no boys allowed in the room!!!!

Really? That ryobi is pretty sturdy.

depends on what you're using it for ... why am i being a power tool snob on ilx, that's totally retarded.

Every drill I've used besides the Ryobi has been a standard sized dewalt though and they are definitely good. But I don't have anything really to compare it to as the Ryobi my mom has is wee. I used the dewalt to put together a fan and to drill one of my book cases to the wall because it has a tendency to lean on carpet. The Ryobi I just used to put together a small cabinet and to fasten a shelf to a wall. Both performed well.

yeah i bought a dewalt for pp who had a little black and decker drill. the dewalt KILLS.

oh and hi ladies

black and decker sucks. hi.

I guess you're a dude.

so... welcome. would you like some bowie crotch?

i mean, they're all perfectly fine for basic household tasks -- it's when you get into drilling into brick or metal that you see the performance differences

I have my mom's old drill (think it may be an old Milwaukee?) and it's heavy and great, but I think it's still the less powerful of the cordless drills, and if I needed to, for instance, drill into brick walls (with the right bit of course) I'm not sure it could keep up.

xp yes!!

ohhh. haven't had to do much with brick or metal in my life yet. The outer walls in my old house were concrete, if that makes a difference.

i do not have stockholm syndrome about my ex-bf's drill!

okay maybe that totally convoluted post raises an actual topic of discussion:

items belonging to former bf's that you keep because their function outweighs any bad associations

Nada.

For many years I held on to a number of CDs and records belonging to the Worst Ex in the World because he had good taste in music. Also he owed me money and that was one attempt to recoup. Actually, I'm sure I still have the CDs but we got rid of all of our records when we moved.

xp Unless you count the one who was a bf and then not a bf and then 10 years later briefly served as my roommate and left a lot of stuff w me when he moved away. I use that shit every day and am grateful for it, but there never were any bad associations cos we were friends anyway.

I have nothing like this.

Also I've been living w/ the same dude for 10 years and hadn't dated anyone too seriously for a few years prior to that so most remnants from any exes is long gone.

likewise
except i have 11 years under my belt and i did have some bf's before that, but none of them gave me/loaned me anything of value because they were total bums.

person with whom i have shared the last 11 years: not at all a bum

yeah I have some stuff from an ex but we are still friends so it's kind of just stuff he let me have. The only ex that is completely out of the picture never gave me anything worth while anyway so I don't have to worry about that. Booyaaaaaaaa

oh, well I see that you ladies already covered the bum ex boyfriend zing, but still. Booyaaaa.

Tons of bookshelves (since discarded) and a Muji file cabinet (still in use) from one ex who moved from here to NYC. Otherwise, they tend to end up with random things of mine.

I have some stuff from an ex but we are still friends so it's kind of just stuff he let me have.

this is not a mediating factor, really, presumably the guy's an ex for a reason!

sunny is not a dude! xposts

i would like a kick-ass drill but don't really have a serious need for one

oh, sorry! I should have known that! I thought it would be funny if guys started posting here. I kind of tend to assume that everyone on the internet is a guy. That's probably not cool, but hey.

xp to sarahel: yeah, the tv is pretty functional, as are other things. I don't stare at it and weep or anything because HE gave it to me (I will stare at the tv and weep because something on the screen is really sad or touching though, just to be clear)

Sometimes relationships don't work out but after the breakup you can still be friends if nothing too ridiculous led to said breakup. Or the person joins the ranks of the emotionally mature a few years later, as with one ex of mine in particular.

When exes say 'hey, can you use this laptop? I'm upgrading' I AM SO THERE. Or have been on three occasions, anyway. *This* computer is untainted BTW.

my most recent ex was a real fan of useful gifts - now that we're broken up, i appreciate this fact, because it's easier to look at fingerless gloves (useful for practicing drums in a practice space that does not have heat) or a coathanger bent for the purpose of unclogging drains - as being purely functional and having no sentimental value than things that are more typically "romantic"

the only thing i let him have of mine was the percolator, which we'd occasionally argue about whether it "worked ok" - he believed that only being able to fill it half-way with water in order to make something even vaguely resembling coffee = worked ok. I emphatically disagreed.

yeah I had to give away a load of hallmark-y stuffed animals from one ex last time I moved. I don't know why I was holding on to them because it wasn't hard at all to let them go.

my step dad has given my mom a flashlight on almost every gift giving occasion since they started dating in 1987. He is the king of useful gifts and my mom and I have adapted and inherited this trait from him.

i have a half-dozen flashlights and swiss army knife-like tools due to the practical gift-giving habits of both my ex and my mom

at least you'll be prepared for the end times.

