Camping 101

Kris and I are working on becoming outdoorsmen (outdoorspersons?). I don't know what got into us, but several weeks ago for an unknown reason we decided to take a trip into the Rockies. We had never camped before and had zero equipment, but after searching a bit we found lots of places have cool cabins and yurts for rent. This was perfect as it offered a semi-rustic experience without requiring much in the way of supplies from us.

We settled upon a yurt because it was the same price as a cabin but was a more exotic experience. (Who the heck's been in a yurt?) The first and very nice place we found was Sylvan Lake, pretty deep into the Rockies and about a 2 hour drive.

We headed on out with some bedding, novice fishing gear, and fishing license in hand to... Novo Coffee, because I just can't start my day without a good cup of fresh ground, french-pressed Sumatran. Anyway, after that base was covered we really were on our way on good old I-70 right up into the hills.

The yurt was actually 9 miles from the lake, which didn't sound like a big deal until we found it was 9 miles of rough 10-15mph dirt roads. Do the math: 9mi/15mph=0.6hr= 36 minutes! Yes it was a more than half hour each way to and from the lake and our yurt camp. It ended up being ok because at least it was a picturesque and pleasant drive. We unloaded our stuff at the yurt, and it was damn cool. Huge, good to sleep six, and much nicer than we had anticipated. No water or electricity (they had solar-powered electric overhead lights, but we didn't use them), but spacious and clean and outfitted with two futons, bunk beds, chairs and table, cabinet, and a gas fireplace. I found out they are made in CO by no less than the Colorado Yurt Company. Who'd a thunk?

After dropping our stuff we headed back out down the bumpy dirt road to the lake to get some fishing in before dark. We got to the lake and were surprised how small it was. It wasn't a pond, but for some place that ranked pretty well on my web searches and was so deep in the mountains and far from urban CO, I expected to be overwhelmed by nature. Not so much. There are city reservoirs near where I live that are a lot bigger than Sylvan Lake. It was fairly tranquil, except for the several truck-loads of Mexican families, replete with screechy children, that had met there for a big cookout. We gathered our gear and walked well away from the party.

Now, I have never fished. Just a few kiddie trips to the local pond when I was 10 or younger. Kris used to "go fishing a lot", except I came to find out that really meant "went with my son and ex while they fished". So it was an adventure. We had pole-assembly issues, tangled line problems, weight, bobber, and bait fiascos, and then when all those preliminaries were out of the way we found casting isn't quite the simple thing one would think. Eventually we got the hook in the water and let it steep, but of course no fish. I know fishing (at least still water fishing) is as much relaxation as it is sport, but I think he requisite patience is another acquired angler skill. And then it rained. So, our first foray into fishing didn't go so well.

We thought about waiting out the rain, but it was also getting a bit late and would have been be dark in not too long, so we went back to the yurt for the evening. It stopped raining by the time we got back, so we set about building our campfire and making some dinner. The menu was simple: Modelo, Funyuns, and Bubba Burgers. The cooking worked out great, and those burgers were awesome. We were both very impressed with the frozen patties, and we've since made them a staple of our campfire cooking.

The most important  part of a camping experience, to me, is sitting by the fire in the evening and into the night and enjoying the peace. And a good whisky. So I did.

We woke very early the next morning with the light, about 5am. It was cold but I was eager to get a fire and breakfast going, and found that enjoying the early morning around a campfire is just as uniquely pleasant as at night. I boiled some water for some campfire coffee (though I did compromise with just instant coffee for less mess), and then we put our sausage and Egg Beaters on (those are so good I have little need to eat regular eggs again). Breakfast was also fantastic. People told us and now I agree: campfire cooking just tastes better. It's certainly psychological, but a better experience is a better experience, and it was better!

Kris and I tried to go back to sleep a bit after breakfast. Kris had no problem and ended up sleeping for several more hours until about 10am. I dozed a little bit but then got up, collected some more wood, and tended the fire for a couple hours. Good times.

Before we had packed up out gear and loaded up the car, we already had plans for our next camping trip!

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The Gmail Consolidation.

It's been a popular thing to do among web-savvy types for a long time now, but I've finally, seriously, migrated to Gmail for all email use.

I have long been a holdout against webmail in general, preferring fuller-featured desktop applications (Outlook Express, then Outlook for a while, and finally for the last couple years Thunderbird). They are quicker and allow for more efficient sorting, and since I have them open for calendaring anyway I might as well multipurpose them. Plus, even to this day, every webmail app I've used except Gmail is 1990s-era crap.

