Celebrating Instagram

Three Years With My Favorite Social Network

Instagram launched on October 6, 2010. I posted my first photo on November 15, 2010.

At first, I added photos slowly. I’d post maybe one every few days, then a week would go by before I’d add something new. But these days I try to update my feed at least once a day, maybe twice, but seldom more than that. One doesn’t want to bleed the feed.

I post things that I find interesting, memorable, personal, or just plain weird. In all honesty, they’re not all winning shots. I’ll occasionally try something that looks okay on the screen but totally doesn’t work after I hit the share button. But that’s part of the charm; there is beauty in imperfection.

In my first three years of Instagrammin’, here are 35 of my favorite Instagram snaps.

A collection of StickyGram magnets from my Instagram feed.

Go on, click an image!

Wait … Are those magnets? How does that work?

You may have noticed that the images displayed above are mounted on magnets. Yes, magnets are cool, but they’re even cooler when they feature photos you took.

That’s where StickyGram comes in.

For $14.99 (post-paid anywhere in the world), StickyGram will turn photos you select from your Instagram feed into one-inch square magnets (nine per sheet). It has one of the easiest ordering interfaces I’ve ever used, a hassle-fee log in with your Instagram account, super-simple pricing, and very fast shipping.

So go on, give it a try. Since we’re all friends here, use this friend code to save $2 on your first order: FRIENDHGE5

It’s one of my favorite things to do with Instagram photos. There are a few other cool things you can do with your Instagram photos — read more about those in my post about it over on GeekDad.

And, on the off chance you find any of these photographs appealing enough to grace the walls of your workplace or domicile, feel free to visit my gallery at Twenty20 (formerly Instacanvas).

My first-ever Instagram from November, 2010.

Proper Upkeep of a Well-Groomed Beard

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It’s November, and a lot of fellas out there take it upon themselves to grow a mustache (or perhaps a moustache) or even a beard during this 30-day stretch of time. (In related news, did you know there’s an American Mustache Institute? There is!)

While my fondness for a proper shave is the stuff of legend, every so often (such as during a hike along the John Muir Trail), I like to let the facial hair go and cultivate a beard.

When that happens, I prefer to keep that beard (and the skin underneath) in good shape with Burroughs Beard Oil (so named for naturalist and epic beard-wearer John Burroughs) from Prospector Co.

A bottle of Burroughs Beard Oil froM Prospector Co.

Now let’s be honest. Wearing a well-groomed beard requires serious dedication. But with the proper commitment, a beard can be a pretty epic affair. Unfortunately, I’m afraid that no matter how epic my own beard might get, I won’t be winning any awards — and I doubt it will ever be epic enough for beardvertising. Perhaps your facial hair will fare better.

(addendum)

After I wrote the bulk of this post, I attended a party where I found myself having a most amiable chat with a gent about the trials and tribulations of facial hair maintenance. He tipped me off to Man’s Face Stuff, an Etsy shop out of Portland that makes affordable line of moustache waxes. It looked like pretty promising stuff. So I ordered up a tin of Rum Runner, and, as of this writing, I’m eagerly waiting for that to arrive. There will almost certainly be more on this later …

The Best Time to Drink Coffee

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There’s been a lot of buzz on the Internet lately linking back to one report at NeuroscienceDC about the scientifically best time to drink coffee. (Spoiler: it’s between 9:30 a.m.and 11:30 a.m.)

I don’t know about any of that. But from my own experience with coffee (which is quite extensive), I can tell you the emotionally best time to drink coffee.

(Here’s the secret).

Drink coffee whenever you want.

The Coffee Apocalypse, A Reversal?

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Nearly two years ago, I read about the alleged coming coffee apocalypse. As a long-time drinker of coffee, I was naturally distressed.

But in a recent article from Roberto A. Ferdman at Quartz (a digitally native news outlet for business people in the new global economy), the word in the worldwide marketplace is that Arabica coffee prices are trading at the lowest levels in almost five years, due primarily to a bumper crop of Brazilian coffee.

