Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Christmas list

On the off chance that some eccentric rich person who doesn't know what to do with all his money is a follower of my blog, here's my Christmas list.  I'm just doing this to archive stuff for my own benefit.

1) Cabela's "Perfekt 10" (or 7) hiking boots by Meindl.  They're almost $300. The very stingy CFO of our household (my wife) doesn't see them in our near-term forecast, sadly.

2) Barring that, the all-leather Pronghorn's by Danner are a good alternative.  Although they're nearly as pricey.

3) Under Armor EVO shirts--I'd wear these all the time!  In Realtree AP and Mossy Break-up Infinity patterns.  I've also seen them at other sporting goods stores in black.

4) I can always use more cargo pants.  I never have enough!  Actually, the last year or two, I haven't had any.  My wife tells me that a gift certificate to Old Navy from her mother coming my way at Christmas-time is likely, but I'll still put in a plug for the Old Navy loose-fit cargos.  Moose Brown is my favorite of the colors, but ideally I'd have one of each.

5) Whoops!  Almost forgot; if I'm expecting new boots, I need new hiking socks to go with them!  I'm not picky, but these look nice.  In addition to the wool socks, I also need a thin liner sock to go underneath them.  So yeah; get the boots a half size larger than my current shoe size to accomodate all that sock.

6) A friend of mine and I joked about the demographic differences between those that shop at Cabelas vs. those that shop at REI.  Crudely put, Cabelas is for the rednecks and REI is for the hippies.  While I identify much more with Cabelas (plus I like their stuff better) I don't want to leave their West Coast rivals out of the action.  REI in particular has some pricey but nice looking casual pants and cargos.  Here's the Sahara Cargo pants in Concrete and Army Tent (yes, those are colors.  Of the two, I like AT better.)  The price on the Kuhl Rydr pants means that they better be just about the best jeans available (in Espresso, please) but I'll take that chance.  Kuhl's The Law pants and Revolvr jeans I could probably get away with wearing to work most days, when I'm not wearing them out in the back-country hiking, or wherever.  Sadly, the former will happen way more days than the latter.

7) While for many years, I was a stodgy traditionalist who was happy to lug along a canteen or aluminum water bottle, I've since come to believe that--especially for day hikes, where I end up in the evening back at the car and checking into a hotel or lodge--that the Camelbak-style hydration system is the way to go.  I haven't picked one up yet, though, so it's on my list.

8) Why the heck not?  A 2013 Jeep Wranger Sahara in the new Camo Green color.  Get an aftermarket 4" lift kit, oversize super macho swamper tires, and just for fun, order me up a new grill in either black or mineral gray, so I can have a ricer add-on for looks.

I'm not holding my breath.

9)  Anything in the gaming world?  This blog is mostly supposed to be about gaming, right?  Actually, I'm pretty set there.  I'm struggling to think of anything I wanted other than the Wayne Reynolds artbook that Paizo is putting out (which has been delayed until the spring I believe anyway).  I'm not sure that there's any setting material that I don't already have and still want (except maybe the Linnorm Kings book, or the upcoming but just barely in time to qualify for Christmas Mystery Monsters Revisited book.)

10) I've had a ton of fun playing Dominion with my family.  We also have the Intrigue and Prosperity expansions, and I wouldn't say no to Hinterlands or Seaside.

Anyhoo--when the holidays start for real, I'm going to be unlikely to be posting much, because when I'm home I find that my time is always better occupied, and getting online (other than for quick-n-dirty Facebook updates or whatever) doesn't happen much.  With the Thanksgiving holiday approaching (starting in a few hours for me, actually) I'll be unavailable for several days, so I'll go ahead and say now--Happy Holidays!  I'll be back for early December, but as we get closer to Christmas, I'll probably disappear again.

4 comments:

J. Sullivan said...

Happy Thanksgiving.

I've been enjoying reading your blog.

BTW, I have a spare, never used (I think it has the tags still on it) CamelBak if you really want one. You are welcome to it since it is just taking up space here.

I like mine. I use it on the longer hikes here in the High Peaks (NewYork State).

I've never cared for REI. I've always used Cabela's or LL Bean. We also have a store here called Eastern Mountain Sports. Used to spend way too much money there back when I was on the Search and Rescue team.

Desdichado said...

NO WAY! That would be really, really awesome! Contact me on my gmail account, username joshuadyal.

Wow, really nice of you. And I'd love to hear some search and rescue stories. Which mountains are the eastern mountains, or is that just the name of the store?

J. Sullivan said...

My SAR stories aren't much. Very few dramatic rescues and all too many searches that turned into "recoveries" of the deceased, which somehow manage to be both traumatic and boring at the same time (in the beginning) and just boring later on. Rode in a helicopter a couple of times but my specialties were Whitewater Rescue (was an avid kayaker) and Winter Survival.

The training was usually more exciting.

When the refer to the Eastern Mountains, they are mostly referring to mountains on the east coast. But they are headquarter out of Vermont (I think) so they probably mean Green Mountains.

I live in the Adirondacks, about an hour and a half south from Lake Placid and about an hour north of the Catskills, which are really more like hills.

Desdichado said...

I've been through the Adirondacks once. Seemed like pretty country that I'd like to have seen more of. For many years, I was more dismissive of the eastern mountains, which--let's face it--lack some of the drama of the Rockies, or the Cascades or the Sierra Nevadas. But this last summer I got to spend some time in the Smokies, and I came to believe that my dismissal of the eastern mountains was premature. They really have a charm all their own that isn't replicated at all east of the Mississippi. I'd love to spend some more time in the Blue Ridge range, and I'd love to hike the entire AT someday too.