Geeky Christmas Gift Memories and Holiday Tech

Hey, this is Steve blue and you are listening

to the geek cast radio network You are tuned

in to Steve Megatron on altered geek Hello and

welcome to Altered geek. I'm your host, Steve

Megatron, and joining me on this adventure into

geekdom is TFG1 Mike. Hello. Hello. Hello. So

is everybody full? Thanksgiving was a little

while ago, even though it feels like it was three

months ago. But is everybody full? Did everybody

have enough turkey or chicken or burgers or pizza

or whatever you eat on Thanksgiving? I don't

know anymore. Yes. As people can tell by the

title, it is a very altered geek Christmas 2021.

And we're gonna start out talking about our best

gifts in several different categories. So I've

got this as kids, which is 12 and under. Obviously

we're... Only gonna remember like four to twelve

because hello most three -year -olds don't room

I would think most three -year -olds don't remember

and those gifts are like play school stuff and

things like that and then we've got best Xmas

gifts as teens so 13 to 19 and Then best Xmas

gifts in our 20s and 30s and then just for me

because Steve isn't this old yet Mike's best

gifts slash altered tech in the 40s Yeah, about

So Yes, sir. I go first. All right two that I

can remember the most Twelve and under from my

early years. I think I've mentioned this before

and I think I've tried to Google it and find

it again But I haven't had a chance yet, but

I'll do that later was a Fisher price Flashlight,

this is when I was like five and six years old

Fisher Price flashlight that had the regular,

you know, the flashlight bulb, but it also had

like a red and a green covering. So if you turn

the knob, various filaments would go, or not

filaments, but various shades, you know, like

covers would go over the actual bulb and turn

the light red or green. I thought that was so

awesome. I loved that as a kid. I went with it

everywhere. that I could go with it. Other ones,

let's see. When I was nine, I got G1 Rodimus.

So I had G1 Rodimus Prime because I have pictures

of me and Keebus Kane in 1989, Keebus Kane, Florida.

And I took that toy all over the hotel. I forget

which year it was off the top of my head, whatever.

And I'm not looking at any info right now, folks.

Whatever year the Sega Master System came out,

I either got that for Christmas or my birthday

because my birthday is February 9th, so it's

kind of close to Christmas, sort of. But I actually

went, I've told this part of the story before,

my mom and I went into the local Massachusetts

-based Child World toy store, which was literally

right, it was... Toys R Us's competition, but

it was a local chain to Massachusetts. And she

said, okay, pick one and that's what you're going

to get for Christmas. My dumb ass picked the

Sega frigging master system over the Nintendo

entertainment system. So whatever year that was

because I had to have been 89 90 somewhere around

there something I forget and I'll probably look

it up when you're telling you know talking about

your gifts, but I rectified that as a 12 year

old in 1992 because I wanted these Super Nintendo

and I got it nice. What about you? well, I Looking

at when I was a kid, obviously like three. I'm

pretty sure I got Fisher price and various, you

know learning Toys and then I remember my fourth

I believe I Got a ton of Batman stuff could be

wrong. It was either that or Ninja Turtles I

know Ninja Turtles was my fifth birthday or for

fifth year The fourth year, I'm pretty sure I

got Batman, like the Batcave and some of the

other stuff. Year five, I'm pretty sure I got

Ninja Turtle stuff. Year six, I think, it was

six or seven I got, because over the course of

like those couple of years, I got pretty much

every Batman and Ninja Turtle toy. And then I

got into Star Trek. And then I got the plethora

of all that. And then I think one year we got

the GI Joe headquarters. Mm hmm. Along with various

of the 12 inch GI Joe figures and the giant Jeep,

which if you dismounted the the cannon on the

Jeep, it was very lethal. Quite painful, too,

if you got hit with it. Yeah, we used it as projectiles

to hit each other. Me and my brothers. So. Yeah,

we did that and then a Couple of a couple of

those years we got I think more of the same stuff

like more more Star Trek more GI Joe more of

Batman and then when around the time I hit 10

I want to say nine or ten I got into Beast Wars.