That’s good news!

Maybe this so-called coffee apocalypse is about as real as the Mayan apocalypse — although we still have a long time before it’s supposed to arrive (New Scientist asserts the coffee apocalypse won’t be upon us until 2080).

Now, Ferdman is quick to point out, this doesn’t mean you’ll be seeing a cheaper cup of coffee at the coffee shop, due largely to fixed costs and the price of doing business.

So if you want to benefit from this drop in coffee prices, you’ll have to brew it yourself.

So, the coffee apocalypse may not be as dire as previously reported. But the wine apocalypse — now that’s something to be worried about.

John Muir Trail Basic Needs: Clothing

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The traditional list of immediate human basic needs is commonly given as food (including water), shelter, and clothing. And while that list is very simplistic, it does pretty much sum up what one needs to survive in the backcountry. So this is how I covered those basic needs during my 13-day hike of the John Muir Trail.

Basic Needs: Clothing

Here are the 13 pieces of essential clothing I carried with me on the John Muir Trail.

1. Goorin Brothers Honey Creek Fedora. As I’ve said before, a great adventure deserves a great hat, and this was my hat of choice. It was a great hat, but it wasn’t the perfect hat. I was worried that it wasn’t compressible (like a wool crusher) and it didn’t have a chinstrap (like the Outdoor Research Seattle Sombrero). So I rigged up a medium binder clip with a Nite Ize No. 1 S-Biner to keep it attached to my pack when it wasn’t on my head. A lo-tech solution, but it worked.

2. SmartWool Flecker Beanie. The mountaineers say “When your feet get cold put on a hat.” But I’ve found it’s better to start the day with the hat on your head to help keep your feet warm from the get-go. And this reliable piece of gear, which has gone on many adventures with me, was (and continues to be) the perfect thing to wear during the early mornings when the air is crisp and cold.

3. Outdoor Research Flurry Gloves. One of my favorite pieces of gear. I’ve had these gloves a long time, and they’ve never let me down. I wore them every morning.

4. TrekSta Evolution Mid GTX Hikers. Shoes are a very much a personal choice. Everyone’s feet are different, and these worked for me. There’s a lot of debate about Gore-tex or not, and I’m still on the fence. But I can tell you that I didn’t get a single blister after 212 miles in these shoes, even though my feet did get hot during the warmer, sun-drenched parts of the trail, like when I descended into Tully Hole. My feet were a little tender at the end of the trip, and even though I opted for a mid-hiker to help mitigate ankle injuries, I still sprained my ankle on Day 11. But most of the time I didn’t even think about my feet, so overall I was pretty happy with these kicks.

5. Patagonia Merino 2 Lightweight Zip-Neck. I decided to wear wool partly because of its ability to insulate when wet, but mostly because it’s got better odor control that polyester-based clothing. When you’re going to wear the same thing for two weeks, it can get pretty rank. Even though I was traveling alone, a man doesn’t always want to smell like a man — at least not so much.

6. Patagonia Nine-Trail Shorts. I wore the one pair of shorts for the whole trip (but I did change underwear; see below). These were comfortable, but the pockets were a little shallow, and that’s ultimately why I lost my mosquito netting (I shouldn’t have kept it in a pocket anyway). But the pockets did hold a bag of peanuts and sunflower seeds just fine. Patagonia has since redesigned these, so they’re a bit different. I have a pair of the new version I wear for running, but I’d still wear them on a multi-day hike.

7. REI Hiking Socks. I started with two pair, rotated daily, but lost one sock on my fourth day out while negotiating the blowdowns between Shadow Lake and Devil’s Postpile. I liked these just fine. Again, no blisters, so nothing to complain about.

Extra (that is, single) socks go in here. Along with a bunch of other goodies.

8. Feetures Hiking Socks. I picked these up at VVR to replace my lost REI sock (I dropped its unpaired companion into the VVR Hiker Barrels). These are mighty comfortable, and they soon became my favorite pair of socks.

