Ashland vs Portland

It's been another long work week with lots of projects being completed and even more created. With the creation and brainstorming of new sites, marketing, and design projects for the store my brain was having a hard time shutting off last night for me to be able to fall asleep. This lead me to a great epiphany!

The acronym for the Ashland Outdoor Store that we so lovingly use is AOS. The reason why there isn't a Portland Outdoor Store is because the acronym would be POS. Nobody wants their store to be the POS store!

Mammut TX-1

Regular Price: $79.95 Item Of The Day Price: $67.95



The highest performance headlamp for absolute alpine use. The highly precise Total Reflex Optics with one HiFlux LED provides a beam that reaches 105 m light-range, and the lamp comes equipped with two Definition LEDs for 180 hours of Flood-light and Dual-light. Whether you're descending from ice-blown high camps in the early a.m., or enjoying an evening bike ride, the TX-1 is your headlamp of choice.

Read AOS's Review!

June Shirt Design

This is the original image. The photo was taken a handful of years ago by Verelle Stuck at Immigrant Lake outside Ashland.

First step is creating the Header image for the AOS website.

This is the initial concept for the shirt.

This is what the final design product (thank you Verelle) looks like before sending it off to Jess for printing.

Now were just all waiting for the shirts!

Subject Matter

Here it is the first of June. It's been over a month since my last post. In a lot of way's i'm forcing myself to write this post today. It is not for lack of desire. I really enjoy blogging and writing. Unfortunately, I really just haven't had anything to write about.

The main reason for this is because a while back I was criticized (not really anything new) for my writing. Surprisingly the criticism wasn't directed at my grammar or spelling like it usually is. The critic claimed that my passion for the outdoors, gear, job, and life that I have wasn't apparent and didn't come through in my writing anymore.

Despite what a lot of people think the opinions of others about me does matter and has an impact on me. I don't always agree with the opinions or criticism, but either way I still have to process it and it does affect me. So, this critics statements really hit me pretty deep because I do love the outdoors, gear, my job and my life. It has taken me a while to process through the statement and figure out how I want to use the information given to me.

One of the things that I realized through this is that not every post has to be positive or passionate about the outdoors. Also, posts do not have to be major each time. A post can be something simple and basic but the most important thing is frequency. I think that the criticism has really helped me redefine my ambitions for blogging and helped me streamline the process.

Therefore, the days of months between AOS blogs posts are over as well as the days of non-passionate-post!

Thank You Icebreaker

I love technology and that fact that I live in the era of social media!

Let me jog your memory. A few months back I wrote a blogpost ("Dear Icebreaker") regarding an Icebreaker shirt that I not only lost while mountain biking, but then found a year later. My post was a very nice letter to them explaining how much I loved my shirt and was stoked to find it, but that unfortunately, a year in the wilderness had taken it's toll on it and rendered it unwearable. At the end of my letter I asked if there was any way they could/would replace it for me.

Well, a few weeks back I was perusing the blog archives trying to gain some inspiration for a new post. In doing so I came across that post, and I realized I never heard back from Icebreaker about my shirt. Without really thinking about it I updated the AOS Facebook Fanpage status saying "sitting here this morning bummed that I haven't heard back from Icebreaker :(."

Me enjoying my new Icebreaker while writing this post!

Aparently, Icebreaker is also on Facebook and happens to follow your favorite outdoor store. Within a short while there was a nice comment on the status stating that I had forgotten to put my contact info and return shipping info on the letter. A few hours later I got a call from customer service here at the store, and they got a new shirt sent out to me that day.

I couldn't believe it! I mean, if it wasn't for Facebook I'd be sitting here without my nice new Icebreaker!

Also, I think it speaks to the quality of Icebreakers customer service and how well they stand behind their product! I just wanted to take the opportunity to acknowledge how awesome Icebreaker is as a company and to say thank you for replacing my shirt!

Trimming the Fat

First off, I can't believe I haven't posted a new post since the end of December. No wonder my coworkers think I don't do anything. This what has been on my mind lately!

No one, which unfortunately includes myself, can do it all! As hard as I try I always have more hobbies, passions, and interests then I can actually afford financially or devote enough time to.

I'm the kind of person that when I do something I don't want to just participate in it I want to be good at it if not the best. I also am compelled out of pure unadulturated gear lust to buy all the gear I need for that activity brand new, and even if I may only have the time do the activity once or twice a year. I would just rather own my own equipment then rent or barrow.

As I look around my room, garage, and house I realize that I plain and simply have to much gear for to many different activities. I can't do it all and therefore do not need to own all of the gear that I own. The easy part (even though the misconception is that admitting is the hardest part) is realizing this and admitting it. The hard part is determining how to narrow your focus of activities to a manageable amount. The hardest part is actually parting with you your gear!

Every time I make the decision to cut out a sport or activity I talk myself out of it because I just can't part with the gear. Which shows that the emotional investment in the gear is just as great if not greater then the monetary investment. So what are we to do?

My current plan is to enjoy the lust while it lasts and to let my garage continue to be cluttered with gear until I truly reach a breaking point and either can part with my gear or am forced do to space issues to trim my gear fat!

Reflection 09 and Look-Ahead 10

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this dissertation are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Ashland Outdoor Store. Nor does the post have anything to do with anything important.

Honestly, I do not like reflection posts and borderline hate reading them. They either come across as bragging about how much cool stuff you did, or they come across as complaining about how much cool stuff you missed out on. Anyways, I don't think that you can't really reflect on an entire year. To much happens. Also, I don't even think it is fair to generalize the status of your year e.g. 2009 was a good year or 2009 was a bad year.

Reflections remind me eulogies and thats just depressing and it's all just because the calendar changes. Now I understand that we are a traditional society and so therefore we continue to trod down the same paths year after year catering to our nature of habit. So you'll go out tonight and you'll count down, toast, kiss your hunny, and make a new years resolution that you wont stick to because your just making something up to impress the company that your keeping. And just like that a new day and a new year will start.

Will 2010 be better then 2009? Will 2010 be worse then 2009? Who knows. But nothing will change if you continue to sit around and wait for something to happen or make idle half-assed new years resolutions.

Not to get to Carpe diem, but I was reminded recently of the George Bernard Shaw quote, "youth is wasted on the young." This made me realize that every year is going to be good and bad. So 2010 won't be too different then 2009. 2010 will have moments of great exaltation, immense remorse, and excruciating pain. The highs and lows of success and failure will fluctuate from day to day, week to week, and month to month on into 2011. Therefore, live your life the way you want, love the people you want, say the things you want, and be in the place you want.

Hold nothing back and 2010 will be yet another year.