And then. I remember getting I mean, granted,

every year I got like books and I got, you know,

of Star Trek and various other things. But I

remember getting from my first. Few Beast Wars

figures, I got. Grimlock. Mm hmm. the 97 edition

and then the the cheetor and then the low snarl

and then Primal and then Megatron. Oh, wow. Within

the span of like two to three years. I think

it was no, it must have been like two years because

they didn't sell those ones. They were already

moving on to Transmetal. But yes, so I got all

those and. I actually got a guanus to which is

the only surviving Beast Wars figure from when

I was a kid. Cool only because I gave it to my

brother And then he gave it back to me the last

time I was in Michigan so So yeah, that's the

only one I have left out of that that collection

although I've regained most of them but yeah,

I those were pretty much what I got between those

years and Then I remember getting Because I think

trans metals came there after I got I want to

say Megatron. No, I didn't get them for Christmas.

I got them. I think I got them for birthday.

But yeah, for Christmas, those were the ones

I got. And then after that, I kind of I don't

know. I kind of faded out as far as what I got

for Christmas for a while. Not really remembering

what it was other than started to get like boomboxes

and portable CD players and that sort of thing.

Very cool. All right. Other ones I can remember,

like you said, obviously action figures. I had

all kinds of action figures, from Masters of

the Universe to Mask to some Transformers. What

else did I have? I had a lot of, okay, they're

not obscure, because it was really popular at

the time, but I had Captain Planet figures, but

I mean, that's just one show, one toy line. There

isn't a Captain Planet universe to my knowledge.

You want to talk about a property that's been

dead for 30 years since the cartoon ended, which

is kind of sad considering where the environment

is. But anyway, I had Captain Planet figures.

I had Dick Tracy figures from the 1990 film.

I had James Bond Jr. figures. I had a plethora

of just a small, there's a photo of me somewhere,

I think it's on Facebook or I might have it on

my computer or something, of me just sitting,

standing there, sitting there on the floor with

all my toys out. Some are leaned up against Castle

Grayskull because I had the 1982 Castle Grayskull

or whenever Castle Grayskull came out, I don't

want to sit here and pull a Kevin Smith, but

I had that. Let me ask you this, and I'm not

trying to get too personal, but hell, we've known

each other almost X number of years now. How

old were you when your parents got divorced?

Ten. Okay, you were ten. I was two. Toys were

at two and three years old and for you, I mean,

for I might have started to really get it. But,

you know, I was a slow learner because I was

born brain damaged anyway. But by the time I

was five to twelve, I would always, you know,

have toys at my mom's house, which I lived with

her full time or I'd have toys at my dad's house.

And one of the strangest things for me was I

never actually like for us and Christmas. We

were going all over the place With my mom's side

of the family like we would have Christmas at

my grandma's would have Christmas at my aunt

and uncle's we like we made the rounds kind of

thing and I don't ever remember ever Doing any

kind of Christmas thing like that with my dad.

I if I did I just don't remember it. So anyway

How was I talking about? the Christmas the the

So the toys with them being divorced, for some

odd reason, I kept maybe one or two villains

at my mom's house and one or two heroes at my

dad's house. But at one point, specifically to

Masters of the Universe, I can remember all of

the good guys at my mom's house and all of the

bad guys at my dad's house. Interesting. That's

just. It's just the way it was. Oh, and the other

thing was, and I don't ever remember ever playing

with this because it was at my dad's house. I

had both. Actually, I do remember playing with

it one time because I picked the microphone up

once. I don't remember any details, but I had

Castle Grayskull and I had Snake Mountain. Snake

Mountain was at my dad's house. And then I've

told this part of the story before another podcast

at. Six years old in 1986. My dad said I was

too old for toys and he sold all of the toys

that I had at his house including snake mountain

So, yeah Yay But Christmas and toys and action

figures it was all such such fun and interesting

things and then As we get into our teen years

and And all of that, how was it for you? Because

my story is a little different than most people,

but how was it for you with divorced parents

going into your teens and celebrating Christmas

and gift giving and all of that? Well, the gift

giving didn't really change at my mom's. It was

pretty much the same. We kind of got most of

what we wanted. When it came down to certain

things, we, like at my dad's, I think he gave

us like, I don't know, it was like anywhere,

I think it was like 50 bucks to spend or something.