9. Some Patagonia compression shorts they don’t make any more, two pair, rotated every morning. If I had to pick something today, I’d consider UnderArmor compression shorts or something similar.

10. Patagonia Torrentshell. I never venture into the backcountry without a raincoat. Yeah, that’s right — never. Because in the mountains, weather is fickle. And although I never wore it (except for the time I did laundry at VVR and didn’t have anything else to wear), I was glad to have it.

The author in raincoat and towel in his hotel room.

High fashion: Torrentshell and Towel. When you hike light, your clothing options while doing laundry are quite limited.

11. Patagonia Down Sweater. I foolishly considered not bringing this. But because it packs so small (about the size of a small cantaloupe), weighs a mere 12 ounces, and keeps me mighty warm, I decided to bring it along at the last minute. And I’m glad that I did; some mornings were a little chilly, and, at the end of the day, once the sun dropped below the surrounding mountains, the temperatures dropped quickly.

12. Patagonia Merino 2 Lightweight T-shirt. My other shirt. I rotated this and #5 daily with the idea that if it got really cold, I could double-up. But I was never that cold.

13. Pony Slip Ons. I didn’t pack camp shoes on the advice I got from Andrew Skurka’s book. But by the end of the third day, I was wishing I had a pair of lightweight shoes to knock around camp at night. So I picked these up at VVR for something like $12. I was happy I did.

I Almost Forgot …

Two other quasi-clothing items that were indispensable: Native Dash SS Sunglasses & UV Buff

Man wearing a UV Buff and a pair of Native Dash SS sunglasses.

Sunglasses. The sun in the Sierras can be relentless, so you’d be wise to wear some sort of eye protection. I’ve been wearing a pair of Native Dash SS sunglasses on my adventures for more years than I care to count. I don’t think Native makes them anymore, which is too bad; they fit my face really well. But the Dash XP might be a good replacement when I eventually break these.

The Buff. So many uses for a simple piece of stretchy cloth. When the days got hot, I soaked it in a mountain stream and slapped it on my head or wrapped it around my neck— evaporative cooling in action. And (bonus!) it kept my ears from getting sunburned. When I lost my mosquito netting, the Buff handily kept the pesky critters out of my nose, mouth, and ears. On occasion it served as an impromptu towel. It made a nice scarf when necessary. There are (at least) 16 different ways to wear this thing. Seriously, if you fancy yourself a hiker, buy one.

Now I know what you’re thinking …

Yes, that’s a lot of Patagonia gear.

But isn’t that expensive?

It’s not cheap. But I don’t want cheap should things go wrong and I find myself in a survival situation. Patagonia gear wears well, lasts for years, and works as advertised. Plus there’s a Patagonia store in Pasadena (staffed by some mighty swell folks), so I can try the gear on (in different configurations, even) before I buy it. Which is a great thing.

Stuff You Don’t Need: Chicken Jackets

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Why did the chicken put on its jacket?

To cross the road (safely), of course.

Two chickens wearing reflective yellow vests.

Keeping chickens in an urban setting is popular hobby, and there are a few reasons why it’s a good idea (fresh eggs, insect and weed control, fertilizer production).

But do your chickens need high-visibility chicken jackets?

No, they most certainly do not.

Or tweed chicken jackets?

No, they don’t need these either.

But that doesn’t keep Omelet, a homesteading supply company in Oxfordshire, England (that does sell some functional, if trendy, urban homesteading gear) from selling a large selection of these jackets for chickens.

A high-visibility chicken jacket will set you back £12 (about $20), while a tweed chicken jacket will cost you £20 (approximately $32).

So if you’ve got more money than you know what to do with, your chickens can look like this:

Chickens in Tweed: Chicken Jackets in action.

Um, yeah. You just don’t need this stuff.

[via Consumerist].

Taking Care of Business: When Nature Calls in the Wild

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This is a story about poop.

