It’s that time of year again. Black Friday is here!
Fortunately, I think the COVID scam did away with the door busters and brawls, but I’m sure people will find some excuse to beat the crap out of eachother tonight. You need go through no such effort to buy me presents, because I have been thoughtful enough to provide you with the easiest means of doing this.
Most of you have seen most of this from my Birthday message earlier this month. But, I recently updated this a bit for Black Friday. Notably, there is a lot more stuff on my Walmart Wish List, because they have some of the better Black Friday Deals, particularly on fitness equipment and video games. I’ve also made some updates about video games, since we just did our first live game stream last night! There is also a lot more stuff on my “Limited Time Offers” Amazon Wish List, noting the holiday discounts.
On my path to becoming a professional media producer, the Amazon Wish List was one of the first things that made me realize I could get paid for my work. Somebody bought me some sort of camera mount, if I recall correctly, and I was a little amazed by this. Since then, quite a few gifts have been purchased, and this has even become the preferred method of gifting for friends and family outside of my public life. It makes gifting very easy, and in the worst case scenario, so are returns.
If you don’t already know, it might be helpful that I mention my birthday is on November 12th.
For those of you who are supporters of the content that I produce, or other public works of mine, I am grateful for any support that you provide to this production. No matter how big or how small, it means a lot to me that you value it enough to part with resources.
Cash is near always preferable. It is not at all unusual for me to buy from my own wish lists when resources become available, but first and foremost, I have to pay the bills. A few of the items I have on my Wish Lists added up amount to what one would pay for a decent used car, and I need a car. When in doubt, Cash App ($EdgyChris), CryptoCurrency, GiveSendGo, checks by mail, or even the old go-to of cash in an envelope, will certainly be appreciated tremendously, and put to efficient and responsible use.
If you care to lend your time and talent, I’ve also been recruiting help with the shows, and you can find out more about this here.
Gift Cards/Certificates (if you purchase from some of the links below, SurrealPolitiks may benefit from the transaction)
The Gift Card is of course one of the great devices of our time. In some instances, you can actually purchase gift cards at a discount, such as from GiftCardOutlets.com. It does, however, help to make sure that I actually buy things from the place where you are getting me the gift card for. As I write this I am amused to think of the Sonic gift card, still in my wallet, which I might someday use if I ever go somewhere that has a Sonic restaurant. There is not one anywhere near where I live.
- Obviously, a gift card to Amazon, or Walmart, or even eBay, or Instacart, is near as good as sending cash. I have used Grubub a few times as well.
Less obviously, there are some places where I could make use of gift cards and this would allow you to be a bit more personalized in your gifting. Though, it should be noted, there are limits to how much I can productively spend in these places.
- NewEgg.com often has some of the best deals on computer equipment, and I could certainly make good use of a NewEgg gift card. Click here to purchase NewEgg.com Gift Cards
- Click here to purchase other gift cards from NewEgg.com
- BulkSupplements.com is a site where I occasionally purchase, as the name may imply, dietary supplements. Click Here To Purchase BulkSupplements.com Gift Cards
- For clothes, I am a cautious shopper. I like to buy from discount stores like Marshalls or TJ Maxx and gift cards are available for these stores.
- I do have a PlayStation 4 and a Nintendo Switch, so I could use gift cards for the PlayStation Store or Nintendo Store. Gamestop has good deals on used games.
- There’s always something to buy at Home Depot.
That said, I understand why some people prefer to send gifts. In the case of podcast listeners and stream viewers, there is all the more incentive to know that something you purchased is involved in the show you are enjoying. It is a way to interact with the show, and my shows have always made audience interaction a primary feature. So in addition to making it very easy to pay me, I try to make gifting as trouble free, efficient, and mutually enjoyable, as possible.
In its simplest form, my main Amazon Wish List is public and anything you buy from there will be put to good use. In the worst case scenario, I can return what you buy and acquire something more suitable. This happens invisibly to the buyer. You are not notified if I return things to Amazon. My Amazon account is credited and I have plenty of things to buy there so the funds never sit too long.
That said, I do not want to waste your money anymore than I want to waste mine. Probably less, actually.
I also want you to enjoy sending me gifts. That seems both prudent, and perhaps fun as well. So, if you are trying to buy “the perfect gift” or want to express yourself through gifting, or you just want to get the most bang for your buck, I’ll “spill some ink” here to try and help.
Other Wish Lists
In addition to the main public Amazon Wish List, I have others you can consider. Just keep in mind that the main one is best maintained and tends to have the items I want the most. But, if you are looking for inspiration, I provide other alternatives.
Sometimes, Walmart has better deals on things than Amazon, or items that Amazon does not have. Particularly for the Black Friday deals, and in particular, they have good deals on weights and on video games.
For sites that do not have a Wish List feature, there is Wishlist.com. There are some things I see elsewhere that I would like to get and I have a browser plugin to add them to this list.
