May 05, 2005

• Path, you have a paypal account that we can donate to?
• I'll set one up, but the teeming masses need to decide which is the best thing to do.
• Well, as a represenative of the "teaming masses" it would be helpful if mono numero uno would tell us what she wants. I'm not in a guessing mood and she knows better than you or I what she wants for her birthday. Tracicle, that the fuck do you want for your and petit mono's birthday, and don't be shy?
• "what the fuck" not "that the fuck"...
• How can she answer the question if she's not allowed to read this? This is a nice idea. I am without helpful suggestions, but signing on to the general idea, regardless of what Dreamweaver is.
• oh, squid, you just don't understand women.... aren't we supposed to know what she wants already? i know she bakes rhubarb pie...maybe we get her some kind of giant pie oven or something... or maybe we mosey over to the #mofirc and ask melinika what she wants...
• May I also suggest a present for #2 as well? He has put in alot of work for us, we shouldn't neglect him.
• i recommend gift vouchers. i know they appear to lack thought, but they can be a useful way to make sure the bulk of the cash is spent on the most pressing expensive item. is there an amazon.co.nz or something with an equivalent wide range of goods?
• I think we should focus on a big present for the baby, one that is perhaps monkey-themed. And of course non-paypal monkeys would need to have a place to send checks or money orders.
• I already have a baby present ready to send...but I'm also in for a few bucks if a bigger baby or birthday present is being sent. Just figure it out amongst yourselves. ;)
• She's got a consort? Damn
• To be my usual ever-so-helpful self, I'll go along with whatever the group decides.
• for the baby monkey! for the mama monkey! for the daddy monkey!
• Well this would be cheap. . but what I wish I have had when my kid was a baby and todder is one of these.
• danf -- I wish my mother had one of those when I was a kid, rather than have me face down on the bed with a stick of glass in my ass.
• Funny, that's a rather fond memory for me.
• You were there?
• Only to make sure the thermometer was properly chilled.
• Oh -- that it was.
• Hmm. On June 26th I will be 25... eek. The only present I was given at birth that I still have is a much loved toy elephant; so, what about a nice monkey?
• ...further to that mild coincidence, July 27th is my Mother's birthday. Hmmm.
• path, the scope of this thread grew awfully large -- from a tracicle gift to #2 gift to baby gift. And if the baby's going to get a gift, then Master Hope should have one as well. Not as exciting sounding, perhaps, but if there's a diaper servive available for six months or a year in Christchurvch, that might be of benefit to the whole family. Or even hire a cook or engage a cleaning service for a comparable period. You would have to ask #2, I expect, to aid in pricing any of these. Otherwise the Dreamweaver sounds OK.
• Squid - her Amazon wish list seems a good start for her birthday gift(s). PY - Dreamweaver is web design software. SideDish - tht purse is great, but Little Shoes didn't appear to have an on-line catalogue. Any idea how much it costs? Amazon US will ship to NZ, but they had some dire warnings about potential customs difficulties when we went through this last year. I tried to buy the iPod from a NZ store, but they wouldn't accept my credit card since I'm not on NZ tax rolls. There were some other annoyances in trying to move money across country boundries, as well, which is one reason why I suggest that we don't go for one really big gift from the whole community. Maybe monkeys who share common currencies could go in together? That would take some coordination to make sure that she doesn't get several copies of the same book, or whatever.
• Amazon.com is the host for the Babies'R'Us online store. If we could convince monkeybashi to set up a registry there, perhaps we could all contribute to a baby gift or several items from her registry.
• seminal events, indeed. :-)
• Nice to see you around, quonsar.
• bees - thanks, those are good ideas. We'd need to find out from #2 how they would react to something like a cleaning service (which would be what I'd want) but I think any of them could work. I'm not saying that everyone needs to double their donation to cover the 2 birthdays. But, it would give more choices if individuals or small groups want to send something. Assuming that the same %age of our population want to participate this year and at the same average amount, we could have, what? - a couple of thousand USD to play with? $600 wasn't hard to do last year. On the other hand, is the individual/smaller group thing too complicated? If we did decide to do one gift from eveyone, we could cover most of her (newly updated!) wish list - including a scooter and "little fire engine" - with shipping and handling. On the first foot, only about 15 of us have commented here so far. I think I should have used a marketeer to do the post.