Everyone poops, as they saying (and the book title) goes. And normally, pooping isn’t a big deal; it’s just part of the average person’s average day. But what if you’re in the woods (and you’re not a bear)? Well, that gets a little trickier.

There is, in fact, a whole book on this topic, titled appropriately, How to Shit in the Woods. It’s a good book, and well worth reading, but to keep this simple, I’m going to cover the three most common scenarios one will deal with when nature calls while you’re enjoying nature.

The Outhouse

These aren’t all that common in the backcountry, so if you happen to come across one, consider yourself lucky. Sure they stink. Sure, they’re typically infested with more flies than a biblical plague. Sure, you’re afraid to put your butt on the seat. But compared to the alternatives detailed below, it’s a little slice of heaven.

The Cathole

There’s nothing glamorous here. You dig a hole, assume the position, and let it fly. Then, after what seems like an eternity of wiggling to make sure your business end is all clear, clean yourself up and bury your leavings. But now the fun begins, because you get to carry that soiled toilet paper around with you until you find a suitable trash can — and that might not be for a few days.

Oh, and there are rules about where you can dig your cathole. These vary from place to place but usually go something like this: You must be 100 feet from any trail, 200 feet from any water source, and your hole must be six to eight inches deep. Meeting these conditions isn’t always easy — especially if nature is knocking at your back door.

The WAG Bag

From an environmental perspective, this is the perfect low-impact solution. From a comfort perspective, it’s a substantially gross solution. What we’ve got here is a bag containing some “magic powder” they call a gelling agent. That’s the G in WAG — yes, WAG is an acronym; it stands for Waste Alleviation and Gelling. Yeah, someone got paid to come up with that. This powder absorbs the moisture (and the smell, hypothetically) from your waste products. The bag fits conveniently inside another bag. Me, I like to put the whole thing into a third bag. Just to cover off.

Despite the picture on the outside of the bag, there is no stool — other than yours, that is. (Photo by Patrick Maloney. Used under a CC BY-NC 2.0 License.)

Using the WAG Bag is easy! Simply pop the bag open, spread it on the ground, once again assume the position, and let it go. When you’re done and your nether region is satisfactorily clean, just wrap the package up (toilet paper and all), pop it back into the bag, and you’re off to the races. The fun part here is, instead of carrying around dirty toilet paper, you get to carry around a bag full of poop.

I know what you’re thinking … “But what if I have to go again?” No problem — this bag can be filled numerous times! Science!

In some places, like the trail to Mount Whitney, there are so many people crapping on the trail that you’re required to carry one of these. Or not, as is evident when you arrive at Trail Camp.

I know I’m a bit of an iconoclast, but I tend to prefer that my food containers be a little further away from my bulging WAG bags as they bake in the sun.

So let me tell you a story …

The first time I climbed Mount Whitney and arrived at Consultation Lake, a gorgeous alpine lake adjacent to Trail Camp, I was awed, stunned by its beauty. I needed a photo. So I stepped up on a rocky ledge to to get a better shot, and there, right below me, there’s some guy crapping in a bag. So now my memory of Consultation Lake is forever marred by some nameless dude’s ass.

Forever scarred …

And I’m not the only one …

In a recent post over at Backcountry.com, self-proclaimed gearhead Casey Glaubman recalls his excretory adventures during his bid to summit Denali in a little tale he likes to call Pooping at Altitude. A brief excerpt:

This is one of the things they don’t exactly tell you before you climb Denali. It’s just people shitting, everywhere you look. Gonna go for a quick stroll to the edge of camp to check out the sunset? Oh, hey, look, it’s that guy you were talking to earlier…shitting on a bucket. Glamorous.

So, yeah. Everyone poops. Even in the woods. Or on the mountain.

The end.

How to Brew the Perfect Cup of Coffee Every Time

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The quest for the perfect cup of coffee is an endless journey, and many people have strong opinions on how it’s done. I’ve been drinking coffee since I was five years old, so I know a thing or two about the subject.

