The Grey NATO - Ep 112 - The Isolation Tapes // Perfect Product #3

Published on Thu, 21 May 2020 06:00:33 -0400

Synopsis

Jason and James discuss products they consider "perfect" for their lifestyle, including Jason's Twin Six steel bicycle called the Rando, which he finds comfortable and well-suited for casual riding. James highlights the Aeropress coffee maker and Baratza Encore grinder as simple but effective tools for making excellent coffee at home. They also touch on hobbies like home improvement projects, camping in the backyard or park, and exploring photo editing techniques. The episode offers insights into finding joy in basic activities and products during the isolation period.

Transcript

Speaker
Jason Heaton Hello and welcome to another episode of The Graynado, a Hodinkee podcast. It's a loose discussion of travel, diving, driving, gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 112, and it's kindly brought to you by our friends and colleagues over at the Hodinkee shop, and we'll chat a little bit more about that later on. James, here we are again. Brightening up, a little warmer weather here, but otherwise it's
James Stacey Groundhog week. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, yeah, same. It is a lot of that. And, uh, it is the weather today looks nice. It's been junky for the last few days. So I have, uh, I have some, uh, a little brief chunk of time off, uh, after today. And I'm hoping this weather holds, I don't really have any plan. It's obviously very difficult to make plans. Yeah, currently, but yeah, just kind of relax and hang out and not maybe not spend as much time, you know, writing about watches or talking about watches for a few days, you know, make it over the US long weekend in, you know, Canada's was was the weekend before. So I worked through that. And I think things are good there for you. You're staying. You're staying active. And yeah,
Jason Heaton Yeah. Spring has sprung here. You know, we, we slept with the windows open last night. We've been doing a little of that lately, but, uh, this morning was the morning that the, um, there's some government agency that handles pest control and they were, they decided to do some strafing runs with, uh, a pesticide. There's a gypsy moth infestation. So. Oh, sure. Yeah. Yeah. At 5 30 in the morning, there was this really loud buzzing. And I looked, I got up and looked out the window and there was this, uh, plane that was flying just above tree line. And I thought, Oh boy, you know, somebody's, some hobby pilots gone crazy from all this isolation and I couldn't get back to sleep. And then I kind of got online and started looking at this cause it kept doing these runs over and over again. It was really loud. And it turns out there's a gypsy moth infestation and they're spraying some sort of organic bacteria based pesticide that they say is safe, safe for all of us. But we'll see. Anyway, it was disturbed my, my slumber. But other than that, yeah, Yeah, it's going well. How about you? Now, you did a little camping.
James Stacey Yeah, so the general cabin fever or maybe lack of cabin fever, depending on how you want to view it, got enough that we literally just pulled the tent out of the garage. It's an Alps mountaineering. It's called a Tantalus or a Taurus IV. It's like a really simple four-man tent. Yeah. And I just set it up in the front yard. There's no... Where I live in Toronto, there's not really a backyard, it's like a little tiny sliver of a patio and it's all paved. Oh yeah. But we have a... Not a bad front yard, certainly enough room to move around and we set it up kind of in the morning. And I thought, maybe we sleep out there, maybe the girls would want to or not want to, I wasn't sure. Yeah. They're very young, so their minds change very quickly, especially with the kind of new-ish scenarios, the... They've done some camping before, but certainly not in our front yard of our home in just outside of Metro Toronto. Uh, so yeah, we, we set it up and they played in the tent for the day and then they were, they were keen. So, uh, I sat on the porch with a, with a small fire and, and, uh, a glass of bourbon and they fell asleep and then I went to bed. It was nice.
Jason Heaton Incredible. Wow. Any, uh, nighttime visitors, any wildlife neighborhood?
James Stacey No, I mean, I'm, I'm sure there was, I'm sure we were at some point just encircled by raccoons. which is the normal in this neighborhood. And then just recently, every now and then I get woken up in the middle of the night by coyotes. I remember telling you about hearing these crazy yelps and barking at three in the morning, and you said, oh, they're probably coyotes. And then I remembered literally being in a metro park, like a playground park, a kid's park, and seeing a big coyote just run on through. And I was like, yes, I guess there must be. So we didn't get that, which is good. It's quite loud and would be kind of scary, I imagine, in a tent. Yeah. But no, I fell asleep. It was one of the best sleeps I've had, certainly in the last couple of months. I haven't been sleeping very well at all. So that was a plus. And then unfortunately, in the next the next two days, three days it rained. So the tent had to come back in. I have a smaller Alps tent, which you gave me some time ago for the life of me. I can't remember the model, the ghost maybe or something like that. But it's like a snow camping tent and it has to be You have to guy line.
Jason Heaton It has to be guide.
James Stacey Yeah, it has to be tied up essentially. So you stake it. It's really easy to set up on ground. Yeah. But the girls wanted to still sleep in a tent. So I tied that tent up to various elements in their bedroom.
Jason Heaton Hey, that's a good idea.
James Stacey And they stayed in there and really liked it. So that's just a little treat. It's a little bit outside the norm. I think that it was just a little bit of fun. So yes, a little Little bit of at-home camping, both inside and outside. I'm not sure you'd necessarily want to call the inside thing camping, but why not, you know, for... Yeah.
Jason Heaton That's a good idea. I might have to do that once they're done with this pesticide spraying over here.
James Stacey Yeah. I mean, if you've got a backyard, it's kind of nice, especially if you have a backyard where you can have a fire. I have a little like a propane fireplace thing. It's hard to describe. It's like a little pedestal that has fire at the top, a burner and fire at the top. Yeah, so you can sit on the porch and I'm sure I'm in violation of some bylaws, uh, maybe even many, but none of my neighbors have called yet, which is remarkable for this neighborhood. And, uh, and so you, yeah, we can sit out on the porch and they fall asleep and then, wow. It was nice and hopefully something you can do several more times. Again, if nobody complains, I suppose. I think people found the presence of the tent charming during the day as people are out for their bike rides and their walks and all this stuff to get out of the house. And then we had neighbors saying like, did you guys actually sleep in that last night? Yeah, yeah, sure. And they're like, how was it? We're like, it was great. And they're like, I don't know about that.
Jason Heaton The whole night might start a trend. You might see tents popping up all down the street.
