Well, I ain't dead yet, ;) but 2012 was a tumultuous year for me. I got let go from a job I had held for 21 years and was left to flail about in the "new economy." I spent a total of 6 months unemployed. My repeated searches for employment and getting my skills a bit more polished led me to all but abandon Adventures In Stoving, much to my chagrin. I did do a bit of blogging on my personal hiking blog (
Hikin' Jim's Blog), but I just didn't have the time or energy to do any organized stove testing or blogging.
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| Henry Coe State Park |
I just got back from the annual GGG last week at Henry Coe State Park (The GGG is a group backpacking event organized through Backpacking Light), and I got pretty fired up (if you'll pardon the pun) about exploring the technology and variety of backpacking stoves once more. My "jobs" these days are all contracts -- with end dates, not traditional jobs, so I have to "make hay while the sun shines" and put in a lot of hours when the opportunity to work arises. I never know how much time I'll spend between periods of employment. Despite my very real constraints, I hope to have something to offer to the general and ultralight backpacking community in 2013.
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| The Kovea Spider (KB-1109), the outstanding (in my opinion) remote canister stove of 2012 |
Stick around; I've got lots more to show you,
HJ
Notes on Advertising on My Blog.
I do allow advertising on my blog. My blog is mainly a hobby, but I do derive some limited financial remuneration from the blog, an average of $1.70 per day in 2012. I view the blog as "self supporting" in that it pays for itself in terms of fuel for my stoves and perhaps allowing me to occasionally purchase a stove that I have a particular interest in. Basically, your presence here helps to pay for the content that you view (and helps me to continue my hobby), so I thank you for joining me on my Adventures in Stoving.
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| Ancient limber pine, just off the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) |
I hope that you get the opportunity to do some hiking and Stove testing this year. It's tough to try to balance "want-to's" with "need-to's".
ReplyDeleteHi, Bill,
DeleteYes, it is a tough balancing act. I'm keenly aware that every minute spent on my blog is a minute I take away from improving my technical skills for my real job. I'm going to try to publish one or two articles a month instead of my old output of one or two articles per week. We'll see how it goes.
HJ
Welcome back. Looking forward to more stove reports.
ReplyDeleteThanks. It feels really good to be writing and (hopefully) communicating again. I hope I can sustain it -- I've got some interesting stuff I want to talk about.
DeleteHJ