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I am bringing my house into the modern era.

 

Ohhh what is that?

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

We just got our nests... The newest gen was on Black Friday sale plus a ComEd credit put us at $200 for both. Hopefully this will bring down the ridiculous electric bill.

 

It is a smart thermostat that will know when I am home or away, and when I'm asleep to adjust the temperature. It keeps track of the temperature and when the furnace is on too. The little sensor will report what the temperature is upstairs compared to downstairs. And I can set a temperature range for hot and cold and not have to switch it manually.

And I can check on it and control it from my iPhone if I want.

ecobee3 | Smart WiFi Thermostats by ecobee

I will get a $100 rebate from my gas utility as well.

 

Over the last few months, while planning my trip to study abroad in Israel for about a year, I've also been slowly getting everything I'll need to complete a through-hike of the Israel National Trail. It's an 1,100km trail from Kibbutz Dan in the north all the way to Eilat at the southern tip of the country. Along the way the trail passes through every major environment Israel has from the mountains of the Golan Heights through lush farmland, sandy beaches, three erosion craters, and the Negev desert. The INT is widely considered one of the most beautiful and unique hikes in the world in it's own right, but for me the chance to walk the length and breadth of Israel and meet Trail Angels and fellow hikers will be a way to get to know the land and people of Israel. And after I'll be able to say I've gone on at least one great adventure in my life.



The full gear list is Here at Lighterpack. My base weight is 17.5 pounds, with a total non-desert weight of just under 35 pounds. Once I pass Arad and move south into the Negev I'll need to either pay quite a bit to use water caches or carry 10-12 liters of water a day, bringing my total weight up to ~53 pounds.

Most of the gear I've chosen is pretty conventional: Black Diamond headlamp and trekking poles, asolo boots, MSR tent, optimus cookset, etc. I've made a few unique departures from the usual gear lists though. First and foremost I went with a 65L pack from Mystery Ranch. The brand is relatively unheard of and it lacks the fancy internal features Osprey and others include, but the company is owned and operated by Dana Gleason and like all his packs it's damn near bomb proof and practically carries itself. I also splurged on an oversized (25" wide/rectangular) NeoAir Allseason sleeping pad. It's heavier than an Xlite or even Xtherm but cost far less and works much better for a stomach and side sleeper than a mummy shaped pad. Plus it's still got an R-value of 6. If I'm going anywhere too cold for that then I'll need to buy true winter gear anyway.

Where I make up for the weight/bulk of the oversized sleeping pad and pillow is by going with a quilt instead of an actual mummy bag. Enlightened Equipment sells ridiculously inexpensive (ie sub-$300) 30 degree 850-fill down quilts that clip onto your sleeping pad and have an unzippable footbox. As a side/stomach sleeper I can clip that to my pad and pull the top up over my face instead of struggling with a confining bag. Plus since my temperature spread will be from 40deg nights (at the coldest) to potentially 80F in the Negev it'll be a LOT more versatile. For the same reason I'm mixing merino wool socks and underwear (darn tough and smartwool respectively) with all synthetic tops. Antimicrobial and sweat tolerant merino for sensitive areas matched with extraordinarily breathable synthetic tops for my upper body. Neither will lose insulation when wet and the Nanoair outer jacket is one of the most breathable made, a good match for the combination of stop/go exertion and dry-but-cold winter weather.

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Shifting gears a bit I realised if I was going to be without my desktop for a whole year I needed something other than a half-broken secondhand office laptop. I've always been averse to the idea of a true desktop replacement, mobile GPUs and CPUs have always struggled with the performance (and heat management) needed for sustained heavy gaming. The latest batch of Core i7's and Nvidia 10 series solved half that issue, and MSI's build quality on the GT series solved the other half. The hardware is efficient and powerful enough to be competitive with desktop performance in most games, and the GT line has enough airflow and large enough heatsinks that they get better temps than my current desktop.

I've basically rejoined the Glorious PC Gaming Master Race. And I've apparently caught whatever neurological disease makes people addicted to rainbow LEDs because god damn that keyboard looks cool:

 

My 5-year old Xperia T broke, so I went with the latest and best Xperia I could find. Absolutely am loving this beauty.

 

I've gone too far. Send help.

Create, Discover and Share GIFs on Gfycat

 

I'm sure it's very, very productive......

 

That is sweet and a great gift idea. Thanx

 

I'm attempting this using my phone.

I recently found a UH golf/polo shirt at Goodwill. Red would've been my preferred color, but at resale/thrift stores you can't be choosy.

 

I figured it would be more "interesting" to have my wife model it.

 

Nice, my large multi-day trekking pack is a pre-K2 Montana built Dana Designs Terraplane. When I bought it, the hip belt, shoulder straps, and pack were all separate items and could be sized differently. Mine has seen service in Glacier National Park, Alaska, New Zealand, and Switzerland. I actually wore out a similar vintage Dana Bomb Pack; but it took 20 years and a lot of effort.

 

A lot of people have had some whiplash hearing about my pack. They start out wondering why I didn't go with an Osprey and who Mystery Ranch is then as soon as they hear it's Dana Gleason they want one. I put just under 40lbs in it the other day and schlepped some garbage out to the dumpster, my legs aren't quite used to that sort of load but the pack's ridiculously stable and comfortable even with that much weight in it.

 

New organizer for some of my EDC stuff.
Triple Aught Design OP-1.


New addition to my handies:

 

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What is the red patch, with the arrow?

 

It's a logo patch for the Weapon Evolution forum. Their credo is "Spears to Gears".

 

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