Presents for An Engineering Wife

Miniture working Sterling engine?

A nice SLR digital camera?

Nice leather briefcase or satchel?

Good suggestions!

Night Vision goggles. Ok.....that's actually what you should get me.

Well if she doesn't already have one (and works in a manufactuing environment) a leatherman is invaluable. You can turn screws & nuts, cut things, open boxes and during slack times, do your nails.

While I like this idea, if I got her one, she would think it was a "foryou-forme" gift. I already have a leatherman or multipurpose tool, try to think of another good "foryou-forme" gift. I don't have the miniature (or petite woman sized) Leatherman Micra, so this might be a good possibility.

If she doesn't have an electronic organizer (palm pilot ...), that could be good. If she does, check out what additions she might want (GPS, WiFi card...).

Your best bet: Ask her to make out a list of what SHE wants - and stick to the list.

When she's not at work, she doesn't want to think or be reminded about work. Our family schedules are not complicated enough to require an organizer, so I guess we would see electronic organizers as a work tools.

I did ask her for a list. She said she only wanted few music CDs, which doesn't seem like enough.

Ah, a husband's dilemma.

She said she wants a few music CDs. But is it really just that? Might she be hinting at something else? Could it be a night at a concert (Beach Boys perhaps)? A new stereo? Or could it possibly really be just a couple of CDs? Gosh! 'Be nice to be a mind reader eh?

Has she ever mentioned a song, band or album that she's been looking for for ages? If so, a diligent search might turn it up and she'd probably be very pleased.

regards,

Vulcan

Indeed. Perhaps a PDA for yourself. Then as you are walking down the sidewalk after a romantic dinner at your favorite bistro in the spring and she casually mentions how much she admires that XXXXXX you will be able to enter it in the PDA and look back at the trusty palm pilot in December and impress her with your infallible attention to her whimsy.

This of course only works if fashion and or trends have not changed in those few months......hmmmm.

Tigger,

I don't know how old she is, how does she spend her free time. Doing artistic, creative, or entertaining projects. doe shes like physical challenges, or mental challenges.

phoenix911

ps

Hey its the 18th, you still have almost a whole week, to do this.

She is 40ish. She reads a lot, but she would rather borrow books from the library than buy or get them as presents. She likes travel and vacations.

"She likes travel and vacations."

You just answered your own question. European Vacation? You don't say where your from, but someplace very warm this winter? Pacific South Seas? The Med? Down under? The world is your oyster. It would be win win for you. A romantic holiday. Memories for a lifetime....Priceless!

I'm with Bricktop on this one. Go for the vacation. It's something you can both enjoy together. Good Memories outlast material objects (unless you become afflicted with Alzheimer's), and provide much more enjoyment in the long term.

If you can, by all means go for the vacation. Even if all you can afford is a nice dinner and a one night stay in some neat place.

There may well come a time in your life when such events are out of the question.

Ed Weldon

Make the vacation engineering related like some of the wonders of the world. Start with the Pyramids or the Taj Mahal and go from there.

I went skiing with my daughter yesterday and told her about this blog. She said I was a nut. I told her a lot of people suggested a trip. She thought it would be a better gift for our anniversary in April. She usually plans out all our family trips in great detail. She didn't think there was enough time to get a good trip set up by Christmas.

She likes travel and vacations

A trip to the Smithsonian? A tour of a NASA facility? A ride in a Mig fighter or Abrams tank? A dip in the ocean in a nuclear sub?

If she doesn't like any of those, I certainly would like them!

wow... how does one go about getting a ride in a nuclear sub?????????????

one way is to talk to any Navy Recruiter......=D

After we were married a few years, I planned a trip to the Cape Kennedy Space Center and then another to the Smithsonian. They were fun trips. She used to kid me by singing the Beach Boy's "Aruba, Jamican ooo I wanna take ya" as "Smithsonian, the Space Center ooo I want to take ya". We had fun going to those places and we took our kids back there not to long ago.

My wife and family probably like vacations at sandy beaches or national parks the best.

May be trip in Space Shuttle! As she is engineer, certainly she would like it very much!

Hmmm, being a voracious reader myself, I recently got an Amazon Kindle ebook reader. She'd probably like that. But they are US$350 and currently sold out. You can get on the waiting list for a sometime after Christmas delivery.

