analog_kidd

I guess freedom of information is all good if you're an oppressed Chinese citizen, but if you're a second amendment loving, free and proud American, well.....

If you haven't been camping in a while, you're going to want to keep it simple. A bad experience just means you'll never do it again. Camping is a great activity, you don't want to spoil it with a bad first experience. Cook out, but use matchlight charcoal. Cook easy stuff you already know how to cook: Burgers, chicken, etc. Pancakes and bacon are great for breakfast. Nothing smells better than bacon cooked outside. Have a really good campfire at night. Bring lots of dry wood. Don't try to find stuff out in the woods while you are there. Bring dry, seasoned wood. A fire is your TV set at night. You'll sit around it, mesmerized for hours while you talk. If you spend the night blowing on it and throwing gas on it, you'll just end up frustrated. Bring marshmellows to cook, or cookies. My favorite camp cookies are Pecan Sandies, or something homemade. Practice setting up your tend in the back yard. Setting one up for the first time can be frustrating. Look like you know what you are doing when you get to the camp site. HIking is a great thing to do during the day, but don't make it a death march. Find a nice, reasonable hike, maybe three or so miles long, and bring a lunch and water. Be a hero and pull out a couple of Snickers Bars at the halfway point. If you both like it, bring a frisbee, football, horseshoes, etc. Cards are good too, if you know any games. Or bring a board game. Its fun to play a game at a camp table outside. Makes it an all new experience. If you have a GPS, or a phone with a GPS in it, go to Geocaching.com and find a few caches in the area. Trust me, you'll love it. Look for actual caches, and stay away from virtual, or micro caches. The cache pages usually say what kind of cache they are. Above all, enjoy the trip, relax and have a good time.

I had the perfect day. I started it off with a visit to my favorite restaurant, Waffle House, with my wife and son.Then he and I spent the day kayaking the Ocoee River. Came home to a fantastic meal prepared by my other son's wife. Finished off the evening with a beer near the pool watching the grandkids swim. Doesn't get any better than that!

I say that's what they get for living there. It's part of the deal. Just one of the costs for living in "paradise"

You can get a membership without a sponsor, I think they just have to read your name at two consecutive meetings, instead of just one. I've never been to one of the meetings, but I think they ask if anyone knows why an individual should not be a member.

This is from one of my favorite websites: http://artofmanliness.com/2012/06/05/survival-tampon/ Sounded a little strange at first, but it has some pretty good points.

Maybe he'll smooth everything over with the locals by bringing in some free 24oz Cokes

I want to know why the dad was getting drunk with his minor kids. Sounds like the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

I haven't heard it yet, but I did give a listen to the new Rush album that came out on Tuesday. Why does every song of theirs lately sound like every other song? They haven't come out with anything original for a couple of decades.

Here's one of me on Bald River Falls near the Tellico River: Here's one of me doing something "dangerous":

Another interesting fact about 911 on a cell phone is that many of them will make a alerting beep for several minutes after dialing. This is so EMS can locate you if you are unable to speak upon their arrival. It's very bad tactically speaking if you are hiding in the closet when an intruder is in your house and you want to quietly call the police. You can turn it off, but you should know about it and turn it off before you need to use it.

I have a couple of Zippo's that I recently bought. There is just something about them, the way they light up, the way the sound when you snap one closed. They are a piece of Americanna. The one thing I dislike is that the fuel will evaporate from the lighter in about a week. If you have one in your bob, you might check to see if it still lights up. A bic is a better option for a long term lighter.

It seems like I saw a knife like this advertised somewhere recently, but I can't recall the maker. I'm looking for a multitool, but not the typical Leatherman style double folder over. I want something that is primarily a knife, and looks more like a conventional knife. I want to be able to carry it clipped into my pocket, with the blade tip up. The blade would need to have the thumb stud on it for one-handed opening, but there would be some basic tools that fold out, perhaps a screwdriver, bottle opener, etc. Anybody know if something like this really exists?

