WildrLog

Bryan May 30th, 2008

Let’s face it, if you’re in Tennessee and waiting for a spring or early summer day where the forecast doesn’t mention rain or showers to go hiking, well, you probably won’t do much hiking. Tennessee weather is so unpredictable. Someone once told me that weathermen are right often enough that you can’t ignore them, but wrong often enough you can’t depend on them.

My advice: pick a day and go prepared. Here’s what I suggest:

• Communication. I make sure my companions know there’s a possibility of rain. There’s only one thing worse than hiking unprepared and being soaked to the bone: hiking with others who are unprepared and soaked to the bone (and probably complaining loudly).
• Proper Footwear. Hiking in soggy tennis shoes is about as close to miserable as I want to get. And hiking in the rain I will inevitably have to wade through at least one 1″-2″ puddle on the trail. That’s why I wear waterproof hiking boots for longer, rougher treks. For most shallow puddles, I just walk right through. For shorter, lighter hiking, I just wear water sandals like Teva, Chaco, or Keen. My feet will be wet, but at least they will drain quickly.
• Rain gear. I always carry my rain jacket and pants in my day pack, sunny and clear or not. But you don’t have to spend that much money. For a short walk, a cheap $2 poncho or a trash bag will suffice. They don’t breathe very well though, so you might end up soaked with sweat instead of rain.
• Hat. I wear a nice wide brimmed hat will help shed the rain when I don’t have the hood up on my jacket or poncho. I got a Tilly hat as a Christmas gift and it is perfect for keeping the head dry.
• Change of clothes and a towel. Once I come off the trail, I change into dry clothes as quickly as possible. A drive home while soaked is not an enjoyable experience.

I avoid severe thunderstorms, lightning, hail, tornadoes, high winds or other such severe weather. But I’ve found that hiking in a light rain shower can be downright enjoyable. I saw quite a few frogs out and about on my last drizzly hike.

What are YOUR suggestions for hiking in the rain? What did I miss?

Tags: Hiking, how to, rain

• Gear , how to
• Comments(1)

Bryan May 25th, 2008

“I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use our natural resources, but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob by wasteful use, the generations that come after us.”–Theodore Roosevelt

That has been the quote at the end of my personal email signature for over a year now. It pretty well sums up my philosophy of care for our planet. And while some blindly reject (and others blindly accept) anything and everything “green”, I take a more moderated approach.

But as right as Teddy was, we have a biblical command to care for the planet as well. And I’ve been very frustrated that many churches don’t mention this as they discuss biblical stewardship, much less practice it.

I think in caring for our world, the church has a critical role to play. People are largely apathetic about the environment because, well, they’re good people. They don’t dump toxins into the air or water or club baby seals. They reason their vehicle emissions aren’t their responsibility because, after all, they didn’t make the car or the gas. I believe the church can wake people up to the fact that their lifestyles and purchases affect others. Those others are our unborn and our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Well I met John Voelz, a pastor at Westwinds Community Church in Jackson, MIchigan, at a Web 2.0 conference about a month ago. I added his feed to my Google Reader. And what should I read there than this post on the bring your own mug initiative at his church. They were throwing out 10 industrial sized garbage bags full of used paper coffee cups every Sunday. Now a standard tall kitchen bag is 13 gallons, so they were trashing at least 130 gals of paper coffee caps every Sunday. And starting today, zero. John, reading this was a great encouragement to me. Somebody does get it. You guys ROCK!

Tags: green church

• Environment , Uncategorized
• Comments(2)

Bryan May 21st, 2008

This is a post for Watercooler Wednesday.

When I first signed up for Twitter months ago, I must confess I didn’t get it. Who wants to keep refreshing a web page to see what their friends are doing? Apparently they added the interfaces to IM and SMS after I signed up or I just missed them. Updating my twitter from the web, Facebook, my instant messaging client or my phone allows me to share some really cool (and some really ordinary) moments with my friends. But best of all, those special moments my friends choose to share with me get delivered to my phone automatically.

Twitter has really helped me to know more about my twittering friends, like fellow blogger Randy Elrod of Ethos. And I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised at all to learn that another fellow blogger, Tom Mangan of Two Heel Drive, twitters as well.

It surprises me how much detail people can actually share in 140 characters. But what has really surprised me is how much people twitter from unusual places. Such as

• Randy has a great post on what he calls Light Work (checking email and updating Twitter at red lights)
• I’ve twittered from the hiking trail before (it’s not every day you run into a modeling shoot on the trail)
• You know you’ve twittered from the bathroom… Don’t lie

But this tells me that Twitter has arrived. Crow will be twittering a journal of her thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail. That’s right. No more waiting to transcribe a journal entry (wifi coverage is pretty spotty in the backcountry you know). Now all she has to worry about is keeping that Crackberry charged up.

What are the strange places you’ve twittered from?

Tags: Hiking, Twitter

• Web/Tech , Weblogs
• Comments(5)

Bryan May 20th, 2008

While the rest of America fawns over American Idol, the Discovery Channel is airing new episodes of Man Vs. Wild, with (in)famous host Bear Grylls. Bear got in a little flap a while back for airing episodes cut to make it look like he spent days in the wilderness, when actually he was staying in town at night. The funniest take I’ve seen is the renaming of the show to “Man Vs. Hotel.” Anyway, yes, I know it’s most likely fake, just like wrestling. But I watch anyway because I want to be entertained on a work night. For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, check out this video.

Doesn’t that look fun?

And lookie here.. turns out ole Bear has a blog… this should be interesting.