The Perfect Cup of Coffee

The Equipment

Coffee Beans

First, you need good beans. Finding freshly roasted coffee beans isn’t too challenging these days, and I find that the fine folks at Tonx provide consistently good — and more often than not excellent — beans. They charge $19 for a 12oz supply postpaid (and they offer a small free trial though, enough for a pot or a few cups). They ship bi-monthly in useful little boxes, and the 12oz almost lasts me two weeks. For variety, I fill in the remaining days with Intelligentsia or Handsome Coffee.

Storage

For optimal flavor, it’s best to grind your beans right before you brew your coffee. That means you need a good place to store them. Don’t keep them in the refrigerator, but, like wine, you do need to keep them from oxidizing. For storing beans and keeping them fresh, I’ve found the Tightvac Vacuum Sealed Storage Container works great.

Tightvac Storage Container

Coffee Bean Grinder

Whole beans are fine to munch on, but you need to grind them in order to get a perfect cup of coffee — and that grind should be uniform and even. You just can’t get this from a standard blade grinder; you need a burr grinder. I use the Capresso Infinity 565 Conical Burr Grinder. Sure, there are better (that is, more expensive) models out there, but this one strikes a nice balance between affordability and functionality.

Coffee Scale

Any scale that measures in grams will work. I’m currently using the Jennings 4000g Digital Scale, but the Hario Coffee Drip Scale & Timer is a great option, because in addition to weighing your beans, it includes a drip timer so you can really get that bloom time dialed in (more on this later).

Kettle

You need hot water to brew coffee, and the Bonavita One Liter Electric Kettle heats the water quickly and has a nice gooseneck spout for optimal pouring.

Brewing & Serving

Presentation is important, and the Hario V60 Ceramic Coffee Dripper over the Hario V60 Range Server is a nice basic set-up that is both easy to use and looks classy.

Making the Perfect Cup of Coffee

Once you’ve got the right equipment, making a consistently delicious cup of coffee is simple. This is how you do it right.

Boil your water. This takes a little while, so I usually start with this step and then do the next few as the water heats up.
Weigh your coffee. I shoot for 28 grams of coffee, so I need 420 grams of water. The recommended amount of beans is 16g of coffee per milliliter of water, but I prefer slightly less. A little experimentation here may be necessary to find the optimal ratio for your tastes. By the way, using the metric system makes this easy. All you need to know is 1 milliliter of water weighs 1 gram.
Grind your beans. As mentioned above, the fresher your grind, the better your coffee. For the best coffee, grind the beans to a uniform consistency (which has been called the tactile equivalent of both “fine sand” and “coarse sea salt,” depending on the source material).
Prep for your pour. Place the ceramic cone over the glass carafe, and put those together over the scale, then wait for the water to boil. I can usually get in a game of Hackycat while I wait for the boil.
Place a paper filter into the ceramic cone and wet it with water from the kettle. Not only does this rinse the filter of any paper residue that can make your coffee taste funny, but it warms the ceramic cone and glass carafe (and helps keep the filter open). I used to not do this, as I saw it as a silly step. But I can totally tell the difference when I do rinse it. Or maybe I pretend that I can. Either way, a moist filter makes the next few steps easier.
Pour the ground beans (henceforth known as the grounds) into the now-moist filter. Shake the ceramic cone a little bit to even out the grounds.
Tare the scale. This sets the scale to zero, ignoring whatever weight is already on it, which allows you to accurately add the right amount of water to the grounds. This is an important, often overlooked step to get an accurate coffee:water ratio.
Now it’s time to add the water. For this, many people recommend a temperature of 195°F to 205°F. Some connoisseurs use a thermometer, but I’ve never found that I need the temperature to be perfectly precise, just within that temperature range. As soon as the water stops boiling it will start losing energy (i.e., it cools off), and I’ve found that by the time I rinse and get ready to pour, I’m right in that zone.
Time to start brewing! Pour water over the grounds, slowly in a circle, carefully wetting all the grounds until you’ve added 60g of water. Let that stand for 45 seconds to “bloom,” which brings out the flavor in the coffee. As the grounds bloom, they’ll bubble and gurgle softly, what the pros call “degassing.”
Slowly add water for the next 2 minutes and 30 seconds until you’ve added 420g of water. Slowly pour in more water until your scale reads 420g and let the extraction finish. From the first drops of water to the last drop of coffee, the process should take around 3 minutes.
Pour into a cup and sip your perfect cup of coffee with gusto.