I don't go anywhere without the Kindle anymore as it's also an audio book player, mp3 player, and has net access if you're within range of the Sprint system.

Umm, you don't say where you are so that may be a problem as the Kindle only has connectivity in the US but will carry 400-500 books to satisfy most any urge on out of network trips.

Hooker

An old car/sewing machine/radio/typewriter/steam engine/ or whatever floats her boat to restore?

Women are a nightmare to buy for...whatever you get will be wrong.
Got Mrs Cat some gorgeous silk pyjamas once...she said they were too good to wear (I hadn't planned on them being ON for very long )

We just buy 'sensible stuff' that we both want now...

Del

I am color blind, so I don't even try buy clothes anymore. I once bought her a multi-colored silk blouse. She called it her "multi-colored dream coat". She kept it so she could bring it out for a good laugh now and then.

Soo aaaa.. hows those silk jama's you bought yourself.

Reminds me of the joke about the prospective Bride and her mother shopping for he Trousseau.

The mother holds a pretty nightgown under the Bride's chin, all screwed up in a roll to check the color against the Bride's eyes..... The bride says that she wants to try it on properly to see how it fits etc and the mother gives her an old world look and says that thats is where it will be most of the time, so why bother!!!

LOL.

Can't give GA, as it is off topic

A telescope. Tell her you've secretly named a star after her, and she has to figure out which one.

Or, you can tell her that her gift is in the bedroom, but she has to give you a few minutes to get it ready and leave it on the bed. Then when she comes in she finds you there wearing only a bow.

Or better yet, a print out of this thread. That should give her enough laughs to last the rest of her life.

3Doug,

Thats a wonderful Idea, You can actually get a star named after her for real.

With official papers and the works.

Search the internet.

Naming the star !. There is no official as such in naming the star. The international astronomy community do not recognize any such movement. The method of naming the stars is well set, and you can not name the star in the name you wish.

There are some people, who have started a good business of naming the star at good amount of money. (I am also thinking of starting such a business.. should be florishing business)

Couple of years back, some person from my city paid the money to name the star in the name of some celebrity from my city only. I was invited to show THAT star. I clarified the matter to these people, but (obviously) there were not in mood to listen to me.

Ultimately, I showed (was almost forced to show) that 10th magnitude star to huge gathering of (fool) people and received good amount for conducting this program. (I am not sure if I showed the same star (the naming company had informed which was the internatioal designation of the star, which they named after the celebraty) or showed some other small star.

Thank you, I stand corrected.

Let me rephase that, "its the thought that counts."

Or better yet, a print out of this thread. That should give her enough laughs to last the rest of her life.

Decision is yours. May be, once she knows that you conducted a poll on the matter, you will be in soup.

Refer post 5..... Instaed of GPS, she may love to have PND in your pocket.

Telescope sounds good, unfortunately we got one just a few years ago. Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

What about my other suggestion, the one with the bow? And I'm not talking archery, but then maybe I am....

For which one?

Travel, of cause, no things could be match this, tell her find a the best way to save money and have a very longer distance than any other travellers.

a man have spent only 3000 USD to travel the world and even lived in a 5 star hotels in Europe for merely 1pond and took free charge aeroplane. Could you do it?

Come to China to see Icelatern for northern winter landscape in Harbin. to Hainan for subtropics sea swiming and charming Shangri_la from Spring City--Kunming.

Countless souvenirs will fulfill with your bags. and will let you all glad for a year.

Do you know where it is?

Sorry I cannt see it clearly.

It seems ------ thank you for using x x windows terminals

please x machine,

I shall process this pic and then tell you again.

It is :

Thank you for using ShiDa windows terminal,

please close the machine.( or you can close machine now)

ps,

Shida is an application software company in China, which develops mainly chinese acounting, financial and management software someting like EPRII etc.

But most of kernel database is still copy or clone foreigners'.

sorry, alway chinglish.

the last sentence should be

shut down, please.

[thank you for selecting shida windows terminal,

shut down , please, now]

Good , that means you adopted the Shida software.

However, its a wonderful things that many guys from various countries study in a class.

I like this circumstance.

Woo!!! Not bad a suggestion.

How much gratuity do you get for talks like this on average?

Free flights through china sounds good, maybe I should try it myself.

Can I have your telephone number for reference?

Good suggestions. I like Brookstone. They have interesting gifts.

