Continue reading »]]> Another day goes by, and another post where I see someone bragging about another purchase of a case of MRE’s.  No cans to rust, no utensils needed, it even comes with it’s own condiments and beverage powders, famously used to make Ranger Cookies! (taking many of the packets and putting them together and finding ingenius ways of baking them into a cookie, for those who don’t know).   Great stuff right?

The actual requirements for the production of these meals is at present over 30 pages long, with more details covered on the packaging alone than almost anything else.  (see the troopsupport.dla.mil pages).  The meals contain around 1250 calories each, enough to sustain life at least for a day, even though the military recommends three times this amount per day per person.  We all know the commercial: the military does more before 9AM than most of us do in a day.

According to the same documentation, these meals can last up to 3 years in 80 degree (F) temperatures.  Not too shabby for meals that last for years and can be eaten straight out of the package with no preparation.

And honestly, you won’t ever find me packing them.

What?

Yes.  Aside from my old tales of having lived for months on these while in the military, and my love for the tiny bottles of Tabasco sauce that come in each one, I don’t keep any of these stocked.

Yes, I also understand that this is not an either-or proposition.  I could have some of these and some of another solution.  But it just wont fit into my plans.

My beef with the MRE’s:  They eat space in any kit you might put together (although yes, the variety of items inside is great), and their shelf life can be very conditional depending on how you store them.

I really took some time to think about this a few years ago after reading a fun site that covers all sorts of info about MRE’s, www.mreinfo.com, more specifically their page talking about the MRE’s shelf life:  http://www.mreinfo.com/us/mre/mre-shelf-life.html.  (great site, except that some of their gov links are out of date and should refer to http://www.troopsupport.dla.mil) MRE’s do not last forever like many people seem to think…  I still cringe when i see someone pull out the old dark brown MRE’s from the old days bearing the #4 Omelette with Ham label printed on the side, perhaps one of the most dreaded meals ever that is now no longer made.  (I liked them…   green eggs and ham!).  MRE’s DO go bad contrary to popular belief!

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been known to throw my pack in my vehicle and leave it there for a week or more at a time, as well as keeping a kit of useful supplies in the back for general purpose.  Even up here in Pennsylvania, inside a vehicle can get HOT in the summer time.  Passing 100 degrees on a regular basis with MRE’s can easily reduce shelf life to as short as one year.

There’s nothing wrong if these happen to fit in your plans, just that they simply do not fit into my plans.  If i’m at home and riding out an emergency situation, i’ve got more than enough civilian foods to work with, many that do not require refrigeration and can be eaten straight out of the container without preparation.  If i’m on the go, in my personal and vehicle based emergency kits I keep Datrex Emergency Food Rations in almost any kit I pack.  There’s other options, such as Mainstay Rations which have a lemony flavor, and many other brands.

The Datrex rations are about ⅓ to ¼ the size of an MRE, and although a little more dense, still lightweight (about 1 lb).  They adhere to SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea, the well known international standard involving the safety of merchant ships) and Coast Guard standards, contain 3600 calories each (almost 3 times that of an MRE in a smaller package), are non “thirst-provoking” meaning that they do not leave your mouth dry after consumption, and keep their shelf life of over 5 years at up to 149 deg. F.  They weigh in at around 500g, so you wont be breaking your back carrying even a few of these, as well as shoving some in the vehicle for later use.

Datrex food bars are much easier to split between multiple people, share with others, and will keep you from going hungry.  Easy to tell who’s faking it when they are begging for food on the side of the road with one of these as well.  The only real down side, is getting bored with the same flavor of food every day, but these are not intended to keep you fed in the extreme long term.

With all the space saved over MRE’s, you have room to pack some treats as well to keep it from getting too boring.   My personal favorite is to put a homemade icing on my ration cookies on occasion.  Carry a small bag of powdered sugar and a mini bottle of Chambord, mix a 10:1 ratio of sugar to Chambord and drizzle over the cookies… makes for a yummy icing/glaze.  It’s nuts for this sort of kit, but hey, it’s still less room and weight than MRE’s, and a great morale boost.

Cost wise, MRE’s run $60-$80 per case of 12, lets say $60 for the cost argument:

12  x 1250 = 15,000 calories.