Newegg.com is a major retailer for computers and other electronics. They sometimes have very good deals and I will add them to this list from time to time. You should almost certainly talk to me before using this, but you are welcome to check it out.
Limited Time Deals Amazon Wish List
Sometimes there are items that are not such a high priority but are on sale for a limited time, or that are such a good deal that it would seem like throwing away money not to get them. When I see good deals on items, I add them to this list, and when they expire I remove them.
Groceries, hygiene items, cleaning supplies, all those rather inglorious things that I’ll be purchasing if you do not, can be found on this list. If you buy from here, you’ll be saving me some money and some hassle and I’ll be grateful.
I have a Nintendo Switch, and as of this edit, I did my first game stream last night. Though this was playing Counter Strike on the PC, I do have high hopes for making good use of the Nintendo as well. I have gone through the Nintendo online shop and highlighted some games I think might be fun to play, though I stress I know little of this market and your guess is as good as mine if these are worth the prices. Some, though not all, are deeply discounted for Black Friday. Any games you wish to send me will do, and I’ll be sure to play whatever you send me at least once on stream, so feel free to get creative.
Sadly, the PlayStation Wish List feature appears to be for me to keep track of games I want, and does not provide an opportunity to share it with you to buy games from it. I already have Street Fighter Six, Need for Speed Heat, GTA 5, Mortal Kombat XL, Gran Turismo 7, Tekken 7, WWE 2K3, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Diablo Reaper of Souls.
I once had a rather impressive collection of tools. I still have many, and others are still with my stuff out of state which I hope to soon retrieve, but tools make a man powerful, and I do love being powerful.
There’s lots of times I see things on Amazon and I’m like “That would be pretty cool” but I don’t add it to the main wish list because I don’t really want it competing with the other items on the list. I have started keeping this “Kitchen Sink” list with all types of things on it. This is not very well maintained, but you can see if something on it strikes you. The likelihood of your gift being returned from this list is substantially higher, but it is certainly not 100%.
What do I want?
Generally, I just want to increase my power level. You’ll notice that everything on my lists has some sort of utility. It is either fitness related, computer equipment, audio equipment, video equipment, tools, clothes, travel accessories, this sort of thing. I have no use for toys. I want to be powerful. I work very hard, and I want my work to be impactful. I want to increase my income, save the world, get married, and have a family. And I want to do all of this roughly ten years ago.
Presently at the top of my list are gear bags and protective cases for my mobile equipment. I used to do more shows on the road and this is likely to begin again soon, and recent interviews done in hotel rooms made me realize my setup has fallen out of sorts. For this reason I also need new lights, which are also at the top of the list.
I’ve recently acquired some of the computer graphics equipment that was previously at the top of the list. I still have listed an Nvidia 4060 Ti 16GB graphics card, which would be more for AI than for video at this point, but I would make very good use of it. Newegg currently has this cheaper, for $429.
I have a large number of audio interconnects, video cables, and various parts for connecting what could be described as mounting equipment, such as camera tripods and mic stands. These are lower priced items, and most, though not all, are listed as lower priority. If you look at the priorities of items you’ll see some cables and parts are high or highest priority and these will be very useful. Even the things listed as lower priority, I ultimately need to have them. These are the tools of my trade and the more versatile my capacity to connect things, the greater my power level.
Camera
I would like to get a very good portable camera. Last I wrote about this, I was uncertain of the one I wanted to get, but I have settled on the Canon Rebel SL3. This camera takes many different types of lenses, and has a “Clean HDMI Out” which I can use for streaming on the computer. It is, in my estimation, a very good price to quality ratio, and I’d be very happy to have this. There are links to this in my Amazon, WishList.com, and Walmart Wish Lists.
Transportation Related
If somebody wants to buy/give me a car, let’s talk. Until then, I have some accessories listed for my e-scooter, which does a pretty good job of getting me around.
Home
Right now, I live in a very small space. Anything that can help me make more efficient use of this space is appreciated.
Clothes
I have some clothes on the main list because I’ve bought those brands before and I know they are good and reasonably priced. I’m always iffy about buying clothes online. I am more iffy about other people choosing them. That said, I’ll provide some information if you care to buy clothes.
I’ve changed shape quite a bit over the years, and since I got home, I dropped almost 50lbs while adding muscle in the right places. So, the fat clothes I bought don’t fit me and I am replacing them bit by bit. I just took my measurements and you can see them in the nearby image, which is a screenshot from my Renpho Health app.
I could use a couple of decent suits. The ones I have are from a different shaped period of my life and they are old.
I’m 6′ 215lbs last I checked. Most shirts I find a medium fits me well, so long as it can stretch a little and I like the way this looks on me now that I am in better shape than I was 10 months ago. If things run small or if the shirt has no give at all, a large might be more appropriate.
