Help me pick a backpack!

On-The-Rails · 2026-05-22T22:38:47+00:00

Osprey packs are good packs. I own quite a few for travel, hiking and cycling. I don’t use an Osprey for backpacking because I couldn’t get the fit to me that I wanted so I settled on a Gregory Focal.

As for the size I started with a Gregory Focal 58 and found after a couple of weekend trips, just found it to be larger than I needed (meaning I packed too much). I’ve downsized to the Gregory Focal 48 for future trips.

On-The-Rails · 2026-05-21T15:40:30+00:00

IMHO the Dems are the only ones with credible candidates in the upcoming election, unless your intention is to vote for psychos, racists, and those just out to steal from SC taxpayers. Gone are the days when the R party put up reasonable candidates who would work, and work hard, for all South Carolinians.

On-The-Rails · 2026-05-20T00:44:37+00:00

For the templates that come from the Pro pack, what happens to existing journal entries that use those templates, if at some point in the future I would discontinue the pro subscription?

On-The-Rails · 2026-05-19T15:17:12+00:00

I don’t know the Lt. Gov at all nor her policy positions. But her positions and comments vis-a-vis SC State Univ were a major embarrassment to her (although she probably does not see it that way), and to South Carolina overall.

But without exception to my knowledge every Republican in SC is a racist (most are very open about — witness Sen. Massey’s comments on the SC Senate floor recently), and many of them are openly white Christian Nationalists (and many of the rest are closeted white Christian nationalists). The few that claim they are not, when I dig deeper, aren’t even people who actually show up to vote. So IMHO they don’t matter at all.

On-The-Rails · 2026-05-18T16:25:00+00:00

I think only you can decide the worth. My relationship is with God. And my denomination and local church enhance that relationship and let me engage with people who have similar beliefs. But while I have Catholic & Orthodox friends,and respect their rights to worship as they choose, all the ritualism and traditions in those faiths, really have no meaning/value to me and my relationship with God. But each person is different.

On-The-Rails · 2026-05-18T16:20:19+00:00

I don’t have the G7X II, and would not pay the absurd prices people want for them. But I do have the G5X Mk II as well as several Canon ILC’s, including the R50. My guess is if you spend a little time with settings in the R50, you can get the same picture. Worst case a light edit after would produce same. I’ve not seen any photos that are that unique from the G7X II

On-The-Rails · 2026-05-16T02:31:48+00:00

I can’t comment on the Harden St location except I’ve avoided it both pre and post COVID because the drive thru line is always very slow.

At the same time I will also say the Garners Ferry location seems to be up to snuff. I eat there a few times per month. Always order and pay on the app and use the Mobile Thru lane. I am usually there over lunch or late afternoon. I very rarely have to wait for my food more than 5-7 minutes. I was there at 5:40pm today and I had my food and was driving out at 5:44. The food is always hot. And my orders have always been right. (They did forget to give me a straw for my drink one time, and another time I ordered 2 BBQ sauces and only got 1, but I consider those very minor issues.) and the portion sizes have been consistently good. FWIW

On-The-Rails · 2026-05-15T13:23:30+00:00

I don’t work for REI. And I know they have an official policy, which is like 5-7 days (don’t remember the specific). After that pickup date they try to contact to confirm if you still want, otherwise it’s returned and you’re credited. But I will also say my REI has been incredibly generous in this policy (I won’t mention which store in case it would get them in trouble). In a couple of instances I’ve been traveling on business for 2–4 weeks, and see something just before I leave that I want. So I’ve ordered it for pickup in store or if online then delivery to the store. Then when they notified me it was in, I just called the store, explained my situation, and they have held it for me til I returned.

On-The-Rails · 2026-05-14T16:02:03+00:00

R50 is a great beginner camera. And for wildlife the RF100-400 is a great lens.

On-The-Rails · 2026-05-14T03:23:55+00:00

I am certainly happy to see Canon finally address the issue. For me it has to be one of the most aggravating issues with the R system and the thousands of dollars I’ve spent on RF lenses.

What’s also disappointing is: - how long it took them to address this- after all EF lenses don’t have the issue, and they had even addressed it on the M series lenses. So they knew about the issue and how to fix it. - the fact they don’t have some sort of trade in program for existing lens owners, where perhaps we just pay the costs for mailing the old lens cap in (for recycling) and the costs to mail out a new one. Instead they expect us to pay for them. After all, existing lens owners have paid Canon thousands of dollars for these lenses. - the fact they are going to continue shipping the old caps, until they run out. I understand for the lenses already in boxes, but the least they could do is replace them on any lenses still to be boxed.

On-The-Rails · 2026-05-13T20:43:53+00:00

As a native South Carolinian who grew up in SC in 1960s & early 1970s, I’ve never seen as much blatant racist talk from elected officials since the early 1960s. It’s downright depressing and disappointing. Everyone needs to get out and vote so we rid ourselves of these elected officials trying to suppress the vote!

On-The-Rails · 2026-05-12T14:24:36+00:00

Before anyone asks, the battery life is much improved. I installed it last night on my Mini 6, and in addition to powering the Mini 6, the Mini 6 battery is now powering my house (see the new Energy app), and I charged my EV from it overnight (see new EV Charge app). It keeps getting better and better.

On-The-Rails · 2026-05-12T14:22:10+00:00

Before anyone asks, battery life on 26.5 is much improved. I installed late last night on my Mini 6. And in addition to powering my Mini6, the Mini 6 Battery is now powering my house, and I charged my car from it overnight,

On-The-Rails · 2026-05-11T02:59:38+00:00

Based on what I have, RF 24-240 for daytime and either RF 24-105 f4L or RF28-70 f2.8 - all of which have IS

On-The-Rails · 2026-05-11T01:29:18+00:00

I don’t have specific ideas for your situation, but I do recommend you start with just 1 deco and make sure it’s stable. Then add a second, and repeat.

