Gear dogmas

Franco, it's not so much one's bias and dogma, since we all have them, as it is one's failure to be on the "look out" for and to recognize such in ourselves. I too have a lot of strong opinions, but i try not to force them on others. Whether i'm somewhat successful in this or a miserable failure and hypocrite is, perhaps, best left for others to decide! Generally speaking, not absolutely (i don't want to lump everyone else into my "bucket", so to speak), we all have too high of an opinion of ourselves.

My main objective is to expose others to different products and ideas and to inject some humor into what often becomes a far ( to me) too serious version of a leisure activity. It scares me how children are pushed to give 110% and all of that and then adults fall into the same trap. Why do we have to be so competitive ?
It greatly amuses me that we plunder and destroy so that we have enough money to go to unspoiled places.
I enjoy very much reading your comments, and I feel that it is my responsibility to work out if they make sense or no to me. I hope others will feel the same about my opinions.
Franco

It's good to see both of you, pj and Franco, back in full swing. And to see the return of humor on this site again. After all, when I'm up in the mountains, it's not the gear really that I'm interested in, but what the gear does for me. Almost all my best memories of outdoor activities come not from the gear, but from the memories I created either alone or with others, and with others it is very often the laughter that made the trips so wonderful. And some of the best trips I ever had were because of insufficient or inadequate gear!

Franco with 22 years of camera shop experience that makes YOU the BPL Photo PJ! I've probably helped more new sales staff at Campmor sell items to their customers over the years than anyone else. In turn, when I visit Campmor it's like a party with lots of individual employees coming up to me to say hello and ask where I've been….

Franco, your 20-30 days a year makes your advice even more valuable to me, since that's about how much I get out, too. I've particularly appreciated your goading and prodding me toward a TarpTent; I'm provisionally sold on my Rainbow, though I'm reserving final judgment until I can actually get it outside. (Fortunately, my heaviest work season coincides with our worst winter weather, so I don't feel quite so bad about not being able to get out before April.)

pj, as always, the dialogues with you are informative and rewarding (though I have to admit that, when you go highly scientific-technical on a subject that I'm not obsessing on at the moment, I sometimes stop reading before you stop writing. My guess is you can say the same about some of my posts.) Seriously, the information you post is quite valuable, and stuff I couldn't easily find on my own.

Keep up the good work, guys – and don't forget to feed and walk your dogmas.

Franco:

Aside from your choice of hot pink Prolite ladies model self-inflating sleeping pad — I find all your other advice both logical and helpful! :)

Actually, amongst all self-inflatables that i've searched out, besides the BMW Torsolite and possibly the POE Uber-Lite (POE doesn't provide R-values), both quite a bit shorter than the Wmns ProLite 4, the WmnsPL4 has the highest R-value and also the highest R-value even when both weight and length are taken into consideration.

had a shortcut to it until i started considering the blow-up yourself (i know,…i know…sounds like a failed suicide bomber attempt)types of pads for colder weather.

it takes a self-confident man to do what Franco has done! Besides, the pad color matches his Sahalie trekking tights! That Franco, always making a fashion statement!

I am now looking at the Pacific Outdoor Equipment AO-MTN Sleeping Pad – Women's Petite, only available in light green (tender shoots) but hopefully in hot pink soon. I want to use it as part of my Jacks R Better Down To earth system. That Thinlight GG mat supplied by the Jacks is a bit too thin for me but great to use as a base to put the Petite inside it .

Franco