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Here are some thoughts from my first first full day in Ireland.

• The photo above is the view from the kitchen window at our friend’s place where we are staying. Heaven.

• Major sights seen today were; Dunluce Castle (stunning), Bushmills Distillery (so much fun), Giant’s Causeway (a whole new respect for the power of natures beauty), White Park Bay (breathtaking), and The Dark Hedges (mysterious and amazing).

• This particular part of Ireland where I currently am (a small seaside town in the North) is perhaps the only place I’ve ever visited where every sight, every town, every view, in any direction, could be on a postcard. It’s almost unbelievable. Dream like.

• You may remember my bit of nervousness about having to drive here. We got “upgraded” at the car rental place from a compact to a small SUV. Now, under other circumstances, this would be fine. But, I was already wary of having to drive a manual (for the first time in years) on the “wrong” side (and, thus, shifting with my left hand in reverse direction) on very narrow roads because we were driving from Dublin to our small seaside hamlet to stay with friends, so… Let’s just say it was a less exciting upgrade and it took every bit of white knuckle concentration and my wife screaming “TOO FAR LEFT!” at me from the passenger seat for us to make it to our final destination in one piece. That said, since now having driven all day following a “native” in her SUV with ours from sight to sight, down these narrow roads, I’ve become scarily comfortable with it. I’ve gotten so used to it so fast that I’m now a bit worried that I won’t remember how to drive “normally” when I return to the states.

• You will hear this from anyone who visits the Emerald Isle but you won’t believe it until you are here: The people of Ireland are the friendliest people on the planet.

• Everything they say about the weather is also true. Cool (except when it gets suddenly warm), Rainy (except when the sun comes out of nowhere) and Windy (except when it’s suddenly calm). That said, if you are properly prepared (bring a good rain jacket and leave the umbrella at home, lest you wish to lose it in the wind), you won’t care a bit because you are in one of the most beautiful places on the planet with the friendliest people.

• This is one of the best days we’ve had in a long time.

My wife, daughter, and I are about to embark on an eight day trip to Northern Ireland. My daughter and I have never been. My wife has visited many years ago but stayed mainly in the south of the country. Therefore, this will largely be new to all of us. We’re very excited.

We will be spending the bulk of the time (five days) staying with friends in the seaside village of Cushendun. It is about an hour north of Belfast and near many other interesting sights so I imagine we will be doing a lot of sightseeing while there. Then, we will spend the final three days in Dublin before the return flight home. We’ll be renting (hiring) a car at the airport to drive to our final destination. Yes, that means a manual transmission, as automatic ones for hire are more rare and more expensive. Yes, that means I’ll be driving and shifting on the “wrong” side. No, I’ve never had to do so before. Yes, I’m a little nervous about that (but those that have done so tell me you catch on quickly).

There were a few preparations I’ve needed to make before leaving on the trip…

Normally, when traveling overseas, my wife and I take the opportunity to be semi-disconnected. We generally don’t buy SIM cards for our phones and simply rely on wi-fi where we can get it to check email, download maps, etc. For many reasons (not the least of which is the driving we’ll be doing) on this trip we’ve decided to get SIM cards that will work in Ireland ahead of the trip so that we can stay connected. I found this guide on TidBITS to be most helpful in doing so. I pretty much have done exactly what that article explained.

I’ll be trying out a new travel bag on this trip as well — a Pakt One. I took it along on a three day trip to our family cabin earlier this week and really liked it. I’m looking forward to see how it does for a longer trip.

Some of you may remember I did a video of my light packing methodology about ten years ago (seems like yesterday) and maybe I’ll take the time to throw together a video of what I’m packing these days soon. The basic ideas have not changed and, because we are staying at a friend’s house, we’ll have access to a washing machine for the bulk of the trip so that will be nice.