James Stacey Wouldn't that be fun? It's got to be against the rules for sure. But I like it. And those Alps tents are so easy to put up and so kind of sturdy and lightweight. They're a great mix for the price. That four man Taurus that I have is incredible. I think I paid maybe 140 Canadian for it. Wow. A simple two pole, four man square, there's no awnings, there's a couple of vestibules when you put the rain fly on. Yeah. But just for nice weather, it's got two big doors, it's got four big windows, it's got a vented top with a spot for lanterns and other things that you wanna keep kind of above you rather than at ground level. Yeah. I like it a lot. It's been good and I guess that's the... We set it up in the living room before. But that's the first time it's been outside. And actually, you know, I'm seeing what you've got listed there. The tent kept my kids occupied while I did a handful of these kind of home cleanup projects and that sort of thing.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's been good for that, as we mentioned in past episodes. And I think your homework, either last time or the time before, was to get stuff done around the house, take on some projects. I did that. I've been over the past couple of weeks, I've been clearing out the garage and then over this weekend it rained like crazy here. So I was in the basement and I just got rid of so much stuff. I sold two bikes and got rid of just a bunch of stuff and hung some pegboard on the wall and organized all my tools. And so now that the basement and the garage spaces are actually nice places to be rather than kind of shield my eyes as I walk by them and throw another something, another tool on the pile. Now I can actually, um, I'm actually considering putting like a little, you know, bottle of whiskey out in the garage and go out there and smoke my pipe and sip whiskey while I listen to the radio or something one day. I'm kind of feeling nostalgic about that sort of thing and now there's actually space to do it. So, uh, yeah, really satisfying. It's been great. It's been, it's been good for home projects. You know, we're, we're often gone this time of year, whether it's a diving in Bonaire or, you know, coming back from Basel and sort of miss out on springtime. And so this has been, In that respect, it's been kind of nice to see the trees bud out and sit in the yard and get this home stuff done.
James Stacey Yeah, no, I agree. I also did the garage. You know, I have a very small garage and unfortunately not big enough for a Jeep or hanging the Jeep roof, you know, picking up on what we chatted about last week. uh a space for all sorts of camping equipment and and things like that you know bigger tools and stuff which is nice uh but it was it had been a mess literally since i moved into this place and now that's all tidy and i fixed the door and and stuff like that so that's nice it's good to have those things done yeah uh we refinished a uh dresser uh nice and restained it which is which is pretty cool i i'd been looking for a belt sander because I didn't arise for orbital sander because I didn't think I had one. And then of course I went into my garage and there it was. It did make it here from Vancouver. So that's good. And then, yeah, the other thing I got up to is, you know, I'd been talking about how I'd been spending a fair amount of my time on Craigslist and the kind of Canadian, Eastern Canadian version of Craigslist called Kijiji. It's another kind of like buy and sell. Uh, and I had set up, you know, 20 plus searches, uh, for everything from speakers to receivers, just kind of like it was keeping me interested, learning about kind of new things, vintage speakers, you know, stuff that I hadn't come across before. And it was great. And, uh, and then I came across, I got lucky, um, as, as you do, I guess if you check these things several times a day, uh, and I picked up, uh, I was able to pick up a set of Wharfdale speakers. So they're English handmade. speakers. These would be from, I believe, the late 70s. They're called S-33s. But what's special about them is that they're not super expensive. They were kind of expensive back in their day, but they're not crazy expensive things now. But they do sound really nice, and I really love the way they look. I know I sent you a photo once I got them kind of set up with a little test amp. But what's special about these things is they're in original condition. So they haven't been abused. They've been really cared for. And I mean, I plugged them in. I connected them. People who know something about audio will understand some of the following terms. I plugged them in with a T-amp. It's called like a LaPie 2020. It's these super entry-level tiny amps that people might use to power some speakers out by their pool or power maybe an added sound system for your car. Like they're just a little tiny amp that looks like a piece of computer equipment loosely, and they can be screw mounted, hidden away places. And that's what I use typically to test speakers, just to make sure they're working and something's not blown or a crossover is not gone. So I connected them with that, and I think it might make 15 watts a channel, like nowhere near what these speakers' sweet spot would be. Um, and then I used, uh, again, a really cheap, um, Fios DAC from, uh, so that's a digital to analog converter, uh, which allows you to get the best kind of transition between something like a Chromecast to analog sources. So if you're not using a turntable, um, so yeah, I'm, I'm able to connect a Chromecast with a decent little DAC, nothing special, but a simple enough DAC and then to this amp. And when I plugged them in, I was like more than pleasantly surprised. They actually sound really good. I think they'll sound. really, really nice with a proper amp. So that's what my search has kind of turned for. And it fills my day. Like when I'm tired of writing, I've done a thousand words on something and I need a little mental break, but I don't want to actually leave my computer and lose any pace. I'll just open up this, you know, collection of tabs from these pages and scroll through and see what's been added. It's nice. It's, you know, it's not unlike the way I used to do watch recon or before that where you would have to check tz's sales form and watch you seek sales form and you know it's the same sort of thing where every now and then you pop up and then you start learning about things you didn't know and what the price you start to understand what pricing should be so when you see something that's that's a good deal then you have some context for it yeah and i'm just starting to develop that context and it's been a fun like distraction a mental distraction and of course if you come across a brand that you don't know that has some giant number on it then you can Google it and learn about that brand. And so I kind of only very casually knew the name Wharfdale, and now I've kind of fallen down that rabbit hole, which is fun. And they make some incredibly high-end speakers, both vintage and new, that people are pretty crazy about. Way more than I'm ever going to spend on a home stereo system, but I think you can get a lot for next to nothing. I mean, I bought these Wharfdales for the equivalent of about 70 US dollars. Oh, wow. So even if you had to refoam them, or get them repaired in some manner, you'd still be way under the cost of something new that was comparable in many ways. And they simply look cooler than most of the new stuff that would be of a similar price point. So now I'm kind of searching around for an amp. I think I'm going to go with a company called NAD, because they have a lot of amps that don't have screens on them. They're just simple kind of gunmetal gray, 80s, 90s sort of aesthetic, but no screen, typically no screen, not always, but some of them. And you can get a nice amp for not a crazy amount of money. And I'm looking for 50, 80 watts per channel, so we'll see how that goes. But I'm having a fun time just hunting.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I'm a big fan of rabbit holes. Over the years, I think we've talked about various ones we've gotten into. So many. Cameras and lenses and film and certainly our vehicles and watches are kind of the the default rabbit hole for us and presumably for everybody listening to this, but, um, I love finding new rabbit holes, just little, little stuff like that. It could be whiskey. It could be, you know, anything.
James Stacey So, so yeah, that, that's what I've been up to. Um, you know, in the, in the past week, it's funny that you really start to realize how little we're doing when you have to fill out a chit chat section, uh, for the show. And, you know, I kind of like, well, I don't want to talk exclusively about the same things I talked about last week, but I also haven't done much other than work. And, uh, and listen to music and sleep, right? So that's basically the zone.
