As you know, Robyn and I have been getting more into backpacking in the past year or so. As you may not know, we have been slowly acquiring supplies to become legit.
We had already acquired things like backpacks, a tent, a sleeping pad, a backpacking stove, etc. There was one item on the list that I had yet to acquire. I had not yet purchased a sleeping bag.
I should be clear, I own a sleeping bag that I acquired as a teenager. It is plenty warm, but it is large and bulky. It would basically take up the entire space available in my backpack. What I needed to acquire was a sleeping bag designed for backpacking.
This past weekend, my BFF Jared W let me know that Liberty Mountain was having their big sale. This was the time to make the big purchase.
We went in and selected one that seemed like it would be warm enough and big enough. Naturally, I had to try out how well I could sleep in it.
Good thing the store has a cot for just this purpose.
Aren't I precious? In a real camping situation, I won't have a price tag attached to my face.
If you can't tell by how precious it made me look, I'll just let you know that that sleeping bag and I were meant for each other. Naturally, I made the purchase. So now I have everything I need to be a real backpacker, and I don't need to borrow anything from Jared W. (That doesn't mean I won't need to continue to acquire cooler stuff, let's not get crazy.)
Now that I have everything I need, it's time to plan a trip!
Robyn and I are thinking about doing a 3 day backpacking trip in Oregon this summer. I'm a little intimidated, but it's supposed to be super beautiful. Do you think I can handle it?
Does this look like a guy who can hike 25 miles through a rainforest with a backpack on his back?
The day was April 10th. It was a long awaited day in the tech universe. Rumors had been flying for over a year that Apple had been working on a new gadget. Those rumors had been confirmed for over half of that year. The day had finally come that the mythical device would actually be on sale.
Robyn was out of town visiting family, but she had told me which of the Apple Watch models she wanted me to order for her.
For past devices, I have tried different strategies for making the purchase on opening day. Only once have I actually stayed up until midnight to be the first to purchase a device. It was for the iPhone 5, and it was a nightmare. The website didn't work. I couldn't get on to order it. It took me around 3 hours to finally get in and make my order. By the time I had done that, the device was already back ordered and the whole exercise of staying up late was pointless.
I did not want to do that again.
So I got up at 6:30 AM, and ordered 2 watches. I ordered the white one for Robyn, and a black one for myself. It said they would both ship in June.
Sadness filled my soul.
Fast forward to this past week. April 24th (last Friday) was the official opening day of the Apple Watch. I figured the day would come and go with no changes for me, because mine was back ordered until June.
But then I noticed that they charged my credit card. However, they only charged it for the price of one watch. I logged on to my account online. Both watches still said they would ship in June. However, Robyn's white watch said it was "preparing for shipment." What does that even mean?
Were they planning to prepare shipment for a whole month? It made no sense.
They sent me an email saying that they were shipping it and it would arrive Monday.
However, Friday morning came and I got another email saying that Robyn's watch was out for delivery! Miracle of miracles, it was coming opening day!
I filled out the form that allows them to drop off the watch without a signature, and told them to deliver it to the back door. I didn't tell Robyn it was coming, until I got home. I just told her she should look out the back door. I filmed her reaction for your enjoyment.
From June to April 27th, to April 24th. It seems that Apple likes to deliver disappointment followed by pure excitement by giving it to us when they promised everyone they could get it.
She opened it up, put it on and booted it up for the first time.
Isn't it pretty?
Since then she has demoed lots of neat features like activity tracking, remote control of her music and camera and many other features. She has let me play with it, but it's just not the same when it's not my own little toy.
Apparently black is the most popular color for the watch and it's still very much back ordered. This is what Apple says now about the delivery time.
There's really only one possible explanation for Robyn's watch being here already, and mine still waiting until the end of May or the beginning of June.
New Year's Eve was a big day for my family. My mom finally became a Grandma.
