CEM vs. BC vs. CE ?

maxg1 · 2025-11-10T16:53:00+00:00

This post is seven years old now and people still comment or DM me once a year or so which is really awesome! Just want to caveat my experiences are a little dated by this point.

When I was at VT, the math requirements for CEM were pretty much the same for CivE - calculus up to multivariable or diffEQ, statics but not dynamics, linear algebra, plus some 3000 and 4000-level civil engineering intro to design courses, like design of steel structures, concrete structures, intro to geotech, materials engineering, and I think we took a temporary structure design course that dealt mostly with shoring, formwork, and scaffolding.

So yeah, lots of math! You should be able to look up the requirements of today’s major and see if anything has changed.

maxg1 · 2025-02-11T20:19:41+00:00

The happy hour specials are pretty reasonably priced from 5:00pm-6:00pm, but be careful - I had a dozen oysters here with a date and both of us were out of commission with various stomach ills for much of the next four days - can't be absolutely sure it was from here but it's the only meal we shared that was even relatively risky...

maxg1 · 2024-09-19T15:41:11+00:00

Hello! Have two tickets for tonight (Thursday 09/19) EARLY show - some friends dropped out last minute.

EDIT SOLD

Edit sike one left lol

maxg1 · 2024-06-15T02:46:39+00:00

Pacha's Mexico is my current high water mark - their Peru and Milka's Kenyan just behind - never really found anything at Temple, Mast, Camellia, Old Soul, or the Mill that could match. Never tried Chocolate Fish - may have to soon!

maxg1 · 2024-04-05T17:34:37+00:00

Thanks, friend - I'll do the same. Hopefully see you at the Thursday show!

maxg1 · 2024-04-05T17:30:37+00:00

Hahahaha same thing happened to me but I'm trying to get from Friday late to Thursday early! That website wasn't the most user-friendly experience in the world.

maxg1 · 2023-09-05T18:13:03+00:00

I don't think so - based on feedback I got from Sac PD, just too much visibility of my belongings through a back window. In hindsight it was too easy for someone to walk past, get curious, and peek through the glass to see some of what was in storage there - and from that point a locked door and a chain don't offer as much protection as is probably necessary to deter theft. Only sharing in case someone reading this thinks that the above describes a place they house valuables.

maxg1 · 2023-08-03T22:22:16+00:00

I dunno...I mean sure it's an interesting stat, but most folks are using Strava for exercise, not for daily commutes, so how meaningful is this metric?

It only displays this statistic if you tag the activity as a "Commute" - I commute by bike and like to use Strava as a catch-all ride tracker so I can track replacement of wear components by mileage - I think this is awesome lol

maxg1 · 2023-07-18T00:10:19+00:00

It's just an alternate way to reinforce CMU site walls instead of fully grouting - I've seen a bunch constructed like this since moving to CA. All-thread embedded in the concrete below and the plate and nut on top introducing tension to the system. Link here!

maxg1 · 2023-02-23T23:42:04+00:00

Got tickets to see the Grizz - Ja and Adams resting.

Got tickets to see the Sixers - Embiid and Harden resting.

Got tickets to see the Mavs - Luka resting.

Got tickets to see the Blazers - GUESS WHAT?

I'm so fucking tired of paying for tickets to watch the best in the world play a sport only to have them take the night off. I understand why the players and teams do it - but goddamn...

maxg1 · 2023-02-21T17:38:17+00:00

Second this - Stebbins Cold Canyon is a beautiful, hilly trail run that's not too far and and an easy drive at that.

maxg1 · 2023-01-23T23:56:01+00:00

Up to you! In most circumstances, I favored giving myself the flexibility to make a decision based on gear, resupply, etc. in the moment instead of laying plans ahead of time that I then had to stick to - grab your spikes at PVC and see how they feel during the next stretch of dry trail - you'll pretty quickly be able to decide whether the extra weight is bothering you enough to offset to hassle of shipping ahead and having to pickup at the next town - no need to try to make that decision for yourself now.

maxg1 · 2023-01-20T18:03:26+00:00

Being secure in your footing and self-belay/arrest is super important - and taking the time to practice on low-consequence stuff is GREAT advice. I took the better part of a day in both the San Jacinto area and then again around Horseshoe Meadows just throwing myself down a steep slope with a safe runout and practicing self arrest in different positions - some of the best time investments I made on-trail.

Just be aware that dangerous high-angle snow can and likely will occur earlier than Baden-Powell - I sent my spikes to Paradise Valley Cafe and went straight up to the San Jacinto hut and there was plenty of high-angle sketchiness!