That said, the broad strokes of what I cover in the video remain the same; I can pack a lot less because much of what I’m bringing is designed to wash easily and dry quickly. My socks and t-shirts are all merino wool so that means I can get at least a couple of days wear without needing a wash at all. All of my undies are from Uniqlo’s Airism line so super light weight, comfortable, and pack down to next to nothing (five pairs of the mesh version balled up together are not much larger than a softball. With a pair of jeans, a couple of pairs of Proof Nomad travel pants (the best I’ve ever tried and I’ve tried a few), three long sleeve button-ups I can rotate around, a sweater, and a hoodie I basically have a capsule wardrobe that fits nicely into this bag. I even still have room for my rain jacket, a hat, my minimalist toiletry bag, etc. I can even fit in my laptop, a small notebook, some pens, and other items. The Pakt One is perfect and purpose designed for one bag travel.

Other pre-trip preparations have included…

• Calling our bank card companies to alert them of our upcoming out of the country travel.
• Getting another pair of my favorite lightweight, comfortable, travel/hiking shoes to replace the ones I have that are falling apart after a couple of years of heavy use.
• Got some UK/Ireland Travel Adapters to replace the ones I thought I had but can’t seem to find and these are lighter/better anyway (and have USB ports too).

In all, I’m very excited for this trip and think it will be an ideal way to close out the summer as a family and return refreshed and prepared for the beginning of the school year (which for us starts as soon as we come back). I’m sure you’ll be seeing me post more than a bit more about our travels along the way.

There is so much to love and learn from in the latest issue of Craig Mod’s newsletter (Ridgeline issue 027) that I could quote a comment on the entire thing. That said, it was the following paragraph I hand-copied into my journal this morning:

It’s not that I wanted to go on a long walk, it’s that I wanted to become more of a walker. A walker in the professional sense, the committed sense. Or — zooming out further still — perhaps not even become a walker but become someone who fights — within the flimsy framework of their own life — for extended stretches of thinking-time. And not just fights but believes in the fight, the value, of that time, and believes in what can come out of it.

This can apply to all things. For example, I’ve been historically off and on about keeping a journal. My most recent success with being consistent with doing so has come from adopting a similar mindset as the above. I decided I want to be a Journaler instead of someone who keeps a journal. A seemingly minor yet very important distinction. One is simply an act that you perform. The other is WHO YOU ARE. I’m casting a vote for that identity every single time I commit pen to page in this manner. I fight for the time in my day to be that person.

Seriously, Craig’s is another newsletter that brings tremendous value every single issue. Well worth a place in your inbox.

I’m fairly picky about travel clothing. In general, I like to pack light, taking only what I absolutely need, and would rather wash something and let it dry overnight versus packing another same or similar item.

For over ten years, I’ve had a couple of pairs of Patagonia pants, also called “Nomad”, for this purpose. They’ve served me well. That said, they certainly leaned more casual in appearance. They were more of a hiking pant that one could use for travel as well. One could not get away with wearing them with a sport coat and have that look good. They were fine with a tee shirt, polo, or casual button down but paired with a dress shirt they just looked silly.

I’ve been on the lookout for a pair of travel pants that looked just as good dressed up as dressed down. Pants that I could wear with a blazer, shirt, and dress shoes as easily as I could with a t-shirt, hoodie, and sneakers. Basically, travel pants that had all of the features one would expect (stretch, DWR, lightweight, wash and dry fast) but looked like nice chinos.

I’ve finally found that in the Proof Nomad Pant. I own two pairs in different colors and could not be more impressed with every detail. According to the website they are, “Constructed from two-way stretch Japanese Toray twill that breathes easy on long trips”, which I’ve found to be very true.

I’ve now taken these pants on two separate trips (one of which involved two different climates) and these pants have exceeded all expectations. I wore them around New York City during a windy and cold January weekend. I walked around Miami in 80 degree heat and humidity and, later, during a rainstorm. Then, I took them with me for another long weekend in NYC in April with moderate spring temps, a day of rain, and sunny skies and mid-50s for the rest. They’ve never let me down.

