Backpacking Load-Out

GEAR DUMP

1. REI backpack (it’s amazing) with detachable daypack and J-zipper so you can get into the bag from the middle (and not just the top and bottom)
2.  3L water bladder
3. Cap
4. Buff
5. 50 ft. Paracord with prusik knots and mini Bic lighter on Spool Tool
6. Toilet paper
7. Stuff (night light, bug repellant wipes and…)
8. Toiletries
9. Electronics (wires, charger) & fire starters
10. Rain cover
11. Platypus water “bottle” x 2
12. Hammock, tarp (in snake skin), straps, gear storage, bug net, ridge line organizer
13. Sleeping bag 15 degree
14. Under quilt
15. Stakes
16. REI Flexlite chair
17. Compression bag (to act as a dry bag)
18. Socks and underwear
19. Folding bowl
20. Gloves
21. JetBoil Mini Mo
22. Trowel
23. Folding saw
24. Compass
25. Energy gels
26. Head bug net
27. Allege and salt pills
28. Snacks in odorless bag
29. Life Straw (water filter)
30. Camp knife – Buck reaper

35 lbs. including water so about 29 lbs. without. Like hiking carrying a 16kg kettlebell. Notice that I’m missing food and a first aid kit. And no SPOT gps. Also, no camera in the pic. I need to condition myself more if I’m going to do this more than once a year. You definitely feel the weight. It’s work. I wouldn’t mind shaving 10 lbs. off of here, but I like to go plush. Base weight is all of the stuff except for consumables and what you’re wearing.

• Below 20 lbs. is considered lightweight backpacking.
• Below 10 lbs. is ultra lightweight backpacking.
• 30 lbs. is … backpacking.
• 40 – 60 lbs. is packing for two or 20 to 30 years ago.

Trade offs, y’know.

PACKING YOUR FEARS

If you want to go light, you’re not supposed to pack in terms of “what if”. Someone said it’s called “packing your fears”.

What if there aren’t any good trees for hanging a hammock? I’d better bring the longer (heavier) straps. What if other people don’t bring xyz? I’d better take super extra water.

There are lessons to be learned: knowing one’s limits, comfort, goals, skills, and companions (or lack thereof).

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For Sh*ts and Giggles

TLDR: Count your blessings. We could have cloacas instead. Also, BRAT.

I’ve been having some stomach issues recently. I have no idea why or why not, what, who, how, etc. But as things start to improve — knock on food — I find myself appreciating our bodily processes more and more.

Farts

No, don’t go!

Where was I? Oh, right. Farts. They may not be ideal in most social situations, but the amount of information and sensory feedback is astounding. It doesn’t make it any less rude to talk about or any less hilarious in multiple ways, but the fact remains.

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LGN 136: Snow Good

• The struggle continues. But why?
• Upgrades?
• Representation

Why?

Here’s a question for you.

Why would anyone drive for hours possibly in dangerous snowy and icy conditions, fly across countries and oceans, pay hundreds of dollars or even thousands, stand outside often in freezing temperatures, brave crowds, wait sometimes for half an hour in a lift line on a busy day, all while not knowing exactly if the conditions will be decent, risk life changing injury or even death, frustration and humiliation and embarrassment for beginners, just for two to four minutes (at these smaller East Coast resorts) of actual skiing/snowboarding time per run?

Instructor stylin’

A Private Lesson

Flight hours. I need flight hours.

Bryce is one of the closest and more reasonably priced resorts nearby, so after obsessing, checking the weather constantly, and basically being incredibly bored and purposeless, I went for it. I signed up for a two hour lesson.

Hot tip: Or cold tip?? I’m willing to drop a few dollars on lessons for two reasons:

1. You get to jump to the front of the line on chair lifts when you’re taking lessons.
2. It’s not a whole lot of fun being on the slopes alone when you’re struggling.
3. If things go well, I’d have someone with a lot of experience who could get gopro footage of me.

Here’s what I did not know

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There Goes 2018

I don’t know about you but sometimes when I’m sitting around being a potato I forget that I’m not always a potato.

2018 was long. I was unemployed for half of it. There are pros and cons to that, besides the obvious.  Suffice it to say, I’m capable of entertaining myself. It takes a while to reach the tipping point between “maybe i could” and “I’m gonna”.

