La Boheme

Light: Ra Clicky 100wwCT

I went to the final performance of La Boheme at Cal Poly and, after a long wait at the ticket office, arrived just as the lights were going down. Of course, this was a Clicky moment. I had the 100wwCT with me, so I quickly clicked it down to the minimum level, which I have set at 0.14lm, and used it to make sure I didn't step on any toes on my way in. This story is worth noting primarily because it's a situation where 99% of other lights would have been unacceptably obtrusive, but the Clicky is designed well enough to function perfectly in this situation. I can't stress the value of a very low level enough.

To Cat a piece of paper...

This morning, I arrived at my math class a few minutes late. I knew we were having an extra credit makeup quiz, so I headed up to the front of the room for it but was told it would be on my own paper. Problem was, all of my paper is in my spiral bound notebook, and I was in a quiet room of people working on math. Since I didn't want to rip it out, I held the notebook off to the side and out of sight, pulled out my little Cat, and quickly sliced it out. Day saved!

However, it did make me rethink the importance of how much and what kind of noise different edges and steels make when cutting paper. In that silent room, my slightly toothy S30V made a grating sshhhrrrrzzzzzz sound as it cut, and I would have much preferred an edge that was just the tiniest bit quieter and smoother in its sound so it wouldn't have sounded like something terribly violent was happening to that notebook. It's been a while since I've compared, but I think I recall VG10 and 8CR13MOV having a slightly softer sound, at least as I sharpen them.

Headlamp vs. Torch: A discussion of proper light usage

Contributed by Joe (yes, not-contributed by Joe)

Joe: last night i was coming down from El Cajon Mountain at night.
we started at dusk and before we got to the road it was stargazing dark.
two of us had headlamps, one had a dim hand light, and i had the P2D.
(one hapless guy had nothing. he walked in the middle of the pack.)
(to be fair none of us expected to be out that late. i would have brought Streamlight if i had.)
(by "none of us expected to be out that late" i mean "we arrived at the foot of the mountain at 8:30 AM.)
Me: "In our defense, it was unexpected, so it was ok that we were unprepared for it."
Joe: uh huh.
but.
anyway.
we were walking over uneven terrain. not treacherous, just with lots of little rises and dips, and there were bits of light scrambling.
so
i discovered that
when i held the P2D low, basically just holding it in my hand as i left my arm swinging like normal walking, the bumpy ground was full of shadows and hilights.
i could see the 3d-ness of it.
relief might be the right word?
Me: relief.
Joe: but basically i could see the terrain,
the topography of it.
if i held the P2D at my temple like a headlamp,
the shadows all disappeared,
because the light and my eyes were inline.
Me: yeah that's a thing, and a part of using a light; that's one reason I often don't care for headlamps.
holding it away allows you to see relief on the ground better and you can see farther because you get less backscatter from atmosphere, holding it in line with your eyes allows you to check for reflections like eyes.
so what did you conclude?
Joe: i concluded that a headlight will never be my only (or even primary) source of light when covering rough terrain
*that i will never plan for a headlight to be my only.
Me: good lad.
and that's an important lesson.
if you go on an Online Forum,
you'll find that it's full of lots of Opinions.
lots of People have an Opinion, and they really like the one they have,
and many say, I have a Torch, I don't need a geeky headlamp. others will say, once I tried a Headlamp I never bought another torch because they're pointless.
as is usual with such Opinions, both are Wrong.
both do good things, both are necessary at different times, and having and respecting both is the only correct answer.
Joe: yeah a headlamp is nice for close work
in fact it is nice for work that needs a hand and then another hand, where neither of those hands is holding a torch.
Me: yep, if you're, like, carrying stuff and doing ... hand stuff, a headlamp is great.
Joe: and if i were serious about crossing some ground and didn't mind being a bright obvious target (and annoyance to sleeping animals), i could easily see using one of each.
headlamp for the basic business of one foot in front of the other, walking on the mud not the three inch deep puddles; torch for finding a path, terrain relief, and mid-range looking & seeing.

ProPoly Revived!

Contributed by Joe (or more like not contributed, because he's a jerk about it).