• quonsar wins the "guess the secret word of the day" contest!
• is following thread, but has nothing to add
• $600?! Cool.
• I say we get her a t-shirt. Perhaps one which says "Monkeyfilter" on it. Hey! We could have a contest and have people submit designs so we could pick the best one! I have this great idea about a USB Banana...what? Oh. Never mind, then.
• what The Muff said. I'll gladly contribute, but haven't commented because I had no ideas.
• ditto what muffin and Wurwilf said
• I'll pony up cash. seems like some kind of housecleaning or cooking service would benefit all 3 in the royal monkey family, but would be more complicated to organize.
• patita - We could probably get #2 to do the shopping for us if that's what we want to do. And, sending cash to cover it rather than having to buy, wrap and mail 60 or so smaller presents if we go that way, makes me think it would be good. The thing that surprises me is the lack of apparent enthusiasm. We really need to get a feel for how many would donate to figure out what we can afford to spend. Last time donation amounts ranged from $5 US to $50. It's not like we're going to pick something and then charge everyone who signs up a proportional amount. We even had an option to send tracicle postcards from all our "exotic" locations, which allowed those who couldn't afford to contribute to at least express their appreciation for all the Hopes have done for us. So, being overly earnest, I have to think that I screwed this effort up. Hope me,monkeys!
• patita - We could probably get #2 to do the shopping for us if that's what we want to do. And, sending cash to cover it rather than having to buy, wrap and mail 60 or so smaller presents if we go that way, makes me think it would be good. The thing that surprises me is the lack of apparent enthusiasm. We really need to get a feel for how many would donate to figure out what we can afford to spend. Last time donation amounts ranged from $5 US to $50. It's not like we're going to pick something and then charge everyone who signs up a proportional amount. We even had an option to send tracicle postcards from all our "exotic" locations, which allowed those who couldn't afford to contribute to at least express their appreciation for all the Hopes have done for us. So, being overly earnest, I have to think that I screwed this effort up. Hope me,monkeys!
• I'll contribute, but I'm not good at picking big presents. I could crochet a kick-ass baby blankie, but that's hardly a big present :)
• meridithea - crochet if that's what you want to do - something hand made is always special. Might be handed down through generations.
• I would be willing to contribute, but I don't know if I will have time to pick something then figure out how to get it to NZ. But maybe it would be best to ask michaelh?
• well, I'm for giving money towards a larger thing/service. having personally just decluttered, I'd be wary of sending lots of smaller things. I was thinking that a little needlepoint of the monkeyfilter logo would make them happy, but I've got 2 baby projects in the hopper already (winter holiday gift perhaps).
• I with you guys, I will contribute, but like others I have no good ideas for a gift. What ever is decided will work for me. :)
• I will also contribute, but until the death crud leaves my lungs, I am unlikely to have enough brainpower to have useful ideas. I suspect a lot of people are like me--if you said "we're doing 'x' and please put in toward it," you'd get a lot of monkey contributions. But when it comes to getting things together, we're less like monkeys than sheep.
• Ok. So, those of you who want to contribute, just leave a "yes" comment, and make sure you have a valid email address in your profile. I'll contact you to find out how much you want to contribute and set up a spreadsheet, and a dlist to keep us all informed (though not about individual contributions.) I think that, first, I'll work on buying DreamWeaver for tracicle, so if you prefer that contributions go to the new baby, be sure to specify that. I'll also ask #2 if there are any baby things they they'd like to have and work on those for contributions in excess of the software package. Or, will just buy stuff on whim, 'cause I love to shop.:)
• path, can I help with anything? I won't be able to contribute very much money-wise, but would like to help in other ways :)
• those of you who want to contribute I'm leaving a "Yes" comment: that band really sucked.
• Yes. I would also like to help in other ways if possible (I'm pretty good with spreadsheets, provided they're in Excel), since I won't be able to contribute much money.
• Yes
• Yes.
• Yes.