Jason Heaton It's kind of instructive to see when you aren't traveling or life is not the norm, what kind of a bare bones sort of baseline life is like. We've observed that with even our household spending is way down because we aren't shopping, we aren't eating out, we aren't traveling. which is where, you know, money usually goes. And now it's like, boy, we're hardly spending anything these days and we're cooking everything at home and we're kind of just doing these really simple things here. And it's, it's sort of the same with activities as well. And for sure, I'm kind of enjoying it.
James Stacey I mean, it's, it's also like, it's one of those things where you, I've learned and I continue to learn that, uh, you know, the cost, especially when you do, when you do the Canadian to us conversion, the cost of like going out for a relatively simple meal in New York city is like a week to maybe more like two weeks of food in Toronto. with the way that I actually eat at home. It's like I eat bacon and eggs, I eat cured meats and cheese, and I like occasionally a steak or some sausage and then like salad. And then other than that, you know, a lot of soups and things that don't cost a fortune and taste really great. And now it's like it's become, whereas I was eating out a ton when I would spend these longer stays in New York because I'm not going to cook all the time. I just don't cook that much. but you even just realize like things are just significantly cheaper in Canada. And then when you factor for the currency as well, uh, it, yeah, the, the money goes a long way. And then, yeah, there's, I don't know that I'm necessarily spending less on other things, but like my general Amazon use is way down, right. Uh, which, which is probably good for everyone. Um, it's, it's, I do find it really funny and it says something probably not great about me or the way that I shop for things, but as soon as I can't have it tomorrow or the next day, Suddenly, I don't want it that much, which it can't be good, right? This is a good lesson for me to learn, but I don't think it was a lesson I was going to learn on my own. Prime and next day shipping is definitely something we're like, or same day. I'll go on and be like, oh, you know what? Maybe it's time to do a light upgrade on the Jeep. It'd be a nice project to get outside. And then I go on and it's like, two and a half weeks to get my lights. I'm like, I'm going to find a different, different project. I don't even, you know, so it's, it's kind of a, kind of a weird, weird thing to learn. But yeah, I agree that this is a less expensive way of living than what I'm used to. Yeah.
Jason Heaton Well, we have a, we have a great main topic today, but before we jump into that, let's let's just do a quick risk check. What do you have on?
James Stacey What are you wearing? I had an insanely busy week as far as work. and in scheduling and getting everything done over the last few days. Um, and, uh, and I've just been, I, you know, once, once I took the carbon Doxa off to ship it back to Doxa, uh, I put on the Garmin Phoenix six, the 42 millimeter. I, and it's just, um, it's such a nice way to, uh, keep in touch and do my exercising and everything all with kind of one one thing on my wrist, and it's nice to be able to know the weather because obviously it fluctuates kind of wildly this time of year in terms of temperature. And then also be able to keep on top of messages from family and coworkers and everything else without always pulling your phone out. Yeah. I'm not just saying like using it to ignore your phone or manage your phone, just to stop the act of like every time you get a message like having to check it. Right. Because, you know, I've dialed back pretty extensively on my Instagram time and the rest of it is just I'm finding it really boring right now. Yeah. So this is nice because there's, you know, there is a never ending collection of Slack messages and emails and everything else. So this is a it's a great kind of modern life tool watch. And yep, I wear it and I really enjoy it. And it's nice and comfortable. So that's that's all of those things are great.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. I wear mine. Well, I wear my Phoenix regularly. I don't wear it around the clock. I tend to kind of put it on if I'm going to go do something. So I've been doing a lot more biking these days and some hiking on the weekends and I wear it then. One of the features I really like the widgets, it's a simple one, but just the quick glance, sunrise and sunset times. I just find that handy, you know, especially this time of year. It's kind of fun to see how late the sun's going down. I think we're at like almost 845 here these days. So it's really cool. But no, a good friend of ours, Zach, who had done some PR for Triple Aught Design or TAD, as people might know it, this really great sort of tactical clothing company based out of California. He had a press sample of their quantum NATO strap. So TAD usually makes clothing and some gears and backpacks and things like that, but they produced this small run of really incredibly high-end NATO straps, almost embarrassingly high-end NATO straps. This is a $275 NATO strap, and he sent me one to try out. And it's pretty amazing. I just got it yesterday or the day before, and I put it on this Aquadive Poseidon GMT that I have. It's a 22mm strap, so I kind of dug through my collection. I've got, you know, a Seiko and some Bremonts that are 22mm, but I hadn't worn the Aquadive in a while, so I put it on there, and it just looks awesome. It's a black strap. The keepers are titanium. that are like 3D milled with some amazing beveling on them and just an incredible buckle. The nylon is a really stiff nylon. If anyone's familiar with the Maritac NATO straps, it has that same sort of feel, but a bit stiff right out of the box, but super sturdy. And it's all stitched in, in California at TAD headquarters apparently. And I'm loving it. Yeah, it's a, It's great. And if I hadn't worn the aqua dive in a while and it's, it's just such a fun, fun GMT diver.
James Stacey Um, yeah, that's a great, that's a killer watch as well. Good pairing. I'm looking at the photo you put on Instagram and yet the strap looks great for sure as it should. And, uh, and they, they do make incredible products. I know a few people that really swear by all sorts of their stuff.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. So that's fun. Thanks to Zach for, uh, for shooting that over. He's, uh, He's not doing the PR for them anymore, but he had a press sample left over and he thought, hey, you should give it a shot. So he sent it over and I'm much appreciative of that because, you know, I'm not sure that I would be ponying up for $275 for a NATO these days, but, you know, it is what it is. It's a luxury product and it's really cool. Very, very cool. Well, speaking of products, our main topic today is revisiting a topic that we have talked about in the past and that is something we call perfect products and that the name is a bit of a misnomer because these are nothing is truly a perfect product but these are things that you and I have acquired and used over the years that we tend to come back to time and again and just really view as an essential part of our lives and that we use maybe daily or regularly and have really added some value to our lives and we'd like to give a little attention to these.
James Stacey Yeah and the last one that we did was episode 87 and some of the past examples are Jason had a pair of sunglasses from American Optics. I've had Patagonia Nano Puffs, we've done Blundstones, and we've done a really great camera lens that would be fantastic for watch photography, the Canon Compact Macro 50mm f2.5. And today we've got two more picks for you. It's a pretty simple format, but yeah, like Jason said, it's kind of highlighting things that, like products that we super really genuinely love to use and would buy another if it broke or we lost them or, or, or whatever. And they make in many cases, uh, great gifts and, uh, and yeah, I think, uh, two pretty different, uh, kind of categories of product today. Why don't we start with yours, Jason? Sure.
