accomodate thermal underwear in winter.You can get these on ebay used for ~1/3rd price. The older models definitely need a belt because the button design was straight up stupid.
Tech Stuff
Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32C6
The esp32c6 is super small yet it's got WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, Zigbee, Thread/Matter for smart home stuff. Dual RISC-V cores, deep sleep at 15μA, built-in LiPo charging. Works with Arduino IDE. I've been using this with HC-SR501 PIRs and mmWave radar (LD2410) sensors to do home IoT stuff with Home Assistant.
Home Assistant Green
Speaking of Home Assistant...the easiest way to get started is the Home Assistant Green is the plug-and-play option. It's a little box with HA pre-installed. Plug in ethernet and power, done. Quad-core ARM, 4GB RAM, 32GB eMMC, passively cooled (silent). It is a nice thing and supports their work when you buy. (I actually don't have the green, I have the discontinued yellow.)
Beelink EQR5 Mini PC
The Beelink EQR5 is a really nice low-power x86 machine. You can see DHH is a fan. Beelink has a ton of options like this. The EQR5 is the budget option: Ryzen 5 or 7, dual gigabit ethernet, expandable to 64GB RAM and 8TB storage, silent cooling, palm-sized, super fun if you want to play with linux, freebsd, openbsd, whatever.
Keeb.io Iris Split Keyboard
I have an Iris split keyboard that I got from Keeb.io.You can get it other places too. I tented mine and put on Durock shrimp silent tactile switches. I really like it! (minor assembly required)
Software & Subscriptions Stuff
1Password
1Password is a super password manager and a SAAS I don't hestitate to pay for each year. I have the family subscription and can easily share passwords with subsets of my family. I also use its ssh key agent now. Have been using for years. Great product.
Arq Backup + Tarsnap
You shouldn't let your family members go without backups. Two options I recommend: Arq and Tarsnap. Arq is more for the GUI-types and Tarsnap is more for the command-line types. Both are great!
Teaching Stuff
Pilot Board Master Whiteboard Markers
These are my favorite whiteboard markers. They're refillable, vibrant, and don't dry out the instant you forget to cap them for 30 seconds. They look great. I take them with me when I teach and feel sad when I forget them in the classroom. Available in black, blue, red, orange, and green at JetPens.
Hagoromo Fulltouch Chalk
Supposedly people call Hagoromo "the Rolls Royce of chalk". It's dense, vibrant, doesn't shatter when dropped, and produces way less dust than the cheap stuff. I get the big thick ones—they lay down a bright line visible from the back of the room. The original Japanese manufacturer almost went under, but a Korean teacher rescued the formula. There's a whole cult following among mathematicians. Purchase at Hagoromo.