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Note: this item was provided for review.

This is now the third backpack I’ve been able to test from Pioneer Carry, and I have to say that the Ray Pack is the best one yet. It’s not the type of backpack I would normally seek out to buy for myself, as the vertical tote style isn’t something I normally go for.

However, with the Ray Pack, I was sold on this bag after the first hour of using it. So, allow me to explain.

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I’ve looked at the Kuoe watches many times over, and I found the array of options to be overwhelming. There’s also that sense that at 35mm you really want to feel that model on your wrist before committing — if the case is designed wrong you risk it looking like a toy watch. It was our last day in Kyoto, and this was the only major thing on my list I still had yet to do in the city — I really wanted to stop into the store and get a Kuoe if there was one I liked enough.

My wife insisted we make time, and so we stopped in. The store is really neat, below street level with angled skylights back up to the street. The staff is overly friendly and every watch is sitting out, to be handled, no cases in sight. I put an Old Smith on my wrist, and knew I was buying one.

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Gift guides are, admittedly, not my forte — I have come to determine that there are people who build entire careers around listing items in guides of all sorts which seem really compelling. They take time to find an image, write half a sentence, and submit an affiliate link for your consideration. That’s not me.

So this gift guide, as most are which I write, is for you to give to someone who might struggle to get you something awesome. If you choose to read this site, then some of this guide should have you covered.

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Note: this item was sent for review.

This is my first go with a watch from Vero, thus I was really unsure what to expect. I’ve been paying attention to their Smokey Bear edition watches, as these are officially licensed and all of them are fantastic looking. They sent me the Campfire Edition, which is a very straightforward field watch, and seems like the watch you might want for a weekend camping trip and then some.

I’ve been wearing it for a bit now, and I’ve found it to be a really enjoyable watch to wear, with just the right amount of flair to it.

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When I left for Japan, I did so knowing that if I was to spend any significant money on a watch, it would be a G-SHOCK. I made a quick list of six models I wanted to try, but didn’t build in stopping at a G-SHOCK store along the way. As luck would have it, we found time to swing into a G-SHOCK store where I proceeded to graze about the store, circling back on this GMC-B2100D several times before trying both color dials on, and selecting the black dial variant.

I’ve been wearing it often since then, and I’ve come to the feeling that this is one of those watches which does so much so well, that I would not bat an eye at someone saying this is their only watch. It is certainly my favorite of all the G-SHOCKs I own and have owned. All metal, analog, but with a touch of smartness — this is quite something. And quite shiny.

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Shopping at the Narita Airport before leaving Japan, I had decided to check out a store which sold Porter bags, in hopes of picking up a backpack on my way out. After debating a couple of models, I bought Porter’s Force Daypack (855-05902) and it quickly won me over with its premium materials, simple design, and smart features.

This bag looks basic, and it is, but those basics are executed so well — it’s among the best backpacks I’ve used and own.

So there’s that.

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Sometime around 2003, I decided that The Matrix was very cool looking, and that the translucent terminal windows you could get in Linux systems at the time was the way to go. I was in college, and that was the extent of my thinking. There was a guy who always walked around campus with one of those small Sony Viao Ultrabooks with Linux on it and everything was a bunch of translucent terminal windows — what a nerd, but what a fucking cool looking machine.

I reformatted my Dell laptop and installed Red Hat on it — I think I even had to go to a store to get the disks in order to do this.

I spent the next several months completely lost on the system, not knowing how to do most things. I had no guide on it, and every time I tried to submit a paper/assignment digitally, it failed because of incompatibility. It was a mess, and as cool as I could make the system look, it was actually useless to me. And truth be told, I barely could figure out how to make the system look cool.

Then our house was robbed and that laptop was gone. I replaced it with the vaunted PowerBook G4 12”, and I was a Mac convert. Until 2015, when the iPad Pro came out and I ditched the Mac for iPads.

I have not, to be clear, switched back to a Mac or a Linux based system, but I do think Linux is very much worth considering right now, and should I need to give up my iPad Pro, Linux is where I would head. I say that as someone who also has a MacOS based computer in my office — that is for the first time in quite some time, I’ve been in and out of all three systems.

Linux, in 2025, is vastly different than it’s ever been. And it’s really good, and very easy.

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Having gone over the gear I carry hiking, I thought I would dive into the clothing I have come to like. The big caveat to all of this is that all bodies are different and what fits you well, may not fit me well — so I am going to talk both about some specific items, and some types and materials to look for. This might get long.

Also, while Colorado has cold and snow, it doesn’t have a lot of ‘wet’ — so my PNW friends this is going to be less useful for you as I very rarely need rain gear.

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