Jason Heaton Yeah. This time I chose my bicycle. So this is, uh, the brand is twin six. It's actually locally based here in Minneapolis. The bike is called the Rando, which is short for Randonne, which is a term, a French term used to roughly describe touring, whether it's ski touring or bike touring. And this is their steel frame road bike. It's roughly categorized as what some people might call these days a gravel bike or maybe a light touring bike. And, you know, I've got a pretty long history with with cycling back to the mid nineties when I kind of really got into it pretty hardcore and used to do some mountain bike racing. And then I got on the velodrome and was racing on the track on a weekly basis during the summer. And, um, so I've, I used to kind of be, you know, we talk about rabbit holes that used to be my rabbit hole. I used to, you know, build bikes in the basement and buy and sell and, um, still have, you know, drawers full of cycling clothing and shoes and that sort of stuff. And, uh, over the years I've sort of diminished that. obsession, so to speak. And, you know, at my age and where I'm at in life, my cycling needs and desires have changed. And this bike really fits it well because it's, uh, it's, it's built really for kind of classic, comfortable road riding, like kind of spirited, fast road riding, but definitely not a race bike. You know, before this one, I had a, uh, a look, which is a French brand, a look carbon fiber road bike, which was super light. Um, And it was really stiff, really fast, climbed really well. But, um, you know, it just, it wasn't the bike that, that I wanted anymore. And so I was looking around and twin six being a local company, they make some really cool cycling clothing as well. And I had bought a few jerseys and things from them over the years. And the, the Rando is just a really neat bike. It's, it has a really classic geometry. If you're familiar with some of the old Bridgestone, uh, steel road frames from like the 1980s. or the old Bianchis from the 80s and 90s. This kind of has that classic double triangle frame style in a really compliant, good riding steel frame. You know, for kind of the bike nerds out there, it has SRAM Rival components and Avid disc brakes. These are the cable actuated disc brakes, not the hydraulic disc brakes. And then I fitted it with Crank Brothers Candy clipless pedals and then The bike came with Paneracer Gravel King somewhat knobby tires, which I rode up until a couple of weeks ago when I had it fitted with some tubeless tires. These are some 700 by 42 really fat, slick road tires by a company called Rene Hurst. And this was another recommendation actually that came from Zach, who's a real bike nerd. And he recommended these and I had those fitted. So being tubeless and being slick, Super light really light low rolling resistance so you can like really spin them up and and they're super comfy But I just love this bike. It looks great. You know, it's it's bright orange with some Light black decals on it. Nothing over the top. It has enough bosses. You could put fenders and racks on it if you wanted but I'm kind of liking it in sort of stripped down mode and just sort of zipping around town on it and I I don't know. I like everything about it. It's just kind of the perfect bike for this stage of my life. And Ghoshani and I are riding quite a bit now, now that the weather's getting better and we're home a lot. So we go out a couple times a week and then on the weekend we do kind of a longer loop. And it's just been a lot of fun. And I don't know. That's my product for this time. It's just a great bike if anyone's looking. You know, there are a lot of bikes kind of in this category these days. Brands like All City and Surly and some others, but I opted for the local example from Twin Six and highly recommend it.
James Stacey Not knowing a ton about bikes. I mean, my dad's much more into bikes than I am. I don't ride. I don't own a bike at the moment. Is it typically you're buying the bike based on what fits you best and then going from there or are they kind of adjustable to that extent?
Jason Heaton Yeah. So, I mean, You know, when I was looking and I guess whenever I have looked for a bike, I kind of look for what I'm going to use it for. And then you, you kind of look at the geometry. The best case is if you can actually get out and ride a few examples, but, uh, in this case it was. Easy to do because they're local and I went actually to their headquarters and got to swing a leg over it. But, uh, yeah, I mean, you know, for me, a versatile bike that you could take on gravel roads, if I wanted to keep the knobby tires on it and ride it in Kind of sketchy shoulder season weather where you might get a little ice and snow on the road or take it on a gravel road. That was kind of the criteria that I had. And then looking around at the, at the options, then you, you kind of, your next step is like, what's my budget and what are the options? And, you know, as I mentioned, there's all city and surly and a few other brands. And, um, I just liked the look of the twin six. I think they do a great job with their photography and their marketing and their color choices. They're really a team of designers and bike nerds. And the frame size I got is a 59 centimeter, which is a little smaller than bikes I've had in the past. I used to have like a 62 centimeter LeMond, which was this big stiff aluminum, uh, framed bike many years ago. Um, but this is a 59 and it fits me really well.
James Stacey Yeah. I mean, it sounds, it sounds great. I certainly agree that it looks great and it definitely reminds me of some of the Bianchis that my dad has had in the past in terms of just the simplicity of its, of its shape. With frame size, is that like, is that like knowing shoe size? Is it kind of something you would know if you were into bikes?
Jason Heaton Yeah, to a certain degree. And the complicating factor is that some bike companies measure the size differently. Typically, like shoe companies. Yeah, exactly. I mean, it's basically the measurement is usually from the middle of the spindle where the cranks go through what they call the bottom bracket up to either the middle of the seat tube or the top of the seat tube before the actual uh, seat post goes in. So that's typically that centimeter measurement that you see. But what often happens is that if you buy just based on that, you don't know the, what they call the top tube length or the effective top tube length. So if you're sitting in the saddle with your feet on the pedals and you're reaching forward to the handlebars, that length can be either too short or too long for you. And if it's too long, you're really stretched out. It's really uncomfortable on your lower back. Your neck is kind of cranked up every time you go riding. Um, and if it's too short, you're sort of hunched and you're, it's just kind of an ineffective riding position. So, um, that's why it's really important to try a few out and, uh, and kind of go with the ballpark of what you might know you, you ride. Um, I've got a good friend, the guy who actually got me into biking many years ago, and he's about my height, but he's, he's more leg than me, um, and a shorter torso. So he, he rides, um, a bigger bike, but then he kind of adjusts with the the stem length. So the stem is what the handlebars connect to the frame. And so, um, you can kind of play around a little bit with that, but that can affect the way the bike handles. So there's all of these factors and, um, you know, a brand like twin six, what's neat about it is that they will either sell you just the frame. If you just want the frame, you know, if you're building up your own bike, maybe you have your own wheels from a past build and you have saddle and handlebars and all that stuff, or they'll build the bike to your specification, which is what I did. Um, I wanted, you know, certain, uh, certain tires, the, the gearing, um, if you want just their standard build, it'll come with a single chain ring at the front and, uh, like 11 gears on the back. I opted for two chain rings on the front, um, with 11 on the back. So, um, you know, you can kind of build it to spec and, um, that's nice. Nowadays they're, they're building their kind of 2.0 version of this rando mine's a few years old and They're up to a second generation of it now, and they're offering it with a carbon fiber fork and some different features, but it's largely the same bike. And they do offer this bike in a titanium frame, which was tempting, but it adds a considerable price to it. And so this price, this bike is priced at right around $2,000, depending on what you, what specification you have for it. So that, that that's all inclusive for the house build. Um, okay. If you were to just buy the frame, um, which I'm guessing, you know, a lot of people probably don't do, um, that is about $700. So, uh, you know, not, not horrible. This, this bike kind of lies in that mid ground. You know, if you're really into road biking and you're, you're used to buying race bikes, carbon fiber, you know, high end aluminum or, or titanium stuff, you know, you're used to spending six, seven, eight, thousand dollars or more. The entry level stuff that you might find at REI or a track store or a specialized shop locally in town, you know, you could certainly get a decent entry level road bike for a thousand bucks or thereabouts or even a little less. And of course, lots of used options on Craigslist for next to nothing.
