Whine like a baby, now with 500% more drama!

Dave

Staff member
In the further adventures of Nick's first bikepacking trip: I can't sleep. It's 2 AM and I've slept maybe an hour so far.

The inflatable mattress isn't comfortable. Neither is the inflatable pillow. It's colder than I expected (I'm wearing both pairs of socks). I'm not freezing, but I'm a little cold. And I can't find a comfortable position to sleep.

This is also the first time trying to sleep without my CPAP machine in ages. I woke up to a sore throat from snoring.

I hope I can get back to sleep because it's a long bike ride home.
The joys of camping will fade into the ether while you reminisce. Then you'll do it again. Camping is fine, but getting back home & sleeping in your own bed again makes it all worth while.
 
Your inability to sleep might be worth examining. Is it the lack of the cats? The missing noise of the CPAP? Figuring that out might help for next time. Oh yes, there should probably be a next time. Each time you go is a chance to take stock of what didn't go well or what was missing, and add that to the refine list for next time. Then eventually it will become as easy as riding a bicycle.

--Patrick
 
*sigh* I'm going through my GoPro footage of my trip to Graves Island. A lot of it is garbage. Shots where I turned the camera to a lake have my arm blocks a third of the view. Some videos turned out completely upside down.

I thought maybe I could do something with this footage, but it's useless.
 
I tried rotating it in VLC player, but all it did was flip ANY video I played, not just an individual video.
Didn't your GoPro come with video editing software? If not there's free ones out there. I've used two somewhat recently: OpenShot is more user friendly, VSDC gives you more control. Both can flip video.
 
Most decent programs can flip/turn/invert video.
If you don't think you'll get anything out of it, or if dealing with the footage would be too frustrating (either logistically or just because of any perfectionist feelings associated with it), then there's nothing wrong with skipping the project. I would still save the footage, though, for the inevitable retrospective video where you have to include some footage of your "Me but back before I really knew what I was doing" period.

After all, if you really get going with this, and you inspire someone else but they say the ol' "I don't know if I could do that as well as you," then you'll have that footage to follow up your whole inspirational "Listen, kid...I didn't start out as the person you know now" monologue.

--Patrick
 
Consider a hammock for your next camping trip? I have neck and back issues and air mattresses are a no go for me. Hammocks are incredibly comfortable, at least for me, and they pack up very small.
 
I can't remember the name of the brand, but there's a brand of cot that's made for taking on hiking or bike trips. It's lightweight, folds up really tiny, and supposed to be comfy. (It's not to high off the ground.) I wish I could remember the name of the brand, I just know they're made here in Jersey and they were featured on ABC Nighty News with David Muir on his "Made In America" series a few years ago.
 
Go-Kot. They're made in Alabama, though some of the material is sourced from New Jersey. They don't look all that light or compact compared to what's available nowadays. Probably last forever, though.
 
I can't remember the name of the brand, but there's a brand of cot that's made for taking on hiking or bike trips. It's lightweight, folds up really tiny, and supposed to be comfy. (It's not to high off the ground.) I wish I could remember the name of the brand, I just know they're made here in Jersey and they were featured on ABC Nighty News with David Muir on his "Made In America" series a few years ago.
So pros: comfortable, portable.

Cons: comes from Jersey?
 
I tried to find a picture of a redhead in a box, bag, crate, etc to make a funny "portable redhead" meme.
Google: "Well, I suppose that's not the weirdest kink you've ever searched for..."

I had to resort to AI.
1716433480695.jpeg
 
Today I learned that Subway no longer carries black olives. There is no curse in Entish, Elvish, or the tongues of Men for this treachery.
 
So a month ago, the contractor finishing up our bathroom remodel and window replacements had left his ladder leaning against the house and a pair of robins built a nest on one of the rungs. It was hardly more than a foot from our bedroom window. But the contractor obviously needed his ladder back and his worker did the birds a kindness and built a little shelf out of scrap wood, nailed it to the side of the house, and moved the nest to it.