• Yes.
• Yes. (Will someone doublecheck with #2 that she hasn't already gotten Dreamweaver? Also, with Macromedia being bought out by Adobe, what will happen to the program?)
• Yes -- can't give much, but I'd like to give something.
• Aye, mateys. Arr.
• Yes. And thank you, path.
• Oui, mon ami.
• You bet.
• Just a reminder that an academic copy of Dreamweaver will cost less than half retail. All that's needed is a valid student or teacher ID. For example.
• Well, if someone can make arrangements for non-US monkey money, then I could chip in a few dollars.
• Wait, is tracicle still a student? I thought she had mentioned doing some courses. There are certainly enough academic IDs around here to suffice - but I don't know if any of us would be allowed to purchase it for anyone else (which would really complicate trying to get it to New Zealand).
• Yes. Sorry about not having any ideas. Also, the postcards... not being much of a pillar of the community, it doesn't seem right doing something personal like that. So, you know, sorry. But yes.
• No good ideas and no money to spare at the moment, but I did want to mention that the academic copy of Dreamweaver prohibits the use of the software for commercial use. Although perhaps they changed the rules as a result of being bought out by Adobe? (not that the rules matter much anywho...)
• jb: I don't see how anyone would be the wiser provided Dreamweaver isn't shipped directly to Christchurch. Someone purchases it and then turns around and mails it to New Zealand. Maybe there's some idiosyncrasy of international shipping that I'm not seeing, but I can't conceive of any problems. I'll pitch in, although I won't be good for too much. I have no problem with the DreamWeaver suggestion; I believe it can get her through the night. heh
• Not to complicate matters more, but perhaps #2 knows of a nice spa somewhere in their area and we can arrange for a massage/facial/manicure/pedicure/stress-relief type dealie. Most spas have a "Day of Beauty" or some such package deal on offer. I'm sure they'd also have a "Couples" package as well, if you want to include #2 in the gift. I love giving (and getting) these kinds of gifts, because it's something you just wouldn't do for yourself. And it's a great way to really pamper/spoil the recipient and make them feel special.
• "Couples package" sounds dirty. My birthday is in January; if someone wants to organize a collection to get me an appointment at the "massage parlor" down the street, I wouldn't turn the gift down.
• Something like this or this or this.
• The "Couples Package" I had was indeed dirty. We were given 4 different kinds of mud to spread all over each other. Dirty indeed!
• As for academic editions of Adobe software, I recently picked up Adobe Illustrator through Studica for a significant reduction in price ($80 US as compared to $500). My student information is good for a year on Studica, so I can easily pick up DreamWeaver, if that's the direction we're going. And the licensing on the academic version of Adobe Illustrator lets me do with it what I would if I'd bought the standard version. The only real difference is that it says that it's an academic version on startup, and does not include a few of the packaged "extras" that come with the full version. Nothing eliminated that I've particularly noticed over the full version being used in my class. So I don't think the licensing would be a problem for an Adobe product. The license also allows for future upgrades just like the full version. It doesn't cost more to upgrade an academic version, and the upgrade makes your academic version into the full version. I also want to say that I reallly like the suggestion from MsVader. For all our 'Bashi's done for us (or, indeed, they have done for us when I consider the "Couples" package and the work #2 puts into MoFi) I think that she deserves some being spoiled.
• Christophine: since you signed up under your name and using US id, would there be any issues if tracicle tried to register it in NZ? The student price is probably fantastically attractive, but I'd hate to screw it up by assuming that it would transfer. An alternative might be to get #2 to pretend to be tracicle and order the student version after we send him the $$.
• Ok, I've sent an email to #2 asking for opinions on what we should do. Have also put together a list of those who said "yes" and those who responded kinda yes-like but didn't make it completely clear. The total for the combined groups is 25 monkeys. I'll try to keep this on the sidebar in hopes that more will notice it.
• Wirwulf (and others) - postcards aren't very personal. They don't even need a return address. The idea, last year, was to send cards from our various locations with "happy birthday", with maybe some thanks for the work she does for us, and a user name for a signature. They probably cost less than a dollar to send from the US to NZ. If you, or anyone else, is interested in sending a postcard (in addition to or instead of $$), I'll give you the address as soon as Alnedra reminds me what it is if she still has it. Otherwise, there is an alternative source.
