The I.T. Life

The smell, the sound, the taste, I can feel it! I love barbecuing, and to be honest I do it year round (even in snow), but always with propane. I’ve been tempted for a few years now to try charcoal, and even got some plans together to make a brick fireplace in my back yard this summer.

Of course, all that may easily change now that I”ve seen the Park Style BBQ. For $100 this would be a great addition to my backyard giving me both a bit of extra decore (admit it, its cool looking) and a great additional way to cook my food.  Now, how much is shipping to Canada?

A dear old friend in Manitoba is getting married this coming February and I will be a groomsmen at the wedding. This is great news, and I am very excited to get out to Winnipeg (and area) to see some old friends, and how things have changes since I last visited (5-6 years ago). The only down site is that it is February and I have sadly become acclimatized to weather on the East Cost. Were just finding the most affordable way to get me out there right now, but it is starting to turn into a great plan; a plan that includes enough travel time to allow for getting stuck in a airport due to blizzard.

Feburary is actually turning out to be a busy (and cold) month for me. The very first weekend I will be taking a Remote Wilderness First-Aid course; it is a three day course and includes a overnight session. I have heard amazing things about the course, and the instructor is a great guy. I’m in the process of deciding what gear I need for a one night overnight camping session in winter. I don’t plan to bring much gear, small, light (and cheap if possible).

On top of all that one of the forums I am a member of is doing a group buy on a very special pocket knife. It will be the Manix by Spyderco, with the form name and logo (EDCF) laser engraved on the blade, and to top it all off glow in the dark handles. It is unfortunately not going to be particularly cheap, and the timing is going to make February kind of expensive, however if I actually manage my money for the next few months it all should come together.

Currently, I carry a pretty heavy SAR Bag. I’m not going to bother listing all my stuff, but what I am going to say is this year, I am going to start spending less money on new gear, and more money on smarter gear. I want to buy some new clothes, lighter weight clothes, this will cut down drastically on weight. I want to find a lighter weight pot, to replace my stainless steel 3 piece set. I want to start focusing on weight, and functionality.

So, I’ve been trying my very hardest to not buy toys, and not drool over toys. I end up with huge lists of things I want, and just putting them away. I have added a few more items for my EDC/really cool crap that I want, and have some uses for. I recently had a few bucks for my bday, so I bought a few random things, most significant is a CRKT M21-14SF

In addition to this beautiful knife, I’m drooling over a NiteCore D20 R2.

A great flashlight, about 6″ in length, running off 2aa batteries. Capable of 200 lumen for 1.5 hours before power decreases. This will not be my EDC light, or my pocket carry light, 6″ is too big for that, this will be my backpack light, my camping light, my SAR primary light. I was hoping to buy this light for my bday however I ended up needing to spend some of the cash for bills, so, I am out of luck on that one. I’m hoping to have it in my hands for some of my training in the fall with SAR, or even sooner for my camping in PEI with friends. I’m going to have to look at the budget, see what is happening with the house, and figure it all out.

Now, also on my list, is the uber cool Leatherman Skeletool, a great stripped down Leatherman, with a new design.

Its light, simple, and effective. I don’t know how I will carry this, or what I will use it for though. I have a Leatherman Wave in my backpack for SAR, and that is also in the Jeep so, its easy to get to. I carry a pocket knife now, and have a bigger knife on the way. Perhaps I will giveup carrying my c33x and start carrying the Skeletool, or just rotate them. Perhaps I will carry both the CRKT and the Leatherman in my laptop bag, in addition to my NightCore D20 and my various other things.
I find I am carrying too much junk, last weekend for camping I loaded 3 bags in the jeep all for myself. My SAR/survival backpack, that basically lives in the Jeep, or in the house and is carried to the jeep whenever I am going anywhere, my big camera bag, and my over the shoulder laptop bag. My SAR bag will be staying in the jeep, so that leaves me 2 bags. Perhaps I choose limited camera equip for weekend travel and use my laptop bag. Perhaps I can put my laptop in my camera bag. Perhaps I can travel without the laptop, without all the camera gear, and without the sar gear, then find a small, ie smaller than shoulder bag for my edc/weekend gear, that will hold knives, lights, etc, and my camera…. Perhaps… I’m hopeless…

Well, so far this summer has been a blast! I have flown to NFLD, sailed from St. John’s to Halifax, flown in a Sea King Helicopter, hung out the cargo door as we hovered over a pack of whales, and was hoisted 50′ from the air onto the deck of the ship! So, whats next? Well, beth and I are planning a pseudo random weekend. We are planning on going to PEI, and we are bringing over some blankets, but thats about as far as we are going to plan. We may make it back Saturday, we may get a campsite and sleep in the Jeep, we may just park on the side of the highway for the night… We also are planning a camping trip with some friends, and I just found a place in PEI that does parasailing… so I am so going to do that! And yah, I will probably be paying at least $1.50/l for gas this summer… so this just means I have to be careful with spending, but it is not going to slow me down!