Amtrekker

I’m an unemployed vagrant. All I have is a backpack full of technology, a shoestring budget and a very important list. When everything is crossed off my list I get to go home! Let me know if you want to trade one of those shoestrings for help. brett@amtrekker.com

I travel. I share my adventures. I meet TONS of incredibly kind strangers. And I have not wet the bed in over twenty years. What else needs to be said?

Archive for the ‘Learn survival skills’ Category

Amtrekker vs. Fire [podcast]

Posted by Brett On February - 13 - 2008
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Hey Team,

I mentioned how cool Heather and Spence Babcock were already…and I thanked Taylor Jones for setting it all up. But I just did it again. Ha! So there.

I literally spent hours with them learning about various aspects of “not dying in the woods” but when push came to shove I couldn’t cram all that info into a ten-minute long podcast. So, enjoy my frustrations as you watch me attempt to test out my new found survival skills!

Get the Flash Player to see the wordTube Media Player.

And if you click here it’ll take you to that fun for all youtube version.

Thanks for all the support team! How do you feel about this new Wednesday schedule? Not only have I managed the miracle of keeping up with it but today’s is even out almost two hours early! Ka-KOW!

I’m done.

Brett.

If you liked the video and that fancy new schedule then feel free to help keep things moving!


Don’t let me stop you.


Fire!

Posted by Brett On February - 4 - 2008
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Hey Team,

I have some good news and some great news…which do you want to hear first?

Okay, since you don’t seem to have an audible opinion I’m going to go with good news first. Yesterday I had the opportunity to play yet another awesome regional game…and we all know how much I like games! (Well, at least I know how much I like games.)

This one was called Splash and I’m not entirely positive I can explain it with out a diagram but I guess you can’t stop me from trying. Splash is played on a pool table with just the cue ball and the red (#3) ball. The balls start on either end of the table and the first person to go rolls the cue ball at the red ball with his/her hand.

The next player in line has to grab the cue ball and hit the red ball again. This is where it becomes complicated because every time you try to hit the red ball you have to throw the cue ball from whatever side of the table is opposite the side of the table the red ball is on.

If you miss you can retry but if you don’t hit the red ball before it stops moving you get a letter like in HORSE, except you’re playing SPLASH. Also, if you sink the red ball with the cue ball the person in line after you gets a point.

All of this results in people running madly around a pool table trying retrieve the cue ball and make it to the opposite side of the table as the red ball so they can legally throw the cue ball before the red ball stops moving. (Simple, right? [There might be a little sarcasm there])

So, this game was made especially cool because there were close to twenty people playing at the same time and all having fun AND I won. (No big deal.)

Now…the great news.

I have some extra survival skills under my belt that weren’t there yesterday morning!

I met up with an AWESOME couple, Spencer and Heather Babcock, who teach delinquent children how to survive in the desert. I spent quite a bit of time in their home learning how to make some simple traps and about the basics of not dying before wasting an hour making myself look like a complete waste of skin as I failed repeatedly to produce fire from sticks.

I did however eventually show that wood who was boss and create a little piece of coal that could easily cause some California sized wildfires if I were a less agreeable dude.

It was a great experience and I’m so glad I go to meet Spence and Heather. They were honestly great people that I would have loved to have been able to spend more time with. I also want to thank Taylor, the cool kid that invited me to Salt Lake City in the first place and set that whole hoopla up. So, expect to see me spend a lot of time not starting a fire this Wednesday at 6pm PST!

Now, I’ve got to get a little bit of rest before I have to try to catch a stand-by flight to New York for the one day a year they open up the entire stairwell at the Empire State Building. I’ll be a volunteer with the New York Road Runners running club (they’re the guys that host the annual footrace to the top of the building which is the reason the stairs will be opened) and hopefully I’ll get my chance to trek to the top.

Okay, I’m done.

Brett.

If you liked reading about my adventures why not make a tiny little intsy wintsy donation?


Seriously.


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