Joe:

ok NEWS FROM TODAY
i went to the streamlight repair place
Emergency Equipment Engineering
they have *the [worst]* website, don't even bother. actually do. it's amusing.
inside it was all uniforms and holsters
this is apparently where police officers *actually* get uniforms?
and like, such as "tactical equipment"
they don't repair Propolys at all
they repair "some models"
(Stingers ha. ha.)
so it'd be: accept from me. at the end of the month, sent off with the batch to Streamlight Central. at the end of the month it comes back. so like 2 months of waiting.
suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck
so he recommends just calling lady at Streamlight Central. he gave me her direct line. apparently she is the repairs lady.
that'll take 2 weeks plus i pay shipping. : /
ok.
so i leave
i call the other authorized repair place int he county, 15 minutes east in El Cajon
he says the only thing he can repair on a Propoly is the tailcap switch, but their shipment to the factory is going out next tuesday, and it'll be returned in 2-3 weeks after that.
so, hey, i'll save shipping.
so i go over there
he says, you know what, let's put a new switch in. just in case.
he disappears into a backroom for a while
i look around at the various things in what is basically the lobby
he comes back and it works!!
so somehow
when alkalines explode
tarnish the reflector
get all kinds of powdery gunk all over the contacts and the emitter itself
... they actually only ruin the switch.
so
I WON!
streamlight is totally working again. free of charge.
it was only the outside of the reflector that got mesed up
the reflecty part is great.

Welcome to the club, Rushi!

Rushi just got a Ra Clicky EDC to replace his stolen Fenix P2D! Hopefully it will generate some stories for him to share with us here.

Another moving day

I once again got to spend a day moving for my mom. Trucks, boxes, stairs, narrow doors, stress, all the usual. Not a whole lot to report. My UK Rescue cut a piece of cardboard off a box to wedge the armoire door and the Clicky Cgt was used a bit after sunset. Nothing exciting, but glad to have them.

Putting the dead back to bed

So, this afternoon, I was doing my usual sort of thing, wandering around the cemetery, looking for friends. It was my first time up there since the big storms of the last few weeks and there was a lot of debris lying around. Branches were strewn everywhere, and surprisingly many of them looked just like the branches at the beach in Morro Bay, covered in sea lichen and stuff. A worker was there with chainsaw and mini-backhoe clearing away stuff. As I was walking through the rows looking for interesting headstones, I found a couple wooden markers that had been blown over or knocked over by falling branches, including one of the ones I was out looking for today, almost like it was meant to be. So, I grabbed some of the fallen branches lying around, used my little Spyderco Cat to whittle a point on one end where necessary, jammed the pointy end into the dirt, and made them into temporary supports to hold the markers up until someone could get around to re-sinking them properly.

Woot Bag of Crap Flashlight in Haiti Aftermath

It may not be much of a flashlight, but it's a light, and it worked when it was needed. This is a perfect example of why I promote the EDC ethos.
http://www.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=11068

Swiss Army = key to party

My first story of 2010 is a very important one. In the wee small hours of new year's eve, after celebrating at the Pewter Plough cafe party (with very good singer), I went off for my own celebration on Moonstone Drive. I took my camera gear and one of the bottles of Martinelli's I got earlier down to the little hidden bench I found last week on the edge of one of the cliffs and perched there comfortably above the waves (I was fortunately well bundled up for the 43º weather). Now, my more loyal readers will remember that the last time I encountered one of these bottles it was on a night I was traveling light and I ended up having to rip the top off with my Manix. This time I was prepared and was able to neatly (and much more gently) open it with the bottle opener of my Victorinox Climber Deluxe. A big improvement. And so I sat there all alone at 2am and celebrated the passing of the years.

A mother's reaction

I was at the Plough picking up my mom's dog and she was struggling with a little plastic package of sequiny things she was going to use to decorate the cafe for the new year's party. I watched her struggling with it for a moment to see if she'd have me do it or just keep at it then I asked if she'd like me to do it for her. She promptly handed it over and I opened it with my friendly little bright orange UKPK Rescue. One of the things I like about this knife is that it's so gosh darned cheerful in its vibrant, fruity shade! But of course her reaction was that it looks so sharp and is that really legal. Oy. I didn't show her the on-loan Military I had in my pocket.

Contrasting attitudes

While visiting Tia, she wanted to open up some of the boxes of books she'd shipped home, so she asked for a knife. I handed her my new Cat second, which I thought was oddly perfect for her with its small handle that is actually probably not small for her hands. This is an unremarkable story, just a typical day to day use of one of my knives, but it amused me because Tia gives the impression of being possibly the girliest tiny little big city girl I know, but she doesn't bat an eye at taking and comfortably using whatever knife I give her, from the little Cat to the 8" Kulgera. It'd be nice if it weren't remarkable, but earlier in the evening I found myself in the middle of Ian's knife discussion with a new temporary busser from England who wondered what the point was of carrying a knife at all. He didn't seem uncomfortable around them, like some are, but he didn't get them and didn't see the usefulness. So, after that, it made me smile to see someone apparently so unlikely putting one to use and taking it for granted that I'd have one on me.

Edit: In the busser's defense, his objection was largely directed at Ian carrying his big Para-Military, which I admit far exceeds any actual necessity in this case, though I disagree with the implication that this makes it wrong to carry such a knife if it's preferable and legal. Also, the busser himself carried a small traditional pocketknife while bicycle touring, though I doubt he kept it on him normally.