I should note that she's been pressuring me to have children since the day I got home from my mission. At the time I tried to explain to her that there were some behaviors involved with having children that I probably shouldn't do when I'm a single person fresh home from a mission, but my mom would have none of it. She wanted grandchildren and that was the end of the discussion. (In her defense, she hasn't nagged us about having grandchildren since we announced we were trying to adopt.)
Despite not nagging Robyn and I for grandchildren, Mom's desire to have them hasn't been any less. So I was very happy when I got up on the morning of New Year's Eve to see that my sister-in-law had given birth and Ethan had entered the world around 3 AM. My Mom finally got to be a cute little granny and hold her new grandson.
Isn't she the cutest Grandma?
I was sleeping when Ethan entered the world, and after that I was working. So I didn't get to see Ethan until the later afternoon, but I did get to come meet him and wish him a happy birthday.
Look at that preciousness.
The picture looks kind of like he's a redhead, but he's actually super bright blond. He's a pretty well mannered baby. He only cried when is parents did cruel things like move him or change his diaper.
Zack was a super cute little Daddy. He was just enamored with Ethan and only ran in terror once when he had a poopy diaper.
And Robyn was a super cute little aunt.
We're excited to welcome the newest member of our extended family. Ethan is probably the second cutest Stockett behind Robyn.
This past weekend we said goodbye to an old friend. Robyn's been driving Malora (That's the name she gave her Toyota Corolla) for approximately one million years. (I may not be the best at estimating time.)
Malora has been burning oil for 6 or 7 months. A few weeks ago, our mechanic had a heart to heart with us. He said that the oil burning problem is getting worse and the worse it gets, the more risk there is of destroying the engine. He said that to fix it would be a couple thousand dollars, and we decided that just wasn't worth it.
So we began shopping. Robyn really wanted all wheel drive so she can stop being so afraid of snow. We decided that a Subaru would be the way to go. Robyn really liked the SUVish look of the Forester, so that was the model we had been looking at the most.
On Saturday we test drove a 2011 Forester with 76,000 miles. The miles were a little high for its young age but it meant that we got a pretty sweet deal on the car. So we decided to make it happen.
Saying goodbye to Malora
Hello to the sweet new ride
I was in charge of approving the finances. I thought it was a great deal. I was also very pleased with all of the safety features. That left Robyn the ability to make the emotional decision. I really wanted her to get something she would be excited to drive.
An added bonus is that it has an after market media system with DVD player, navigation, and bluetooth. Robyn called me today on her way home from work, and she spoke through the car! She was very excited. I told her we need to drive into the mountains and watch a movie, because we can.
Robyn pulling into the garage for the first time.
Now we're totally gonna be outdoorsy. Next step is to buy some sweet bikes and a bike rack.
I now own an iPhone 5. It's been with me a little over a week. It has brought me great joy and happiness. The thing I find most surprising is that I've been able to live 31 years without owning an iPhone 5. But, luckily, I survived, and I no longer have to rough it in a world where I lack an iPhone 5. (I'm still roughing it in a world where I don't own Google glasses, and I haven't seen The Hobbit Movie, but those are issues that I'm still trying to deal with.)
I got up at 3 AM the morning it went on sale for preorder. It went on sale at 1 AM, but by 3 when I ordered it, it was already on back order. I only got it a week after everyone else, so I didn't die.
Now I know what you're thinking, "Jeff, you already had an iPhone. What is your deal? Why do you need to get up at 3 for a new one? Also, how do you feel about The Hobbit movie being a trilogy?"
Well, thanks for asking about The Hobbit. I'm a little concerned that there isn't enough material for 3 movies, but I trust Peter Jackson to make it awesome. As for the iPhone, there are a few important things you need to know.
1. My iPhone 4 didn't have Siri. Siri is one of my new loves. (She falls right behind Robyn and bacon.)
2. I can sell my old iPhone for about what it cost to buy a new iPhone (since they are cheaper when you renew a contract.) So why would I not upgrade?
3. My wife has an iPhone 4s. I feel sad when her phone is fancier than mine. This issue is now remedied.
4. Look how happy I look with my new phone.
If you want to know how that happiness came to be, here is my experience opening the box.