Datrex (or Mainstay or other CG/SOLAS ration) run around $120 with free shipping on Amazon for a case of 20.  Half of that cost compared:

20 x 3600 = 72,000 / 2 = 36,000 calories for the same cost of a case of MRE’s.

Over double the calories for the cost, that take up less space, last longer, and are more resistant to the environment.  I call that a win.

All of course assuming you can tolerate munching on slightly coconut flavored shortbread cookies for days on end.  Beats starvation.

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You know the scene:

She barely has escaped the horde of evil zombies / killer / animated doll / aliens / criminals .

She’s made it into the elevator, but they are hot on her heels!

She keeps jamming the button as fast as she can for the floor she wants but the elevator wont close!

They show the bad guys getting closer, and the doors finally start to slowly close, but will they make it in time?

Of course.  Or she’ll have to push his arm back or other dramatic effect.

Well, here’s a little tip in case the zombie apocalypse happens this weekend.  Ever feel like hitting the close door button on an elevator doesn‘t really do anything?  Well, most elevators are smart, try holding the close doors button down until the doors close instead of hitting it over and over again.  Maybe you’ll escape that zombified ex girlfriend that wants her horrid Blink 182 CD back that you fried in the microwave when she dumped you last summer.  

Rumors also have it that in many elevators, if you hold the close door button, and while continuing to hold that button, holding the button for the floor you want until the elevator moves, it will take you to the floor of your choice directly, but honestly I’ve not had a chance to test this one yet.  Seems the New Yorker covered this one in 2005 though, and found it to be false.  I have a feeling that just like in the movies, people want to believe that whatever trick they’ve tried really does make it work faster.

Of course, if you want a safe, steady, predictable, and not scary trip up or down, you could always take the stairs….

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Alligators in Love

Me, I wont fill your head with that lame noise.  Instead I have an even more depressing thing for you to think about.  It’s been a month and a half into the year, begging the question:  Have YOU followed your New Year’s resolutions?  Have you REALLY worked on what you promised yourself at the beginning of 2013?

I went out to find some info on this and found a neet site that focuses on statistics, and on this specific page it seemed a clinical journal actually did some research on resolutions.  Check it out here:  (Statistic Brain)

From what they’ve gathered, 47% of people “usually” make resolutions, almost half of us, yet according to this same study, only 8% of people fully achieve their new years resolution, and almost half get infrequent success.  Sounds like as far as resolutions go, we are seriously underachieving here.

I’m not going to go nuts in describing my system of doing things, except to say I don’t do resolutions.  Resolve by itself will not move you forward in life.  A simple and firm decision needs a lot more.  So instead, I set goals for myself, and actually define ways of not only accomplishing my goals, but of how to really measure my progress, and how to tell when and if I’ve succeeded.  Do you have goals?  Ever actually figure out how to hold yourself accountable for them?  Most people tell me this, but when you get nosy and annoying (yes, I know, not a great way to keep your friends), almost always I hear things people WANT to do but have absolutely no roadmap to get there.  Want to lose weight?  Make an eating and exercise plan and stick to it!  Want to write a book?  Start writing a number of words a day and make sure to check with yourself every so often to see how much you’ve actually written.  You might surprise yourself!

So why bring this up today?  Well, if you have a loved one to celebrate the day with, it’s a great day to think about what you can do to be a better person for yourself AND your loved one, something that will pay off far more in a relationship than chocolates and flowers.  And for those of you who are not in a relationship and tired of it, what better way to fix it than really considering what you bring to the table as a person and what you can do to improve that?

I know what you are thinking:  Hey this is a gear blog, why are you ranting about all this?  Well, the most important piece of gear you have is yourself.  All the neet toys, knives, tools, and technology can’t help if you don’t have yourself in good working order.  Get out there and get those resolutions done! 

- Much thanks to Clarita on morguefile.com (http://morguefile.com/creative/clarita) for the original pic!

Continue reading »]]> Greetings and Salutations!

It’s been a LONG time! I’ll make sure to give a sob story post that you are more than welcome to ignore in the near future as to why i’ve been gone, but for now, just know that I’m back, and will be bringing useful content once again to you here and on Google+!

Stay tuned, we return with refocus and new content!

And make sure to sound off if there’s something you want to know or see!