The Tender Trap!

Once upon a time there was a princess, her name was Kaitlin, and she was having a birthday. In celebrating her birthday, we found ourselves in the magical and bluesy land of Cambria Pines Lodge, where I suddenly became savagely hungry. I searched the menu and settled on an old favorite that always comes through for me: chicken tenders with fries! But, when they arrived, I was given no silverware! So there I was, sitting in the middle of a loud bar lounge, moments from perishing, with a delicious basket of chicken and none of the typical implements of gentlemanly consumption. But! I was prepared. I pulled out my Titanium spork (ugh, geek points, but it really is good and worth it) and Spyderco Khukuri and proceeded to lay waste to my dinner with great precision. As I was cutting with the Khukuri, I realized that cutting food was exactly the kind of cutting I got the knife for, the angled blade could not be more perfect for it. I pretty much want to cut all my food with it now.

Upward Descent

Contributed by Sam
Light: Ra Clicky 170Cn
Location: Sacred Tree, HSU

I was climbing my favorite tree, got way up to the top when I thought "oh wait, I didn't zip my Clicky into a pocket"... just at that moment, as I squatted down into position, the Clicky popped out of my pocket, fell the better part of 20 feet, hit a branch, bounced straight up about 4 feet, then continued to fall, hit two other branches which sent it spinning out of control for the rest of its fall, and skidded into the under brush..The Clicky ended up falling approximately 75 feet total.



I decided that since it wanted to do that, I wasn't going to go chasing after it. I remained up in the tree a while, viewing the post-sunset sky. The wind was cold.



After a while I came back down and found the Clicky lodged in the undergrowth of ivy vine. I inspected it a moment, saw nothing wrong, hit the button and it bursted to life.

The Knife Has a Thousand Eyes

Contributed by Brian (he provided the title too).

once upon a time i was in a car (a honda, my honda) with my good and close friend curtis. he had just purchased a brand new journal (he's a writer folks) that was wrapped in a very thick plastic. not sure why whoever made this journal thought it needed to be placed in thick plastic, but it was. sadly the brute strength of one curtis could not open the damn thing. so what was i to do? well friends, a while back my other good and close friend ian got married. while attending his wedding he gave all of his groomsmen (myself included) a knife each. not just any knife. a beautiful opinel. now back to the plastic packaging. i took out my wonderful opinel and slid through the plastic like those 2 people did through white house security. after the job had been did (yes did) curtis showed his gratitude by letting me buy him a jameson....... the end.

Other uses for a Manix2.

This was a more interesting night than anticipated. I ended up hanging out for a little while at Mozzi's with Annamarie, Rebecca, Chelsea, and Micah. After a while they decided to move on to the lodge and Annamarie peer pressured me into going along, but it was 11:55 and they were just closing. We went back down to Mustache Pete's to see if they stayed open any later but they were closed too. Finally it was decided that they would proceed to Rebecca's house, Annamarie declared that I was going too, and Rebecca vetoed any potential noes. So it was settled. We headed over to the artist studio/guest house for our little party, carrying snacks and the makings of some kind of very girly sounding drink they wanted. But, one of the ingredients was Martinelli's sparkling cider, which we too late realized doesn't have a twist off cap, and there was no bottle opener over there. Rebecca tried keys, Micah tried a can opener that looked like it might do it, but nothing budged it. Normally I probably would have had something with an opener on it, like a SAK or the Leatherman Squirt in my little supplies pack, but tonight I was trying to travel very light because I was using my new Nalgene flask for the first time and that allowed me to get away with not carrying any bag. I was a little reluctant to do anything too abusive if not necessary, but when all else failed I finally just hooked the Manix's blade spine under the cap and wrenched it off. It actually worked perfectly and the edge of the cap didn't even scratch the 154CM. Glad I decided to bring that one along since I would not have been so rough on the Khukuri. All in all, a fun and interesting night.

Cayucos show

Light: Ra Clicky 140Cgt

Went to the My Javelina/Jesse/Micah/Ryan/Steve show at the Cayucos church tonight. Shortly after I arrived, Kyle came to me for a light to light up dry erase board of lyrics (so Stuff Christian Culture Likes!), so I gave him the Clicky. He gave it a try but the writing was too light to be readable on the white surface so he gave up. Later, he and Micah borrowed it again to fiddle with some gear tucked into a dark corner. I also used its strobe to have a quick mini-rave with Adrian. Manix2 saw some quick use too, had to cut some electrical tape off my notebook to cover the obnoxious flashing red light on my filming camera.

