I also want to share with everyone a little insight.  Never take anything at face value, no matter who endorses it.  This may seem simple, but there is a lot of controversy going on right now over some policies and which party stands for what.  I am most concerned with what is going on with the climate policy.  This may seem like a great step in the direction of global climate health, but please look at the best you can before you make a decision. and remember that the politicians work for us.  I guess we need to remember this first.

About now, anyone reading this is wondering where it is going.  I realized this morning how hectic our lives have become.  I do not have much going on right now; school does not start until next Thursday.  Even so, I find that I feel stressed most of the time.  I see little things that need to be done around my house, like all the dead flowers really need to come out of the flower bed and start to get it ready for next spring.  I then watched some of the people driving by, and knew they had even more going on.  One guy was reading the paper while he drove; a woman was drinking her morning drink and talking on the cell phone.  It hit me that we make ourselves more stressed than we need to be.  We are not in competition with anyone else, it is all internal.

So, what is the Fat Guy getting at?  Time for a strange review.  Today, I am going to talk about a product that many of us take for granted, even though we all use it.  It is our most hated enemy and trusted friend.  What is it?  Time.  Yep, that clock on the wall.  We all try to “plan our time wisely” so that we can get “the most bang for our buck”.  I wonder how many of you reading this have ever stopped, and I mean really stopped, to consider what your life is.  I know many of you will say that you take vacations all the time, and relaxation is a favorite pastime.  I once thought this also, and then one day I went for a hike with my five year old son.  I had hiked the trail we were on many times in the past five years.  Nice easy trail so he would not get tired and cranky and I could enjoy my relaxation.  He showed me just how out of focus I was.  He asked me about a tree that had fallen.  Why did it fall?  Did it hurt anyone?  What happens to it now?  As I look at the tree, annoyed that he had interrupted my solitude, I realize that tree had been there a long time, right beside the trail.  I had never noticed it.  I than looked around and saw some other things I had never seen before, nothing major, but little things I could tell had been there.  My time was so valuable that even while relaxing I could not enjoy it.  I was so focused on the next project, most of which were my own invention that I thought about them all the time.  I had forgotten how to stop what I was doing and simply live.

So, what is my take on time?  It is a wonderful gift, if used correctly.  Do not use it to make your life so much better that you forget the reason you were making it better to start with.  If you have a family, let the youngest child set the pace for a day.  See the world through their eyes.  If you don’t have a child, and no one will let you borrow one, DO NOT GO TAKE ONE.  That will give you a lot of time to think.  Instead, put away your cell phone, your car keys, and your agenda.  Grab your bike or favorite pair of walking shoes, and go.  No trail, no plan, no set destination.  Everything of any importance will still be waiting for you in a few hours.  Go role down a hill, jump in a mud puddle, or build a fort.  Play Barbie’s, dress up in some silly clothes and go to your favorite fast food place and order a kids meal.  Go to the park and swing, slide, run, and scream.  I promise you, when you are done, you will feel so much better.

One of my other weaknesses is maps.  I have a massive world map on my living room wall and will spend hours in a map store.  I say all that to introduce you to one of my favorite apps in the iTunes App store.  Topo Maps by Phil Endecott.  This app allows the user to download scans of the USGS Quad Maps into the iPod Touch or iPhone.  Once they are installed, which is amazingly fast, you are ready to start using them as you would a paper map.  Built into the software are some amazing features that make navigation and orienteering so much easier.  One of my favorite features uses a network connection to locate your current position on the map, and display the coordinate of that position.  Coordinates can be displayed in decimal degrees, degrees, minutes and seconds, UTM, and MGRS/USNG.  The rest of the app functions perfect without a connection, and it will give you coordinates of the cursor position, as well as an estimation of elevation.  You can than lock that position and pan around the map, which will show you bearing and distance to a new point.  The app also allows you to shade the contours of the map to allow for easier interruption of terrain.  You can even tell it where the sun should be for the shading, so you can make it fit your circumstances.

The overview does not do this app justice.  There is no way to describe all the features in this short blog, but I can tell you my take on it.  With the ability to store basically every USGS map for the area of your choosing, there are some still unavailable, and the features that make it easier than paper to use, this is amazingly fun and easy to use.  I would still carry paper maps with me on any long trek; technology is not a perfect science.  I have had only one problem since I bought this app, and Mr. Endecott was very quick in responding to me and ensuring that my problem, which was hardware oriented, was properly corrected.  Will this app keep you from getting lost?  No, it still takes basic navigation skills to do that.  It will, however, make navigating easier and more enjoyable.  The best part is that the app costs less than the paper version of one map.

Yesterday was an exciting day for me, my new Merrell Chameleon Trek® shoes arrived via Brown.  I had a very hard time choosing which of the many styles of Merrell® I would be wearing.  When I look at shoes, I look for something that will last more than a season, I am willing to spend a little more on shoes that will last and hold up to what my size puts them through.  I also want a shoe that I can wear for more than one activity.  I am not against speciallized shoes, but for the most part I want a shoe that is strong enough for the trail, yet will clean up nice for some time in the town.  The Chameleon Trek is a perfect fit with these criteria.  The styling,which may seem a little old-fashion to some, is very simple and clean.  Straight from the box, this shoe feels like good.  The back of the heel is cut low enough not to be uncomfortable, the foot bed, with its Ortholite® treatment is incredibly comfortable and the Vibram® sole provides plenty of support and traction.  I opted not to get the Gore-Tex® version.  These are not going to be heavy hiking shoes for me, so I really could not see the added cost of it, plus, and this is a personnel thing, if I want waterproof, I want it to be more than a low-cut shoe.  As I wear these, I will keep all of you updated with how they are holding up.