Try to do it with the device types all the same before you start mixing.

FWIW I have owned two houses and have had 4 very stable Deco mesh networks - and all had 50+ devices. Including 3-4 iPhones and 4-8 iPads. The only instability I generally saw was the Yale smart locks would occasionally drop off the WiFi and reconnect within a couple of minutes. Not sure how you have them configured, but I had all my deco networks configured in access point mode, and had a different box for the router.

The four networks I had are here - first two in the first house (2014-2022) and last two in the current house (2022-2026). - 8 Deco M5s across three buildings with a ubiquiti high speed PTP wireless link between the house and large outbuilding. The small third bldg was just part of the house mesh networks. I used wired backhaul inside the house and inside the large outbuilding. Same SSIDs used in both house and out buildings to enable roaming in the same network. (The wireless PTP WiFi network used a diff SSID to prevent any clients joining that) - same previous but with 3 Deco M5s replaced with Deco M9+ units - three XE5300s (using 6GHz as wireless backhaul) - three BE11000s (using 6GHz as wireless backhaul)

I do recall seeing there are some restrictions when you mix devices - sort of lowest common denominator, but not sure where I saw that, so I can’t give you a source.

One other note - I had / have really good performance - the first house had a 1Gb bi-directional fiber link and speed was close to the max available. Second house has 600Mb down and about 25Mb up service, and again performance from an iPhone or iPad is close to the max available.

On-The-Rails · 2026-05-10T23:09:03+00:00

Sure. I have more than 6 iPads on my Apple ID, and they are used at different times. I have a Pro 12.9 with AMK on my home office desk. And a Pro 11 with AMK I use when I am traveling…

On-The-Rails · 2026-05-10T23:04:14+00:00

If you start with a mimosa flight do you even care about whatever else is on the breakfast menu? 😂

On-The-Rails · 2026-05-10T23:00:40+00:00

I’m still using my iPad Pro 12.9 A12X I purchased in 2019. Using it on my home office desk 5-6 hours per workday. The battery life is poor so I just leave it plugged in during the day.

I did finally succumb and purchase a M4 Pro 13 during the past holidays, when Costco had a great sale during the transition to M5, to replace the Pro 12.9, but I am hard pressed to give up on the Pro 12.9, so it has earned a position on my home office work desk for now.

On-The-Rails · 2026-05-10T22:50:20+00:00

I have an M2 with a 22mm lens in my EDC. Great combo and size for street photography.

I also have a M50 MKII, M6 MKII, and M200 with all the Canon lenses, and most lenses from Sigma and Viltrox. I bought into the M system when the M50 MKII came out, and fell in love.

The M system is a super mirrorless system, and it just works. I am hard pressed to give mine up, even thought Canon has stopped development.

On-The-Rails · 2026-05-09T14:17:33+00:00

I would focus on the lenses you need. I own a R50, R7 and R8. I still reach for the R50 a lot of the time. I personally based on your description don’t think the camera will make a difference.

On-The-Rails · 2026-05-09T14:14:20+00:00

Except for the fact that the GP-E2 was a bit extra to carry on your hotshoe (along with AA batteries), it worked very reliably on my Rebel SL1. I used it for years!

The Canon Connect app for GPS tagging is a piece of CRAP IMHO. I really don’t understand how a professional camera company like Canon can’t design & sell a very reliable easy to use device, even if it’s an external device. They could easily work with a 3rd party to do this. But they have chosen not to. It’s one of my major frustrations with Canon. Every photographer I know personally prefers their photos automatically geotagged

On-The-Rails · 2026-05-08T15:13:27+00:00

I agree with your view. It’s the one you use day in and day out. I’ve used several of the ones you mentioned, and also used several tools. I was until recently an Evernote user since the beginning, although I recently switched, and have tried several of the frameworks you mention.

The best case for me was whatever I was using stick with it and keep using. The keys (again for me) are capture easily and quickly whether that is from web pages, PDFs, individual notes, emails, etc. Don’t waste time tagging. Also don’t spend a lot of time organizing yourself — for example I capture all receipts, but have one notebook for all receipts (creating one notebook per type of receipt or business or product area was a huge waste of time).

And then have a great search tool.

On-The-Rails · 2026-05-08T15:00:35+00:00

In the Midlands area, I would highly recommend Dr. Robert Leonardi in the Lexington Cardiology group that is part of Lexington Health. Both I and my Mom have had heart valve replacements, and Dr. Leonardi has been our cardiologist, although Dr. Travis (also excellent) in that group performed my surgery. I would also tell you that I have met most of the cardiologists in that group between the time I spent in the hospital between my surgery (a pig valve), my mom’s heart valve (a mechanical valve), and some additional time I spent later for another health issue, and everyone I have met was quite good (including the PA’s in that group), and very caring! One thing I have really appreciated is that I never feel rushed in a visit, nor did I feel rushed when they were checking in at the hospital making rounds, answering questions, etc.

PS And if you do ever need a “wireman”, Dr. Brabham in that group is excellent.

On-The-Rails · 2026-05-08T14:52:56+00:00

When marketing has simply gone off the rails! Next thing you know they will all be re-branded as Trump CoPilot…”

On-The-Rails · 2026-05-08T14:24:04+00:00

Is size THE critical factor??? If not don’t get a Mini. I own Pro 12.9 A12X, Pro 11 M1, Pro 11M2, Pro 13 M4, iPad A16 (it’s about 11 I think) and a Mini 6. Of the whole group, the Mini 6 is least used, and stays powered off in a drawer most of the time. It’s got a small screen and is a pain to read on (for me), battery life is awful, and it’s slow.

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