10 minutes a day - 2 week Challenge

This past week I had planned to be in Kentucky at the Red River Gorge with some really good friends of mine from Ohio, but a trip to the mechanic on the friday I was supposed to leave, made it very evident that I was not going to Kentucky:( My beloved ghetto truck "Quiaishia" needs a new clutch, and my mechanic could not get to it until this next monday. I looked into rental cars and other options and all were too expensive for me right now. I am allowed to drive my truck around the small town of Berwick but def not my hour drive to work up and down low-grade hills. So I pretty much got a little spring break at the house; a full week off :)

 I got a lot done: applied to what feels like a thousand jobs, did some spring cleaning, sold some stuff on ebay, did some paper work I had been putting off, had some time to dig into some commentaries for the study on Romans that I am doing right now. I was very grateful to have the time to do all of these things, but on Thursday I realized I really hadn't let myself rest and enjoy my time off.

My ADD and scatterbrained mentality that I have been becoming more aware of since moving to quiet, calm Berwick, was totally taking over my days off. I'm always creating giant lists of things I'm supposed to accomplish  and trying to cram them all in a day. Then at the end of the day on Thursday I realized I did not really sit and enjoy the beautiful property I get to live on, or sit and be quiet and still.

So I tried on Thursday to sit for 5 minutes...it was an epic failure, within 2 minutes I was up doing something.

Ive been doing a lot of studying of Romans this week and taking in a lot of information, I've been thinking about it during the days as I am doing other tasks but I really want to learn how to BE STILL and focus on God, rest in his peace, and let him speak through the things that I've been learning lately - not constantly blabbering to him about my silly thoughts and prayers. So I decided to challenge myself with 10 minutes a day of just sitting, being still, calming my thoughts, focusing on God.

I thought it would be impossible, but yesterday it was really sunny and warm and the feel of the sun on my skin helped make me stay put. Well see how the weekend goes with all the clouds and rain.

You should try it today - at least for 5 minutes! 

New Mens Pack from Arcteryx

check out this video I got emailed to me today

Fun New Gear Talk...

Check this out - Down that still works while wet....

WHAT?!?! - yea I know - crazy talk right?! But you gotta talk crazy at some point to get to a really good products.

read the full article here from a blog called Gear Institute that I just found. Definitely bookmarked their gear news page:)

The company I currently work for, works with Woolrich and manufactures some of their products every now and then, I haven't been too overly impressed with the stuff their designers have been coming up with - But I am very surprised and impressed about Woolrich making wicking layer flannel shirts! Def putting some of them on the wish list!

Read the full article here on another blog I just found called The Gear Caster.

Brilliant... interchangeable soles to make your boot work for different conditions. Korkers apparently usually makes boots for fisherman in their river wading/walking adventures, but their line of snow boots this year have another sole for good traction in icy and snowy conditions as well! Way to go Korkers I wonder how well it actually works? I guess well have to wait and see how it tests out!

Avalanche safety for Dogs.

Yay for saving dogs that love to be in the backcountry!

This little thing attaches to their collar and will transmit a signal on a certain frequency which will allow you to track it and determine the direction and distance that your pour four legged friend is buried. Apparently this came out of a situation where a dog got buried and was thought to be dead but showed up 4 days later!!! How awesome is that!!

Hipsters Eat Your Heart Out:

Rain Pants that look like jeans

No need to carry the change of clothes anymore on your commute Thanks to Vaude your rain pants can be your any-day pants too:)

"These bike rain pants proudly bear the Green Shape label. Green Shape is Vaude's quality label for products that are made of at least 90% organic cotton or recycled material, colored using eco-friendly dying processes, and conform with the stringent Bluesign textile standard." - the Gear Caster

Interesting new competitor in insulation: Wool

Ibex and Smartwool are trying out Wool as their insulation in midweight and outer layers!

Full article here

Powerful Self Adjusting Headlamp

senses changes in your surrounding and adjusts the brightness of your light accordingly - pretty awesome! Of course Petzl would be behind this!

Thanks again for most of those awesome products to The Gear Caster