Stuffed animal gifts would, for me, be a BIG deal-breaker. Plus 'shall we make a fake Mike Kelley sculpture on the front of this garbage truck'?

yeah, they were stuff like valentines gifts and little things won out of that stuffed animal claw grabber thing at denny's. I had two consecutive bfs who swore they were the best at those things and they never let me down.

seriously! like it's a joke in my family about how boring the christmas gifts my mom gives us are. she'd sometimes feel bad when we joked about it, though. So one year I decided we'd turn it into a contest - The Most Boring Christmas Present contest - so it would be funny, which made mom feel better.

Winners of L family Most Boring Christmas Present contest:

5 lb plastic tub of mashed potato flakes
copy of previous year's IRS Publication 15 - Individual Income Tax Guide
plastic laundry basket
cardboard box

These relationships largely took place in south florida btw. xp

That is so excellent. cardboard box, lol. I'm always super psyched about the useful gifts I get because usually they are SO VERY USEFUL. My grandmother emails to ask exactly what we all want on any given occasion.

well, the cardboard box was a gift from dad to mom - and he had ordered something for her online, but he was new to the concept of online gift purchasing - so the gift hadn't arrived by christmas - so he wrapped a box approximately the size of the gift and put a note as to what should have been in the box. I think we had a semantic argument about what the gift "was" - whether the gift was the box + thing that should have been in the box or whether we should restrict it to the physical box. I think we decided that the gift was the cardboard box itself, just so there'd actually be a year when dad "won" the most boring christmas present contest.

The contest ended the year i regifted the 5 lb plastic tub of potato flakes back to my mom - so that item technically won twice

hahaha. this convo reminds me that I want to get better at giving gifts.

i also think that through the years, my mom has given me every promotional item given to their customers by American Ag Credit

my dad and step mom go to costco and get whatever they see that identifies as "for girls"

your parents actually go shopping together?

I get mad at my mother when she gives me things that are not pretty or useful, on the basis that she can't afford much so might as well spend it on something I actually *want*. We did not speak for six months because she sent me the most hideous 'soft' briefcase - choosing to escalate the argument by telling me this object was 'expensive' was not a winning rhetorical gambit on her part. Me: 'so you spent $500 on something that is actively embarrassing and not usable for work because of the active embarrassment factor and you want me to respect that? LOL, U GOT SOLD A PUP.'

My mom and her siblings have a tradition of re-gifting (hate that word) a really ugly porcelain milk jug in the shape of a rooster every few years. Seriously would've rather had Ugly Cock than the horrible briefcase.

yeah, I think so. I don't really see those parents often.

I think I would die if I didn't speak to my mom for 6 months.

i was really annoyed by the American Ag Credit duffel bag my mom gave me one year - but it's actually probably the most functional piece of luggage i own, and it will be what i pack all my stuff in and take on my first vacation in 10 years - to NYC next month

my mom would not let me not speak to her for 6 months - she'd start leaving an escalating series of phone messages of concern about my welfare, culminating in questions about whether i'd prefer burial or cremation

a cardboard box? sarahel your mom is hilarious

suzy, you're a tough customer.

I love my mom and her siblings's regifting traditions because both of their parents are dead now so any family "heirloom" no matter how tacky is reminiscent of days gone by and therefore much treasured by all even for its humor value. I like to think they've struck a good balance there.

my dad was the giver of the cardboard box. he was kinda sad when mom opened it and confusedly asked, "You got me a cardboard box for Christmas? I know I can and will use it, but ..."

xp And yes, sometimes that INCLUDES decorative boxes shaped like log cabins or something, that have been making the rounds for decades and probably have the original grandparent's handwriting still on them from Christmas 1978.