The concept of prudence is a critical cornerstone in Western thought, philosophy, and theology; often considered to be a virtue. Prudence is the ability to make good decisions using reason.
It has been nearly a month since my last post. I have been away from home on several trips with little time for publishing anything here. That is how my summers seem to go. Perhaps I will put together a trip report or two, since I am at home this weekend: the result of a prudent decision.
When you are in the forest and see a forest fire, it is disheartening. But wildfires are a natural phenomenon and normally healthy for forests. But there are times when wildfires are destructive and cause irreversible damage. Such is the state of affairs in California. For someone on a long distant backpacking trip of several weeks or months, forest fires are often considered by backpackers as a minor inconvenience. One has to re-route their trip, sometimes walking on roads, until they can get back on the trail. However on a short trip, a forest fire often ends the trip, which happened to me last week when I was forced to turn around and bail when a fire that broke out on Wednesday grew out of control and moved into the San Gorgonio Wilderness. Currently the fire, which is near Big Bear, has consumed 27 square miles and is about 20% contained. Already it is the largest fire in this area in over one hundred years. Smoke from this fire has traveled all the way to Arizona and reportedly is visible in the Grand Canyon.
Taking a camera on a backpacking trip can be a heavy burden, as I discussed in Backpacking with a Camera. But nowadays I take a camera on some of my trips so I can share them with my family, since I usually hike alone.
In June of 2012 Sony released a compact camera named the RX100. In December of the same year, Joyce bought me one for Christmas.
About seven months ago I wrote a post chastising Apple about their new Operating System named Yosemite. I am now running version 10.10.3 of Yosemite. After some upgrades to the original OS X software and many tweaks of my operating system and some programs that created conflicts with OS X, things are back to normal and the computer is lightening fast. Apple, you are vindicated, but it was a painful trip.
Don’t be an early adapter.
Windows updates are worse.
From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
genesis
noun: the beginning of something
Joyce has worked all her adult life. She wanted to reward herself with a luxury car. Our plan is it will be the last car we will own. Since I have been in the car business for over 40 years and Joyce worked at a new car dealership for 13 years, I’d like to share some thoughts on the subject and also provide some tips on how to purchase a new car.
Joyce is always trying to control my diet making me eat all kinds of weird foods. She says it is important to eat healthy food.
In November and December of 2000 I backpacked from my house in Palm Springs to Lake Mead and back.
Part 5 can be viewed here.
DAYs 20 & 21
It had been over a week since I had a shower and day off from walking. I had planned on spending a day in Laughlin to rest and eat. Fortunately the last two days of hiking had gone according to plan, so I checked into a hotel. Two nights were only $38 plus tax.
Continue reading Backpacking 500 miles in the Mojave Desert (part 6)
Tiny start up manufacturer Pebble entered the “smart watch” arena before Apple, although they knew Apple was going to become a player. What were they thinking?
For many years Apple was a computer company. Today Apple is a consumer products company, and to reflect this change, a while back they changed their name from “Apple Computer” to “Apple.” During this metamorphosis Apple became the most valuable company on the planet.
Last year, when I bought our Novara Safari bicycles, a priority purchase was a lock or some other security device.
The fact a security device to protect a bicycle is a requirement to keep it from being stolen pisses me off.
This got me to thinking. Almost every person I know, who has owned bikes, has had one or more stolen. In the past I have had three bikes stolen from me and all were locked to prevent theft. So thus began a new research project.
Every person I know has them. Some, like us, have several. Really? Are we so lazy, that we can’t just get up and turn on the TV? Do we need TV?