I’ve dressed them up with a blazer, shirt, tie, and nice shoes. I’ve dressed them down with a casual button down, sweater, and sneakers. I’ve worn them to nice dinners and casual food stand lunches. I’ve worn them lying in the grass in the park, walking on the beach, and to Broadway shows. They’ve never looked out of place.

They are lightweight and comfortable. I’ve never felt they were too cold or warm because they regulate temperature very well. They move and stretch comfortably. And, in anything besides a heavy rain storm, water has just beaded right off of them. Even in that heavy rain they dried quickly once inside and never felt clingy and clammy when they were wet.

They have a nice, well hidden, zippered security pocket in the seam of the right hand pocket. It’s a full pocket and once zipped can’t be seen easily, thus your belongings always feel secure.

In short, these are the best, most versatile, travel pants that I’ve ever owned. In fact, they can easily be everyday wear and I’m betting I’ll find myself reaching for them in the morning when I have nowhere further to go than the grocery store.

Here’s some loose and evolving thoughts about how I build websites. I’m mainly writing this for my own use and something I can point potential clients to about what I believe in. It may be of help to others as well. I’ll continue to update this post as other ideas/thoughts/statements/beliefs come up.

• I believe in simple, clean, fast, purpose built websites. I will not be clogging up the pipes with vapid stock photos or meaningless cruft. The websites I build have one purpose — information delivery. I build and design them to fulfill that goal. If you want fancy, you can find that everywhere and pay a price far higher than I charge for it. I don’t do that and those that hire me hire me because I don’t do that.

• Before I even begin to build a website for a client, I engage in a deep conversation around two simple questions: Who is coming here and what are they looking for? I design the entire site around the answers to those two questions.

• Anyone coming to a business website is looking for information. With the answers to those two questions in mind, I build for the purpose of delivering that information to those people with as few clicks as possible (preferably none).

• Every time you add a page you add work for the visitor. One more barrier between them and what they want. One more thing they have to look for. One more thing they have to click. One more opportunity for them to just give up and leave. Therefore, make it as few pages as is possible and sensible.

• An example of the above that I often give to clients during our initial conversation is restaurant websites. Almost every restaurant website could be two pages. Home page: Hours, location, number to call for a reservation or further info. Page two: Menu (In HTML, not PDF, with prices!). That’s it. I can’t think of a single restaurant website that I’ve seen that needs more than that. Yet, almost every restaurant website I visit is way more complex than it needs to be.

• These days, almost everyone is coming to your site from a mobile device. This is especially true if your visitors are from outside of the United States. Build with that in mind (not only mobile friendly/responsive but especially choice of font types and sizes). Test everything — every page, every link, etc. — on a smartphone. Make it look good there.

• Most businesses should hire a copywriter and editor long before hiring a web designer/builder. In fact, most should worry far less about the design of the website. People are coming for information, not how pretty it is. Focus on the words first.

• Many web designers love to use custom frameworks and page builders to make your site “pretty”. This has the side result of making the back-end of your site confusing and your ability to update and add content to the site yourself more difficult. More job security for them, perhaps. I don’t do that. I’m not building a custom theme or messing around with some premium framework. My job security comes through your peace of mind and satisfaction. If you are happy with how things work, you’ll come back in those (rare) instances you need a major change or can’t intuitively figure something out yourself.

• Towards that end, I build using one of the WordPress default themes and making customized modifications to that using a child theme (Additional CSS, FTW!!!). The advantages being that it is always kept up to date and compatible with the latest versions of WordPress and can be easily fixed if there’s an issue without blowing things up. More importantly, it means it is easy for you, the customer, to keep up to date. That also makes it easy for any other web person you might hire after me. Future proof is a feature.

• Remember, design is not how it looks. Design is how it works.

If you’d like to see some of the sites I’ve built that incorporate most (if not all) of these principles, check out:

• Caux Round Table for Moral Capitalism
• Brih Design
• Tom Xavier
• Handy Heights
• Wintermoon Summersun

Of course, if you’d like to have me build such a website for you get in touch through my business, Gladhill Rhone Consulting.