James Stacey And I guess with this one, with Twin 6, this is a little bit more of like a boutique option, a little bit more personalized. And then there's the added value of it being from Hometown.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And I think this sort of splits the difference. I think it's a company that would work with you if you wanted to, you know, build it out a certain way, or if you approach them and said, look, I don't really know anything about bikes, but I like the look of it. And a friend recommended it. I think, you know, they would, they would certainly set you up nicely on this. But again, like I said, they have a few dealers around the country and I always say, you know, don't never just kind of order something Like a bike over the internet's like shoes are a little bit less risky, but a bike, you know, there's so much about fit that That plays into it so definitely definitely give it a try but what I find with this bike is, you know people that know bikes know that steel frames they used to the adage was steel is real and aluminum and aluminum frame bikes which were all the rage in like the 90s and early 2000s were notoriously stiff and noncompliant. So if you're going over bumps and stuff, they're really hard on the joints and you know, that, that all that vibration from the road transfers up through your wrists and your body. Um, albeit very lightweight and very stiff. So you don't lose a lot when you're out of the saddle climbing up a hill or something, but a steel bike and to a certain degree, titanium bikes, um, soak up much more of that road noise that chatter, um, which makes them very comfortable. It also makes them a little heavier. But the trade-off is at the end of the ride you don't feel so beat up. That's what I'm appreciating at my advancing age. Plus I like the look of it. A lot of bikes have a very avant-garde sort of frame shapes. This one just retains that old double triangle design from as far back as bikes have been around.
James Stacey Yeah, it reminds me of, uh, that, that all reminds me of like cars and some of the stuff I used to deal with in reviewing cars is, uh, you know, the term NVH noise, vibration, and harshness. Uh, and certainly I've been on, uh, I've been on bikes that are really heavy and super comfortable. And then, yeah, I've been on some of the, uh, aluminum Bianchi stuff and it's, uh, it's an entirely different, the wrist thing really gets to me. Yeah, where it just feels like especially if you have a watch on it feels like you're actively just shaking the poor thing to death. But yeah, no, I think this is great. And what a night like don't get me wrong, like two grand on on on anything is a considerable amount of money, maybe not for a car or something like that. But like two grand for for a recreational devices is A lot, but not crazy. I mean, you can easily spend that much on a ski setup or a snowboard setup or scuba diving or the rest. And this one, you can use it probably more than most people would be able to use their snowboard or their skis. And if you like being out, it'll keep you fit and healthy and look out for cars, I would say is the big risk on a bike. Man, I love it. I love the color. Yeah, it's a cool looking thing. And, um, you know, I, I had a, I, I used to do a little bit more biking in Vancouver and then it just, it was just something, I think maybe I never found a bike that where I felt like it was really fun to be on. So I had to be on a ride where I was driving somewhere or riding somewhere where I really wanted to be or just to be outside. Um, but maybe that, maybe that's the translation point is eventually you get a bike that like your feels just right. And, and you get, you get some sense of performance from it and that sort of thing.
Jason Heaton Yeah, the struggle I have is for so many years I was kind of doing it as sort of actively as a sport, you know, if I was doing mountain bike races or on the velodrome or whatever and I was going out with groups and kind of doing these fast-paced training rides and to transition from that to more of a recreational style riding is still a bit of an adjustment and Gishani's always like, you know, let's let's go ride to the farmer's market or let's just go ride and take a picnic with us or something. And I'm like, yeah, you know, but you know, you got to clip into the pedals and you got to wear the clothes and you know, like I need to like ratchet down. I'm adapting, I'm working into that lifestyle and I'm kind of liking it. And I think this bike sort of helped that just because of the look of it, especially when I got it with the fenders on it. And you know, it just feels a little bit more like you could ride it wearing like a tweed jacket if you really wanted to, you know? Right. But I haven't liked that.
James Stacey It's like you're, It's like you're saying with Jamaica, where you guys went and ended up snorkeling and had a really good time. Sometimes, sometimes some of it can get in the way.
Unknown Yeah. Yeah. Being less hardcore is a good thing. Of the experience. Right. Right.
James Stacey Yeah. I feel you. Well, great pick. And it looks like a solid option. You know, I don't know how to cross shop a bike, but it sounds like you've been through this a few times. So it makes sense to me.
Jason Heaton Yeah, definitely. I'd love to hear people's feedback about it. I'm sure there's a lot of, I know there are a lot of cyclists among our listeners because we do get the occasional question. I get a lot of Instagram followers that like to comment on tire choice and components and that sort of stuff. So yeah, hit, hit us up, uh, at the grenade, grenado at gmail.com and love to love to hear opinions. How about you? We're, we're switching gears here, but I think this is an equally great, um, everyday choice.