And we could pretty much pick out what we wanted

and wrap it and put it under the tree. It was

pretty simplistic. When it when it came to my

mom's we didn't have a clue what it was It was

just you know stuff under the tree some of it

we wanted some of it We didn't know, you know,

whether we're gonna use out of it, you know,

my mom kind of paid attention to that but I don't

know I It definitely wasn't as impactful and

I honestly just think I started to grow out of

it just didn't care Yeah by that point so It

was it was definitely different I mostly just

got to this point where things I wanted to buy,

I just bought. It wasn't nearly as memorable

as it was prior to the divorce, but again, I

think I was just kind of growing out of it too.

That's the thing with me, not necessarily because

my parents were divorced, because that ship sailed

long ago. Sort of expectation of oh you're growing

up. You're becoming a teenager you're Supposed

to grow out of playing with toys You're supposed

to move on to other things like sports and things

like that and don't get me wrong as a disabled

kid I played the hell out of some sports for

the most part But I was never ever going to be

you know varsity quarterback or the the best

hitter on the baseball team or the best gut checker

in the hockey team or anything like that. Cause

again, my first 12 and a half, 13 years, I grew,

I was born and raised and grew up in Massachusetts

and that's a whole other lifestyle compared to

everywhere else in this country. And it's just

different. And it was awesome. And it was, you

know, we, We just had all these things going

on. And then in 1993, New Year's of 1993, my

mom had a nervous breakdown. My dad came up,

she signed custody over to him. And then I went

to Kentucky for a number of years. Two and a

half, almost two and a half years were just nightmarish

years. Details that I will talk about in another

podcast. Yeah, Christmases didn't really matter

anymore when I was 13, 14, and 15. And after

that, I was in states care until I was 19, because

I actually had to extend into states care in

order to graduate. And this is part of the story,

and I don't want to bring this down because it's

Christmas, but my dad held me back. in middle

school, eighth grade year, because I failed health

and P .E. Now, I think I've said this before

on shows. So basically, if I wanted to get my

high school diploma, I had to, when you're award

of the state, it's the same thing as when you're

with your parents. At 18 years old, they maybe

give you a knapsack or something, and they kick

you out, and they say, okay, go out into the

world and make your mark. You're 18, you're an

adult. See you later. Come home for dinner on

Sundays if you want, but you don't live here

anymore kind of thing. It's the same thing with

the state. Any state, as far as I know, any state,

but I was in the state of Kentucky at the time

and it's one of those things where I had to willingly

extend my state commitment for one year so I

could graduate high school. So yeah, Christmases

as a teen, I don't remember too much about them

because I was going between group homes and foster

homes and other things. And there was sort of

the Christmas reunion with my mom in 1996, but

that wasn't really like, I don't know, that was

94 when I did that. 96 was we did have a Christmas

reunion, but it wasn't really anything To write

home about sadly Yeah, I don't I don't remember

anything as far as like my teen years, but yeah

I wasn't really told you can't get these things.

You're not allowed to do this. Yeah. Yeah, I

mean they didn't really care I I went I Remember

getting Transmental to Megatron For Christmas

one year as I couldn't drive myself to Walmart,

but I was to Pick it up right and I was ecstatic

that it was able to get it but yeah, I mean I

Don't know I just yeah, I don't remember much

about it, but I remember working a lot. I remember

one year though. I bought a I bought the Nintendo

GameCube. Mm -hmm. But the stipulation was, if

I bought it, because we didn't have video game

systems at my mom's, if I bought it, we had to

share. Mm -hmm. I had to share it with everybody.

It became a family gift. Which, don't get me

wrong, it irritated me, because I paid for it.

