Category Archives: General Talk

Roads Closed – Go To Plan C

General Talk

Last week I was in Texarkana. The one in both states of Arkansas and Texas.

2014-02-28 TexarkanaWhen I left the hotel it was brisk 23 degrees F, but it didn’t seem that cold. I guess with all my trips to the east coast this year I must be getting acclimated to the cold. I had to meet with my client and then fly out to LAX at noon.

Once the meeting was over, I began to think about the weekend. I had a couple options, knowing the weather wasn’t going to be great. One was backpacking in the San Jacintos, which was going to require snowshoes, given that the incoming storm was predicting 2 to 4 feet of snow. The second option was we could go camping, but forecasted heavy rains can make desert travel difficult with road closures and flash floods.

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Ready for Prime Time: amazon.com

General Talk

MANAGING YOUR INVENTORY OF FREE TIME WITH AMAZON PRIME

2014-02-13 Amazon Prime Logo

In Managing Your Recreation Inventory, I talked about Time as something that could be banked or managed as inventory, akin to how a warehouse manager manages the physical inventory. To me Time is a valuable commodity to be saved for productive pursuits such as backpacking or camping.

Shopping can be detrimental to your Time inventory. Time wasted by wandering from store to store, aisle to aisle, shopping center to shopping center. Not to mention time wasted driving to and from stores and the fuel consumed.

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It’s Time to Shit-can the LW, UL, SUL, and XUL Labels

Backpacking Gear, General Talk

2014-01-27 Shit Can Labels

If you have been reading my website for a while, you probably know that LW, UL, SUL, and XUL are backpacking categories for base weights. Base weight is the weight of your backpack and contents minus any consumables such as water, food, and fuel.

Most people define these as:

  • Lightweight (LW) = base weight less than 20lbs.
  • Ultralight (UL) = base weight less than 10lbs.
  • Super Ultralight (SUL) = base weight less than 5lbs.
  • Extreme Ultralight (XUL) = base weight less than 3lbs.

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I’m An Addict

Camping, General Talk, , , ,

CONFESSION TIME

Addictions are obsessive behaviors that result in negative consequences. I have tendencies for obsessive behavior. Work is one. I must be productive and I thoroughly enjoy work. I have been known to work for 24 to 48 hours non-stop; not because I necessarily have to, but because I want to. This is bad for people relationships. I now have this under control – I don’t want to hurt my relationship with my wife – she is too important to me.

Last week I realized I have another addiction. This one started decades ago.

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Don’t forget to get your 2014 California Campfire Permit

Backpacking, Backpacking Gear, Camping, General Talk

If you are camping or backpacking in California and build a fire, use any kind of stove or lantern with a flame, you must obtain and have on your person a California Campfire Permit. There might be some areas that are exempt, but it is best just to always have one because it can be difficult to sort out the regulations and many Government employees don’t know the regulations either. Normally if you are camped in a developed campground, a permit is not needed. However, sometimes there are exceptions.

This has been required for as long as I can remember, even in the 1960’s.

Permits are issued at most offices of the US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. But not always. You are dealing with government agencies. You can also get them online at these agencies, but not always.

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Can’t We Just Let Christopher McCandless Die?

General Talk,

Even though I am tired of hearing about Christopher McCandless, this is not about him. It is about the lack of real heroes as role models in our society.

WHO WAS CHRISTOPHER McCANDLESS?

He was a young man who tried to live a minimalist life and died in Alaska because he did not have the skills or knowledge to survive. His life was chronicled in the book and the movie, Into The Wild.

There is even a website dedicated to McCandless and almost 7,000 people (as of today) “Like” the site. Whatever on earth “Liking” a website means.

It is probable that McCandless had some real-life dysfunctional problems that led to his demise, but our culture wants to romanticize his life and put him up on a pedestal. We want to make him a hero, because he was vulnerable.

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Backpacking, Camping and Marijuana

General Talk

marijuanaThe legalization of marijuana in several states has been the leading  nightly news story lately.

It appears that a majority of folks on both the left and right of the political spectrum think marijuana should be legalized, but both sides are advocating for the wrong reason.

The issue of marijuana use involves two important thoughts that at first glance seem to be contradictory.

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Keep the Change

General Talk, , ,

OR HOW I RISKED MY LIFE

coinsJoyce doesn’t like the idea of receiving appliances for Christmas, her birthday, or our anniversary. I think she has watched too many Chick-Flicks or Oprah reruns. Seems she thinks these celebrations should be romantic, which would indicate jewelry, diamonds, perfume, Dom Perginon Champagne, or fine art. So I took a big risk this Christmas.

It all started when we got married in 2002. She started grabbing all my change and saving it. She told me after a while we would have enough money to buy something special — which usually means something totally useless, like furniture. But what is a man to do? I took a chance and bought her an automatic coin sorter.

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