One thing I want to do here is provide a more long term look at products.  A “straight from the box” look is great, but I want to let you know if the product continues to be worth its investment, after all, money is not easy to come by right now and every dime needs to be spent wisely.  To this end, I want to talk about my Merrell Perimeter® boots.  I have had them a little over seven months, and am more impressed with them every time I put them on.  These are on the upper-end of the Merrell® line, I was very lucky and found them a pair of last years model on sale at a local shoe store.  The double tounge took some getting used to, but the added protection it provides against water is amazing!  Straight from the box, I wore these on a six mile hike through the Pisgah Forrest.  They were perfect, no blisters and the fit was amazing.  I have a what is nicely called a “high volume” foot.  It is wide and big.  These boots have plenty of room for my feet, but do not slip around on steep climbs or descents.   So far, great boots!  I will keep you posted regularly.

So, thanks for reading my little blog, and I hope you will come back next time.

The Fat Guy

I want to first clarify some of what I said in the first blog. I am not going to bash any products here, unless they just really fall short and the manufacturer will not make it right. When I said I would talk about what dislikes, I meant anything in general. If I hear of something going on in the world that I don’t like, I will talk about it here. I am a human, so I have prejudices, but I am going to try to make this as neutral as possible so that readers can come here and get facts and reviews, not sermons. When I started the idea for this, I wanted a page where normal, working class people could come and find out ways to explore the world around them. There are plenty of sites that will help you do this, but many of them focus on the “pretty” people who spend their lives outside. I am not one of them. I do spend a lot of time doing what I love, but I am far from pretty. The other major drawback to many of the sites is they feature great products that are priced out of the reach for some people. I have no problem running down to my friendly neighbor hood box store to grab supplies and gear for an adventure. I plan to do just that in the coming weeks, a trip to Wal-Mart to grab the essentials for a weekend getaway without selling body parts, and letting all of you know how it goes. Now, I will also be looking at some of the higher price and specialty stuff, it is hard to go out without trying some of this as you skills grow.

I also want to feature great spots and people on here. I am a proud resident of Western North Carolina, so many of these will be local to me. I want to try to give the rest of the country a chance, but once again it is a budget issue with me so, for the time being, I am going to talk about hikes, trails, camps, and services that are in my backyard. What the future holds is wide open, so stay tuned.

Okay, now for a quick look at a product that fits two of my criteria very well, inexpensive and comfortable. Coleman has been a fixture in the outdoors for years, and now they are making a wide variety of products that fit into the average budget well. I recently purchased a Coleman Max folding chair from Wal-Mart, and I am absolutely thrilled with it! One of the major things I look for in a chair is strength. Lets face it, I did not name this site Fat Guy for nothing. I weigh around the 275 mark, and many of the chairs available just feel skimpy when I sit in them. This one feels sturdy. It has a great mesh back that allows you back to stay cool, two drink holders built into the arms so your favorite beverage is close at hand and the other one can hold a cell phone, mp3 player, or whatever else you want to keep at the fingertips. With the built in shoulder strap, carrying it is simple and comfortable. The price of it, $25.00, makes it easy to fit into the budget to. Go check one out for yourself, Coleman Max Sling Back Chair @ Wal-Mart.

Closing note. I am not endorsing any other sites when I provide a link to purchase. This is just where I got mine from and I feel like I should show it that way. Hope this is not offensive, and I promise you I get nothing for providing the link.

I am not your average, slender and athletic outdoor enthusiast.  I like food, all types of food, and it shows.  I am not happy that a lot of the great T-Shirts offered today stop at XL.  I can wear them, but I like to have some room to move in my clothes, after all, I am the Fat Guy!  I do not fore see me running anywhere unless provoked by something large, poisonous, or a gun.  I will walk to the end of the world and back, and carry the kitchen sink while I am at it.

I will also share the sights I see, the music I listen too, and the books I read on here.  As of August 20th, I will be a college student again, and I will also talk about my journey to a degree in Environmental Science.  I will probably make you mad, put you to sleep, cause you to pee yourself laughing, but hopefully let you know what works and what doesn’t work in my opinion.

The first thing I want to talk about is friends, and two in particular right now.  Jeff French and Jef Price have patiently answered my questions about stuff like this, both of them while maintaining a thin grasp on their own websites.  Jeff French is the co-founder of Startlike.com, a truly great start page that gives you a new view of the outdoors everyday, with a social side to give you a chance to talk about what is on your mind.  Jef Price is the co-founder of NecessaryCool.com, a product review site that very simply lays out what is cool and necessary with out all the ads that many sites have that make you wonder if the review is unbiased.  These two are new friends to me, but they have given me some great opportunities over the past year and I am indebted to them for it.

So, let the journey begin!  Let me know what you think, if there is something I should try out or, more importantly, something I should save my precious money in my pocket and avoid.

Peace and Respect to all of you, talk to you soon,

The Fat Guy