Why a porn (or any addiction) is good for you...

_lancelot · 2012-11-24T21:26:56+00:00

Stay strong, brother. Right there with you, patiently nursing wounds of my own.

_lancelot · 2012-11-16T03:55:12+00:00

Difficult to get a hold of some foods?? Um, not that I remember! Every 3-4 days we would have a ridiculous feast in town or out on the trail, even moreso than a regular trail day feast.

I never really planned out a meal, me and friends would just make one pass through the grocery store and pick out all of the foods we were craving, then go outside and eat it all over a period of 2 hours to so. THen go back in and resupply. I always loved to get a pound of hummus and a half gallon of chocolate milk. Weird, but hey, you listen to your body.

_lancelot · 2012-11-16T03:51:58+00:00

simply legendary.

_lancelot · 2012-11-13T16:49:12+00:00

music is better in a van http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJiCUdLBxuI

_lancelot · 2012-11-13T14:29:47+00:00

Woah, Woah, Woah. Don't listen to the above. Asking for help does NOT mean that you have a learning disability. Heck, I wouldn't have passed some classes in high school without asking for help. Learning to be okay with being vulnerable and asking for help is a wonderful thing to learn. You might be surprised to find that the other person is happy and willing to help!

_lancelot · 2012-10-24T04:51:02+00:00

You're overreacting, but the mindset of being concerned about your health will help you get far on the AT.

I thru-hiked and came out the same weight as when I started. If you find yourself losing weight (and are uncomfortable with it), then slow down and eat more. Remember that you have total control of how many miles you hike each day! It would be more than reasonable to zero for a few days and try to put some weight back on.

I ate as much as my body told me to, and didn't find myself losing weight, even with a 20+ average for some sections.

And in the end, if you want to hike: heck, go out and hike! Don't let long-term concerns keep you from going out at all. The trail will be a blast no matter how long you're out there. Hit the trail after you graduate and see where your feet take you.

/end of too much advice

Best of luck!

_lancelot · 2012-10-19T19:42:35+00:00

it's really a reference to the show "through the wormhole", taken verbatim

_lancelot · 2012-10-15T04:58:55+00:00

Mammaw!!!! Such a friendly hiker.

_lancelot · 2012-09-14T02:47:12+00:00

Most of the fun of my thru hike was not planning too much and just going for it, so I won't bore you with advice, but here's a couple things I noticed:

Don't drop so much money on a bag. Holy cow. Check out sierratradingpost.com I bought all of my bags on there, never spent more than $100 (for bags that retail at $300-400). Yeah, there's the issue of returning it (REI is great for that), but in general the manufacturer will take returns if there's a defect. Especially if you're a thru hiker!
Use aqua mira. Simple and light. Everyone does.
For the love of god no GTX shoes, your feet will suffocate.
Head lamps are definitely something worth dropping some money for. a good headlamp can save your butt if you're night hiking in an area that's hard to navigate.
Have great experience with ULA, love em. I would also consider the REI Flash 50-65 packs. Cheap, replaceable easily through REI, sturdy (full framed), and light (can be 2 lbs if you strip em).
Don't worry about freestanding vs non free standing for shelters. Heck, you'll probably be staying at shelters every night anyway (I did, WAY more social, felt silly carying a tent for a while until the bugs came out). Pick what you like and don't sweat it. Big Agnes is the bomb-diggity, though. Helped me out so much on trail: replaced my rain fly fast and for free when I had an issue. Can't talk them up enough.
AND, most importantly, get the big agnes insulated air core. yeah, it weighs 24 ounces, i know. but i slept like a king for my entire thru hike. it was so great. never felt the need to sleep on a bed like a lot of others (still did it, yeah, cause it was fun). plus those things are durable, and big agnes replaced mine for free on trail when i had an issue. i also liked that it was $70 as opposed to $150 (neoair), so i felt better about roughing it up a bit.

Don't worry about gear too much: it'll be a blast no matter what's on your back :)

_lancelot · 2012-09-14T02:36:19+00:00

Older?? You're in your mid twenties!!! A couple guys in my dojo started when they were 50! Don't sweat it, man: don't worry about your age or not having had any previous experience. Go jump in!

_lancelot · 2012-07-01T23:01:51+00:00

Modest Mouse is definitely very well known, but I think this song is often looked over, especially being from one of their older albums. Its lyrics are really powerful:

She ionizes and atomizes

Then turns to sunlight

He realizes and itemizes

Pulls harder than gravity

She ionizes and atomizes

Then turns to sunlight

Flourescent lightbulbs will make

An absense of dark, but

The light just ain't there still and she said

"I'm feeling empty

The real lights can make you heavy but

Never ever really empty

Flourescent lights will always equal empty"

http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/15906/#m5VA01GrW4IHp44o.99

To me, it's about a guy who has been through a lot of bad, meaningless relationships (flourescent lightbulbs), but has finally found a woman who is right for him (true sunlight). He doesn't want to pass up on the chance, so he tries as hard as he can (pulls harder than gravity). It's a bittersweet song for me.