Well, I didn't know. that it was a family gift

necessarily to some degree because when I moved

out or I was going to move out because I got

in a fight with my mom about my dating life,

what had happened was I was told to leave and

in the process of doing so, I tried to take my

game console with me and I was abruptly told,

no, that's a family gift. Oh, Lord. And I was

not allowed to take it. Wow. And so I was a little

irritated. I can imagine. Because I bought this

game console. I had these games that I wanted

and I was not allowed to have any of it. And

so. What I did is after I'd moved out years later

Mary and I I what's funny is we had a family

gift at my dad's from my aunt and it was the

Sega Genesis used With a certain amount of games

so I had that and then we went bought a used

PlayStation 2 mm -hmm because I couldn't afford

a real regular one and I bought a used Super

Nintendo and And I bought a used Nintendo GameCube,

and I re -bought everything. Killed me. And so

I had all these game consoles, and I'm like,

yeah, I get to play this, this, this, this. And

so what had happened years later, I dumped the

game consoles because... I didn't just didn't

have room for him. The PlayStation 2 I dumped

it because the memory card went bad. I dumped

the GameCube. I dumped the Super Nintendo like

I dumped them all at the same time. And then

what was funny is we got a Nintendo Wii and my

brother gives me back because he was the last

kid in the house. He gave me the Nintendo GameCube

and all the games. Mm -hmm that I originally

bought. Oh wow I was like, oh that was awesome.

And then I was able to use the GameCube like

my controller for the GameCube. Yeah Spectacular

because I could use it on the Wii Yep, and so

I did for years even after I sold the consoles

but yes, I mean it was just yeah some of those

things I remember but In into my my 20s though,

like things were drastically different on gift

Yes before before we get to the get to the 20s

just some information so everybody doesn't Feel

like screaming at their at their eye devices

or phones or whatever The release date for the

Sega Master System was September of 86 it ran

from 86 to 92 The introductory price for the

US was $200. That's in 1986. From 2001 to 2007.

So technically the GameCube this year is 20 years

old. Holy crap. The GameCube was released November

18th. 2001, and it cost $199. So 1986, $200 got

you a Sega Master System. 2001, $200 got you

a Nintendo GameCube. I bought it the year after

because I only paid $99. OK, well, but I'm just

saying, so the information is out there. So people

don't think I'm a moron, which I already know

I am. So it's OK. But yes, the roaring 20s for

gifts was drastically different. Yes, yes it

was take it away sir so I That that's when I

actually got the we was one of those years in

my 20s I like a lot of the gifts mesh for me

at this point. I can't remember most of them,

but The few I mean I do remember some but like

I got a Bluetooth Earpiece one year mm -hmm for

my phone And so I could talk hands -free because

I worked with the car a lot. And I, being an

idiot, put it in my pocket and it got washed.

And it was like, I mean, it was 25 bucks, but

it still was painful because I was like, I'll

never be able to use this again. I tried to get

it to work, but it just was like, no. So, yeah,

I mean, I I remember some of those things I got.

It was kind of Black Friday, but Christmas at

the same time, I couldn't quite use it until

Christmas just because that was the deal that

we'd made. I waited in line on Black Friday and

got a Xbox 360. Oh, wow. Very cool. With Arkham

Asylum or not. No, Arkham City. Yeah, it was

Arkham City at the time, yeah. Arkham City. And

I was ecstatic. And I watched Batman Beyond Return

of the Joker on my mp3 player because I converted

it So yeah, so I mean that was fun and then you

know some of the other years then we then we

had kids and Then it was more about them and

less about us. And so we got I still get to this

day For years, I've gotten the Christmas nerds

Frosty nerds from right, right. Yeah, but they

only like it was funny because in Michigan there

was only one store you could find them Here I

can find them everywhere Wow, yeah, any any Walmart

any King supers which is Kroger and the country

same it they have the same logo but anyways,

yeah, I was ecstatic that I was able to get them

and I I was like, yeah, so every year Mary buys

me Uh, like there was one year, I think she bought

me 82 of them And they're a bucket piece. So

it was just funny It took it. I I burned through

those pretty quick, which is also why my my teeth

cannot handle the damage anymore They yeah, they

take their toll but uh, but yeah, so like I got

even this christmas like we've we opened like

I know this will come out probably after christmas,

but We opened our gifts early because we're not

gonna be around on Christmas Day. So, even this

year, I got a case of Christmas nerds. As well

as slippers, because our floors are freezing.