I really never was dissatisfied with Thunderbird as an email client. What in the end turned me to Gmail was spam. I wrote several times about my beloved spam-fighting tool Spamgourmet. It really is a fantastic email filtering system that I am surprised no other organization had implemented (it's open-source, after all). Anyway, in the end the main issue is merely that Spamgourmet is the sole provider of this cool filtering software (and I'm not knowledgeable enough to set it up on my own mail server), and their servers seems to be getting slower and slower every day, so much that I occasionally have to wait hours for an email to get through them to me.

The great interface and usability of Gmail aside, another much-lauded feature of Google's system is their very effective automated spam-filtering. So I initially decided to just use Gmail as a spam filter by forwarding all my mail through a Gmail address and them downloading from there to my desktop, so Google would filter spam from all of my 15+ addresses. In the process of setting all the forwarding on all my accounts and testing to make sure it worked well, I used Gmail webmail and found that it really is very good.

It doesn't nicely sort my mail into folders like I'm used to, but I guess that's actually a paradigm issue I need to come to terms with. Folder sorting is old-school. Tagging is the 'in' thing. Now that I'm getting the hang of it, I might have to admit tagging is more effective sorting after all. Plus, if you just lump all your mail together and simply trust in the Google gods, you can very effectively find whatever you want with simple Google search of all your mail.

So now a handful of Gmail accounts, a still-useful and great Fastmail account, my Comcast ISP address, my ND alumni address, never-used Yahoo and Hotmail addresses, and my solusipse.org domain mail all funnel into my single main Google/Gmail account. And, stupendously, I have no spam. Holy Google, Batman.

I also uploaded all my locally archived mail into Gmail so can now retrieve, search, and safely store all my email online.

I really should have done this sooner. And if, for whatever reason, I decide I don't want to use the Gmail interface anymore, I can still get at all that mail via POP or IMAP with a client of my choice. But I don't think I'm going to do that.

Happy Birthday Me.

June 20th was my 34th birthday. I got a lot of birthday greetings this year, more than usual. This was due to my conscientious coworkers, my increased online presence on several web forums, and certainly not least because of my recent joining of Facebook (lots of happy birthdays there).

We didn't do much for my day, because that's how I like it. Months ago Kris and I went to a nice French creperie, and my only wish was that we go there again, so we did. They have very good coffee, and we also had a nice hummus appetizer. I had a lox crepe, and Kris got stuffed on just their awesome tomato bisque. For dessert we shared (Kris got a couple bites) a Pomme Flambé, or baked apple crepe with brandy, cinnamon, brown sugar, and creme. It wasn't really a flambé, as they didn't light it, but it tasted great.

   

The creperie is in a nice new mall on the far southeast side of Denver, about 30 minutes from where we live, so we shopped around a little bit afterward. (Really just a little bit. Kris and I are lousy and reluctant shoppers.) There is a very cool Irish pub there too, and I hoped we could walk a bit and then have a nice Guinness. Alas, the crepes and soup had filled us more than I had anticipated and even after a quick walking tour we were still too stuffed to even have a drink. That's ok, I have Guinness in the fridge at home.

That was my plan for the day. My parents gave Kris and me (Kris' bday is August 30th) a Nintendo Wii as an early present, which was a great surprise. I didn't want anything else, but of course my parents and brother couldn't let the date itself go by without something, so my mom & dad are treating Kris and me to P.F. Chang's, the best gourmet Chinese there is, and my brother hooked me up at amazon.com. Awesome, and thanks!

Kris had something for me, too. I really didn't want or expect anything, I feel well past that age, but Kris' gift shut me right up. Like, OMG.

  

To those who know, That-Which-Is-Labeled-Blue needs no introduction. For those who don't, that's Johnny Walker Blue Label Scotch whisky. Yes, that really is an embossed blue leather case. Blue Label is the finest whisky JW offers, and I've been craving it ever since I got to try it at a JW scotch tasting event. I was not expecting any gifts, and I certainly wasn't expecting this! I'm a hard man to buy for, as Kris has complained. I have either very simple or exactingly narrow tastes, and nothing in between. I love many of the finer things, but it has to be just the right thing, and figuring out exactly what those right things for me are isn't easy. Kris went with me to the Scotch tasting and saw how much I enjoyed the Blue Label as well as experience it herself, which luckily assured her this was the perfect gift. And it is.

I had a glass to celebrate the birthday and the awesome gift. It was excellent, and even Kris who can't stand most Scotch admits it is regal stuff. And then back in the box it goes, to await the next special occasion.

Coincidentally, I received my next Scotch club order the day before my birthday. It's an 18yo Duncan & Taylor Speyside from the Imperial distillery, which is interesting since that distillery does not sell it's own single malt, it normally just supplies the whisky for blends like Ballantine's. It's no Blue Label, but I like it a lot better than the 19yo Glenlossie I got 2 months ago.