Some tickets to an Engineering convention,

the book "Traveling for dummies"

a nerdy engineer outfit?

I really like the Levenger website. Thanks for this suggestion. I was going to get her the Lapster Lap Desk Tray, but she saw the print-out, which spoiled the idea. I like to do woodworking so I might make her one of my own design for valentine's day. I will probably get a reading light along with other gifts.

My daughter and I like to cook and will cook complicated things. My wife and son, not so much. If my wife sees a long complicated recipe, she will say, "This is science fiction, it's never going to happen".

Magazine subscriptions sound a like a good idea too. I will have to take a look a bookstore to decide which one she would like best.

My wife loves chocolate and that used to be an easy gift, but chocolate bothers her stomach now so this gift pick is out now too.

Dude. Seriously. That's a good answer.

A vintage tape(film?)recorder could be good:

I'm a female engineer,I liked one of the ideas here about a print-out of this forum!

I've forwarded this to my partenr too!

You say she is an Engineer, likes travel and likes things to be tidy and in their place.....well how about this...

http://www.puzzlesusa.com/cgi-bin/item/101077

A 3-D world jigsaw.

A box of cigars & a years subscrition to Hustler or Popular mechanics magazine.

the days of good english has went!

Have a browse through the Gifts for Engineers site, you might find something there or perhaps the NASA store.

How about Mechano Set for Elders?

Using 1" AF nuts/bolts and 'easy-grip' spanners!

Honestly though, mecano set is a very good idea.

When we first started out the nagging question of necessity vs gifts cropped up. So I got my wife got a milling machine ( I desperately needed one). Three years later, a snowblower..... followed by a 76 Ford 3/4 ton with plow for her birthday (this time it was gift wrapped...business was picking up!). Twelve years later we, kids included, took off on a round the world sail for two years (birthday present).

This year and 25 years into it she's getting a ring and necklace with green demantoid garnets and red rubies. A part of this jewelry is made from the auto she was driving that smashed into my brand new one (it's how we met...25 yrs ago).

As she is over 40, maybe her old calculator is out of date. Try the latest Texas Instruments

http://education.ti.com/educationportal/sites/US/productCategory/us_graphing.html

TI 89 Titanium is very portable and perfect for outdoors work.

TI Voyage 200 does laptop work (basic text, excel and graph) in conditions when a laptop battery wouldn't even let you work.

Another engineering related gifts might be attending an event in her area of expertise (http://www.spe.org/spe-app/jsp/siteFunctionality/meetingCalendar.jsp) or a subscription to a professional organization (ww.spe.org).

My girlfriend asked me to go together to a survival camp, and my best friend invited me to a safari in Zaire, so maybe that kind of things is in fashion. You could check on those too.

For now, it seem occupied. Once it's vacant - let me know

Hell no - if it becomes surplus to need, I'll wait until I think everyone has forgotten, then use it myself.

Hello Tigger,

Have you checked out www.giftsforengineers.com? You'll find some pretty unique gift ideas.

Have a great holiday season!!

Very good answer! As one fella said, there's no life like a happy wife!! My gal is into quilting, so I make darned sure she has every gadget that she needs! Merry Christmas.

darned... tee hee I geddit...

Since you're an Engineering Wife yourself, I have to give your post a lot of weight. I asked her for a list last Friday. She just wants CDs Sugarland, Dido, and Sarah McLachlan. This does not seem like enough.

I tried listening to her last summer when we were in an aquarium store. My wife said she would like a salt water aquarium someday with clown fish. We have one freshwater aquarium. So, I purchased a salt water aquarium set up shortly after during a sale. A month or two ago, a neighbor said she had a large aquarium tank we could have. Later, my wife said she did not want another aquarium in the house and she would smash the aquarium it with a hammer if I picked it up. So, I plan on returning the salt water aquarium. Or, should I give her the aquarium anyway and see if she smashes it?

How about a nice set of hammers?

Yup it's good to make stuff.
I made this Deer sculpture for Mrs Cat for a Big Birthday that I'd been angsting about for a year!

Dunno WTF Kris is doing on it!

Del

He's obviously attracted by the traces of nut!

Looks like Mrs. Cat likes it.......... did anyone tell you she looks alot like a squirrel.

oooh thats Kris on it. Sitting on the head and chewing his nuts.