James Stacey Yeah. So this is something that like I have been using for man and probably coming up on a decade, maybe a little less than that, seven or eight years. Um, my buddy Paul Hubbard, Is a bigger coffee guy than I'll ever be. And he always has really great suggestions. And back in the day, I think it was when I first moved to Vancouver. So it would have been 2012. You know, I was looking for a way of making like one cup of coffee really well. And I was having a lot of trouble. I was having a ton of trouble making one in a French press. The coffee always kind of tastes burnt or kind of gritty. It lacked the kind of general punch of like espresso or even an Americano. It just kind of tasted like drip coffee. And at that point, I'm like, why wouldn't I have a drip machine and do none of the work? I also really didn't like that it seemed like you were always constantly trying to measure something, like how much water went in or how much coffee went in, the ratio, and then there was time involved. And if I lost if I lost my attention within those four minutes or whatever, which is gonna happen, I would ruin that cup of coffee. And if it's not your first cup of coffee on a Saturday morning, that's a bad way to start, not getting it right. And Paul said you should try the Aeropress. And the Aeropress is designed by the guy that made the Frisbee. It's essentially a plunger and kind of a receiving tube, not unlike a piston and a piston sleeve, if you imagine in a car or a cylinder. And then at the base of the cylinder, you have a rotating cap that clicks, that kind of secures itself in place that holds a filter. So you literally just take the larger, the cylinder, put some coffee in it. And there's tons of ratios, but really at this point, I don't measure anything. I've made thousands of cups of coffee on this, and it's really simple. They give you a roughly 20 gram scoop. So you put a scoop of coffee in there and then you put the water in and then there's probably at least hundreds of ways of balancing the various stages of making coffee in an AeroPress. They're typically called recipes. Um, I locked into one back in 2012 that had recently won an award and was on YouTube and it's basically three 22nd phases. So you put your coffee in, you pour not quite boiling water, um, to the one marker. There's four markers on the side of the AeroPress. It's very easy to get your measurement if you care correctly. It's also really hard to make a bad cup of coffee with these, like even if you get something way wrong, because it uses pressure. And so then you... So for the first 20 seconds, you fill to one and you stir, and then you fill to three or four, depending on how strong you want your coffee to be, and you put the plunger in, that's a second count of 20, and then the final count is depressing the plunger. So in one minute, you have a really repeatable, really simple cup of coffee. You just have to be able to count to 20 three times. And I've been doing this basically constantly. And if you want to make one cup of coffee, it's, it's really, it's really a perfect solution. It gets a little bit of a struggle. If you've got five or six friends over and you, everybody wants a cup of coffee, cause it's going to take you more like 10 minutes to make it. And at that point I would say like, take your good coffee and put it in a decent drip machine and you'll do just fine. You can make a great cup of coffee, but I don't need six cups of coffee. And what I've actually found is that in, in, during this time of isolation and work from home. I drink way less coffee than I did when I was kind of out and about and kind of brought constantly being, um, constantly interfacing with ways of getting coffee, whether it be to spend $5 and buy a cold brew or, uh, or the, an office and espresso machine or something like that. And I said, I make maybe two cups of coffee a day for myself. And sometimes it's less than that. Sometimes it's just the one in the morning. Um, And I like this because it's just super simple. It's repeatable and it's not that fussy. You can make it really fussy. You see people, there's lots of people on Instagram that are putting their AeroPress on a scale and timing everything and these sorts of things. But those are the reasons that I don't like pour over at all. It's the reason that I really, I couldn't get into French press is there was, it was like too much work, too much vagary. And to be honest, like as I love a really good cup of coffee, but I'm not nerdy about how it's made. Um, diner coffee will always be fine with me. Uh, this is better than that. This is something like an Americano. You can also do a cold system where you literally just put cold water on the grinds and then agitate them for like a minute and then depress it. It'll make you a weak, weak-ish, like not like cold brew, but like a cup of chilled coffee. and that way you're not introducing any heat and you won't melt your ice. It's super easy. And then if you do home cold brew, this is also a super easy way of filtering the cold brew by a cup. So instead of taking that big jug of grinds and water and having to put it through cheesecloth three or four times, which is what it used to do. And then one day I was like standing there, pouring this mess all over my kitchen. And I saw in the background, I saw my AeroPress. I'm like, well, that's literally just a pressured filter. What kind of grind goes into this? When I visited you in Vancouver you introduced me to AeroPress and I bought one when I got back and I've used it a few times.
Jason Heaton Is it the same sort of fine grind you'd use for like a pour over or not quite as fine as that?
James Stacey I think to my understanding, pour over grind depends on how acidic you like your coffee. I could have that wrong. Again, I find pour over like almost aggravating because I'm just sitting there doing this. I understand some people find it meditative, but even watching a barista do it at the coffee shop drives me nuts. Um, but yeah, I think in this case, uh, the other thing I would say, so you're going to spend $30 on the arrow press. If you really want to get the most out of it, spend the other money on a grinder. Um, so this is kind of a two-part perfect product, but I do have a suggestion. It is literally a perfect grinder. I've been using it for eight years flawlessly. It's called a Baratza Encore. I'm not the first person to suggest this. It's also wire cutters pick and they're wise to do it. And it's about 140 bucks. So you're looking at, uh, you know, like 150, $160. Somewhere in there, $175 plus your coffee. And on that, if you imagine the Encore has... The Encore has, I think, 20 increments for grind size, and I'd be using eight, with one being espresso, super fine, and 20 being as coarse as it could cut the coffee. Yeah. So I would call this kind of like medium fine, or fine but not extra fine, if that makes sense. Sure. It's also something you can mess around with. If you just buy ground coffee from the store, that would normally go into a drip machine. It's not gonna give you quite enough pressure to make really strong coffee. It works okay. I'll take ground coffee when I go camping or to an Airbnb or something. because I'm not going to carry the grinder, but the AeroPress is tiny and just pieces of plastic. It's super easy to move around. It's very clean because every time you use it, when you remove the coffee, you essentially clean it just by rinsing water through it. And that's what I like about it. It's super simple. The coffee's really solid. Depending on your taste in coffee, if you prefer something closer to a drip coffee, then use the paper filters. It'll probably come with a hundred. I like things closer to espresso based coffee, which are more oily typically. So I use a $10 metal filter, so that's gonna bring your price up to just about 200 bucks, which certainly is not an insignificant amount of money, but some of you may already have a grinder, which is gonna bring your cost way down. The AeroPress in a metal filter is an absolute game changer for me, and as long as I don't have to make several cups, it's really no sweat, it's super easy to clean, they last a really long time, and it's 60 seconds. Yeah, right. It's just like, like it's, I can, I can make a few cups of coffee in the span of time you would make, you know, a carafe of pour over or, uh, or a French press. And I know exactly, you know, I had one this morning. It was, uh, delicious. Um, I was, I'm actually have, I've started mixing beans to try and find something that, that blends the way that I want it to. Um, but yeah, I would say get some great coffee. If you, if you need a suggestion on really good coffee, go with something from Milano in Vancouver. The Big Ten is probably my favorite coffee in the whole world. Can you get that in Toronto? Do they ship? They ship, yeah, yeah, from Milano Coffee. And I'll put that in the show notes if you'd like to try that. Certainly, you can support those folks. It's like a family-owned business, and Turks West is the kind of core business behind Milano, and they make some really just... I've never had a bad cup of coffee. But there's something about Big Ten that's pretty low on acidity, but still bright and flavorful and really strong, which is nice. Like I said, I mean, I can't imagine a better way to make coffee. I've owned an espresso. I've obviously owned drip machines. I've flirted with the idea of like a proper five, six, seven, eight, $900 espresso machine. And I always just go back to like, I don't know, what I want is a cup of coffee and this makes it. So I think this, along with your simple drip machine that could help you when you have a group of friends over or you got to stay up all night for whatever reason and you need a pot of coffee, but if you don't need a pot of coffee, then what you probably need is a cup of coffee. And I don't think, I don't think there's a better way to make it unless you're willing to get super nerdy and move into the, you know, uh, manual espresso territory, or you really love the work involved in a pour over. Right.