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Over a month ago I went over the CRKT Triumph N.E.C.K. knife.  This knife highlighted one of the biggest challenges of any piece of gear, an item that is perfect for one person may not be perfect for another.  While this knife was comfortable, useful, and very easy to use, I found it would not work for me on carry.  Peeking into the box of options, my next selection was the CRKT Krein Dogfish.

Strangely I bought this knife on a whim, it has a very unique name and look, and this knife happened to put an order just over the limit for free shipping, so in essence was free for me.  Since then I’m on my second one, the first I owned was a plain edged, and my present incarnation has the serrations as you can see.  The blade is a somewhat angular “modified” Wharncliffe (straight line edge with curved back), which I’ve come to like with some use.

It’s a little smaller than most knives I carry, with a blade length of just over 2 inches.

It comes with a custom kydex sheath that seems to hold the knife in decently for those who are comfortable with that, and a breakaway chain.  I do like the simplicity of this one, however if you wear this under your clothing or have it exposed to moisture, you’ll find the metal rivets in the sheath rust a little bit over time.  This might be a good idea to keep clean and paint over with some M-Nu (for those who know what that is…), or perhaps some form of  nail polish or really durable enamel coating.

CRKT’s description describes ”a secure finger choil and friction grooves at the thumb spine and near the butt” which is easy to notice, and makes for a comfortable, safe, and secure grip on the knife.

The designer’s purpose for the butt area is that the eye can be used as a lanyard hole, and the mouth as a bottle cap tool.  I’ve also found the mouth to be useful for something else as well.

You might recall a previous posting of mine about the outstanding Triumph N.E.C.K. also sold by CRKT.  My ONLY problem was that I found that for my purposes (as well as due to my lack of grace) the kydex sheath/patented mounting hardware just did not work for me.  Well, in this case, vanity and simplicity saved the day.  I have found that the mouth of the Dogfish also can work quite well to aid in retention!

It’s extremely simple, just affix some form of elastic band (i use a hair tie since I don’t want it catching the random body hair…  OW!) using a zip tie laced through the necklace hole on the same side as the blade (and mouth).  Trim the zip tie and make sure any rough edges of it are not going to dig or snag when stowed.

This creates a wonderful positive retention of the knife, HOWEVER:  You MUST be cautious on removal of this knife.  Keep a firm grip, since it can very easily launch itself away once you have pulled it out.

I’ve also occasionally run into non CRKT variations of this knife on the internet, just focus your google-fu on “Tom Krein Dogfish” and see if you can snag one, usually $75 USD and up.

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So here we sit in our home, waiting for the crock pot and rice cooker to complete dinner, listening to the thunder and the soothing sound of rain falling outside.  The baby is fussing about his time spent on his tummy trying to figure out what he’s supposed to do much like an anti turtle who at this age thrives on his back.  The sounds of another stormy weekend.  I’m very pleased that we decided to wait another week before going camping.

The wife mentions that there’s a tornado warning going on in our area, and posts it to facebook for all those who are glued to their screens all day and yet still don’t get that there’s neet real time alerting for things in the real world on computers.

So I go to do what I always do… sit down to feed the baby and read some online material.  And on the first page I find myself staring at something I consider amazing.  The banner displayed on the page is a National Weather Service tornado warning for our area.  Seems it’s not even a scam, clicking on it takes you http://alerts.weather.gov.  And even more amazingly, they didn’t use a half naked model to attract hits on it!

Seriously, I’m rather pleased to see that something good comes from banner ads like this.  The only other good banner ads i’ve ever seen of course would be the ones that help us pay for this site.  I’ve seen worse use of taxpayer money out there.

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So earlier this month, I went over one of my old trusty pocket tools, the Gerber Shortcut.  Yes, this is a discontinued product, but I felt that it’s still got relevant merit since it’s still for sale in many places.  And while I carried that for a long time, It’s not perfect (what tool is?).  The good people at Gerber also saw a lot of these shortcomings and improved on an already nice design, creating the Gerber Splice.

Just like it’s predecessor, the Splice is a multitool based around scissors instead of pliers (for those that insist on pliers, there’s the Gerber Vise, same thing but with small pliers, good for fishing!).

