Wes Hooper

Geek. Minimalist.

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Merino everything

I’ve been a merino convert for nearly three years now, but appear to be going all-in just recently.

The journey began towards the end of 2012 - I was excited about going on a six month USA roadtrip in a few months and, already well into minimalism, was looking forward to travelling light. Tynan’s gear post resulted in a decision to do the journey with the Tom Bihn Synapse backpack and merino clothing.

There’s loads of info about the benefits, but briefly: Incredibly lightweight, compact and crease avoiding (for maximum squashing!), keeps you warm when cold (good with layering) but cool when hot (breathable and wicks away moisture), naturally odour-resistant (antibacterial, most smells are bacteria) but machine washable when you don’t fancy wearing a t-shirt for a month (I don’t!) and insanely quick-drying.

Merino is so amazing, that I stuck with it after the trip. And, slowly, over...

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New blog

I’ve deleted my old website (blog might be over-selling it) and setup home in a shiny new Svbtle blog. All because:

  1. I enjoy writing and find it useful to organise my thoughts, but my old blog was difficult to update and couldn’t store draft ideas. Therefore I’d rarely update it, something I hope the new blog will encourage me to change.

  2. I’m currently exploring minimalism beyond the possessions I own, looking at what I create, how and why. Removing the need to manage how the blog works lets me focus on the words.

  3. I love the product (despite the name!) and have been keen to try it since becoming available for anyone to signup.

I considered copying across my old posts, but (unsurprisingly) they all felt dated. So I’ve gone for a fresh start, with just a list of old titles for continuity:

  • Replacing your office fileserver with Dropbox, June 2010 - no longer have an office either!
  • Cult...

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