Breaking the Dry Spell

Today I received my first new flashlight in about nine months. To my slight surprise, my NiteCore EZ123w arrived, after only two days. My impressions to Samy:

somewhat small and bright spill, tight spot. nice and warm, it makes GT look bluish. looks like spill is brighter than GT. as for the size compared to a Clicky... it's uhh.... ridiculous. it's smaller than my index finger. I just tested it against the 100w, much warmer!  as expected, since they're the same emitter, it's the same gorgeous warm tint as the M60WL. the low, which is suppsed to be like 20, is actually about 10 or a little less. the high, which is supposed to be 100, absolutely blows the warm Clicky away at 70 and looks brighter even when it's on burst.  spill is definitely brighter than burst, spot looks about the same if not also a little brighter. considering that my 100W appears to actually be 105-110, this thing is bright. so it's as warm as my warmest tint, has a better beam than the malkoff, and appears brighter than the clicky, all in a package smaller than the mckinley.  it's also way brighter and warmer than the T1. downside, it's very stiff to turn to full power. ok pretty happy with this little light.  the low is basically a perfect peering around inside level, like a nice little task light. the high is really surprising for its size. big difference in heat management; laid out various lights running at full power,
m60w, t1, twisty, clickies, all barely got warm. d10 got surprisingly warm considering it's got a Q5 running on a lithium aa, not pushed very hard. ez got fairly hot. but then it was the brightest of them all and by far the smallest.

Here's a bad photo for size reference:

From Flashlights

Santa Barbara Girl Adventure!

Light: Ra Clicky 140Cgt

A quick story from my day trip to Santa Barbara with Kaitlin and Cammi. After a long day of cruising around State St., buying adorable outfits, and discussing the merits of various kinds of underwear, we headed to the harbor for some sushi. As the chill grasp of winter gently entwines its frosty fingers about us, the days grow shorter with alarming rapidity, giving us a sunset time of just before 5pm. As we were leaving the sushi place at 6, we heard a frolickful kersplashing from the shallow water below. I took a look with my Clicky and revealed dozens of tiny little silver sardiney fish zipping about at the surface, as well as a sea star sitting on the bottom a few feet down.

Later, back at Linn's, it helped with the important task of showing off the day's finds to other girls.

Side note: The knife I carried for this was my little old Cricket, to comply with the more restrictive laws of Santa Barbara.

A new convert

Years ago, I got the first Spyderco of anyone I knew and started telling everyone how great it was. When Joe lost his fiddly little Kershaw Chive, I told him to upgrade to a Spyderco and he ended up getting a Dragonfly, which he still carries probably four or five years later. I had a few years where I stopped buying or carrying them because I couldn't find a design that really fit me, so I ended up carrying a yellow Benchmade Mini-Grip because it was the only knife that did work for me and completely satisfy me at the time, but I never stopped recommending Spyderco above all others. At some point, Ian followed me and started buying Spydercos instead of the cheaper stuff he'd been carrying for years. Then, recently, Samy needed a small but capable knife that would be school friendly and stand up to his use, which was perfect since Spyderco does small knives better than anyone. I gave some suggestions, he looked through the options, and eventually he ended up with a Lava. Now, a few months later, he wanted something bigger and with teeth for more serious uses, so he got his second Spyderco, a Scorpius. Yes, I'm proud of him.

Here's his initial report when he received it:

Hey..

Well, you're not online and I wanted to tell you that the Scorpius came... It's one hell of a knife!

The handle is pretty comfortable, and mine has the lanyard hole at the 'snout' of the handle, and not where an eye would be for a dolphin.. Maybe mine's an old version? [It's actually a newer version.]

It's big! Fits in my hand pretty well, and the handle shape allows for two different holding positions, which I like.

The blade is a bit stiff, and while playing with it, I gave my self a little nick of the skin... Got some blood on the blade already...Gotta be careful with this one.. The lava is child's play comparatively.

Anyway, hope you're having fun, wherever you are.

-Sam

:)

ProPoly down!

Contributed by Joe
Light: StreamLight ProPolymer 4AA Luxeon

Tonight, we lost a flashlight.

In preparation for tomorrow's night hike, I prepared to replace the batteries in my Propoly. I'd brought it on my recent Joshua Tree trip, but it inexplicably failed to light. I assumed those pesky rechargeables had run themselves down again, and threw it back in my bag. Now a month later it was time to recharge.

But there weren't rechargeables in it.

There were alkalines.

Leaking alkalines.

The reflector is crusted and tarnished; the diode looks intact; and the lens has a bunch of hydroxide dust on it.

After cleaning with a bit of vinegar (staying away from the contacts) it still won't light. That's right, the indefuckingstructible
Streamlight was done in by its own treacherous batteries.

Tonight, we lost a friend.

But I'll see about that "If you can break it show us because we won't believe you" Streamlight warranty.