One of my big beefs with the original Shortcut was the poorly implemented file.  With the Splice, Gerber has replaced this with both a crosshatched file on one side,

And a regular straight ridge file on the other.  Note also they kept the almost too flat to use phillips head screwdriver tip, but this time it’s on top of the file, good use of tool real estate here.

Next up would be the improved bottle opener / flathead screwdriver tool.  In this case, it’s a lot of tool for these two features, but the structural cross piece actually does give this a lot of stability for either task.

The down side, they got rid of the tweezers that were on the Shortcut.  I’m sad to see it go, since this was a fine replacement for the Swiss pocket knife.

While it maintains it’s original blade, it also adds a serrated blade at around 1.5″.

You’ll notice they did away with the words defining what tools are on what side and went to pictures.  The blade side shows a serrated blade icon.

The opposite side shows an icon of a bottle, for the bottle opening non bladed side.  This strangely took me a while to get used to.

The small screwdriver/awl like feature is still here and is unchanged.

This tool still gets carried regularly by me generally in a pocket especially since scissors are great to have around when on the go and you have kids. I do like most of the updates to it, even if I’m a little bitter about the tweezers disappearing. Give and take, since there’s only so much space on a tool of this small size, so I can’t beat them up too much for the decision. The Splice just like it’s predecessor is a solid pocket tool, well worth the extra size and weight over a swiss army style knife.

Continue reading »]]> So springtime is a good time for reviewing my EDC stuff.  Weeding out what I don’t use, getting rid of duplicated stuff, or replacing multiple items with single multipurpose items.  Today brings me to consideration of the Gerber Shortcut.

The best way I can describe this one is simple:  It’s like a Victorinox Swiss Army Classic Pocket Knife on steroids.  If you like micro small everything, then I’d direct you to the Swiss Army Classic.  But for me, I find myself really challenged working with such a small knife/tool.

Unlike a pocket knife, this item folds more like a multitool.  But unlike it’s larger cousins, the Shortcut does not conceal a pair of pliers, but instead is a fold out pair of scissors.  They are decently sharp, and are very easy to manipulate.  The more traditional holding posture of the tool when used for it’s scissor function lends a lot more control to their use than most scissor bearing tools I’ve worked with so far. The only real down side is that the blades of the scissors are only 1″, but at least you can get some healthy leverage on them when needed.

But wait!  There’s MORE!  There’s also a knife blade comparable to a swiss army knife’s quality.

Note that they’ve marked BLADE on the side with the knife.

A nail file.  Not a huge fan of this one, prefer the file on the Gerber 600 Multi-tool with cross hatched groves on one side, and parallel grooves on the other.  But it works.

And they’ve marked NAIL FILE on the side with the file.  Good to know what  you are pulling out so you are not fumbling with an open blade if that’s not what you need.  I’m strangely a huge fan of this feature.

A flat head screwdriver as well as a “wannabe” phillips head screwdriver.

Calling it that is a very serious stretch of the imagination, it being flat and all, but it has worked for me on occasional light duty.  I wouldn’t rely on this part of things over the real thing.

A stubby set of tweezers that you cannot lose, since it’s attached, for the good and bad of it. Less agile than the removable version in the Swiss Army Classic, but far more stable and unless you lose the whole tool, you won’t lose the tweezers like many of my comrades have.

A small tool something between a small flathead screwdriver and an awl.  Works fine for both applications in my experience.

A lanyard hole, a big saving grace for me since I’ve outright lost tools in the past.

You’ll also notice that the body screws can be tightened with a star bit, I do like keeping my tools tight having had too many things open up accidentally at inopportune times.

And last big note that I do really like, unlike many tools, the various functions are accessible with the tool closed, very fast access to what you need is essential.

All in all, I’m a fan of this tool, and have carried it for various work applications in the past.  This has to have some of the best small portable scissors out as far as tools go, is easy to grasp and work with.  But with some so/so secondary tools.  At least Gerber has somewhat addressed this in a tool we’ll look at soon, the Gerber Splice.

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Today’s item for consideration is the CRKT Triumph N.E.C.K. Knife.With the nice weather coming, I usually take the wardrobe change to also review and change my EDC.  One thing I always take the time to review is what knife I carry with me and why.  I’ve been going through my gear shelf in my office and considering something lighter than what i’ve been carrying lately, my CRKT M21-02 Folding Knife.

