So, Backcountry.com is having this insane sale right now (click the ad to visit the sale on their site). They emailed me this morning to say this:
“The North Face Apex Free Climb jacket normally retails for $298.95 but is now on sale for $179.37.”
Okay that’s 40% off!! Do you think it’s time to replace my 2001 faded purple-y Patagonia gore-tex rain shell? It’s leaky, thin, not really technical (it’s one of those basic baggy rain jacket cuts) and yeah, as I already mentioned …purple. It’s so hokey, I hate to get rid of it - I mean, upgrading the car and the jacket all at once? Dunno.
So, I finally flicked in the 1990 Olds in favor for a little Toyota Tacoma. I was hoping to hold out for a non-fossil fuel burning pickup, and had some glimmers of hope, but couldn’t wait any longer.
Well, the very next day (umm, that’s today) Phoenix motors emails me to let me know they are taking pre-orders now. So, I feel like perhaps I was the one holding it all up, somehow - maybe cosmically. Basically now I’m patting myself on the back for enabling this car to come to market today.
In case you’re still holding out. I won’t be pre-ordering one now, but you can:
“As you may have already heard, we will be delivering our first production vehicles to customers this year. Accordingly, we would like to offer you the opportunity to pre-order a Phoenix Motorcars’ electric vehicle. If you are interested in placing an order, please sign and return the form below…”
Do you remember when Bobby and Cindy got lost in the Grand Canyon? (Lucky dogs! I thought so even when I was 10.) Well, for those of you who are not familiar with the Brady Bunch, what happens is these two cute kids get lost in the Grand Canyon. They wander around for a while and then they run into this native american boy, who takes pity on them and does the coolest thing ever: he brings them dinner in an empty flashlight! Yeah! So here they are eating beans and franks out of an empty metal flashlight. So cool!!! Man, I was so wanting to eat out of a flashlight after I saw that (keep in mind again, I was 10.)
Today it dawned on me that it would never happen like that now. We’ve got these tiny LED lights that are smaller than most franks. (I guess this is what you think about during your 1,345,654,345th commute via the Bay Bridge.)
Ooooh oooh! No more going over the bars. This invention would have saved me a few teeth! Plus it looks insanely fun. Guys. Send it over, we’ll test-ride and test-roll it and do a gear review! Pweeeeze!
Today I whipped through Starbucks (where I am typically known as “Sally” - aren’t Starbucks names fun? What’s yours?) and got my coffee in a paper cup. Well, what’s up with THAT!? I have to listen to my inner critic on this one. I know what you’re thinking: “Starbucks! The evil corporate amoeba!” No, that’s not where I’m going with this one. Sorry, this problem is much bigger. But here it is: I’m a big girl (adult, anyways) and I should know better than to drink coffee out of paper cups! !!! !!!!
I thought about it a bunch and realized, welp, one major problem is that all my good travel mugs are not washed. Ergo, my new crusade. I think that if every person had say, 4 or 5 GOOD travel mugs, there would be few or no obstacles around folks taking travel mugs to their coffee shops.
Here is what I mean by GOOD:
Fits in car cup holder
Steel or aluminum interior lining
No leaks when sipping!
Easy to blow in and sip out of
Easy to clean
Highly durable - rugged, even
Well insulated
I like the ones that can press coffee, too.
So if you’re trippin’ on your holiday shopping, and you have no idea what to get for someone, get them a GOOD travel mug. (Can you tell which one I use?) Seriously, you probably secretly think “oh it’s such a banal and impersonal gift and they already have one” but - they could probably use another one and you have no idea the impact it could have on the environment over time. If everyone used durable cups for their coffee shop trips, we’d save stadiums upon stadiums full of methane producing paper waste (we’re talking billions and billions of cups), not to mention the lovables - trees.
And yeah I do write about coffee a lot! What else is there!!! Forgive me, this is the dead of winter. Oh, and please if you have any better ideas for my Starbucks name, please have at it - post to comments.
Snazzy, eh? You can forget the J.B. and the F.T. But. If you are looking for a camping coffee grinder, rather P-Gear style, I think the guys over at Climbing Trash have the best thing going. Check out Tech Tip #3.