Last year, I publicized my reading plan for the year. Overall, I’m very happy with the number of books I managed to read (20) and the quality of what I read. There are some aspects of the plan I wish I’d been better at but that’s a small regret. I enjoyed almost everything I picked up with few exceptions. So, instead of changing that plan, I’m expanding it. Here’s the things I’m adding…

• Read what I have. No buying new books and, any that happen that come in, ignore them. Go to the books on my bookshelf instead. I have so many good books hanging around unread. Such a backlog of things I wanted to read “someday”. Well, that someday has come! All the books on my Amazon Wishlist have been removed in service of this cause and I will add none to it, lest new ones show up unexpectedly.

• Reading is reading. Magazines, newspapers, Instapaper, etc. all count towards the goal of reading more. Especially long form articles, features, and stories. I have a backlog there as well and aim to dig through it. I also aim to figure out a way to account for those things on the list.

And, as with last year’s plan…

• Read more paperback books, specifically mass-market sized ones. The books you read are the books you can easily bring with you. And, especially in the winter months here, every coat I own has large enough pockets to easily slip one in.

• Replace boredom with books. In the check out line, in the waiting room, while my daughter is in her classes. Assuming I’m good about having a book within easy reach per above, I’ll fill these sorts of times with reading one.

• Bias towards fiction. If you look over my reading list of the past several years, you’ll notice I tend to bias towards non-fiction. The reason is that I’m a curious learner and reading non-fiction fuels that. That said, every time I do read a fiction book for escape and entertainment, I always feel like i should do so more often but then fall back into my habits. The truth is, I read fiction a lot faster and enjoy the escape when I allow it. Therefore, I’m going to intentionally bias towards it and see what happens.

• Read more classics (including ones I’ve read and would like to read again). Not the least of the reason being that many of these are easily available in a smaller, mass-market size where recent paperback are less so (in general, these are trade-sized).

So, there it is. I’ll reference this throughout my reading year. As always, you can see what I’m currently reading on my Now page. I also regularly update the list of the books I’ve read as I finish them going back to 2012 (!).

A reader of my newsletter (Hi Minnow!) recently asked me the following question:

This is off topic, but i have this immense inertia to start a newsletter. Yours is inspiring in the sense that you’ve taken away the agenda and just made it a place where you can share your heart. What’s been the benefit of this for you both personally and professionally?

I thought about this a long time (over a month) before I sent my answer but I feel like what I said sums up why anyone might want to subscribe to it…

The benefit is that I feel this best honors the reason why people might subscribe to my newsletter versus simply and solely reading my other work (books, blogs, etc.) I started by asking myself what makes “one more thing” from me worth the time and attention? How can I give people any more than what I already give elsewhere?

The answer to this question was to go deeper and more personal. A person’s inbox is a private space where relationships are formed. Therefore, people only invite in people they trust, respect, and wish a deeper level of engagement. People they’d like to get to know better. This is what I try to deliver with my newsletter.

Because of that, I reciprocate by giving those who read it the same level of respect, trust, and engaged relationship readers give to me. I respond to every reply I receive (even if it sometimes takes me a while) and consider those that read my newsletter friends.

So, I guess that’s the best answer I have. It helps me form, maintain, and cultivate friendship with all that subscribe. And, in that way, it helps me both personally and professionally because in my line of work there is little hard distinction between the two.

So, if that’s something that resonates with you, I invite you to read the archives to get a further sense of what I offer there or to go ahead and subscribe.

I’ve been looking for a nice small case for my Olympus OM-D E-M10 camera kit. One that I could easily drop into my GORUCK GR1 or Echo and give me just enough space for the camera, a couple of lenses, my Peak Design Capture Clip, and a small accessory or two. I’d been using a GORUCK GR1 Field Pocket for a while but, not being designed for a camera specifically, it was never quite right and felt awkward. After looking at many options that were either too big or not quite right in other ways, I recently ordered up the Lowepro GearUp Camera Box. I dare say. it’s perfect.