I love that knife, and it’s going to be really hard for me to let go of it, it keeps it’s edge decently, holds up to reasonable abuse, is comfortable to use, and is just plain convenient.  But for the summertime I want to carry something smaller and even more convenient.  I started looking to neck knives, something i can easily carry without worrying about pockets or pouches.  And thus we find the CRKT Triumph N.E.C.K..

This particular neck knife was the first on my mind for ease of carry.  CRKT ships this particular knife with a patented quick release mounting hardware system that allows you to attach the kydex sheath to almost anything with a strap, and can be configured for horizontal or vertical positioning.  It’s light, simple and good quality, however for my purposes I wanted to keep this away from belts and straps, and after removing it, it’s somehow gone AWOL. Check it out on CRKT’s website, I won’t be covering this part.

For the Kydex sheath, it’s got a hollowed out 550 cord minimalist shoulder rig that I’ve used up until now for carrying it.  The shoulder rig is much preferred for me since it does not bulge out in front of me all day under the shirt.  My only issue has been retention.  While the Kydex sheaths are usually good, the ways I sit, stand, and move have left this popping out on me a couple times.  I did spend some time remolding the sheath and found this helped some.  I’ve heard other people having better experiences, and considering my use and wear of things, I do not fault the maker.  Last time I spent a weekend hiking I even ended up breaking my Galco Miami Classic Holster.

The handle is skillfully wrapped with a hollowed out 550 cord that also lends to it’s very comfortable grip.  If you are looking for a thinner handle or looking to wrap it yourself, it is also sold without the wrapping at a lower price.

For giggles, I decided to baton some smaller wood we had at a campsite last year, this did cause some visible wear of the coating, but not as much as you might expect from a knife that is this reasonably priced.  It did keep it’s edge quite well in that unlubricated abuse.

All in all, this is a damn fine and simple fixed blade knife that is easy to keep with you almost anywhere.  The carry didn’t work for me in the long run due to retention, so I’m keeping it in a pouch, but I’m still more than happy with it as a usable knife in my outdoors adventures.

Continue reading »]]> Today’s item is a hard one to compare or rate.  I’ve been known to say that anything multi-function is great.  But honestly I’m struggling with this one.  This one being the SE 11 Function Credit Card Size Survival Pocket Tool.

Let’s start off with value.  If you are making an ultralight just in case kit and are on a serious budget, this tool just might be for you.  Cost of it has been up and down over time, as low as $1 with free shipping.   It’s really hard for me to say that a tool that has no moving parts to break and is of pretty solid stainless steel construction is a bad way to go.  And as long as you are aware of the ups and downs of this tool, it might still have a place in your loadout.

Let’s cover the basic functions:

1. Can opener – This feature is hard to screw up in most tools.  Sadly this one has accomplished just that.  Unless you improvise a handle or way to hold this tool, the saw blade will end up cutting into your fingers.  It’s also very difficult to get the cut started:
2. Knife Edge – Better than nothing, however there are far better options to carry with you, for instance 2 Brothers’ Adventures covered the Card Sharp or perhaps other card tools out there with removable knives.
3. Screwdriver – Solid and simple, and will fit only some screws and applications.  Better off with carrying a small multitool
4. Ruler – if metric works for you, then this works.
5. Bottle Opener – Hard to go wrong here, it works…
6. 4 Position Wrench – Good again in very limited situations, but it works if it’s the right size…  I found quite a few nuts that this would not fit well with around the house.
7. Butterfly Wrench – Good for some basic hook screws, might be ok for some wing nuts, although a hole in this would work better, since using this slot becomes impossible if the wingnut is far down on the bolt.
8. Saw Blade – very pointy and sharp seeming, the challenge is improvising a handle or other such item to give you leverage, otherwise even cutting cardboard gets difficult as the saw binds up
9. Direction Ancillary Indicator – Overglorified hole to improvise a compass.  I was unable to get this to work with any type of material suggested by various sites and books.  I should also note that the water suspension method leaves you with a direction finding method that is not very portable.  You are better off carrying some basic fishing items and magnetizing a sewing needle to do this with, or perhaps a Suunto Clipper L Micro Compass (Luminous Bezel) or even a cheap knockoff from the same brand as this card tool: SE 1 Precision “Watch Band Clip-on” Navigation Compass Tool.I should also add that the card I have is magnetized, not something I want to keep with credit cards…
10. 2 Position Wrench – Same as the 4 Position Wrench, niche tool.
11. Keychain Hole – Useless since the cheap plastic cover is really important to keep the blade and saw edges from poking, cutting, and shredding everything they contact.  Useless unless you are tying or attaching something to give you a handle or leverage to use the other functions.  And even then you will find the installation of this will be a time waste compared to carrying better stuff.