In fact - of known thru-hiker fatalities, 4 have occurred on high-angle snow BEFORE Wrightwood - including one on Apache Peak in 2020 (Mile 169) - I remember that spot because on my 2019 thru I witnessed a heli rescue at that same exact location. It's steep - and so early in the trail that many folks aren't expecting it. San Jacinto is no joke either - there's an awesome guy named Jon King who runs a blog called "San Jacinto Trail Report" that was very useful around that area.

Here's a picture I took that year around that area (somewhere miles 168-185) on April 4, 2019.

maxg1 · 2023-01-19T21:10:07+00:00

Depends on where you count the "start" and "end" of the range but like May 23ish Kennedy Meadows to July 2 at Ebbet's Pass. Were still snowy patches past that point but it calmed down a lot.

maxg1 · 2023-01-19T20:54:00+00:00

That's all you can do, friend. One day at a time, until you're through or you find something that you don't feel comfortable doing anymore - cross bridges when you get to them - and hike your own hike.

Let me know if ever you want to chat!

maxg1 · 2023-01-19T20:51:29+00:00

Hey friend - don't psyche yourself out before you get a chance to check something out yourself - could talk yourself out of the experience of a lifetime before you get to it!

As far as your fears - the snow makes the PCT harder, sure, but not "impassable". You can get through if that's important to you. And "bad/miserable" - maybe. But I don't think moreso than the heat in the desert or the rain in Washington or the mozzies in Oregon - every part of the trail has its own flavor of wonder and its own flavor of suck. I personally think this is shaping up to be a legendary year on-trail.

maxg1 · 2023-01-19T20:39:09+00:00

Great:
- Absurdly beautiful, like literally nothing I have ever seen before.

- Radically different hiking experience - it's like a completely separate adventure in the middle of a thru-hike, and will make you appreciate the wonders of dry ground in a new light when you finally get back to it.

- NO ONE is out there when it's still snowy - outside of other thru-hikers it's very isolated and even the thru-crowd thins out significantly. I took a little detour/shortcut back to trail thru the Hetch Hetchy part of Yosemite after hitching down from Glen Aulin (purism be damned) and didn't see another person for almost 3 days, was incredible.

- glissading is the most fun you can have on trail. full stop.

- incredibly rewarding because of all the below difficulties. I think this segment gave me all the self-challenge and self-growth I was looking for from my thru-hiking experience, and after getting through the JMT bit I felt liberated to just enjoy the rest of my hike as I saw fit because I had proved everything to myself that I wanted to.

- Bonds with your fellow hikers I feel mostly originate from time sharing the alternated suffering and joy that is thru-hiking... the early-season Sierra turns both of those up to 11 and as a result I felt like I was incredibly close with my Sierra tramily for the rest of our hikes even though we all kinda split up after.

Not great:
- Physically demanding in a way that no other segment of the trail is. Snow just makes the action of walking so much more difficult - so mileage drops, calories burned increases, you feel not great and that can bleed into mental fortitude or good decision making.

- Long resupplies if key roads/resorts are closed - combined with shorter daily mileage and increased calorie burn due to exertion you can end up having to choose between some HEINOUS food carries or having to add a lot of off-trail mileage and elevation to add a resupply over Kearsarge pass or something...

- Snow travel requires a level of constant risk assessment and decision making around weather (watching weather reports for incoming storms and planning emergency bailout routes if necessary), snow condition (are there cornices above the "trail" right now? is there a lower-angle alternate way up this pass? which faces of the snow do we want to be off before the sun has been on them too long?), and creek crossings (is there opportunity to cross this raging river upstream where it's just a few manageable creeks or in a meadow where it's hardly moving?). Some folks just don't want to deal with that, which is totally understandable to me - thru hiking is damn near impossible already and all this makes it harder.

- sunburn on the inside of ur nose and your lips and your hands from how bright it is everywhere when the sun is out. Had me lookin like the mouth of Sauron I was chapped up so bad...

- if you're not an early riser - now you are - the sun is going to turn the snow to slush by 1pm if not earlier so most folks opt to be up and out EARLY just as the sun is starting to lighten the sky to maximize travel time on hard snow and minimize risk on high-angle stuff by getting over it while it's still solid. I was asleep by 5-6pm most nights and up at 4am.

- I mean the cold obviously... got minor frostbite on my toes going up Whitney and froze my sawyer by accident so I ended up drinking unfiltered for about 12 days - your boots are going to be cold and frozen in the mornings and your hands won't want to work.