Wan't it just a few years ago when the Democrats held up an entire Presidential election because they wanted to make sure that the FL elections were on the total up and up, making sure to count the chads, disqualify the hanging chads, etc? I thought that the constitution says it is up to each state to appoint Electors, who in turn will elect the President. It is up to each state to determine how they want to choose those Electors. Sounds to me like this is a case of the Fed overstepping their bounds and messing with State Rights.

One of my favorites is the Alley Ford hike on the Emory River. The trail is part of the Cumberland Trail. Put on the trail at the Rock Creek campground at Nemo Bridge. The hike is only about three or four miles long, but it ends up at this really great sandy beach on Clear Creek. I'm not sure how good the fishing is, but it is very remote there. You can get a map of the area from the Ranger Station in Wartburg.

Thank you, thank you , thank you!!

Blackberry season is approaching and I'd like to pick several gallons of the berries to make some wine. Anybody know where there are abundant patches of them near Knoxville on public land? A buddy of mine said Max Patch over near where I-40 crosses into NC is good, but it gets a lot of traffic with other pickers. Plus it is over an hour long trip for me. Was hoping to find somewhere a little closer to home.

IF the holes are golf ball sized, I would use the mesh. The mesh makes quick work and it doesn't get any easier. If the holes are baseball sized or bigger, I've had good luck with the 1x2 method described by Dolomite. The only step I would add would be to put a screw in the middle of the 1x2 that you can use as a handle while you are screwing it to the existing drywall. Once it is fastened securely, remove the screw handle and screw in the patch. If the hole is big enough for you to get your fingers around the 1x2 then you won't need the handle.

The only thing I have that is even close is the Forefront Identity Manager position. It requires quite a bit of programming to pull of what we are doing with it. It seems like IT Pros with that skill set are hard to find. I think I may have to hire someone and train them. To me the perfect person would be a Sys-Admin that knows how to program, or a good programmer with some Sys-Admin skills. You would need to know (and/or be able to learn really quickly) XPath, XML, C# and PowerShell, in addition to knowing a bit about Active Directory and Windows Server in general. I'll PM you my email address if you want to send me a resume..

I was wondering why the flags were at half mast today. Apparently the President declared this a special day inside the special week. I also say "Thank you" to all of you who put it all on the line to protect the rest of us.

Bump.

The Oak Ridge Walmart doesn't even carry it as far as I could tell. I did look to see what Walmart's online price was - $34. Yikes!

I just got word today that I can fill a couple of IT positions in my department. If anybody has experience in any of the following, send me a PM and I can give you more details. Microsoft Forefront Identity Manager. I need someone with considerable experience in this application. That means you'll need to know AD, XML, X-Path, etc. Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (a must have), and System Center Configuration Manager (a bonus) Citrix Xen-App, MS Terminal Server, Citrix Xen Desktop, Citrix Xen Server (do they really have to name everything Xen - Arrgh /rant) Or if you're just a top-notch, know it inside out, Jack of all trades, Windows Server guy/gal. These jobs will all start out as Temp positions, but that is just a formality as my company likes to feel out the new hires and let the Agency send them home if they don't work out. I've brought in 5 new staff over the past year, and all of them are hired on full-time, except one who just flat out lied about his qualifications and was clueless about anything I had him work on.

I have an older one of that model and it seems very good. It was actually given to me by an uncle in a box of old backpacking gear that I put aside and forgot about. Several years later I got into backpacking, opened the box and realized the treasure inside. I've used it several times. I did recently buy a msr hyperflow, which is what I carry now. I got it because it is quite a bit lighter, but truth be told the katadyn is probably better.

Whenever I go to a yard sale that has a treadmill for sale, I always ask the seller "How many shirts does this thing hold"? They always look at me funny at first, then the light bulb comes on and they know what I'm talking about, because they always end up in the corner with a bunch of junk piled up on them. Like BK says, you have to stick with it. I find that what works for me is to find a sport/hobby I'm passionate about and do that. I can't imagine life without whitewater kayaking. I go to some river nearly every week. It's not an every day kind of exercise thing, but I do get a pretty good workout from it. The point is, since I love it so much, I can go out on the river and paddle all day long, getting a better workout than I ever would from the gym, and I don't even know I'm exercising. Having a balanced diet, and a exercise program will work, but if you hate the exercise you will give up soon.