From what I can tell, in order to run a successful magazine with an enormous readership, you simply make lists of stuff and rotate the lists, changing their contents slightly every few years. I used to eschew making lists for blog posts, but I obviously got over that, because you people really seem to love [...]
Read More adventure, Humor, travelMy friend Heather is a commercial helicopter pilot, world traveler, sassmaster, and all around badass. If there’s a way to do something, Heather will know how. She’s the one you want with you if your three hour tour turns into Cast Away. If Heather needs to get a few flight hours in her helicopter, she [...]
Read More travelHalulite Microdualist Cookset I’ve been a longtime user of GSI Outdoors cooksets because of their practicality and this one didn’t disappoint. Designed for solo use, it’s well suited for the purpose, containing one pot and two double-duty bowl/cups as well as two folding spork thingies. There’s room left over for a superlite stove (the only [...]
Read More coffee, cookware, GSI OutdoorsIt’s a pretty good bet for Patagonia to get their money’s worth when they send me dresses to review. Chances are I will love the dress and buy three more for myself, and the Morning Glory dress is no exception to that rule. I asked Patagonia for a teal colored dress (teal is a lovely [...]
Read More dresses, Patagonia These sunglasses came to me with the most perfect timing. I underwent PRK (eye surgery similar to LASIK) a few weeks ago and in the process of recovery my eyes have been really sensitive to light. It’s also spring in Alaska, which means a million hours of sunlight every day (yeah, a million, how [...]
Read More Costa del Mar, sunglassesI’ve finally done it: I’ve lost or melted every single one of my Nalgenes. Who knows what’s happened to the lost ones? Where on earth do they go? In any case, I have to rebuild my stable of things to drink out of, and I’m not a fan of metal bottles. I was going to [...]
Read More GSI Outdoors, hydrationI do not have a picture of these towels. All the pictures on the web site of the towels are of the towels under a person lounging on the beach, and since it’s exactly four degrees Farenheit at my house, I think it’s a little unfair to ask me to post pictures of beach-lounging people [...]
Read More travel[STM sent a number of packs to test, but most of them were for bigger folks. I looked like I was a second grader wearing my dad's backpack to school. The chest straps were...in a bad place, let's just say that. I waffled over the applicability of packs that are too big for all of [...]
Read More packs, STMI actually let a dude review this! He’s my next door neighbor and is kind of a superman – a cop, a lieutenant at the fire department, a hardcore snowmobiler, outdoor photographer, and generally all around good kinda guy. I’m not so gadgety so I cunningly gave him the Power Monkey to figure out so [...]
Read More gadgets, PowermonkeyI admit it. This bag surprised me. I expected a perfectly normal average duffel – yes, it’s true, sometimes I can be a tad cynical – but I have been humbled. Call me jaded, but I sometimes think I’ve seen one bag, I’ve seen them all. How different can a duffel be? Honestly, really, not [...]
Read More bags, Lilypond