Jason Heaton Right. Yeah, that's great. And you know, I, what I love about it is it's a, it's a self-contained system. So, you know, we talked about coffee a couple of episodes, I think somebody brought it up in Q and a, and, um, you know, I mentioned, I typically do pour overs and whatever, but I love that both pour over and, or AeroPress can, you can take it camping. You can do it in the back garden. If you want, you can travel with it, like, like you've done. And, um, but the AeroPress with a metal filter, I mean, there's no waste at all other than someplace to just dump the grounds and Even in that case, you can, you know, if you're in an Airbnb in an urban place, you could even put it in the, in the flower pot or out the window. Yeah, for sure.
James Stacey Yeah. And, and I mean, if, if you don't already, this isn't part of perfect product, but you can always consider having a, like a countertop composter. Yeah. Which will take coffee grinds beautifully and they just eject like in a puck.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey Yeah. And then you rinse it off and you're done. So there's no pulling a filter out and having it drip everywhere. And it's, I like it a lot. I think it's such a clever solution. It makes enough pressure to make really good coffee. Yeah. And it's, uh, it's just generally useful in low stress, uh, which is, uh, which is kind of key when it's like seven in the morning and you've got a meeting at nine that you want to be sharp for. And, you know, coffee's part of the routine and, and that sort of thing. Um, and, and I genuinely believe that there's probably not a way to make better coffee, better repeatable, easy coffee than the AeroPress, the grinder and a $10 metal filter for, you know, a little less than 200 bucks. Yeah.
Jason Heaton Well, I'm, you know, you've, you've inspired me. I'm going to make my second cup this morning, uh, with my AeroPress. I haven't used it in a while, but I'll pull it out. I think I got the, the metal filter. Otherwise I have just like a sleeve of hundreds of those paper filters that I need to work through.
James Stacey They send you a bunch. Yeah.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And it's funny. Um, I've, you know, follow a few sort of adventure cycle guys on, on Instagram and there seems to be a hashtag adventure coffee trend going on where you take coffee somewhere outdoors and you You find kind of a neat spot, remote spot, natural spot to brew up a cup. So that would require obviously either taking a flask of very, very, very hot water, which I don't think would quite cut it. Or if you have a small backpacking stove. Yeah, a jet boil or something like that. Yeah, a jet boil or something, a little primus or something. You could tuck that in with a bottle of water and boil up something and brew some tea. Or in this case, take your twin six rando bike and your AeroPress and your camp stove and go somewhere fun and park by the side of the road by a river or something and brew up a cup. That sounds really appealing.
James Stacey Yeah. Yeah. I, I, uh, I dig it. I, you know, it's, it's not perfect for every use, but it does make a perfect cup of coffee. And I also like that you can get into the recipes. Um, I really like the two by or the three by 20, uh, format because it's, it's super simple, but you can go way further if you want to. There's an inverted methodology that's very popular. Um, and, uh, and yeah, there's, there's tons and tons of ways to make, uh, make a great cup of coffee with these and it, it can be as nerdy or as simple as you like. And I like it cause it's simple.
Jason Heaton Nice. Good, perfect products episode this time.
James Stacey Yeah. Bike and a coffee go together well too.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey But yeah, if you have any questions, concerns, feedback, or otherwise, thegraynadoatgmail.com. And of course, next week, next episode, a week after you're listening to this, if you hit it on Thursday, we will be doing a Q&A. We already have a ton of great questions, which we're thrilled about. But if you have a question for that Q&A or a future Q&A, please say it into the voice memo feature on your phone, and then just email that file to thegraynadoatgmail.com. We are working to get to every single one and I'm pretty excited for next week's episode. There's a bunch of really fun questions.
Jason Heaton Yeah, it's a bumper crop. We've gotten a few just written questions that I wrote back to a couple people and I said, you know, this would be a really great Q&A episode question because it would require a little more lengthy explanations from you and me. And I said, would you mind sending in the voice memo? So thanks for doing that.
James Stacey Yeah, people have been, people have been awesome with it. Yeah. So before we get into your homework for this coming week, and of course, uh, some pretty solid final notes, uh, let's chat about an ad break and that's going to be for the Hodinkee shop. You know, this is still the isolation tape series of, uh, of weekly episodes from the gray NATO. And those episodes are brought to you by the Hodinkee shop. So that's shop.hodinkee.com and everything from straps to books, to watches, to watch tools, and even more cases and ways to carry them. They've got it all. And a purchase from the Hodinkee shop directly affects not only the Graynado, but the Hodinkee radio and Hodinkee at large. It's a big team that adores watches and makes all this content possible. And a purchase from the shop is a direct vote for the continuation of products like the Graynado and Hodinkee radio and all of the great stuff you see on Hodinkee. If you'd like to support us, we recommend doing that through shop.hodinkee.com. Thanks very much. And why don't we get on with some homework. I'll go first because mine's something we already talked about. Okay. Um, it's, uh, the backyard camping. Um, and I think this could be, this could be anything from a tent to a hammock, uh, the ultra light hammock thing. I remember when that was a new concept, these ones that packed down into a, you know, the size of a, maybe a big orange or something like that. Um, but you could do it with your family. You could do it alone, you know, just get outside, obviously pick a spot where you're safe and preferably not breaking. Too many laws. I don't have what's known as a really strong respect for laws that I don't believe to be important. But certainly things like trespassing can get you into some trouble. So be careful what you're allowed to do and where, especially at this time where you maybe don't want to task law enforcement or bylaw officials with things that would take time away from kind of greater overall concerns, social concerns these days. But if you can do it safely in your backyard or your front yard and, uh, and your neighborhood is amenable to the concept, yeah, throw up a tent, uh, breathe that outside air, stay away from the raccoons, maybe roast some marshmallows over a jet boil or, uh, uh, you know, a little grill or something you've got and, uh, and just enjoy the idea of, um, of camping and, and, and not necessarily being inside, especially as the weather starting to get a lot nicer.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I love that. And we're in that sweet spot where the weather's still cool enough in the night for comfortable sleeping and the bugs aren't out in force yet. So yeah.
James Stacey Yep. Yeah. Good one. Yeah. The, the, the cold air on your face is, is a special thing. I love it.