When I buy shorts and sweats, I buy large size.
Th measurements I just took say my waist is 38″. I have trouble believing this. I bought 40″ waist pants when I got home and they feel like I’m getting into a tent. Where I have pants listed, I have requested 36″ x 30″.
Shipping Things To me Without A Wish List Feature
If you want to send me something, that’s great! Especially if I can return it very easily. If it is not something I can return very easily, it would be best that we speak about it before you send it. I am happy to take technology, particularly anything audio/video/computer related. A GPU you think is garbage might be very helpful to me. But I don’t have an unlimited amount of space to store things, and I am very busy. So as bad as I will feel about throwing your gift in the garbage, that potential exists if it is unexpected and I cannot return it So, please either talk to me first or make sure it is easy to return before you ship me things.
Christopher Cantwell
497 Hooksett Road
Unit 312
Manchester, NH 03104
Has It Been Purchased? – A Flaw at Amazon
If you attempt purchase from my Main Wish List, it may from time to time occur that you’ll see a notice that the item you are buying might already have been purchased, but this might not actually be the case. Ignore those warnings.
Malicious actors have discovered a way to make this happen. They do this as a way to prevent you from supporting my work, for political reasons. I am more or less at their mercy because Amazon refuses to fix the problem. In the past, this has caused the entire Wish List to appear empty, but I changed a setting on the list to prevent this from happening.
Today, when you purchase an item from my Wish List, it is not removed from the list, for this reason. While I appreciate that some people want to send surprises, it would be most helpful if you would notify me of your purchases when you make them. Short of this, until an item has actually been delivered, I assume the purchase is fake and the item remains on the list.
You should make the same assumption. If an item is on the list, you will benefit me by purchasing it for me. In the worst case scenario, I can return it, but especially when there are limited time deals, it is best to make the buy before the sale ends or it goes out of stock, and if I end up with duplicates, I can always make returns.
Used Items
I have recently purchased a number of items from Amazon that were in “Used – Like New” and “Used – Good” condition. In my experience thus far, these are basically open box items, sometimes with the packaging slightly damaged. If you can buy something from my wish lists used, and it saves you money, I won’t be upset about the box being opened.
In some cases, one can buy pre-owned things on eBay at far lower prices than one buys them from Amazon vendors. I am happy to accept these (except in the case of certain things like clothes) but there are some risks associated with this, especially with things like video cards and audio equipment.
A video card is not an eternal product. It has a lifespan, and that lifespan is shortened by things like cryptocurrency minding. So buying a used video card is fraught with peril.
I recently purchased what purported to be a Shure SM7B microphone that purported to be brand new from an eBay vendor. The microphone turned out to be a knockoff. For any sort of product that has been subjected to counterfeiting, even if the seller has a good reputation, he might not know he has a knockoff himself. So, be aware of this before you buy used items on eBay, since returns are often more difficult.
List Maintenance
I regularly maintain that main public Amazon Wish List. I check it nearly every day. Sometimes I add things to it because they are on sale, and if the end of the sale makes it less of a good deal, I remove it. When I add an item to the list due to a sale, I say so in the description, so you don’t have to worry about overpaying for something, generally speaking, if you read the description.
I describe the use I have for the items on the list in the descriptions.
I assign priorities to items on the list. If you buy a high or highest priority item, the prospects of it going to waste or being returned are near zero. Items for which no priority is listed are “Medium” priority. All other priorities assigned are stated from Lowest, Low, (No priority = Medium), High, Highest.
Amazon by default moves the most recently added item to the top of the list. So, you will see sometimes that lowest priority items are earlier in the list than highest priority items. I put a little bit of work into this, by adding and removing things, shifting them from the public list to private lists, and trying to keep the items I want most, near the top. My attitudes on this change from time to time, and I also try to keep items grouped roughly by the type of item. So, you may notice that, in order of appearance, highest and low priority items of like kind appear near one another in the default sort order as a consequence of me moving things around for your benefit. but, consistently, the items I want most are near the top and listed as high or highest priority.
I also keep that list populated with things that are not such high priorities. There are an infinite array of reasons for this, but ultimately I want you to be able to express yourself through gifting without me finding no use at all for your gift. Maybe you, like me, have an appreciation for audio or video equipment. Maybe you want to help me with my physical fitness. Perhaps you want me to learn to play the guitar or speak a foreign language. You’ll find every opportunity to do this on the main Wish List. It may turn out, and historically more than once has turned out, that an item I didn’t think would be so great, ends up being life changing. I leave these purchases to your discretion.
Thank you!
Well, if you are still reading, that is quite impressive. I bet you never had anybody send you 3000 words about how to buy them a gift before. Thanks so much for caring enough to consider what I’ve had to say here.
Got questions? Want to notify me of a purchase?
By all means…