Right, right, yeah. I'm like, yeah, so that part's

nice, but yeah. It's definitely more about the

kids now, but I don't get I get I don't get toys

I get electronics and Mostly things we need because

It's turned into more of just you know things

we've mentioned in passing that we want. Yep

Because throughout the year we just buy what

we want anyway Yeah, that's true for me in my

in my 20s and 30s Again, I was moving around,

I was doing various things. I didn't have a steady

girlfriend and any of that kind of stuff. I believe

there was one, it was at least Christmas of 2000

or 2001. My ex, Ginny, who was in Mississippi,

I think we had a really good Christmas that year

if I remember correctly. I don't think anything

went wrong or anything was bad or anything like

that. After that, from March of 2001 up until

April of 2004, I was bouncing around the Northeast.

I was in Massachusetts, I was in Pennsylvania,

I was here, I was there, I was doing all kinds

of stupid... Stuff and in 2003 I ended up back

in in June of 2003 I ended up back in Louisville,

Kentucky and in 2004 I ended up in there in the

the the old one of the old group homes I ended

up in their HUD program at the time That lasted

a few years until I started working for the company

That lasted till 2010 So I'm 30 by that time.

It's mainly just me Getting stuff from my mom.

Like I The funny thing is when I was a kid there

was one year like my grandmother on my mom's

side She would buy for everybody. No matter what

she would just Throw money in cards. She would

buy all like if any of the grandchildren said

Grandma, I want this or Nana. I want this or

I want that or whatever. Please please please

please please Usually when we went to grandma's

house on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and that's

the other thing we talk about in a minute is

how we celebrate, like where was celebrated where

and what days and whatever. We'll talk about

that in a few minutes. But, you know, whenever

we would go over there, we'd have like six gifts

from grandma. One year we tried to do the family

pulls names out of a hat. And whoever you get,

that's the gift that you buy for. You don't buy

for everybody else. Well, Nana didn't really

want to follow that that year. She wanted to

still buy for everybody, and she still bought

for everybody. I remember my Aunt Judy, my mom's

sister, she was livid that my grandmother had

bought gifts for everybody still. Oh, memories.

You know, for me in my 40s, I mean, with Karen

passing away, and I don't know, we did the Thanksgiving

show, and things have happened since the Thanksgiving

show. So, really quick, condensed, 2017, Karen

and I met online, we talked, we whatever, whatever,

whatever, three or four months passed by. By

December of 2017, we're married. We're married

a few years in 2019. Social Security comes to

me and says, oh, by the way, you didn't tell

us your wife has been working since XXX, whatever

date it was, and you now owe us $10 ,000, which

I still owe them $9 ,500 or something like that.

I don't even know, but they take it out of the

check automatically every month. so anyway they're

like yeah but i was like but wait no i shouldn't

because i told you that i was getting married

i told you that she worked i informed you everything

you're supposed to tell them so you don't get

in trouble i told them so 2019 we had to get

divorced in order for me to even get payments

again and at the end of 2019 she decided to take

the house that she owned, put it for rent, and

there's a renter in there, and it's a rent -to

-own thing, and we moved out here to the state

of Washington. Literally, she always wanted to

be on the Oregon coast, and I'm like, we need

to be somewhere in case something happens. The

Oregon coast is beautiful. It's a nice place

to visit. It's amazing. But the city, which is

Yahuts, Oregon, that she wanted to be in, It

was at least 20 to 30 minutes to the nearest

hospital Wow You know because it's it's it's

coastal. It's beach. It's you know, it's a coastal

town So it isn't like, you know, you're gonna

have so anyway I'm like, okay fine. Let's you

know, she's like, okay, let's compromise. Let's

find an apartment let's go ahead and get settled

so we found the place we're living in and which

is in Vancouver, Washington. So it's a completely

different state than Oregon, obviously. And I

have been going to the social security office

for the last 20 years or more. Just, yeah, I

started getting the payments in 2000. So yeah,

let's say 2020, 2021 years. So I've been going

to social security offices for the better part

of two decades. Never in my social security life

have I ever gone to an office where we go to

do the valet parking, we go up into the thing,

we take a number. Literally, dude, the number

wasn't even finished printing out of the machine,

and they called my number and my name. We were

in and out of there in under 10 minutes. They

couldn't even charge us for the valet parking.

because we weren't there long enough. So I'm

like, yeah, Washington's the place to be. So,

you know, all that happened and everything else.