After working with this tool, I found it a royal pain in the buttocks, rather dangerous, and something I really never reach for unless i’m really desperate.  But it’s hard to complain about it when it is so cheap.

To sum this one up, I’d say if you know what you have and why, or are on an extreme budget, this is a solid and extremely cheap tool that works assuming you keep your head on your shoulders and know what to expect.  And definitely make sure to be careful how you pack and carry it.  That saw could do some real damage to your wallet.

Continue reading »]]> Most people think I’m an absolute madman.  They might be right, but there’s always a madness to my method.  And the method works.  Simple concept, I like having what I need when I need it.  This is mostly a never ending and impossible goal.  However, we CAN play the percentages and try to keep a few things around for those times that pain and misery can be averted with a simple tool.  This by the way is one of the essential concepts of what we call EDC, or EveryDay Carry.

This weekend’s case involved one of the most carried EDC items ever, a pocket knife.

My uncle is an amazing man, does a lot of important research work, very intelligent, and generally is looked to as the family member that has it all together.  With all that he’s got going on, kitchen knives are understandably not high on the priority list for him.  When it came time to carve up the ham, I gave it a shot with one of his kitchen knives.  It was as dull as a cheap butter knife.  As I joke about next year bringing the family machete for the meat, I pulled out my trusty CRKT M21-02 Folding Knife and went to work.

While the thicker blade of the knife did not lend well to food carving, it’s sharpness more than made up the difference.  When all was said and done, I had carved 3+ heaping plates full from the bone in ham.  Amidst jokes that the family cat would be trying to lick the blade of the knife clean with all the danger that it would entail for him, we packed up the leftovers for everyone’s lunch sandwiches for the next few days.

Getting the nooks and crannies washed and dried was a royal pain, but the task was completed. Moral of the story, the world won’t come to an end without good EDC, but having what you need when you need it beats cutting a bone in ham with a spoon.

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“Why would you call this a ‘Wand of Wonder’?”

Why not?  

It’s something that many people look at and cannot figure out for the life of them why I have it on my keychain, until it’s needed and bam.  Useful in the strangest of ways, the Inchworm is primarily a 3/16″ diameter rod of titanium with English measurement markings at 1/8″ increments, with the 1/2″ and 1″ markings having a different thickness of notch for visibility.

So what.  It’s just a ruler.

JUST a ruler that you can have with you all the time and not really even notice until you actually need it, broken down on the side of the road, and need to know the width of the belt that broke so you can go get a replacement…

JUST a ruler that is there anytime you need to compare sizes of parts to know what you are getting at the hardware store.

JUST a ruler you can put on your keychain, never notice it’s there until you need it, it’s so lightweight and unobtrusive.

This one is just like the classic items and spells in games that tell you information about things.  Many power players just say “if it doesn’t blow something up in a big conflagration of  evil destructive power, we dont need it.”  And you too might say the same thing, until you need it.  And I’m sure you’ll still make it through your day without it.  But this will make things so much easier those times you do need it.

I would also never suggest doing anything illegal with an item like this.  You should not use this to engage an attacker’s pressure points in a forceful manner causing great pain and hopefully compliance.  In many states this item would be illegal to use in this fashion…  but then it’s only a ruler, one you should use responsibly right?

Other uses would include applying leverage to things, helping knock out assembly pins, and I’ve even heard someone say they made butterflies come out of theirs when they said the right word.  Did I mention I used to work in a psychiatric institution?

If you like the idea of this, but are stuck on metric, TEC Accessories also makes a Centipede for you blokes.

