What to Get My Geek for Valentine's Day?

A reader writes "Help!!! I've been dating my geek for three months and I'm in a bit of a dilemma. So I thought I'd ask the men of Slashdot what they would want as a Valentine's Day gift. I'm looking for something out of the ordinary that will knock his socks off. Somthing clever, crafty and unique. The budget is $100. My geek's interests are typical geek fare, games, computers, music and gadgetry. So! You, men of Slashdot, tell me what you would want to recieve for Valentine's day and help me make my geek happy."

Computer Parts

[darkstar949]

Computer parts can be a very good thing to get: new hard drive, more RAM, new CPU. If you realy want to make a statement there is always that realy big LCD panel screen that most of the geeks I work with drool over.

Or if you have a hard time picking one of those out, then sex is always appricated ^_^

Tools!

[JoeCommodore]

$100? How about some useful tool or hardware necessity. First thought would be one of those Keychain USB drives. If you want him to think of you often get him something he finds useful and will use a lot.

Why must it be a gadget?

[Anonymous Coward]

How about a night on the town or a really good homecooked meal? That's plenty for a three month relationship. You don't want to seem psycho.

USB pendrive/MP3 player

[cybergeak]

my girlfriend got me one for x-mas, and i love it. although it looks sorta stupid (and she was the first to admit it), its hella handy. its only about 75 bucks i think for 128mb, but shop around online.

the only thing that sorta sucks about it is, if you drop it, or tap it, or once in a while, look at it wrong while its playing mp3s, it turns off, and then give a low battery warning, but that could just be mine. i just take the battery out, and pop it back in, and all is well again.

http://www.apacer.com/

Re:Really consider sex

[colmore]

And if you're in to that sort of thing, you might want to spend that Benjamin on some toys for the night (or afternoon's, or morning's) activities:

babes in toyland [babeland.com]

Or if you resent a web forum telling you how to run your sexlife, then yeah, thinkgeek.com. Or how about this take him to CompUSA or Electronics Boutique or Best Buy to pick up something basic (you need new blank CDs or something) and as soon as you see him oggling something in your price range, yank it from his hands, march to the register, say "I love you sweetie." (or "happy valentines" if at 3 months, that's a bit much) and buy it for him.

Games to play together

[Shados]

Me and my girlfriend got the latest Myst game, so we could play all day away snuggled together. Geeky -and- Romantic!

Re:The Best Store

[Mattcelt]

Agreed. There is lots of cool stuff there.

I would also suggest a Leatherman [leatherman.com], if he doesn't already have one. Most models are in the $30-$70(US) range, and are very handy. I have actually given them to two of my past girlfriends (no jokes about the reasons for them being ex's, please). They both loved them.

Commenting on lots of comments here ...

[LoudMusic]

Sex: I've always been of the opinion that sex and sexual acts should not be "gifts" to your significant other. If you're not both into it, then it shouldn't be done. And if you're getting something out of it for yourself is it really a gift? That's not to say I wouldn't like a lil' sum`n sum`n, but it shouldn't be the gift.

ThinkGeek: A friend of mine gave me a $100 gift cert to TG for Christmas. It was actually difficult for me to find something with their current stock. Perhaps TG isn't your best option right now - it'll improve soon I hope.

Non-Geek: I think this is a really great idea. Geeks have non-geek interests. In fact their geekiness is probably a small part of their personality, but because it's so in the media right now it tends to be the only thing people see. The computer geek persononality is usually paired with a mechanical personality, tools, cars, the like ... musical interests, and even art. Not to sound pompus (but it does) "geeks" like smart people stuff .

Here's an idea. A nice picture of yourself in a nice frame. Prepaired dinner. Rented movie. And a smaller purchase. Perhaps a little toy of some sort he can keep on his desk near his computer. The dinner and movie at home would be excellent as resturants are usually flooded. You can still get dressed up and all that, I would suggest it even. Geeks like romance too, you know.

Some _serious_ suggestions.

[soluzar22]

Ok, most folks posting here have either posted sex stuff which you would not ask for advice on, and would not want to receive advice on either, or they have not listened to what you asked. You asked for techie ideas, that were affordable.
I got some o' those:

Any of these may be a good idea if he doesn't already have them.