Doe ! I've bin spotted

Those legs are superb, they make it look realy life-like. The deers legs ain't bad either !. Very cool .

Having forgot to buy 'er indoors" a card one time i was forced to make one. Great response, it became a habit. problem is, not being very arty, it takes me hours to think of a theme and more hours to execute it. Finally i realised that her cards were costing upwards of 250€.

As for presents, after >30years I've never managed to get anything without getting a complaint in return. Answer.....NO PRESENTS! If she wants something, she asks, WE go and get it. Not so romantic but it does save a lot of arguments.

p.s. She bought me a vacuum cleaner for christmas a couple of years ago.

Good luck

Chas

My wife of almost 24 years likes homemade gifts too. She likes a good deal. She does not to spend money on herself or get expensive gifts from her family. I used to make small sculptures and jewelery. I made our wedding rings from old rings and jewelery pasted down from grandparents. My son like to make small sculptures too. I have been thinking about setting up some of my casting equipment to show my son how cast metal jewelery and small figures. I will not have enough time to make something by this Christmas, but I will be ready by another holiday.

I suggested the Spa thing to my daughter (she would go to), but she remined me that my wife doesn't like strange people touching her, which I should be glad about.

Browning makes a pink and black Buckmark target pistol, you could always introduce her to the wonderful world of target shooting.....

Or you could buy her a Ruger LCP and a gift certificate to get her Concealed Carry license training in your state. It would show her you love and care for her and want her to be safe at all times.

Or you could do both....

Duh, season 1-4 of Battlestar Galactica.

Yessssssss! Battlestar Galactica is the best show, ever.

I like Battlestar Galactica, but my wife never got into the show. We liked the last Star Trek show with the captain from Quantum Leap. The star trek with Picard was good also. I got her the show's music sound track for a few years ago, which she liked.

Ummm, Lego's???

-Anon-

being an engineer, she probably still has her brothers set she played with as a child

Good point...

Unless an even younger sibling stole them??

Hooker

But they didn't have Legos Mindstorm back then.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000E4FDAE/ref=nosim/tirebouchon-20

http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Mindstorms-Robotics-Invention-System/dp/B00005R6ZI/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_k2a_2_img?pf_rd_p=304485601&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-2&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B000E4FDAE&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0HRMHWWNZYNDW6HFSMZX

http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-MindStorms-9754-Dark-Developer/dp/B000VHTTZ4/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_k2a_1_txt?pf_rd_p=304485601&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-2&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B000E4FDAE&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0HRMHWWNZYNDW6HFSMZX

Brad

The best thing you can do for any engineer is to walk into KB Toys and get her Magnetix. Kiddish? Yes! But it never fails to bring happiness and laughter. Get more than one set though, they are best when you have lots to work with.

Also, it depends on what kind of engineering. If she is an electrical engineer, get her some of those pushbuttons or ridiculus flip switches that they have in radio shack (they have nice prices online). Perhaps the simplest of her major will be a great gift. I dream of having all the buzzers in the world!

Does she like to cook or bake? There are lots of things out there that could make her life easier. Get her a spice rack or a kitchenaid mixer. It is all up to your budget, but nothing says 'I love you' more than something that she can use on a daily basis.

None of these apply? Get something sweet that is engraved at Things Remembered. Hope that helps! If all else fails, get her something that makes her laugh!

I think we got our kids Magnetix in the past. They were fun. She majored in Chemical Engineering (BS) and Mechanical Engineering (MS). She ran nuclear reactors briefly before practicing environmental engineering for ~20 years.

I don't think the electrical switches or buzzers would be of interest, but I could see that an electrical engineering wife would like them.

The spice rack is a good suggestion, but last year I made her a spice rack, which she liked. She's happier if my daughter or I do the cooking. Let's leave it at that. We already have a kitchenaid mixer.

I will look at Things Remembers, but she doesn't usually like knick-knacky things.

Here's another idea. If your wife likes to be able to fix things in the house she needs access to simple hand tools. Of course she should have access to anything in the shop she wants. But that shouldn't require she spend an hour looking for it.

The answer is for her to have a basic tool set of her own that lives in some house area of her choice preferably separate from the shop. Each tool should be marked in a distinctive way so there is absolutely no doubt whose it is and where it belongs. Either colored electrical tape or spray paint works well. Most of these tools will be on the small side.