It’s about the size, shape, and look of a soft sided lunchbox. It has an outside zip pocket on one face, a two-way double zipper to open the main compartment, four removable and reconfigurable padded dividers on the inside, as well as a large pocket with a mini one for memory cards.

It is just large enough to hold exactly what I needed it to hold and nothing more. The design seems sturdy and just enough padding to keep everything safe. The bright orange handle on top will allow it to be easily found inside of a dark bag. I could not have designed a more perfect case for my needs.

I’ve got a fair amount of travel coming up over the next few months and I’m glad to finally have a good solution for my camera.

 

My wife’s father passed away at the end of August. It came quickly. He was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer at the end of June. Two months later he was gone.

I originally wrote a long, yet only partial, list of some of the items we’ve had to dispose, recycle, give away, etc. and the time we’ve had to spend doing so here. The truth is, the amount of items and dissertations on the needs/wants/don’t needs of each doesn’t matter. Stuff is stuff. Someone will have to deal with it regardless.

All of this stuff we own and save and think is so very important to have… It’s also what we will leave behind when we die. And those we purport to love and care about will be the ones left to clean up our mess. In what will in all likelihood be a time of grief, they’ll be cleaning. In their loss, they’ll be organizing. In a time of darkness, they’ll be digging out of our mountain of stuff trying to find the light.

The thing is, if he knew he had six months, 12 months, 18 months left, maybe he would have done something about all of the stuff. maybe he would have thought to whittle it down and spare us of some of this burden. Or not. Who knows? But, the truth is that, most of us don’t have that. Death comes quickly, suddenly, without warning. Therefore, it behooves us to prepare for it to happen anytime. To treat everything we buy and every choice we make as something that may have a permanence that will outlast us.

This is yet another case for being intentional about our possessions and doing our best to practice living with only as much as we need. The truth is that when we go, all the things that may be of benefit to you will become a burden for those we leave behind. The things you keep around to be used someday become the things that have to go today. Even the things one generally needs like the food in the refrigerator, cups in the cupboard, and clothes in the closet will have to be dealt with by someone — likely someone you love. Most of it will have to go somewhere, likely not with them. Especially if they are trying to save such a burden for the ones they love.

So, this is another reason to live as lightly as we can. To put some serious thought into what we need, what we don’t, what is our “enough”. Because, whether it matters or not, we will leave it all behind one day.

Do you remember the movie Purple Rain? Yes? Well, let’s be honest — on paper, it’s not a very good movie. The direction is too earnest, it’s narrative is more a collection of vignettes loosely strung together by a soundtrack, and it is mostly populated with musicians, not actors, trying way too hard to act. But, somehow, despite all of that, it works. It’s electric. The musical performances thrilling. And the whole time one has the feeling they are on the cusp of something big. Because they are. A defining moment in the career of an artist and, some may argue, music itself. It’s an experience more than it is a movie. But, that’s what makes it great.

On paper, Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown shouldn’t be a great book. It’s a collection of morning pages, loosely-joined notes, poetry, quotes, interviews, ideas not fully formed, and fan-non-fict of sci-fi author and visionary Octavia Butler. The author tells you up front that she doesn’t have any of this figured out and invites you along to help her do so, so don’t expect any answers at the end. In fact, the hidden secret is that the idea of Emergent Strategy itself has no hard boundaries (“answers” are boundaries) and depends on mass participation driven both intentionally and organically by individual action. The book, is the author’s action and she’s suggesting ways that others may take theirs.

But, the whole time I was reading it, it was thrilling. Every few sentences I’d run into an idea that was electric. And the whole time I had the feeling the author is on the cusp of something big. That the idea of Emergent Strategy, once we collectively figure it out, could be the answer to so many things. That it could reshape lives and movements in fundamental ways. And, even if that’s not the case it was such fun to be a part of that energy that it’s easily the best book I’ve read this year (and, perhaps, in many years). One that I’ve marked up furiously (and that my wife marked up as she read it before me) and that we will be talking about, referencing, revisiting, and using as a guide for years to come.