Tags: bear grylls, man vs wild, Survival

• Survival , Television
• Comments(2)

Bryan May 17th, 2008

It had been a while since I’d sold my trusty Nikon CoolPIx 5000. It was just too big. As I started this blog, I wanted a quality, compact camera (that takes SD cards) to take with me camping and hiking. A friend recommended the Samsumg NV10, a 10 megapixel model. At 4″ x 2.5″ x 1″, it definately fit the bill of compact.

I bought my first Samsung NV10 and loved it. The menu system was SO easy to learn and navigate and it captured some really great shots. I was well pleased with it for 2 months until the lens mechanism jammed and failed. I thought I was in the clear and sent it in for warrenty repair. They denied it. I argued. No dice.

So, thinking it was just a lemon, I bought another (did I mention I loved its menuing system?). I was back on track until, 5 months later, the lens cover started sticking. Reading online, this is a fairly common occurence. Like an idiot, I didn’t sent this one in for repair. Instead, I waited until I really needed a camera while on vacation.

Then I went off again searching and found the NV11 at a great price. I bought it (did I mention I loved this camera’s compact size?). And again, I was in digital camera heaven. That is until 2 months later, the lens mechanism jammed again. No need to even bother wasting money on shipping this time. I knew my warrenty claim would be denied.

Now with one camera still functional (with a sticking lens cover) of the 3 Samsung cameras I purchased in 18 months, I’m saying no more.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times? Anybody care to finish this one?

Anybody have any recommendations for a quality, compact camera that takes SD cards? Maybe one that is more durable than egg shells?

Tags: digital photography, Samsung cameras

• Gear Review
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Bryan May 15th, 2008

My dear friend Stephen Felts first introduced me to the concept of farm friendly food a few years ago. Basically the idea is, the more you know who grows your food the more accountable they are to you. It’s making the food buying experience more relational instead of transactional.

Well, Stephen and his wife Danika have been working hard for a few years to start their own farm and they’re making progress! Now they are providing farm friendly food to others. And they just launched the Fresh Earth Farm and Orchards website this month.

I’ve personally tasted the fruits of their labors (zucchini and chicken among other things) and can tell you this is good stuff. I know they’ll have some whole chickens ready in the next few weeks, so if you’re in Middle Tennessee, be sure to call them up (or email them) and get some farm friendly goodness.

Oh and be sure to read all about the recent new additions to the farm.

And if you want to read more about the farm friendly food, check out Holy Cows And Hog Heaven: The Food Buyer’s Guide To Farm Friendly Food.

Tags: Farm Friendly Food, Fresh Earth Farm, Local Foods and Farms

• Food and Drink
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Bryan May 14th, 2008

The story of your life is the story of the long and brutal assault on your heart by the one who knows what you could be and fears it.

-John Eldredge, Waking the Dead: The Glory of a Heart Fully Alive

Tags: john eldredge, numbness, waking the dead

• Personal
• Comments(0)

Bryan May 12th, 2008

Yup. That’s right. I said it. If the theory of global warming is proven false, it could still have a positive effect on America, its people, its economy, and of course its environment. Bear with me here.

I’m not an apologist for either side of the global warming debate. It has become far too virulent and toxic (pardon the pun) for me to stomach. And I’m learning that being reasonable is sometimes labeled being radical. I’m ok with that. As a Christian, I’m supposed to be counter-cultural.

So here goes. I support a number of the activities that the global warming theorists recommend for grassroots involvement. But I don’t agree with others. How’s this for a list?

The Good

• Becoming more energy efficient. How is this a bad thing? It lowers our utility bills AND reduces our dependence on foreign energy. How is NOT spewing tons of sulfur and nitrogen compounds and heavy metals into the air and water a bad thing?
• Using smart, renewable sources of energy like solar, wind, non-impounded hydro, and co-generation. And how about ethanol made from switchgrass instead of corn? Switchgrass grows in places food crops won’t, so it won’t be raising food prices or causing worldwide food shortages.
• Recycling. I know, we’ve all heard Penn and Teller spout off about recycling. But considering all angles, how exactly is it better for the environment to dig out new resources when people are throwing old ones away?
• Reducing consumption. While our economists might not like this one, your wallet sure will.

The Bad

• Carbon sequestration. Somehow, spending billions of dollars to capture carbon dioxide and inject it into the earth somewhere (where it’s probably going to seep out later anyway) does not sound like a good idea to me.
• Dependence on Carbon Credits. These can be a good thing, except when you buy carbon credits to justify the way out, consumerist lifestyle you’re living. Here’s a great example, Al Gore.

And notice, I’m not asking our government to get involved at all. I’ve found that usually the government pretty much screws everything up. I’m talking about folks getting serious about their own lifestyles and habits. Making even small changes leads to bigger ones.

P.S. I had a great comment discussion on this about a month ago over at Serendipity, so go check it out. Then come back HERE and tell me what YOU think I missed!

Tags: climate change, economy, Environment, global warming, Nature

• Current Affairs , Environment
• Comments(5)

Bryan May 11th, 2008

I had the pleasure of spending last Tuesday with my old friend Randy Elrod, new friend Spence Smith, and a host of other bloggers or soon to be bloggers, talking bloggng and Web 2.0 at a conference/thinktank called LifeWork 2.0.

Here are some of the cool people I met.

Tags: Blogging, Lifework 2.0, Web 2.0

• Blog , Web/Tech
• Comments(1)

Bryan May 10th, 2008

Welcome everyone to WildrLog 2.0, now running on WordPress. I hope you like the new look and feel and I am confident that the WordPress platform will provide plenty of opportunity for improvement.

As of right now, here are things I’m still working on:

1. Migrating Galleries
2. Migrating File Attachments to Posts
3. Amazon Lists
4. Advertising
5. Sitemaps
6. Category and Archive links

Everything else should be working. Let me know if there’s something else antigogglin’.

• Blog
• Comments(0)