Category Archives: General Talk

Cold Monochrome Living

General Talk

02-20-2013 bwThe past three weeks have been a cold gray haze. That is, I have been living in a monochrome world. Everything has been a shade of black, white or gray. And it is has been cold. It started 3 weeks ago in Colorado.

Last week I was in Illinois. It started with an early morning flight from California. Early morning means driving to the airport in the dark. As I boarded the silver gray plane, that set the color-tone for the next three days.

Descending from 30,000 feet towards O’Hare International Airport, the sky below was a gray blanket. Transitioning from a sunlight blue sky above; we dropped into a gray world. A world I would live in for the next three days.

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A Gentleman’s Guide to Fitting Trousers

Backpacking Gear, General Talk,

01 selectionLet’s face it, most men don’t know how to buy or fit their trousers.

Properly fitted trousers will allow you to sit, stand, and walk without the material falling down, shifting, or becoming uncomfortable.
When purchasing ready-made off the rack trousers in a store, there are two measurements, the waist and the inseam.

It seems that many men don’t know where their waist is, or how to measure it.

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Hike where you live. Live where you hike.

Backpacking, General Talk, Hiking

Jan 15 2013 medium

Bring me men to match my mountains,
Bring me men to match my plains,
Men with empires in their purpose,
And new eras in their brains.
Bring me men to match my prairies,
Men to match my inland seas,
Men whose thoughts shall pave a highway
Up to ampler destinies,
Pioneers to cleanse thought’s marshlands,
And to cleanse old error’s fen;
Bring me men to match my mountains –
Bring me men!

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Recommend a hike?

Backpacking, General Talk
Changing Colors 2
Fall colors near Mawah, NJ

Right now I am in Tustin, California for a couple days. Like I do on most business trips, I went for a little hike late Thursday afternoon; actually almost evening. I had to use the Photon II micro-light on my key chain for part of the route. Tustin is in Orange County, a heavily populated area. On my way to the client’s location this morning, I noticed a hilly area without any homes. When my work was finished, I drove to this area, parked on a residential street where I saw a trail at the end of a cul-de-sac, and went for a hike. As it turns out, the area is a regional park with about 350 acres of open space and lots of trails.

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Stagnation of Backpackinglight.com

Backpacking, General Talk,

“In reviewing, in the past 12 months, what has come out of (what used to be) the most exciting part of the ultralight backpacking niche – the cottage industry – all I can do is yawn.”

– Ryan Jordan, Backpackinglight.com (BPL)

This time last year I returned from a backpacking trip. Having been gone for a couple of weeks I was surprised to see an article on BPL titled, “Stagnation of the Cottage Industry and Recent Gems,” penned by Ryan Jordan, the owner of BPL. I was not surprised by the negative response from the readers and the cottage manufacturers of lightweight backpacking gear.

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