* Good quality cordless optical mouse.
* Extra controllers for his games consoles.
* Extra memory cards.
* Extra RAM.
* Star Trek or Babylon 5 DVDs
* Replacement Keyboard (They wear out quicker
than you think)
* More comfy chair for workstation.
* Subscription to his favourite IT/Games
magazine.

OK, so I know they're all geek cliches but they very well may be true anyway. Especially I recomend the cordless optical mouse if he does not have one. They transform the way you use your PC.
Also, recordable or re-writable CDs NEVER go amiss, most geeks I know get through millions of the damn things. It also goes without saying that a new game is a decent option. Although it comes frought with pitfalls, such as buying one that turns out to be sub-standard. Of course, I'm sure that you have a local store with a no-questions
10-day return policy, like GAME in the UK, so that would not be a disaster

Re:Something special

[Dalcius]

"Get him a nice piece of decoration he can use to brighten his computer/workplace/shrine with. Good modern art, some kind of astronomy picture, something to focus his eyes on when he needs to calm down after some bughunting"

As cheesy as some might think it, most geeks I know would appreciate a lava lamp. I've got one on my desk at work -- it's relaxing after a long coding session to lean back and stare at the globs rising and falling and smacking into each other.

Just a thought. :)

Cheers

lots of 03 xmas lists out there

[flint]

http://www.techtv.com/ has a bunch of gift lists (by dollar range, category, etc) they put together for this past holiday season. Use the search capability on that site and you'll find tons of ideas.

Note that these lists aren't focused on really, really, geeky stuff like wall calendars in octal. But since you don't give us much info about this person tech-wise I hesitate to recommend something that might miss your geek's likes by a mile or be incompatible.

Techtv's stuff will have a lot of gadgets such as mp3 players, cameras, audio/video components etc to go along with computer peripherals and games. And, the good thing for the non-geek shopper is that they'll see products that they can find in local stores as opposed to really exotic geek stuff that can only be had online. Less likely to make a mistake and if your gift victim... er recipient needs to make an exchange it's usually a better situation than buying online.

Re:The Best Store

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, from the HTTP errors list, there are several more that are appropriate (asterix by those):

* 100 Continue
101 Switching Protocols
200 OK
201 Created
* 202 Accepted
203 Non-Authoritative Information
204 No Content
205 Reset Content
206 Partial Content
* 300 Multiple Choices
* 301 Moved Permanently
302 Moved Temporarily
* 303 See Other
304 Not Modified
* 305 Use Proxy
* 400 Bad Request
* 401 Unauthorised
* 402 Payment Required
* 403 Forbidden
404 Not Found
* 405 Method Not Allowed
* 406 Not Acceptable
407 Proxy Authentication Required
* 408 Request Time-Out
* 409 Conflict
* 410 Gone
* 411 Length Required
412 Precondition Failed
*** 413 Request Entity Too Large
*** 414 Request-URL Too Large
415 Unsupported Media Type
500 Server Error
501 Not Implemented
* 502 Bad Gateway
* 503 Out of Resources
504 Gateway Time-Out
505 HTTP Version not supported

I personally get errors 413 and 414 a lot from girls ;) lol

Re:The Best Store

[Anonymous Coward]

I have a Leatherman Wave and use it almost every day. It should run you about $60. Great gift.

Re:one suggestion

[subtillus]

Example: Ibook is cheap plastic, Powerbook is shiny metal. eMac is cheap plastic, PowerMac is shiny metal.

Disagree entirely

[Paul Crowley]

First, most people are voyeuristic enough to enjoy watching other people having sex. But in practice two of you tend to gang up on a third and do things to/with/for them, and all three roles are fun.

Larger groups are fun too, but it doesn't seem to come down to pairing up usually.

radioactive keyring

[Anonymous Coward]

This [h3products.com] was by far the coolest thing I ever got.

Re:Blow job

[khoward1]

Give him a Simpsons Valentine [web-goddess.org]. It says "I Choo-Choo-Choose you", and there's a picture of a train!

Re:Lucky bastard...

[jorlando]

What can I say? The best Valentine's day gift that I got was an HP48G :-) At the time I was still studying EE

That was a gift that made me happy :-)

Re:The Best Store

[xmedar]

FireBox [firebox.com] is great for gadgets and toys, run by a couple of real geeks, and no I dont work for them, family member etc, I'm just a customer.