Jason Heaton I love it. It's been too long since I've slept outside. Well, I think we've got a kind of a general theme this week. It seems to be all about sort of minimalism and simplifying and that sort of thing. And, um, mine kind of follows that, uh, I'm suggesting that people unplug for a day or a weekend. We have, We have a long holiday weekend coming up here. I just realized that. Three day weekend, Memorial Day here in the U.S. You know, shut off your devices a little bit or mute them, maybe minimize the web surfing, skip social media, skip all but one podcast. And you know, read a book, read a paper, actual physical book, maybe build something, maybe take a chance and get some scrap lumber that you've had sitting in the garage and build a little garden box or something like that, maybe set up the tent and do some camping, go ride your bike. Um, but you know, it's, it's a bit cliche nowadays, but you know, unplug and, and kind of just soak up, uh, soak up the great weather and, and, uh, and your surroundings for, for a day or, or geez, go for it, go for it for the weekend. I'm going to see if I can do that.
James Stacey Yeah, I mean, you could even in some ways you could combine these two. If you don't feel safe or comfortable really sleeping out, then start early in the morning, take your coffee and your bike or, uh, your, you know, get, get in the, get in your Land Rover or whatever it is and, uh, go make a cup of coffee somewhere in, uh, in the woods and throw up a hammock and have yourself a nice nap and then come home for dinner. Yeah, that's a good one. I like that. Might have to do that. Always a good option. Used to be one of my favorite things. Uh, if I was, uh, you know, if I wasn't up for a really, um, you know, what they would might call a sufferfest on a huge hike in Vancouver. I would just stay along the waterline somewhere low, one of the low parks, and then leave the trail extensively, usually uphill and set up, set up a hammock and, and, you know, put my, put my backpack in a tree and just maybe eat a cookie or two and lay down. It's just a nice, nice, nice way to read a book. Nice way to take a nap. Yeah. I love that.
Jason Heaton All right. Jump into final notes. You have an interesting one.
James Stacey Go for it. I do. Yeah. So this is kind of a fun video. It's, it's a pretty simple premise, but it's a, this photographer whose name is, um, Nigel Banson. And he put out a YouTube video recently, uh, just a few days ago where he had gone to his Instagram followers and some people who have them on email. And he offered up three of his images and said like you edit it and send it back to me so I could see the difference. And he said, he thought he might get 30 or 40 people who are willing to sit down and like edit one of these raw files and, and, you know, give a different perspective on just how flexible an image really is when it comes to modern editing software. Like, uh, and the results were insane. It was well over a thousand edits, uh, were submitted. And, uh, and he published this, uh, kind of 22 minute video where he's on an iPad kind of looking at the various edits and not so much critiquing them, but appreciating them for their creativity. Um, because when you see a final photo and you think like, well, that's what the picture is, but it's always difficult to understand how much editing goes into it. And I would say it's the biggest advancement in, in like my photography in the last few years has been a much higher level understanding of how to edit a photo of a watch, uh, versus how to take it because I try and take the same six or if you read my, my hands on, it's, it's roughly the same six or seven photos in every one. I want some editorial consistency. But then you learn about some of the editing techniques and the more advanced stuff you can do in Photoshop versus Lightroom and, and these sorts of things. And there is just as, as much as you should always be shooting to get the photo in, in the camera, the photography, that, that, that element of in that creative side of photography, where you can really change the story being told in a photo by, by changing. And we're not saying like adding or removing hard elements. so much as just changing the tones. And there's a lot of very advanced techniques that can go into changing and making an image just how you want it to be, or just how you remember seeing it or something like that. And cameras now capture so much data that there's so much latitude that's there. So it's unlike with what you might've seen in earlier digital cameras or certain types of film where you hit it or you didn't hit it, and you can really only bend it in a few directions. These can be bent in all different directions. And I think especially people who maybe aren't really into digital editing workflows will be surprised by just what, how much flexibility there is in, in a big file from a, he shot these with a Z seven icon.
Jason Heaton Oh, nice. I'll check that out. Yeah. Photo editing is, you could have a whole episode talking about that. It's just, it, the, not only the techniques, but the, the philosophy of it, the controversy behind it and that sort of thing.
James Stacey So, Oh, for sure. Very cool. It's fun though. And yeah, like I said, I think most people would just be interested with just the, the extreme level of variety, both in like, simple edits and more advanced edits. It's just the different ways that somebody sees a picture and sees potential in that data. Nice. What do you got?
Jason Heaton Well, mine came through the online publication Adventure Journal, one of our favorites. This was a video, it's on Vimeo, and it's called A Very Short Guide to Union Glacier Camp. And Union Glacier Camp is, as you might imagine, is a semi-permanent campsite that's actually set up in its entirety once a year on the Union Glacier in Antarctica. And, you know, we talked about biking and tent camping. Well, this video has it because it's, it's basically a tent city, um, set up for supporting expeditions and scientific, uh, um, researchers that are spending time long-term in Antarctica. So there's, there's an ice runway where the big, you know, Hercules ice planes land with supplies regularly. The, the, twin otters and beavers that are doing supply runs and supporting the expeditions that are moving across the continent or taking off and landing there. And then they've got everything from a tent where things are built and repaired to an entire kitchen that runs 24 hours a day where they have a team of chefs that are preparing meals, obviously sleeping quarters and safety officers and just everything. And it was fascinating because the video is not dry at all. It's done in a very witty, kind of fun loving sort of way by one of the people that has worked there. And, uh, it's, it's just really neat to see. And it's a place that after watching, I guess it's a little bit like base camp at Everest. It makes me want to go there. Right. Um, you know, I'd love to go to Antarctica anyway, but like, I would love to visit union glacier camp. It seems like a lot of interesting characters work there from all over the world doing various jobs. And, um, I suppose the people moving in and out of there that are coming and going on, um, science experiments or, or, You know, hardcore expeditions would be interesting to chat with and see where they're off to as well. So, um, yeah, check it out. It's like a five minute video. Um, and as the title suggests, it's a very short guide. There's nothing more to it. It's not a trailer to anything longer. It's just, uh, it's just a neat little video.
James Stacey Yeah, it is a really, really cool video and a great pick and a nice, a nice, you know, edge of the world. Yeah. selection for a time where, you know, I'm sure a lot of people would like the opportunity to be out on the outer edge. Yeah. Yeah, that's very cool. And a solid show. What do you say we wrap it up? Yeah, let's go for it. As always, thank you so much for listening. Hit the show notes via Hodinkee.com or the feed for more details. You can follow us on Instagram at Jason Heaton, at J.E. Stacey, and you can follow the show at The Graynado. Should you have any questions for us, please write thegraynado at gmail.com and please keep sending in those voice memos. Please subscribe and review wherever you find your podcasts. Music Throw to Siesta by Jazzer via the Free Music Archive.
Jason Heaton And we leave you with this quote from Bill Bryson, who said, I mused for a few moments on the question of which was worse, to lead a life so boring that you are easily enchanted or a life so full of stimulus that you are easily bored.