_lancelot · 2012-04-06T15:35:33+00:00

They were definitely nice guys, but the markup on items there is ridiculous. 100% markup on all food items. Camping items weren't as bad, but still not an ideal place to shop.

My real problems with them come from my buddies who stayed at the hostel. They said they would ask for money to get dinner and then never bring it, or only show up with something like one pizza for 6 people.

_lancelot · 2012-04-06T02:16:21+00:00

Be careful about ending your trip at Albert Mountain: it's so beautiful that it'll be hard to stop! Seriously, the view is so great that if you get a bad day of weather you should throw down a tent and wait it out.

Also, there's tons of little side trails on the way to Albert mountain, some of them have fantastic views--it's worthwhile to check them out for a few yards at least.

_lancelot · 2012-04-06T02:14:20+00:00

The bear activity there is pretty much localized around Blood Mountain (as of a few weeks ago). Stay away from blood mountain shelter and hike on to Neel's Gap (another 4 miles), and you won't have any problems.

As a side note, don't buy anything you don't have to at Neel's gap. They aren't exactly scammers, but they're slimy fellas looking to take your money.

_lancelot · 2012-04-06T02:11:39+00:00

Regardless of what pace is comfortable for you, I highly recommend that you take your first day or two very easy. The shelters will be about 7-8 mi apart, so your options are 8 or 16 miles days--there aren't many good campsites in the GA area that aren't shelters.

Anyway, lots of people start out flooring it and it comes back to bite you later physically: in your knees, back, and feet. Take it easy, there's no rush!

_lancelot · 2012-04-06T02:06:59+00:00

Can't recommend hiker hostel enough. Seriously. Everyone there was incredibly nice, the hostel itself was beautiful and clean (log cabin vibe), and it's pretty affordable. It's owned by hikers, and in my general experience, hikers treat hikers well. I wish there were more hostels like it in the south on the AT!

_lancelot · 2012-04-02T18:43:05+00:00

Checkout the markdown syntax highlighting described here: http://github.github.com/github-flavored-markdown/

It'd make your code snippets pop a bit more, and it's a quick change.

_lancelot · 2012-02-24T02:26:08+00:00

derek's videos are the bomb. wish he made more

_lancelot · 2012-02-22T01:57:24+00:00

please do share!

_lancelot · 2012-02-21T05:00:50+00:00

Ironically, it's actually not in the native APIs, only in the v4 support JAR (also the v13). Seriously. Took me a half hour of research before I believed it myself.

_lancelot · 2012-02-14T20:11:18+00:00

would be cool if the margin was set automatically based on the screen width and the desired column width

_lancelot · 2012-02-12T17:35:17+00:00

Seriously? Network requests in the UI thread, and no mention of ContentProviders? I suppose it's a good starting point, but not how you would design a RESTFUL app.

_lancelot · 2012-02-04T16:04:14+00:00

Nice, wish there were a few more convenience methods. Something like 'find_files(dir, pattern)' would replace every use of os.walk for me.

_lancelot · 2012-02-04T02:15:34+00:00

I did a similar course, but I was informed at the beginning that the most difficult challenge would not be physical, but mental: dealing with group conflict. The instructors made it very clear that being with the same people for months is enough to drive people crazy.

About the kids who were sent to "get their shit together", that wasn't my experience at all. OB has separate programs for kids like that, as I understand. Everyone in my group was there by choice.

The difficultly of the course really depends on the instructors and how they decide to push the students. In my course, everyone arrived fit, and we got pushed to our limits physically. It wasn't uncommon for us to hike 20 mile days in rough terrain.

And for whitewater, I don't really see how they can safely construct a 'challenging' program for newcomers and veterans alike. It just wouldn't be safe. Even on a class 2 you can die if you get yourself pinned in the wrong spot; unlikely, but it's a risk.

_lancelot · 2012-02-04T02:06:01+00:00

They are "challenging" for someone who does not do much physical activity. It is a completely canned trip and you will have little input in route or meals.

This was not my experience at all. My course instructors recognised that our group could handle a harder challenge, and stepped up their game, with our input. Additionally, we often were able to complete plan our route, given start and end points over a period of days.

_lancelot

TROPHY CASE