Sadly this item is not easy to come by, seeing as it is nowhere to be seen on Amazon and many other larger ecommerce sites.  You will find them however at a few of the lesser known corners of things, my personal choice would be J.S. Burly’s store, run by the head of EDCForums.com, a wonderful gear forum site, well run and administrated.  Check for it in their TEC Accessories section.

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This is not only the time of year for outdoors activities to start, but also it’s the time of year that those of us with an REI membership get our membership dividend (10% of what we spend on qualified items last year) as well as a juicy 20% off one item discount code.  My dividend went towards a new pair of hiking boots ordered from their outlet store.  Between the outlet markdown for being last year’s model, the coupon code, and my membership dividend, this fine pair of $150 boots ended up costing me $30.

Yesterday, these new hiking boots came in, a pair of Keen Klamath hiking boots (keenfootwear.com).   In the past I’ve done most of my outdoors adventures in military style boots, since I tend to be very hard on my gear, but this time around I decided to try these to see how well these would work.  My main fears were ankle support and sturdiness, and luckily these seem to be not an issue.

When I brought them out of the box, the wife exclaims to me

“You bought those kind of boots?  They look like sneakers!”

“Not really, but would that be a problem?”

“You don’t wear those kind of shoes!”

“These aren’t those kind of shoes.”

And they aren’t.

• On first wear, they are comfortable but snug, with a lot more support than one might assume just looking at them.  I’m accustomed to 8″- 10″ boots, yet these still have enough ankle support to make me feel confident enough to take to trails in them. The down side of this, I’m very accustomed to blousing my pantlegs inside the boots for protection from ticks and the like, so I’ll have to find an alternative to this strategy with these lower cut boots.
• Their “4mm multi directional traction lugs” mean one thing, an insanely agressive tread.
  
• The sole extends up over the front toe area to help protect the feet from whatever might be an issue.  For a couple of years I was wearing a pair of open toe Doc Marten sandals, until I kicked my trusty Pelican case and ended up losing a toenail.  Since then I’ve had my toes saved countless times after switching to a pair of Keen sandals.
  

  Sandals!

• Being waterproof, I had wondered exactly how they would approach the tongue, and found that they have eschewed a traditional tongue design and instead the boot upper is a one piece design.

• The eyelets in my mind could be a serious weakness of this style of boots being just nylon strip loopings as opposed to metal grometted military style hardwear as I’ve seen in more cheaply made boots. What Keen’s done is use nylon strapping that seems to be stitched into the walls of the boots so you are pulling on the whole side wall instead of just the lacing loops when you tighten them up.  The same straps on the upper lacing also wrap around to the heel for extra stability.
  

   

• The stock insoles of these seem to be a little better quality than I’m accustomed to in boots, so we’ll see how they work out.  I don’t think I’d ever want to purchase boots that would not allow me to replace the insoles.
• The comfort walking in these is great, very good cushioning, I’d assume this is the natural cork at work.
• The nylon straps seem to be strategically placed to actually provide support and strength to the boots as opposed to just looking interesting.  I do at least like that the straps have a little bit of reflective material for better visibility, not good for sneaking up on people at night, but then why would I want to do that?  :)
  

Weight wise, these are much lighter than the boots I’m used to, really looking forward to putting some miles on these, and especially to abuse the waterproofing.  Keep an eye out, there will definitely be a follow up post on how well these perform through the year.

Continue reading »]]> The elevator is gear.  Gear for a business or organization.  Just like everyday personal gear, when used correctly it will help shorten tasks efficiently.  They allow space to be used more efficiently by allowing taller buildings, thus taking less acreage for the same amount of indoor space.  The elevator is a wonderful testament to engineering, with many safety features, efficient operation, and a smooth and universally understood interface.  Amazing gear.  And for the end user quite simple.  Enter, select your destination, and you will get there.  There’s even elevators that work based on the rules that Jewish people are not allowed to operate machinery on the Sabbath.  (Shabbat Elevator)

This being a hump day post, I think back to my corporate and educational days and remember the hells of the middle of the week, wishing the week were over, and the straw that often broke my camel’s back, the simple inability of people to properly operate, enter, and exit an elevator.  All my camel wanted was a Starbucks Mochafrapulatechino from the 30th floor…