And in the four years that Karen and I had together,

because her health declined, it had been on the

decline, but the last month and a half or so

before she died, it was really getting bad. And

She ended up dying of liver disease and I don't

want to go into all that, but yeah. No, just

not good. So, but the Christmases that we had

together, we didn't really do much. We gave each

other gifts. Like I, you know, you, you've seen

how I am with the Funko Pops and everything else.

You know, I want her to get I want to, I, cause

I tried to get her to listen to the podcasts

and I tried to get her on several podcasts, but

she just never would. She wasn't in the mood

to do it or whatever. And that's fine. But she

fully supported, like if you and I needed to

record at 3 AM, she was fine as long as she's

probably asleep. So you know what I mean? Like

just one of those things. And so with the Funko

puff is like, Oh, You like this character or

that care like she she's Harry Potter fan She

liked all that stuff and I got her several Harry

Potter ones one of the Saturday Night Live pops

I think it's drunk uncle from the whatever that

sketch was they made a part of that Yep. Yep.

They made a they made a pop of that. So I got

her that You know, it was always just little

The two big gifts we got each other for I think

it was 2018 She wanted a new laptop and I wanted

a new TV And at the time we had the money So

she got her new HP at the time and I got my new

TV and I still have the new TV it's in storage

so yeah I mean but it was never for us it hadn't

got like we were only together you know three

or four Christmases you know well this would

have been the fourth Christmas but you know what

I mean yeah so like we didn't have ten years

20 years 30 years blah blah blah we didn't have

the point of being able to go to her family and

spend Christmas with them or that was the next

big thing. So we had gone to see her for cousins

and stuff several times because her parents have

been dead a long time now. They were dead before

I met her. So, you know, it's one of those things

where we didn't really have the whole in -laws

kind like, oh, my God, you have to come over

and have have dinner. This that we didn't have.

We didn't have to deal with any of that. but

at the same time we still wanted to go see family

and we had seen her cousin several times the

next trip next year in 2022 i told her i said

however we can make it happen i don't care what

it you know what what we have to do we need to

go to massachusetts even though we are currently

living on the complete opposite coast like i

want to fly home damn it i haven't been home

since 2012 yeah 2012 so yeah I don't know. Christmases

were great as a kid and with the life that I've

led they don't really I mean I send my dad a

card if I can I send him gifts if I can but like

I don't really have anybody else so I hate to

sound down and depressing but no holidays matter

And on that note, they matter, they matter. I'm

just saying that it isn't the truth. For me,

even when Karen was still here, as I say, as

I just said, we didn't get a chance to get to

the point of having some sort of traditional

Christmas where, let's say we were living in,

in Missouri where her cousins live and we could

go over to their house and spend time with them

more. It wasn't like that. It just wasn't like

that. So the last thing I'll bring up is Altered

Tech. Luckily, even though I have no money now,

before she passed, she said that I could get

several different things as gifts because we

knew she wasn't going to be. We just knew and

honestly I knew that she She lost her Karen lost

her personality when she no longer cared about

Jeopardy This woman was a Jeopardy fiend. It

was her dream to be on the show one day And when

she didn't want to watch like the 42 DVR episodes

that we had of Jeopardy I knew that my wife was

no longer like her personality was on the way

out, which really sucks. But in her passing,

she had all the bills. So I had to put all the

stuff in my name. She had all the cell phone

stuff and all the internet stuff and everything

with with Xfinity and Comcast. So I had to put

all of it in my name. And they basically just

gave me a new account since I was moving to a

new apartment anyway. So I was able to go from

the Samsung Galaxy S9 to the Google Pixel 6 Pro.

