In January of 2021 I committed to some New Year’s resolutions: spend 15 minutes per day learning Spanish, workout 3 times per week, shoot my bow 3 times per week, read 73 books, and stay off tobacco. This is my progress so far in the year.
Know a Knot! The Water/Tape Knot
Welcome back to Know-a-Knot! It has been a while since we’ve looked at a new knot but I’ve received emails from a couple of you asking for the series to continue. Today we’re going to talk about an interesting joining knot: the water or tape knot.
Neighborhood Rapport/Community-Building Follow Up
Two of my best, most original pieces of writing on this blog are two of the least popular articles here. They deal with building rapport with your immediate neighbors and building rapport with your larger community. If you haven’t, I strongly encourage you to go back and read those articles. Today I’m going to follow-up with some lessons learned, and share our success and failures.
EDC Flashlight Review: Olight I3T
I’m generally not the biggest fan of AAA-powered lights. After reviewing the Streamlight Microstream I figured maybe it was time to give the AAA Olight I3T another look. I have a little bit of history with this light. I actually own two of them because this was one of the first lights with a pocket clip that I carried on a daily basis (the second was purchased as a backup).
Lumbar Pack: Mountainsmith Tour
Writing about the Helikon Essentials Kitbag recently got me thinking about alternate means of load-carriage. Backpacks are cool, all of us probably own one, but they aren’t the only fish in the sea. Today I’m going to revisit one of my old favorites: the Mountainsmith Tour lumbar pack, an alternative to the ubiquitous backpack.
Malkoff Conversion LED for Legacy Surefires
Like many guys of my age and background I have some old, legacy Surefire flashlights lying around. These lights where the cat’s pajamas back in the day. I recently pulled out my old Surefire 6P “Defender” and was blown away…by how weak the light was. Good news, though: you can breathe new life into those old flashlights with the Malkoff Conversion LED.
Medical Multi-Tool: The Triangular Bandage
The tourniquet is the rock-star in the world of medical devices. Tourniquets are the latest in an ever-growing list of strongly-encouraged EDC items. If I had my ‘druthers I would always have a full medical kit at hand. That’s not always possible, so if I had to limit myself to a single medical device, I’d choose the most versatile single item. Instead of a tourniquet, I’d choose the multi-tool of medical stuff: the triangular bandage. I know that’s a controversial position, so let me explain.
Some Thoughts on Quitting Tobacco
I quit using tobacco on 23 November, 2019. My last dose of nicotine via the patch was on January 5, 2020. I was a daily user of Copenhagen Snuff for over 20 years and finally, somehow, got the gumption to give it up. This article will tell you why you should quit, talk about the process of quitting (and it is a process), and list some things that might help.
Wilderness Predator Defense
My girlfriend and I have been doing a good bit of hiking lately. I am always interested in what we can do to improve our chances of survival if something were to go wrong. On our last hike I was thinking about wilderness predator defense. This article will cover some general principles regardless of what predators you may encounter, as well as a little specific advice here and there.
2021: Goals for The Year Ahead
Good morning and Happy New Year! It seems popular to talk about how you “don’t care for New Year’s resolutions.” Honestly, I think that’s because most people can’t stick to New Year’s resolutions or are afraid to commit publicly to them. Just because you can’t stick to yours doesn’t mean I can’t stick to mine…so here are mine for the coming year!