Stuff You Don’t Need: A Laser-Guided Razor

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Do you really need the StyleXpert Beardtrimmer 9000?

No, you do not.

Just because you can put a laser guide on something doesn’t mean you should. Case in point, you do not need a laser-guided razor.

Going for the symmetry with a laser-guided razor.

I mean, lasers are cool and all, but seriously. I couldn’t even look at myself in the mirror if I used this thing. Which sort defeats the purpose.

The StyleXpert Beardtrimmer 9000, which Phillips boasts is the only beard trimmer with a laser guide, will run you $100 and promises to make your facial hair perfectly symmetrical.

Now shaving with a laser, that would be cool. But this thing, well, you just don’t need it.

There is, after all, a better way to shave: like a man.

Baking Chocolate Cake in an Orange

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Another Camp Cooking Adventure

Every time the family goes camping, we like to try something new. Last time, as you may recall, we cooked Breakfast in a Bag. This time, inspired by a post we’d read on Chow.com, we decided to try baking chocolate cake in an orange. Here’s how that turned out.

Chocolate Cake baked inside oranges.

How to Bake a Chocolate Cake in an Orange

1. Build a Fire

A campfire in a metal fire pit.

You need a nice bed of coals to bake your orange cakes, so start your fire before you begin to prepare the oranges and cake mix.

2. Prepare the Oranges

Hollowed out oranges, ready for cake batter.

Cut the tops off the oranges and hollow out the oranges. This was the hardest part of the whole process. (As a bonus, the pulp contributed to both the salad and the orange & habañero sauce that accompanied the pulled pork we had for dinner.)

3. Add the Cake Mix

Adding chocolate cake mix to a hollowed-out orange.

Fill the hollow oranges about three-quarters with cake mix. You don’t want to fill them too full or it’ll get really messy as they cook.

4. Wrap the Oranges

Chocolate cake-filled orange resting on a sheet of aluminum foil.

Put the tops back on the oranges and wrap them in aluminum foil. Twist the foil at the top so the oranges look like cartoon bombs.

By now, you should hopefully have a nice, hot bed of coals.

5. Cook the Oranges

Chocolate-filled oranges wrapped in foil on a bed of coals.

Put your oranges right on top of the coals and let them roast. Our coals were hotter near the center than the edges, so we rotated the oranges every ten minutes, attempting something that resembled even heat exposure.

After 20 minutes, chocolate started oozing out of the tops of some of the oranges. One of the kids who was helping (getting kids to help with anything fire-related during a camping trip is a piece of cake) said it looked like flowing lava. And it did — delicious chocolate lava.

Chocolate flowing out of foil-wrapped oranges cooking on a bed of coals.

We checked on a few of the oranges. They weren’t quite done, so we decided cook them for another ten minutes. One note here: The coals were mighty hot (well, yeah, they’re coals!), so we used a pair of fire resistant gloves to remove and replace the oranges. You could use tongs, too, I suppose, but the gloves made it easy.

6. Unwrap and Eat

Chocolate Cake in Oranges on a picnic table.

After taking the oranges off the coals, we let them cool for about ten minutes, then unwrapped them and set them on the table. The campers quickly descended upon dessert, and within minutes, only empty orange rinds remained.

The chocolate had a distinct orange flavor (as you’d imagine). As a variation, you could try vanilla cake mix, too — they tried vanilla over at the Cupcake Project and said it tastes like a creamsicle.

Parting Thought …

You don’t need to go camping to bake a chocolate cake in an orange, you can accomplish the same effect using a grill.

If you give this a try, please let me know how they turned out.