• To continue the comment marathon, I've got about 20 "yes" responses and 5 or so that might have been "yes", but I'm not sure. Many thanks to those who've offered, but, overall, surely there are a lot more monkeys who would feel good about recognizing MonkeyBashi. How many of of you spent five bucks on a MetaFilter membership who haven't done anything here? Lots of $5 donations would help a lot.
• Checked out PayPal, and need to know whether any of you would be using debit or credit cards to pay so I know which type of account to set up. I suspect that I need to do the business type account, but just want to make sure.
• I don't belong to MeFi, and never will -- this is It, far as I'm concerned -- haven't time to go deeper into Blogland.
• Sorry for the delay. Some suggestions from the other side: I'm fond of small things. A poem, perhaps? Haiku? Send them all to one person and have that person bomb the wiki on B-Day. Or bomb it personally. Make sure she knows who each one is from. Postcards are good. Novelty baby clothes are affordable and simple to post - I found and lost a very cool site many years ago that included a set of mittens with Love/Hate on them and onesies with Che Guevara and other just plain strange things. How about a favourite local history book, like a Winston Churchil biography or the history of Icelandic Punk, even a local craft magazine with bonus points for not being in English. Definately put your name in the front. -- #2
• I think I'm in love with #2. I emailed him about some of the suggestions we've gotten. Diaper services are kind of old-hat (though I really think that the old fashioned ones are better for baby skin) and he likes to cook, so hiring a cook won't work. He did say he'd look into the cost of a cleaning service, since tracicle is a cleanliness freak. He gave her a spa coupon some time ago, but she never used it. Since he's into small, individual gifts, he thought DreamWeaver was too pricy, but, if we could get it with the student discount, it could be a "token" (his term.) So, I'm still not sure where we're going with this. I've collected email addresses for those who said "yes", and will put together a dlist to collect what you want to contribute. But, I do like his thoughts about quirky, individual gifts, but am not sure that "from all the monkeys" is not the way to go, since the alternative would leave out those who don't have the resources to put up some cash, but who are happy with our playground and who shouldn't be left out, even if they can't afford more than a post card, or are too busy to shop for the perfect thing. (If you can parse that sentence, you'll get a "get out of jail free" card.
• *sighs* Anything with my name on it, where I have to write a message and pretend that you give a damn what I think, is personal. I loathe those group cards shoved on me at work, where I have to act like anyone even remembers who the hell I am. For cases where I'm just one of the crowd, I'd rather give money. And I will, gladly. It's like a gift collection at the office for somebody you don't know well at all, but think is very cool. I'm just saying, cards and letters are awesome for people who are close personal friends of the Prime Monkeys. But it would be nice if there were a less you-remember-me-right? option for those who are merely faces in the crowd, too.
• Who said that? Who is this "Wurwilf" n00b? Seriously ... please stop being so hard on yourself, Wurwilf. I, for one, give a damn what you think. I'm sure Tracy does too, as well as many other monkeys. That said, I know what you mean about signing cards at work. I hate that bullshit. path -- I'd like to send Bashi an ugly Winnipeg postcard, please email me her address. I'd also like to contribute a few bucks for a present, but it would have to be money order probably (I can't get a paypal account. okthanxbye!
• hey path, Fundable just launched and it may be just what y'all are trying to get together here. Group goes in towards a common goal and all paypal payments go towards that goal. I haven't dug deep into the site, but the minute I saw it I thought of this venture.
• I just saw the fundible link on MeFi and was about to post it here. So instead I guess I'll just bump this to the sidebar.
• What Koko said, especially to Wurwilf. I'll kick in a few bucks for the communal gift(s) if we go that way but I'd also like to send a suitably tacky card.
• genial - Fundable looks a little too structured. They require that you set goals for the number of participants and each donor contributes the same amount. If you don't reach the goal, all funds are returned (except for the PayPal fees.) The iPod pool was done mostly through a PayPal account that I set up, but several Monkeys sent checks or cash. I covered the PayPal fees in my donation. I also covered a shortfall due to some people not being able to give what they had promised. People gave what they wanted to rather than being asked to all contribute the same amount.