This phone is amazing. I know a lot of people

are saying that the in -display fingerprint sensor

on this phone is really bad. I have not had a

problem with it at all. I actually love an all

-Google phone. It's about damn time. I have screenshots

of this already. I'll have to put them in the

post maybe. So when I was on my s9, I usually

put stuff in folders So like all my entertainment

apps would go into one entertainment folder all

of my like Delivery apps like food at like door

dash and things like that that would go into

a folder This would go into it like all my games

would go into a folder So my screen and I'm not

one of these people that has You know 17, you

know home screens. I would rather rather put

the stuff in in folders. So looking at an old

screen cap of my Samsung Galaxy S9 and what I

have now currently with the Google Pixel 6 Pro,

I'm like, wow, what a difference. Yeah, isn't

it much faster? Oh, it's much faster, yeah. Not

having the bundled garbage of Samsung. I mean,

I like Samsung, I like my S9. I liked my S9 at

the time. And the thing of it was, is that I've

been, if you look at my Instagram, you look at

my Facebook, well, if you look at my photo albums

on Facebook, I love taking photos. Taking photos,

even though I'm not a professional photographer

kind of thing. My mom used to, that's where I

get it from, she used to love taking pictures

of everything. So whether it's a, you know, a

sunrise, a sunset, a thunderstorm, a Funko pop,

uh, whatever, you know, the cat I have, even

though I had to give up Lacey for her own good

because she was, I don't want to do this whole

depressing thing anymore, but you know, the cat

wasn't doing so well and I, because I don't drive

because of my disability, I couldn't get her

to the vets. I couldn't get her the help that

she needed. So I had to surrender her. but I

still have 521 photos of that cat for the four

years that she and I were together. You know

what I mean? So it's like, I still have the memories

and all of that. But the one thing with the S9

that I noticed like five, four years after I

got it was they had a, in the camera, they had

various like different modes and things. for

specific situations. They had a food mode where

it would not necessarily accentuate, but it would

be food -focused. And I'm like, holy crap, how

did I not know about this four years ago or whatever

it was? I'm still exploring the Pixel 6 Pro.

It is super fast, though. I absolutely love it.

It's super fun. So yeah, I got that and I got

a Samsung. I gave up Samsung on the phone. I

went from an HP 22 -inch computer monitor to

a Samsung M7 32 -inch monitor. This thing has

so much screen real estate. The first time I

turned it on, I'm like, I don't know where to

look. I'm sitting here right now a few inches

away from my screen. and my start menu is like

over there at Timbuktu and my clock is all the

way in Siberia somewhere like seriously this

thing is huge it's a smart monitor it can do

all kinds of stuff technically you don't need

a computer with it you can just plug it in and

let it go as long as obviously it has Wi -Fi

signal or connection kind of thing it's awesome

it is freaking awesome But yeah, I mean, that's

kind of Christmas this year for me, besides Funko

Pops and other stuff and whatever. I am in a

huge transition at this point now, because even

though I'm okay where I am currently, I still

have to find a new place to live in. Well, I

think it's after February, but by February I

need to... I'm already doing the homework now,

but... The month of February is the last month

I have rental assistance because apartments out

here are expensive as hell. And supplemental

security income is not enough. And I physically

cannot work. I just physically can't anymore.

