Bellingham Podcast

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RECORDED: AJ’s talk on Travelogue: “Traveling & Trekking with a Toddler.” Streamed live 17 February 2022: 1900-21:00 PST from the Bellingham Old City Hall

Backstory on the talk:

* building a since of place, life and wilderness skills, and cognitive skill development

* Kroll 1940’s Map “Evergreen Playground”

“Mountain Rules” - one for every year since birth

* Lookout Mountain (to waterfall vista)Always listen to Dada

* Never Goof Around

* Always Pay Attention

* Be Careful 

* Only ever go as far, as you know you can get back

Find an extrinsic motivation; to help instill an intrinsic motivation (flag and snacks)

Locations

Flora and Fauna:

* Stimpson Nature Reserve

Urban hiking:

* Interurban trail/Northridge Park

* Semiahmoo (and incorporate Geocaching)

Beginner forest trail hikes:

* Lookout Mountain (to waterfall vista)

101 Kit for your sub-5 year-old

* Backpack (REI Tarn 18)

* Trekking Poles

* Water

* Snacks

* Compass

* Camera

* Map/GPS

* Watch (you and them)

Digital Kit

https://bit.ly/toddlertrektech has links to all below

* Seek

* Merlin (Cornell Lab of Ornithology)

* Relive

* Garmin Explore

* Geocache

* maps.me 

Quality Assurance:

AJ:

* Welcome to Earth (with Will Smith)- see an actor learn from explorers what skills are needed to become an explorer

Chris:

Whatcom-News.com - Up-to-date county news online. Sometimes within minutes!

Housekeeping

Thank you to everyone who checked in on us while we were unexpectedly taken away from recording.

Holiday Travel and Covid

AJ’s observations of travel in the current Covid era

Washington Post: You asked: I got covid on vacation. Where should I report my case?

Tips

* Bring Covid rapid tests with you

* Before booking your trip, check the area you are going and what/where testing locations are

* Consult health insurance as to what forms, numbers, etc for reimbursement

* N95 vs KN95 and where you buy them

https://www.projectn95.org/

* Travel insurance / Credit Card purchase travel insurance

* Carry on at a premium ; Apple AirTag

* Checking your carry on at the gate

* Planes at an all time heavy- Checked baggage at a premium

* Health Tracker- Garmin Instinct in AJ’s case- worked well as a way to put his biometric baseline as a way to track and help his way back to healthy while dealing with COVID 19.

* Actual wrist shot from AJ in tracking his infection/recovery.

* This YouTuber around the same time did a great video run down of a similar approach.

Chris’ tips for travel in COVID era

* Confirmation/Boarding Pass printout - Just in case your flight info is only on your airline app and your phone battery dies. Don’t have a printer? Try OfficeMax self-service printing.

* Pick a dedicated location at home where all essential travel documents are stored to prevent misplacing and last-minute stress in finding your stuff.

* Invest in a unique luggage tag to stand out in the baggage claim carousel.

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New Sponsor - ProntoShop!

Don’t forget to check out our previous Bellingham Podcast sponsors, Megafone and AutoFlipper! Call 248-434-5508 to learn more about these fine products.

Local Update

Chris - Post-Valentine’s Day experiences

* New News Cascadia Daily

Quality Assurance

AJ- Travelogue: Traveling and Trekking with a Toddler February 17 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm in the Old City Hall (Google Map)

YouTube Live Stream

“Life occurs” as Chris likes to say on the show, and with it it derails routines. Chris and AJ are away from the mic still, but will be returning soon (barring any extra unforeseen ‘life occurrences’) .

But you can find Chris by his alter-ego on his technology Substack :

And thats on top of his already Canvas heavy-weight title of the Canvas Insider Podcast:

Now here on the Bellingham Podcast, AJ has a station break for you with a teaser from the Analog Explorer. This time recorded on location, about 45min away from Bellingham…

For more on this episode of the Analog Explorer, AE.09, find it wherever you like to get your podcasts or find out more https://www.ajbarse.com/ae09-ares-watches/ or via the Analog Explorer Substack

Stay healthy everyone.

What we discussed in 27 episodes (and two bonus AE episodes)

* Analog Resolutions

* Sustainable, Minimal, and save money? 2-part

* Hi-fi audiophilia

* Lo-fi audiophilia

* Tech that taught us something new in the pandemic

* 5-year anniversary - New cover art - AJ’s blog post

* Forced Reset

* Collection Culture 2-part

* Hey World - Chris’ tech episode

* Captain Get-Out - AJ’s outdoor episode

* PNW x UK Wanderlust w/UK Dan @timely_moments

* Motorcycle culture and rides, west coast x east coast w/Navy Dan @rising_sun_sailor

* Chris’ Walden Pond

* Welcome Back to Bellingham mini-series - Episodes 191 to 197

* Getting Out in Bellingham

* Dining Out in Bellingham

* Getting a Drink in Bellingham

* Getting to know the new downtown

* Wandering in Whatcom County 2-part

* Getting Comfy in Bellingham

* PPE or Post-Pandemic EDC 2-part

* Episode 200 at the Oyster Dome

* Finding the Flow

* PNWet

* Gift Guide’n

Lots of helpful information in our accumulated Quality Assurance sections.

New Sponsor - MinimaLife

AJ, I’m not sure if you are aware of this, but I have been a devotee to the minimalist lifestyle for over a decade now. Yup, I’m so minimal I don’t like using vowels when I type. I’ve eliminated so much clutter from my life in these 10+ years that there’s not much left. Just me, my family and friends, and the plaque on my teeth. Wouldn’t you know that I nearly squee’d (without the E’s) when I saw a new subscription box service coming in early 2022! That’s right, the fine folks at MinimaLife have the soon-to-be must-have subscription box service of this new year….

Rad or Sad - A tasty conversational topic!

AJ -

Digital avatar editions of Live Concerts- future of post-pandemic entertainment

Streaming Services - now in the OTT era

Chris -

Her Connection Hub, a working space for women in the old PSE building downtown, owned by for Community Connections Conversations…converser Heather Simpson!

Paywalls requiring accounts and memberships to read a story online. And the antidote?

Housekeeping

Shout out to Brenna: official Wa DOH Covid status QR code record for those who are traveling for the holidays in an area that may require showing proof of vaccination status sans needing to carry an oversize paper card https://waverify.doh.wa.gov/

Out and Around

Santa in Whatcom:

* Bellewood Farms 12/4-19

* Yeagers Sporting Goods

Advertisement

Don’t forget to check out our previous Bellingham Podcast sponsors, Megafone and AutoFlipper! Call 248-434-5508 to learn more about these fine products.

Gift Guide

AJ-

* Mysterium Board Game

* Fuji Instax Wide Photo Printer

* Cantonment Co. Kerchiefs

Chris -

* Sustainable Home - Book by Youtube’r Simply by Christine

* The $1 Million Puzzle - Because….why the heck not

* December 21 Date Night - New Mexico Tamale Company (Cordata Center), Fireside Martini & Wine Bar Boozy Box (Bakerview Square), and enjoy Elf @ Mt. Baker Theater at 7 pm.

Rad or Sad (just do two each for time)

AJ

* Digital or Mobile based ID cards

* “Quantified Self” and digital medical data (Oura Ring 3, Garmin, Fitbit etc)

Chris

* “non-business” LinkedIn updates

* AWS Outage

Quality Assurance

AJ - 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible

“Project Possible” Nepali mountaineer Nimsdai Purja and his all Nepali team did the impossible to summit all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks in seven months. Before that the record was 7 years…

Chris -

Paul Gilbert - ‘Twas