During my last trip to Moab, I tried out some trails northwest of the main Arches National Park entrance. For six months of the year, the main Arches entrance has a very long line set aside only for people that already grabbed a 1-hour reservation spot to enter, and they’re not easy to get. Last …
Author Archives: mathowie
Blacks Beach/Torrey Pines real-time erosion
I was randomly scrolling YouTube and ended up watching about half a dozen videos capturing some landslides near San Diego, California, specifically in the Blacks Beach and Torrey Pines area. There’s been a ton of rainfall recently and as you watch this, much of it is simply mud and dirt that hasn’t been compressed over …
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Moab winter trip report
This week I took a quick solo road trip to Moab, Utah to explore some trails and see the southwest under a light dusting of snow (it’s hot as heck in Moab 6-9 months per year). I know every guidebook says to only go there March-October, but I’d been watching the weather for weeks and …
Hanks for the memories
Earlier this week I listened to the Bullseye interview with Tom Hanks, and it’s one of the best I’ve ever heard from host Jesse Thorn. Tom tries to keep things light and deflects Jesse’s early queries with attempted goofs, but soon after, Jesse gets deep and I probably learned half a dozen things about Tom …
First thoughts from a Rivian R1S test drive
In February of 2020, I plunked down a deposit on the Rivian R1S, a 3-row full electric SUV soon after the Rivian truck was announced and truck prototypes were shown at various events. I’ve owned nearly a dozen different trucks over my life but as I’ve gotten older I’ve come to appreciate off-road capable SUVs …
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Belkin MagSafe monitor mount, Continuity Camera, and using your iPhone as your webcam
Last month I heard that Belkin was releasing MagSafe iPhone mounts for the MacBook and another version for Studio Displays (or any other monitor really). I bought the monitor-focused one and it showed up today. It’s pretty great! Here’s the best settings I could get with Center Stage and Portrait Mode and Studio light turned …
Surprisingly good tech: The weBoost Drive Reach cell signal booster
A couple years ago, I started seeing ads for “cell phone booster” antennas for cars and trucks around the off-roading/4×4 world as a way to stay connected while out in the middle of nowhere, but I was deeply skeptical. How much better could your phone signal be after paying a few hundred bucks for a …
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Ice Storm fun
Last night as I was driving home on a sheet of frozen rain I saw some teens hooning it up in some parking lots and woke up this morning to find every big parking lot in town has these perfect donut-shaped burnouts in them. I had to pull over and stop to take this shot …
Google Docs gripe
(I posted this on Mastodon but I might as well share here in the off chance any Googlers still read blogs) It’s utterly bonkers in the year 2022 you can’t embed a YouTube video directly in a Google Doc. Each time I’m working on a draft blog post for a client I take a screenshot …
An interesting Instagram business model
I love seeing how people do things on the edges of what is possible. In this case, how people make a living off being viral/popular on any social network. Most networks don’t have direct mechanisms to pay users, so instead people have to improvise all sorts of other ways to try and make a living …
A Whole Lotta Nothing 