We thought the birds might not come back but then we found little blue eggs in them and, eventually, the mama sitting on them. There were at least four eggs and after a couple of weeks, they hatched. The robins would swoop at the window whenever the cats hopped up to stare at them and fail to pounce down on them through the glass (dumb cats!)

Last Saturday morning, fairly early, I heard loud crow calls and some bumping from the wall the nest was attached to. My wife discovered later in the morning that none of the babies were in the nest. The asshole crow(s) had pillaged the robin chicks. The parents had put up a fight and two of the babies had either been dropped or scattered from the nest in the melee. We got them back into the nest while the anxious mom and dad fluttered from tree to tree and even swooped at us when one of the babies freaked out. But they accepted the babies back in the nest and kept feeding them huge beakfuls of bugs.

They only needed four or five more days to be able to leave the next, by my estimation. But the crow(s) came back. The parents put up a fight again but one the babies neck was snapped, either by the crow or when the crow dropped it. The other we found in the grass alive. It might have a sprain on its wing but it is too hard to tell. Still, we got it back into the nest.

The idiot bird jumped right back out of the nest, clearly not able to fly, but trying. It even fluttered a good 50 feet and we lost it for a while. I'm not sure if the poor thing will make it, but we've done what we can. The nest has a cardboard shade over it and maybe the chick will sit tight for another day or two. If we're lucky, the crows will stay away that long and the chick won't have been hurt, just bad at flying still.

Nature is damn cruel. And so are crows.
 
When I go to campus, I usually pick up my lunch from Buc-ee's. For those who are not familiar, Buc-ee's is a Texas institution.

Today I wanted to try something different so I went to the small barbeque joint across the highway from my usual Buc-ee's. I hadn't been there since the pandemic but I remember it being okay. When I got inside, I saw that one of the screens they use to show their menu had shorted out so I couldn't see the prices. I also saw there were some other diners eating lunch so I knew the food had to be all right. I ordered a two meat combo, which typically runs anywhere between $10-20 at most barbeque restaurants. They charged me $30! And the food wasn't that great.

First world problems, I know.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
When I go to campus, I usually pick up my lunch from Buc-ee's. For those who are not familiar, Buc-ee's is a Texas institution.

Today I wanted to try something different so I went to the small barbeque joint across the highway from my usual Buc-ee's. I hadn't been there since the pandemic but I remember it being okay. When I got inside, I saw that one of the screens they use to show their menu had shorted out so I couldn't see the prices. I also saw there were some other diners eating lunch so I knew the food had to be all right. I ordered a two meat combo, which typically runs anywhere between $10-20 at most barbeque restaurants. They charged me $30! And the food wasn't that great.

First world problems, I know.
The karma Beaver has penalized you for your infidelity.
 
When I go to campus, I usually pick up my lunch from Buc-ee's. For those who are not familiar, Buc-ee's is a Texas institution.

Today I wanted to try something different so I went to the small barbeque joint across the highway from my usual Buc-ee's. I hadn't been there since the pandemic but I remember it being okay. When I got inside, I saw that one of the screens they use to show their menu had shorted out so I couldn't see the prices. I also saw there were some other diners eating lunch so I knew the food had to be all right. I ordered a two meat combo, which typically runs anywhere between $10-20 at most barbeque restaurants. They charged me $30! And the food wasn't that great.

First world problems, I know.
Even though their menu was protesting their outrageous price increase.
 
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GasBandit

Staff member
Sometimes when I wake up in the morning, I smell a smell... and I can't tell if my GF has made coffee, or the dog has shit in the hall.

Both those things have happened more than once

And I literally cannot smell the difference.
 
Sometimes when I wake up in the morning, I smell a smell... and I can't tell if my GF has made coffee, or the dog has shit in the hall.

Both those things have happened more than once

And I literally cannot smell the difference.
...the hell kind of coffee are you drinking???
 
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