Elevators are very old concepts, going back to around 236BC with Archimedes according to Wikipedia.  That’s over 2200 years ago.  So what I’m not understanding here, is why given that much time and over two millenia of knowledge and educational advancement, that people still do not understand that when the doors open, more than likely people will actually EXIT the elevator.  It’s simple.  Elevator arrives, doors open, people come out, thus making room for people to go in.  People cannot get out if the people trying to get in are crowding around the door to push their way through.  My personal solution usually involves looking as angry as I can, standing right at the doors, squaring my shoulders, and pushing my way out of the elevator making sure to block others from rushing into anyone else exiting the elevator.  There’s fewer events more enjoyable than plowing right through someone who actually had the exact same intention towards me.  Sadly I’ve not left anyone sprawled out on the floor yet, but the day I do will be pure bliss.

As a side note, there IS a down side to this strategy:  I’m betting that this won’t go over well with zombies.

Harsh you say?  Sure it is.  However, by the time a person is large enough to actually pose a problem with this, they should have at least a decade or more of elevator experience.  There is no excuse.

Perhaps if this were a question of exiting an elevator in haste I’d understand, I’m sure we could write a whole article here about the cruelty of elevator music.  Just ask my wife who’s had to put up with my System Shock elevator music mp3 alert every time i get a text message.  Yes, every time…

Lastly…

Let’s not forget, this IS hump day after all…  what else can you do in an elevator?  Just remember kids, if you DO celebrate hump day properly in an elevator, please make sure you use protection!

Continue reading »]]> First off, I want to qualify what I’m going to say here with a little background.  I’m not a mountain man, I do not jump out of varying aircraft, my appearance in a forest does not cause animals to come to a realization that they should simply take my knife and skin themselves with it and hop up on a spit conveniently.  Fields of flowers do not magically bloom, and amazing pictures do not take themselves and appear in my camera as I walk through the forest.  My mere presence does not purify and beautify the land around me.  I’m not a park ranger, military ranger, and was not raised by wolves.

Now that you know what I’m not, I will say I’ve spent my fair share of time out in the woods covering various styles of outdoors life.  Boy scouts, US Army, and private ventures into the outdoors I have done, and not always successfully. I hope you too find not all your ventures successful, since the failures are the ones you will learn from and remember the most about, as you laugh with others about them when you ARE successful.

In this time of varying experiences, I’ve used some really bad gear, and i’ve used some alright gear.  Will the best gear make everything magically happen?  Nope.  What good gear will do is hopefully save you some time and help to bring out the maximum benefit of the skills you have or are developing.  And honestly, better gear should have less of a chance of failing on you when using it the way it’s meant to be used for the tasks it’s designed for.

http://www.cardmine.co.uk

I remember very vividly a 14 year old me on a weekend camping trip at a state park with the boy scouts, paired up with the kid that noone ever wanted to be paired up with in a very cheap two man tent.  The other kid in the tent with me forgot his deodorant and snored all night long in a sleep so deep an explosion would not have woken him up.  By about midnight a storm had rolled in, and with it came some strong winds that decided to knock only our tent out of commission.  My tent partner slept through the water getting in our tent, the guy lines for the fly having been ripped from the fly itself, and the front pole of the tent having collapsed in the weather.  I think it was after this that I started to pay attention to the quality of the gear I used outdoors.

Twenty years later, I found myself with a family of four camping at the exact same state park in a Eureka! Tetragon 1210.  And like before, a storm moved in.  This time even worse, the NOAA weather station for the area was giving warnings of 60+ MPH winds.  Instead of having a tent fall apart on us, the tent actually gave nicely in the wind, sometimes bending the walls (i can stand up in the center of this tent) down to our faces on the floor of the tent.  But the tent stayed up with no damage to it.

The morning came, and we were told by the park rangers that the storm would be getting worse and that it’d be a good idea to leave.  Thanks to good planning of carry gear and diligent planning of knowing what we bring and where it goes, we went from a fully setup family camp to in the vehicle and on our way to a warm brunch at a local diner within 45 minutes.  This again was made much easier by better quality gear.

All that said, I’m very tempted to challenge myself by buying the absolute cheapest gear one can ever find and give real and honest reviews of it to really put some contrast as to why I like better quality stuff.  Who knows, going camping and having everything I bring fall apart might actually be fun?