I did not do a lot of the things I intended. Only a few hikes, mountain biking once or twice, no backpacking, hardly went camping. What the heck did I do with my life? I did spend a lot of time catching up with the web development industry, as much as one can. I still have to do my last React project before Jan. 13th. But the year is kind of a jumble. Like, I didn’t accomplish much.

Luckily for me, I’m a habitual picture taker.

ROAD TRIP!

I went on a multi-city road trip to Miami to find warmer weather.

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In Defense of Men

Inside: trigger warning for talk of sexual assault and violence; Kavanaugh hearing; It’s too long. I’m trying to pare it down a bit.; Wait. How is it 300 words longer now?

I’ve been working intermittently on a blog entry titled “In Defense of Men” for a while.

It is a little #notallmen, to be honest, but #notallnotallmen. (I’m going to generalize, but it’s for the sake of efficient writing. Hopefully, that’s obvious so we can have a good-faith discussion or argument.)

Every time I’m on the verge of making a cogent, even-handed comment about manhood, I read the news and am shocked/not-shocked at how men are garbage. I mean, damn, y’all. Come on.

EVERYBODY HURTS

How do we have a discussion about a group and acknowledge the humanity of individuals? That’s what I’m trying to do here and I fail miserably with every revision.

I think many men are struggling for a sense of purpose and meaningful connection in a world of shallow, quasi-social interactions and relationships. Too often we’re lonely, isolated, lacking community, and, frankly, we lack coping skills. The online world exacerbates our problems by serving as a crucible for radicalizing alienation.

It’s soul crushing to not have the fundamental building blocks of human experience and actualization, and then be told that that makes you weak — less of a man. Less valid as a person.

None of this is the sole domain of men, of course, but statistics on suicide bear this out, in my “and who are you and why should we care what you think” opinion.

And yet, men have a firm hold on power and positions of leadership. Running the world (into the ground) and living like ancient Roman emperors. I mean, I don’t. 99% of us don’t, give or take. Not a lot of men, proportionally speaking, but it’s a man’s world. For now, at least.

The problem is that, regardless of social position, masculine pain is directed squarely at women in the worst ways possible, from mundane to evil.

When we’re entitled, we’re a threat. When we’re in pain, we’re deadly.

Despite the fact that I called myself and other men garbage above, I really don’t want to demonize men, masculinity, and male sexuality. I am manfolk, after all.

Still, we do have to address the fact that the dark side of masculinity and male sexuality is akin to an iceberg’s undercarriage — the proverbial 90% beneath the surface that you don’t see that is in tenuous equilibrium with the 10% that you do see.

Until it’s not.

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Dino-Coding

I need to preface this to say that this isn’t one of those technically enlightening Medium or Hacker Noon articles. It’s not even an unnecessarily controversial hot take that garners status raising attention. It’s a reckoning of software development culture shock, and encouragement for those of you scoping out the career landscape. I’m just a boy standing in front of a job market…

TL;DR

Read this instead: How it feels to learn JavaScript in 2016

The web development world is always roiling with progress, change, and an odd amalgam of democratization and corporate influence. Goliaths and Davids playing in the same sandbox.

It’s more important than ever to stay up on the latest and greatest, and the good news is that there’s no end to available resources. You can read, watch, and experiment in online playgrounds to your heart’s content.

Confession: I did not stay up on the latest and greatest.

LET’S GO

I was laid off a few months ago. The one sentence that I heard the loudest, mostly because it was inflected with a hint of warning and sympathy, was this: “The job market is very different these days.”

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The After Party or What I Deserve

[Note: I began writing this at the end of June 2018]

I was laid off last week so I’ve got a lot of time on my hands for a bit. The transition to unemployment is a gentle one, which I’m thankful for.

I’m cool and all, but if things go sideways in a few months you may see me promoting my photography or trying to sell gear from my hobby rations.

TABULA RASA

My life is pretty much a blank slate right now. All the dials and sliders have reset to zero.

There are logistical things I need to take care of but I do have the luxury of being able to chill for a week or two. Truth be told, I’d be backpacking in the nearby wilderness right now if it weren’t for the fact that I’m afraid of bears, and lightning, and lightning bears. (Make yourself look big, back away slowly, and make sure you’re electrically grounded.)

Then I have to go over my finances and lower my burn rate. I’ve had long unemployment stints before and they were life-changingly, and unnecessarily brutal and financially devastating. Not in a hurry to do that again.

PROFESSIONAL

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