tag:weshooper.com,2014:/feedWes Hooper2015-09-12T06:28:49-07:00Wes Hooperhttp://weshooper.comSvbtle.comtag:weshooper.com,2014:Post/merino-everything2015-09-12T06:28:49-07:002015-09-12T06:28:49-07:00Merino everything<p>I’ve been a merino convert for nearly three years now, but appear to be going all-in just recently.</p>
<p>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. <a href="http://tynan.com/packing2012">Tynan’s gear post</a> resulted in a decision to do the journey with the Tom Bihn Synapse backpack and merino clothing.</p>
<p>There’s <a href="http://www.kathmandu.co.uk/expert-advice/expert-advice-articles/why-choose-merino-wool">loads of info about the benefits</a>, 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.</p>
<p>Merino is so amazing, that I stuck with it after the trip. And, slowly, over the past two years I’ve been replacing my clothes with Merino to the point that, beside jeans, it’s pretty much all I wear now.</p>
<p>The friend I did the USA trip with (who was soon a Merino convert!), recently backed the <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/510317212/style-performance-the-perfect-travel-shirt-by-libe">Libertad travel shirt</a> and kindly pointed me to it and the incredible attention it’s getting. So, that just leaves the jeans! As Tynan mentioned in 2012, wool jeans are either hard to find, expensive, or both - but I’ve got a feeling <a href="http://www.merino.com/wool-denim/">that’ll change soon</a> as the Merino revolution continues to increase pace…</p>
tag:weshooper.com,2014:Post/blog2014-03-02T05:36:07-08:002014-03-02T05:36:07-08:00New blog<p>I’ve deleted my old website (blog might be over-selling it) and setup home in a shiny new <a href="https://svbtle.com/">Svbtle</a> blog. All because:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>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.</p></li>
<li><p>I’m currently exploring <a href="http://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/">minimalism</a> beyond the possessions I own, looking at what I create, how and why. Removing the need to manage how the blog <em>works</em> lets me focus on the words.</p></li>
<li><p>I love the product (despite the name!) and have been keen to try it since becoming available for anyone to signup.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>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:</p>
<ul>
<li>Replacing your office fileserver with Dropbox, June 2010 - <em>no longer have an office either!</em>
</li>
<li>Cult of Less, December 2010 - <em>I may quote my early thoughts in a future post on minimalism</em>
</li>
<li>OSX software, December 2010 - <em>also updated a few times over the years</em>
</li>
<li>LAMP on OSX, August 2011 - <em>all about the puppet and vagrant now, no need!</em>
</li>
<li>Wishes for Beanstalk, March 2012 - <em>mostly irrelevant since moving from SVN to Git :)</em>
</li>
</ul>