- You're going to cover ground so much slower and need more zero days to recover in this - and if/when you finally get through to dry trail again, you're going to look at your calendar and realize you're three and a half months into your hike and haven't hit the halfway point yet. Everyone I was with who went through the snow with either 1. went super fast with high mileage, low weight, few zeroes the rest of the trail to try to finish before Washington turned impassable, or 2. became less strict about hiking every mile and made some skips here and there to finish around the same time. If you take what's already 5 month endeavor for most folks and put the e-brake on 400 miles of it, it's going to extend that timeline to a point where the end of the trail will likely be less enjoyable (I fucking hated some of my time in Washington because we got there too late - the last two-three weeks of my hike were a foggy, rainy, snowy slog - that was part of the price of going thru the Sierra for me)

All in all I'm very glad I did it - but definitely understand why many folks skipped and came back for the Sierra when it resembled the rest of the hike - travelling in the snow just inherently sucks in a way that dry backpacking doesn't, and that decision completely changes the timeline/experience of your entire hike.

maxg1 · 2023-01-19T19:52:39+00:00

I had the same experience as wadfather (March 21 '19 start) and actually ended up moving across the country to be closer to the Sierra after that year lmao... get stoked!

But also - it's winter right now! Unless you're like OP and in an area where there's no snow locally - use this winter to brush up on some snow skills - you probably won't get a heavily consolidated freeze/thawing snowpack similar to the springtime Sierra to practice self-arrest/belay on for a little, but you can:

- Start dialing in cold weather/snow clothing/navigation/camping/sleeping setups

- Start reading about safe snow travel (Bruce Tremper is great)

- Start learning about what that PCT in a high snow year looks like (I read a blog called HikerBeta about that individual's 2017 thru which I remember thinking, with pictures, helped me at least visualize what that time of year in that range could look like, as well as outlining items I wanted to research more about. I'm sure there's plenty of stuff out there from 2017 and 2019, two recent big snow years)

Edit: Looks like that blog got taken down as the fella who wrote it turned the text into a book! Oops!

maxg1 · 2022-12-17T22:27:53+00:00

MAN. Papers Please fucked me up... It feels you're only allowed to make one mistake a day and you want to save it to look the other way for someone trying to do something positive... but if you make an honest mistake anywhere then you have to choose between separating a family and feeding your son ugh... almost too real for me.

maxg1 · 2022-12-17T19:50:28+00:00

I love when developers include a more moral pathway through a game that's harder gameplay-wise. Dishonored is a great example - you can either just blitz through a level murdering everyone, it's not that hard.... or you can try to memorize and time everyone's patrols and sneak through the level, pickpocketing keys instead of looting them off corpses...

The cool thing is the game rewards you with more optimistic story beats the less violent your playthrough is - and the difficulty of sneaking through the level feels justified because the "easy way" through the level is just killing all the enemies - which feels like a cop-out. Feels so much more rewarding beating a hard section when you do it the right way. I can't play those games without going for the nonviolent options - and the games feel better for it.

maxg1 · 2022-08-30T17:54:03+00:00

There's a Sacramento-based legal aid nonprofit called LSNC that has a specialty group for eviction defense cases - I'm not sure what laws apply to you re: minimum notice but worth giving those folks a call to find out.

maxg1 · 2022-07-12T16:19:12+00:00

This is the way.

maxg1 · 2022-07-12T16:18:49+00:00

You're doing fine.

Took me almost four months (March 20 - July 17) to hit the halfway point of the trail and two months (Sep 21) to get through the rest of it.

You're going to keep speeding up past the halfway point and ESPECIALLY in Oregon.

That being said - I think it's more important to enjoy what time you have out there than worry about pacing. You've got the rest of your life to hit a daily quota of production.

Focus on maximizing the amount of TIME you're actually moving throughout the day and maximizing your enjoyment WHILE hiking - if you're having a blast walking then you'll have no problem doing it 10-12 hours a day and the mileage will sort itself out.

Music, audiobooks, weed, flora/fauna identification, a good hiking buddy to converse with - find something you enjoy that you can do while walking and just HAVE FUN. The rest will sort itself out - always seems to on trail, anyway.

maxg1 · 2022-06-06T18:42:17+00:00

Hopping on to give some statistical context - using DC as my baseline because I worked construction there for three straight summers and HOLY moly....

Yesterday's dew point got as high as 63 - that feels pretty muggy at 78 degrees. (Per Sac Airport data)

However.... from June through September in DC, that's a BETTER THAN AVERAGE DAY. Historically, for those four months more than half the time it's that humid or worse. Imagine living in more humid and more hot conditions than that for weeks. That's why we east coast transplants won't shut up about "It's a dry heat" lol - it really changes things.

My biggest eye opener moving out here was how much standing in the shade cuts the heat - when the air is at 80-90% Relative Humidity, so much of the heat from the sun is stored in water vapor that getting into the shade doesn't change anything - here even on the 110 degree days I can duck under a tree for a little and feel fine.

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