Re:Blow job

[Slime-dogg]

if you get them in a foreign country.

Shit, only if you want VD, man. It's like the damaged items discount at Target. You get what you pay for.

Comfy Pajamas and Chocolate

[eatthepi]

My girlfriend and I have been dating for almost three years. My favorite gift (from her) is comfy pajamas. I would never buy such a thing for myself, and besides my girlfriend has much better taste in such things. You don't even need to go somewhere fancy: just go to Sears, Walmart, etc and feel every pair of men's pajamas until you find the right one.

My second suggestion is chocolate. Everyone likes chocolate! I would not suggest one of those heart shaped boxes. Those chocolates tend to have too much sugar and not enough chocolate. I suggest El Rey [chocolateselrey.com], Lindt [lindt.com], or German Deli.com [germandeli.com]. Perhaps someone can suggest another good chocolate? If your boyfriend doesn't like chocolate, I think you should seriously consider dumping him. :)
If you enjoy wine, I would suggest getting wine to go with the chocolate. If you don't know how to match a chocolate to a wine, I suggest consulting the owner/operator of your local wine store.

Many geeks (and other men) get very nervous about Valentine's Day. Try not to make a big deal of the day. Tell him very generally what you plan to get him, so he know better what to get for you. It sounds like your relationship is still young, so he may not know how you feel about Valentine's Day. For example, if you spend your $100 and he buys a cheap heart shaped box of chocolates, he will not feel very good about this Valentine's Day. Tell him how you feel about him. Tell him that you enjoy spending time with him. Good luck!

If you play to stay with him for a long time ...

[Poligraf]

Get 4 books on Daoist sexual techniques by Mantak Chia.

Here are the links:
http://www.universal-tao.com/amazon/taoist _secrets .html
http://www.universal-tao.com/amazon/healing _love.h tml
http://www.universal-tao.com/amazon/the_multi .html
http://www.universal-tao.com/amazon/couple.html

If two of you have enough patience and commitment to practicing the exercises, it will be well worth it.

you should know better

[CAIMLAS]

You should know better than to ask a bunch of geeks what a girlfriend should get for her boyfriend. The obvious answer will more than likely be: a blowjob, sex, unobligated sex of his type choice (my vote :P), and "Just feed and water him, he should be OK".

However, in terms of gadgetry, I'd have to put up for these as particularly good products:

Arc-AAA LED Flashlight (they look damned cool and industrial, and are incredible little lights - possibly the AA model, depends on what you're going for)
Kershaw folding knife (I personally like knives; he may not. However, there are a lot of things you can do with a knife that most folks don't think about. You might find that getting him a Swiss Army knife (or leatherman's tool) would be more appropriate to his tastes)
a flight watch - you might be able to find one of these at sub-100$ prices, I'm not sure. Flight watches have lots of nice dials and such that are sure to entertain him; a nice timepiece is fun to wear, IMO.
possibly something like a dremmel - it depends on how much he's into making things; it's possible he already has one, though.

Remember, the cardinal rule when buying gifts for guys, and geek guys in particular is: the exact opposite when shopping for woman. If it's not practical, we don't want it (more often than not). Don't waste your time/money on a card; they're impractical and don't mean anything unless you wrote it/made it yourself anyway.

I'd probably say it's harder to shop for men, as there's got to be a balance met amongst various factors: practicality, whether the person could/would use it, and the "nice to have" factor: sure, you could use a sexy looking flashlight, but a 10$ from kmart would probably do just fine: a nice one like the one above shows you care.

IMO. :P Of course, doting on him and making him dinner or such would likely be just as appreciated, if not more so: not many typical geeks spend their time cooking. Show him how cool and counter-culture you are (valentine's day is typically a "guy sweats blood trying to please the female, for hopes that she'll appreciate his efforts" affair), and break some rules.

CyberTool

[slycrel]

If you like the leatherman idea...

My wife got me one of these for my birthday when we were dating. It's been the best pocketknife/screwdriver I've ever owned.

http://www.computergear.com/swisarcybtoo.html

It's customized for tech work, so most of the time you never need to use a different screwdriver. Excellent stuff, and if you look around you should be able to get one well under $100.

Good luck!