• I hope you were ultimately compensated for whatever shortfall you covered. The mention (way) above of $600 sounded like enough to cover an ipod, but I am probably missing something, not being an accountant or ipod owner. The drawback you describe re:Fundable also sounds like a good way to make sure you don't get put in a similar situation this time (if that's a concern for you, that is).
• you have me as a "yes," right?
• and put me down for a million billion dollar contribution.
• or trillion dollar, as we yanks say.
• all in pennies
• SideDish - you're on the list. But, you're going to have to deliver the pennies yourself. I do hope you'll put them in rolls. As soon as I find the time, I'll email all the yes-sayers. I'm a little hesitant to start collecting this soon, though, since we haven't heard from #2 about cost of a cleaning service. Anybody besides Koko want to send a postcard?
• I'll send a postcard too, what the heck!
• Here! Money (not alot, but whatever I can) and postcards :) if any monkey wants to send postcards but can't, give me some notice and a message, and I'll fire a couple more her way on your behalf.
• Put me down as a "yes" if it's not too late. I'm willing to send $ (but not through PayPal, if that's a problem) and I'd send a postcard, too.
• dayfat - PayPal is just one of the options. Checks, money orders and cash orders are ok. For the last three, I just need to give you (and whomever else) my snail mail address.
• PY - yes, $600 US was more or less the price of the big iPod back then. The PayPal fees, wire transfer fees and some defaults on contributions meant I spent more than I had intended, but I'm comfortable with that. Was just trying to point out why Fundable doesn't seem like an option in this case. I really couldn't see returning all contributions just because we didn't meet some guessed at contribution amount and number of people. Our hosts, here, have been really good to us. I think we should express our appreciation. A spreadsheet is convenient for tracking donations, and I can do those. Getting into a rule-driven situation doesn't seem to me to fit the spirit of this thing.
• Funds are low 'round these parts, but since Monkeyfilter has brought so many wonderful people into my life, I'm happy to pitch in & do what I can. Especially after this weekend's stern reminder of what life is like without the monkeyhouse...
• Thanks for all the info path, and for spearheading this effort. I'd like to send a post card too.
• WIll do money and a card, no paypal will send money order.
• Ok, finally got around to setting up a PayPal account for those who want to use it. I'll send an email to those who've said they'd contribute - and, the PayPal account name is the same as the email address in my profile. I'll add my snail mail address for those who want to go that route. PayPal will handle transfers and conversion for US$, Canadian$ Euros, British pounds, yen and Australian $. In addition, I'll take checks, money orders, and, I think PayPal will allow credit and debit card transfers. If your money order is not US, it'd be nice if you sent it in US$, but I can deal if you don't. At this point, I think we're getting tracycicle a cleaning service for however many hours we can afford. If you thought you said "yes" to contributing, but don't get an email, get in touch.
• Though I'd bring this back to the sidebar. I sent an email to those who said "yes" about a week ago. However, I did notice that most of the addresses in profiles are Yahoo of gmail and may be accounts folks don't check very often. So far I've heard from 11 out of 26. The money isn't needed till toward the end of June, but, well, I'm a fretter by nature.
• Path, count me in for paypal and postcard, please. Thanks!
• I'm in, with Paypal.
• fish tick & Fes - I'll send you an email with the details. Thanks! Thought you all might like an update. So far, pledges (including mine) are up to $515, of which I've collected $375. Several of you didn't commit to an amount, so the pledges total should go up. I need to get in touch with #2 to see if he thinks the whole thing should go to cleaning services, or if we should buy something off tracicle's wish list for part of it. If any of you who said "yes" earlier didn't get the email I sent out, let me know.
• I'm in, with Paypal.
• Oh, and I forgot to mention that I've asked Christophine to create a birthday card, or certificate, or whatever, from all the Monkeys, that we'll print and mail so that tracicle has something to open. I'll link to it once it's available on line.
