I am fortunate to be in the same boat. I now have a (very, very) small business winding/making pickups for electric guitars for musicians local to the Ottawa area where I live. I don’t do it to make any money. I do it 50% for the cool stuff it lets me acquire and/or create and 50% to get the private concerts from those musicians that drop by my shop and studio to try out the test guitars with my pickups in them. The GF will become another tool in the arsenal. I truly am fortunate.
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I’ve told a few people - but I’m keeping it pretty quiet. Partly because I’m not a Kickstarter backer - I purchased about a month later, after a lot of thought and consideration - so I have even less of a sense than the Kickstarter types of just when my device will come in. If it gets here by August/September I have some big plans, but I know I can’t assume it’ll be here by then.
I also haven’t told because, similar to some of the others here, it feels like a very big spend that non-makers would think is a luxury or a waste. Which it is NOT, but until items start rolling off of the Forge I can’t prove that.
And to top it all off, I know that it’s likely some buddies will go request-heavy once I’ve got mine, and I want to have at least a little time where I can keep it all to myself… ::cue evil rubbing of hands::
That’s my .02
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I, on the other hand, have to eat
money, money, money 
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muhuhahahaha
same here. It is a boon and a curse. boon because we can sit back and see how the other forum members like the finish product. curse because we don’t get to be the first ones to play 
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It is a boon and a curse.
Yup. BUT hopefully by the time we get our hands on them, we’ll have watched a few people make stupid mistakes and we’ll be smart enough to make our own, different stupid mistakes…
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story of my life - I only know how to fix stuff because I’ve broken so much
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I’ve been bragging to anyone who I think will understand how cool it really is.
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Me too!
The bright spot there, is the accrued education is solid!
My son got the benefit of a lot of it, watching Dad “crawlin’ from the wreckage.”
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That’s awesome! I really wish I could’ve bought, or at least helped to buy, one for my brother and dad—I’m guessing as the technology is out there, eventually competitors will enter the market, prices will drop, and others in my family will get one. Until then, I’m thrilled to be able to offer this for them to use free of charge (they gotta use their own materials though… at least for most of their projects… gifts I make them are obviously on me).
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It’s okay—We can all geek out over the awesomeness here! You’re not alone. Meanwhile, just use it when you get it to make them some awesome stuff and they’ll think you’re the coolest.
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That’s a great idea—make them think it’s not coming until you’ve already been using it for them! I have a whole list of people I want to make random stuff for—people I wouldn’t even normally think about getting them something—but I want them to be so surprised that I’m too afraid to say anything and ruin it.
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I’m a designer, so I know I’ll be able to create stuff that others would likely want… and I justified the cost to myself by saying I could sell stuff with it, but honestly the creative outlet to simply play is all I think about. I keep telling myself that I’ll at least make duplicates with everything I make and sell the extras as I go to help cover the cost—the question is whether or not I’ll REMEMBER to do that when the time comes.
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Same boat here.
Retired (early) moved back to my wife’s home town… none of my friends here has retained the “geek/nerd/technology interest-excitement” that I seem to have. You can see the animation leave their faces when I start to talk about the impending GF, my CNC router, the 3D printer I’m building, making a sun position tracker using an Arduino or the speedometer using GPS and an “Arduino” I built from component parts.
They also think I’m a little “touched” for subscribing to the De Agostini Millennium Falcon build not to mention the 50 year old Triumph Spitfire I’m restoring … and the list goes on.
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I’ll pretty much tell anyone who shows the slightest interest. I’ve got a few people on the fence with getting one of there own.
My wife’s usually reaction: “Oh, okay. We are watching the Glowforge video again. I guess that’s happening.”
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Who knows. At this rate you might be right. LOL
I’ve stopped talking about it. But my best friends will ask me if I have it yet. My brother and his wife came for Easter dinner. They saw the stack of cardboard and 10 bamboo cutting boards I got on sale: “O yeah, so are you ever going to get that laser thingy?” I think I mumbled something by the end of June and changed the subject. The Glowforge has to deliver or I’ll never live it down!
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I haven’t really advertised that I was getting one to the friends or family.
Unfortunately in my circle of friends, they wouldn’t get it unless I show it do something or give them something that was made from it. Which would had been xmas / bday gifts. Since the original ship date advertised was Dec. (Yes I know) I had a ton of projects lined up- But over the course of the last couple months I’ve been knocking them out on the CNC. So if it does arrive I may revisit the stuff I’ve already made for either feature creep or rev. 2 upgrades.
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That’s pretty much me, too. My older brother in NM loves hearing about all the latest stuff…and especially when I’m getting something new in tech. But, he doesn’t quite ‘get’ what the Glowforge is, so when we visit on the phone occasionally, he will ask me if I’ve received my “Makerbot”, yet. He lives way out in the landscape and doesn’t have internet, so I sent him some photos of the Glowforge, but I can’t even send him the link for the video…so all he can really summon is that it’s something involved with being able to create 3 D stuff. When I actually GET my machine, I will be able to show him more.
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I’m in the same boat tech-wise at home, where I’ll start geeking out over what I can do once I have my Glowforge and anyone in the vicinity will just be like “yeah, okay, cool…and when is it even coming again?” Honestly, it’s almost starting to get a little frustrating!
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The “when is it coming again?” is a result of the instant gratification consumers are used to.
Unusual to pay out and wait 6+ months for the product.
But then, this product isn’t usual. They will grow to understand soon enough. 
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