apocryph.org Notes to my future self

Birthday Wish List

For those in my family who are looking for gift ideas for my birthday this month, here are some suggestions:

Shooting Stuff

• Shooting Rest
• Shooting Rest Front Bag
• Shooting Rest Rear Bag
• Peltor 7S Electronic Shooting Muffs
• Range Bag
• Collapsible Stock for Winchester 1300 Shotgun
• Red dot holo sight
• FAL Grip Sleave
• AR-15 Mags, anywhere from one to ten
• FAL Brass Catcher
• AR-15 Brass Catcher
• Silhouette targets
• Self-adhesive bulls eye targets
• .50 cal ammo can, anywhere from one to ten or more
• AR-15 bore brush
• Brass punch set
• Aerosol degreaser
• Low, wide shelving unit I can use to organize and store all of my ammunition. It needs to be short enough to fit in my closet below my hanging garments, durable enough to support hundreds of pounds of ammunition, and have enough discrete storage areas to organize four calibers and multiple loads within each caliber

Bike Stuff

• Rubber-safe degreaser
• Magnetic parts tray like this one

Computer Stuff

• Canned Air
• 700MB CD-Rs

Misc

• Belt holster for my phone
• Fenix L1D-CE Flashlight
• Replacement label tape for my label maker (It’s a Brother P-touch which takes “TZ” tapes between 1/4″ and 3/4″; I like the 1/2″ kind)
• AC adapter for my label maker (DC, 7V, at least 1 amp, center negative)
• Jumper Cables for my car
• 60yd 100 MPH tape, black. I had a small roll of this w/ me in Iraq, and found all sorts of uses for it
• Home tool kit. While I do already have one, it’s actually for my car; I took it out to support my various hardware projects, but that leaves me without coverage for my car. I’d like a more suitable toolkit for home, minor gunsmithing, and bike use, containing the following:
  • Small DMM (don’t go overboard; just voltage/current/resistance/capacitance/inductance is fine)
  • Needlenose, diag cut, bent nose, side cut pliers
  • Sturdy tweezers, non-static
  • Fine guage solder
  • Small light, ideally with flexible neck, like this
  • Hex, Torx, Phillips, Straight bits. A good example is here (though it’s missing hex bits)
  • Driver for the above bits. A flexible neck is helpful
  • Files
  • Probes (sort of like the picks that dentists use)
  • Solder brush
  • Solder aid
  • Wire stripper
  • Mirror (again, like dentists use; must be static safe)
  • If you get a pre-assembled kit with a case, the case should have plenty of extra room for some of the items that won’t come with it, like the ColdHeat iron, and my specialized bike and gun tools
  • When looking at pre-assembled kit options, favor ones for electronics over more general field service, as electronics work requires smaller more delicate tools. See this master electronics tool kit as the canonical example, but don’t actually get this one (it’s too expensive). If in doubt, Seth should be able to advise.
• New work surfaces for my office. Currently I use old industrial shelving for my desk surfaces, which isn’t very ergonomic and doesn’t provide me enough space. Ideally I’d have something that offered:
  • Ergonomic work surface for my primary computer (currently a laptop mounted in a laptop stand), secondary monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, light, land line phone, UPS, power strips, subwoofer
  • Secondary work surface for computers I’m working on, and space to put mail and tech boxes before I dispose of them
  • Another secondary work surface for gun cleaning, maintenance and cleaning work on bike parts, and other tool-related work, including room for all my tools, a task light/magnifier
  • Enough tertiary storage space that I don’t clutter up my work surfaces with crap that doesn’t belong there