• I never got an email - send another? fliss DOT vert AT gmail DOT com.
• Mygothlaundry: that's the one I used. I'll try it again.
• Hey- seems like Tracicle might be whelping at the moment, if I read her blog comment correctly...
• OMGOMGOMG!!111!! SOMEONE BOIL SOME WATER
• I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies.
• Ok, so those of you who've said they'd contribute and haven't please let me know if you're still going to. Some of you pledged a specific amount, and I'll cover those when I wire the money to #2, unless you want to opt out. Those who said "yes" with no amount - well, I can order things off her wish list and get them there in time for her birthday in July, if you still want to contribute, and that's 10 people. (Seems like a nice idea to send her something more personal at that time, so it's all cool.) .
• Push! Push! Breathe.
• huh? what comment? where? labor? huh? *panics, runs about flailing arms*
• False alarm. Stand down red alert.
• Sorry path. I totally forgot. I will get that money to you this weekend. Promise. Sorry!
• Thanks, Smo!
• me too. /disorganized
• Yeah, based on last year's experience, I started the fund drive early this time on the theory that people with real lives might get busy and forget.
• Yay, path! Donations from myself and the_bone have been paypalled. On reflection, that looks less hygenic than I'd hoped. (On a slightly more SFW note, thanks for organizing. If it weren't for monkeyfilter, I'd be sitting here with nothing to NSFW about) Move along, nothing to see here!
• Got them, thank you both!
• Do I detect some kind of monkeybusiness going on in LA? always the last to know
• of course there is. LA is monkey business headquarters.
• i'm bronzing that comment.
• I think you should put it on a banner for all future LA meetups.
• Another update. We're right at $600USD collected, with 8 or so Monkeys who said "yes" who haven't been able to contribute so far. I'm waiting to hear from #2 about wiring instructions and what a cleaning service would cost for a month or so, so I'll know whether we would have anything left over for a gift for tacicle's birthday in July. So, if there's anyone out there who'd still like to get in on this, gimme a "yes" and I'll email you the details on contributing.
• Better late than never!
• You weren't late.
• Not sure why this doesn't stay on the sidebar.
• It will stay on the sidebar if you set the options on your profile page high enough -- right beside "recent comments to disply". I keep mine at 1000000. Otherwise the earliest-dated threads fall off the sidebad.
• No, sidegood!
• Ach! sidecar? Headbad? Footgood? Wot boots it if he cannot type when mostly wot he writes is tripe!
• Ok, well, #2 has had other things on his mind, so I still have no instructions from him. I've sent him another email, but if I don't hear back soon, maybe I'll just buy stuff from tracicle's wish list and hope I can get it to her in time for her birthday. I could probably have it shipped directly, but it seems kinda tacky to send it unwrapped.
• Eek! Ook! Ach! O Number Two, get off the pot and tell poor path what she knows not!
• I don't think unwrapped would be tacky; alternatively you can use the Amazon wrapping options. I hate to think of you having to get the stuff, wrap it, and then ship it back out. But maybe I'm just really lazy.
• The Bump of Nosiness.
• I mailed my postcard!
• Ok, after much back and forth, here's the story. #2 was diverted by a baby being born, and cleaning services were booked up through the season, so we agreed that a DVD/R in our price range would be a good thing - he picked out the best on the market in his opinion , which was within our budget. I'm sending him the $$ and he'll buy it.
• That is cool, path. Thank you for making the effort. Many thanks to #2 as well! Many, many hugs to both of you.
• Hooray for path and michaelh!
• Hurray! Hurray! At last a gift is on the way. Many thankis, path and #2!
• Awesome!
• Thank you path and #2! Hurrah!
• Yay! If anyone says 'closure' I'll whomp them.
• Yay! Thanks for organizing this, path!
• many thanks to path for all the organizing and for #2 for making The Big Decision!
• Thanks, path & #2! That was close, sure.
• Whomp!
• There it is!
• The gift was purchased, the money is on its way to #2, and Tracy's blog now talks about the grand opening. And, thanks to all of you. The gift was from all the Monkeys, so you all participated Now, back to our regularly scheduled silliness. And good links. And personalities.