I'm lucky enough to be able to walk down the

hall to the trash chute. I'm lucky enough to

be able to... Walk the recycling out to the recycling

bins that they have outside kind of thing And

that's one of my and i'm not saying this is oh

my god lose weight in the new year new year's

i'm not saying it because of that but I am I

have to I severely have to change what i'm doing

and I'm not sure how that's going to go I'm just

going to take it one day at a time And see what

happens and whatever else however I still have

all the memories of the Christmases Karen and

I did spend together. I have all the memories

of Christmases as a kid and all the fun and everything

else. So yeah, Christmas 2021. I'll probably

be having pizza. Yeah. So as far as my, my tech

stuff is concerned, uh, I've And I don't remember

if I talked about this in the last one, but I

I've installed I finally finished putting my

room together my office I put the the solar system

moon Sound paneling on the wall room deadening

stuff and then the other sound panels that I

originally had on that wall I've spread them

out and I Really like my new desk plus it faces

my door Instead of the wall cool. Oh one. I can't

be spooked when people run in and to my my Hutch's

Which actually didn't come with the desk Funny

enough the guy that was selling this desk Didn't

want them and he bought a new desk. Oh wow, and

Mary told the guy essentially yeah, if it doesn't

come with that he doesn't want it If it doesn't

come with a hot she doesn't want the desk because

I was like I'm like the desk but if it's not

coming without the hutch, yeah And so she she

negotiated it and the guys like sure So they're

not actually mounted to the desk because they

don't actually go to it Mm -hmm, but they're

heavy enough. They're not gonna move on their

own and It's funny because they actually have

their own there's like a fluorescent light thing

on the under part, which I'll probably never

use, but the top part, it's got a nice display

location for things, which I've noticed dust

gets to it, something terrible, because my old

desk was light wood and this one's dark. So there's

a significant difference in how much dust is

noticed. But it's nice because inside the hutch

I have enough room for all of my like all the

stuff that was in all of my cabinets It all fits

like I don't have to have a tote under my desk

with like leftover stuff Which is amazing because

there's so many cubbies in this thing. It's great

and then the The left hutch I have all of my

transformers set up again And other than my my

dragon Megatron, but I've got everything else

set up. I've got a nice little g1 section going

and Most of its Beast Wars. I got you know, Tigatron

out there. I've got like the original Beast Wars

cast other than Inferno and Terror sort at this

point But yeah, I mean it's I've I've been doing

little minor upgrades and stuff as far as that

I've got my I'm looking for another monitor eventually.

It's not like high on my radar, but it's it's

enough that I'll probably eventually get one.

Yeah That's the thing. I thought I was gonna

keep my HP 22 inch monitor to do work stuff and

then use the 32 inch Samsung for like TVs and

then I'm like I can't pay attention to two different

things at once. Nope. I'm just gonna fully upgrade

and fully transfer and and all that and yeah

so in a roundabout way of saying this we hope

everyone has a happy and merry christmas happy

new year and you know stay safe yes please everyone

stay safe out there don't do anything we wouldn't

do And I don't know if I mentioned this at the

beginning, but this is episode 395. So Steve

Megatron is five episodes away from 400. So you

will hit 400 episodes in the beginning of the

new year. I was hoping to hit that this year,

but just time and life got away from me this

year, but there is next year. There's always

next year. My goal is to hit like 450. Well,

not 450. Like, yeah. Well, yeah, no, you can

hit 450. I'm like, I'm at three something. Yeah.

You're at 395. You're at 395 now with this episode

here. And you should easily be able to hit 450.

Pullback is going to be over 500 by the end of

next year, though. We got to get them both like

over the 500 so you can say it's the five timers

club. Yeah. Like Saturday Night Live. Yep, absolutely.

Is there anything else that we wanted to bring

up? I don't think so. I guess I want to say again,

like we said in the Thanksgiving episode. Christmas,

the whole holiday season kind of just breezed

by, like snuck up on us and breezed by. Do people

feel that way? Oh, I definitely feel that this

year. Yeah, I know that that's what I'm saying.

That's what we were talking about. And I even

I don't think anybody replied to it or anything.

I'll have to check. I actually in promoting several

of the new episodes that we have on the GeekCast

Radio Network, including this one, I at the beginning

of that post, I had asked, OK, it's Christmas

week. Does it really feel like it's like it is,

though? Let us know in the comments whether you

think so or not. So, yeah, December 20th, really?

Already? It doesn't feel like it's December 20th.

No. As we're recording this, I don't know what

it feels like. It doesn't feel like it's supposed

to, but at the same time, I don't know what it's

supposed to flick. You know what I mean? It's

not that natural time length, whatever thing.

I don't know. No clue. Yeah. So yeah, like we

said a moment ago, we hope everyone has a safe

and Merry Christmas and all that good stuff.

If you have Christmas traditions that you want

to share with us, please let us know. And yeah,

take us out Megatron. Until next time, get altered,

get geeky with the Altered Geeks. Travis. Hey.

All wrapped up here, sir. Will there be anything

else? You know what to do. The clean slate protocol,

sir? Screw it, it's Christmas. Yes. Yes.