These tools should not be castoffs from your collection. They should be brand new and preferably several notches in quality above anything of yours. Each tool should be well thought out and directly applicable to the things she is likely to do. That pretty much rules out a mechanic's tool set full of socket wrenches unless she's a real gearhead.

Any kind of plumbing specialty tools are a no-no unless she specifically asks for them and there is no special gift giving occasion like Christmas and birthdays involved and you already have an appointment with a marriage counselor. Violate this last rule and you will hear about it at least 3 times a year till one of you dies.

My list:

Pliers: diagonal cutters large and small, needle nose small and medium, ordinary serrated tooth slip joint, small water pump, small wire stripper for 12-20 gauge.

Individual screwdrivers: flatblade sizes from 00 up to #3 or #4; phillips 00 to #2 or 3. Also a convertible screwdriver with a good variety of the oddball interchangeable tips like torx and square drive.

Wrenches: small open end/box 1/4" up to 9/16" and metric 10,12 and 14mm. Small and medium crescent adjustable. Allen sets inch and metric. Mark all metric with a distinctive additional color. (I paint mine or tape them red)

Small and medium scratch awls.

Razor knife and an xacto knife or two with lots of extra blades.

A small to medium size hammer

A 6 inch level

Several tweezers ranging in size from small enough to take out tiny splinters to large enough to pick a pea size object out of a pot of boiling water.

A small and a medium size flashlight with alkaline batteries.

A good high impedance DVM if she knows how to use it. A 120/240 volt plug-in circuit tester with the little colored lights.

A 10-12 foot tape measure and steel machinist scales both 6" and 12". A 12 inch plain steel straight edge for rough work like guiding a razor knife.

Various size scissors. Some can be the inexpensive import throwaways; but by all means see if you can also find a set of the super sharp pricey small scissors the craft hobbyists use.

A couple of high quality scrapers or putty knives in different sizes. One of those round edged plastic scrapers that's about the hardness of fingernails.

A small plastic divider box to hold things like thumb tacks, picture hangers and miscellaneous fasteners.

A selection of tapes and adhesives in small containers. A small spray can of WD40 and a can of 3 in1 oil. A small container of Goof-Off or one of those liquids that lifts the acrylic adhesives used on product labels and price tags.

Possibly a small lightweight cordless drill/screwdriver. Don't go cheap or too heavy in weight here. If you buy one of those 19 volt monsters you'll be buying it for yourself. And remember buy an extra battery for it.

If she wants a saw buy high quality and keep it small and fine toothed for ease of use and safety. You want the big sawing jobs to go out in the shop where there hopefully is a good well mounted vise.

And don't forget some good protective gloves and a pair of well fitted safety glasses or comfortable goggles.

The hidden agenda here is that you will have readily available tools to do a lot of those quickie in-house repairs yourself. If she really loves you she may even let you use them.

Ed Weldon

"The answer is for her to have a basic tool set of her own"

Ed, are you completely insane? One thing is for sure, you'll always be able to find them, because they will be always where the sun don't shine, sorry for you!

However, you could put this into your master plan. She opens up presents, the tool kit, then all the other hardware you mentioned. Then you say, oh, wait a minute, I forgot this little small one.....rummage around the bottom of the box.... oh, here it is, 2 TICKETS to, huh, what are they for, let's see,.... PARIS

Bricktop -- I'm not insane. This is a list of things that I've given her over 45 years of our marriage. She asked for most of them. But I have to admit that few were given at Christmas time and the ones that were went into the Christmas stockings, that are reserved by our warped family custom for the practical jokes.

This type of gift is obviously not for every woman. Not every guy is as lucky as I am.

Ed Weldon

Ed, there's a saying that "all women are sisters", but that's not really true. You gotta do what works for you, or, what really work for her. The point is that you really have to listen to her, no, not just ACT like your really listening, but really listen. OK, not in our DNA. If you have a LTR, you must be doing something right.

Believe me, somewhere in your many conversations, she'll let on to what she wants. The OP sounds young, what a wonderful thing. He's just prodding along, like we did, trying to get a feel to do the right thing. He obviously love this woman. He cares. Perhaps we can help.

If you've found the right woman, shower her with love, but still bust her ass to keep it alive, and make her work for it a little. Women don't like pushovers.

I still feel like a monumental trip is in order, because, she likes to travel!