Nobody’s been “Digg“-ing my blog so it’s time to get tough. I’m here to write a brief expose on flip-flops. Those who use them, and those who can’t. Then, I predict, you will be so entertained, you’ll click on that little “Digg” button and propel iGearList into blogging fame.
Let’s get started, shall we? Let’s start with me. I cannot wear flip-flops. No. I have to wear the shoe version of prison cakes. Big white, round fluffy shoes with the equivalent of steel files baked into them. Yes, I’m one of those over-pronators who needs hard “medial posts” (more like “big ugly plastic ramps”) built into the soles to keep my foot from collapsing on each stride. On top of that, I have prescription polypropylene orthotics to just make doubly sure that my big floppy pancake feet behave. To add insult to all of this, my podiatrist has me keep the manufacturer’s arch support in. So, that’s basically equivalent to wearing, like, 3 diapers. I guess it’s merited, I have pounded my feet out an extra size and a half since reaching adulthood. And, my toes are starting to point the wrong way. Every time I think I can stop wearing my triple decker running apparati, and use something merely “stable”, I’m rewarded with a couple ice packs in my bed. (I put them there, to encourage healing.) No flip-flops for me, really. Pass.
I occasionally toy with the idea of carefully building up my non-existent arch strength by wearing some Nike Free’s (all this correction cannot be natural, I think to myself). However, I recently came across a few words about them in (the amazing, insightful and hilarious) FitnessFixation.com blog and I now feel somewhat vindicated in my choice to steer clear of this endeavor. To quote the author, Kelly Mills, “I bought the Nike Free shoes, the ones that are supposed to strengthen your legs and feel like running barefoot and my verdict is that so far strength just feels like stupid calf cramps.” Yes, these expensive, floppy no-triple-support-action slippers would probably render me, well, rendered. (And it sounds like running in flip-flops is out for Kelly as well.)
So who DOES get to wear flip-flops? OK. Flip-Flop Man gets to wear them. You heard me right. Here’s how you become the Flip-Flop Man. Put on a pair of flip-flops, and run 33 miles. In your underwear. Repeat, every single day. Now, does this man have a podiatrist? No? OK. How about happiness, maybe? I’ll tell you what this man does have: a problem. And this is the problem. By his own words, he eats “cheese and chocolate” but says “I have never been happy”. What? Awww, flip-flop man. You’ve got arches of steel, and eat cheese and chocolate and you run around in flip-flops and underwear all day, and you’re still not happy? Is there hope for the rest of us?
Gear Queen calls Flip-Flop Man my long lost relative, due to the glaringly insufficient foot gear choice, me being the one notorious for using unusual gear, or skimping in my gear choices. However, let the record show that these things would make me happy. Cheese, chocolate, flip-flops, and running all day in my underwear - yes - happy.
So, a couple other things might make me kinda happy. Like, you can buy your own flip-flops from Teva, yes, using that link (or you can see the Teva banner on our Shop page.) Or, you can Digg this article! C’mon you read this far, you must have like it, at least a little.
Innovate or die! This is a contest hosted by Specialized on YouTube. The idea here is to create something innovative and pedal-powered in order to help save our planet “one pedal stroke at a time”. Personally, I need a new car, and I’d rather drive around in some revolutionary pedal-recharged, energy efficient highway-speed vehicle that you invent next week, than something on the market today. Can you help? In the meantime I’ll keep praying for Pheonix Motors to kick down with their electric pickup truck. And I’ll keep fantasizing about cutting a hole in the floor of my Oldsmobile Cutlass so I can “Fred Flinstone” around a bit… I know I could make it through the toll plaza, and probably parking lots that way! Right? Anyways, that’s the limit of my mechanical creativity at this point. For all of you who are inclined, here is the information:
Lastly, I finally updated the Gear Sale page, which you should check out. There’s some coupons from Backcountry.com, Mountain Gear is having a sale (now is the time to buy skis there, BTW) and the folks over at Teva have some fun stuff going on…
Speaking of Teva, I will write more on Flip Flops later (if that doesn’t lure you back, what will?)
