Warm and cold travels

The latest issue of Revolution magazine has two articles I wrote in it, about two very different trips I took last fall. I’ve uploaded them both to my portfolio. The first is my report from a trip I took to that utopia called Napa Valley to attend watchmaking and wine-making demonstrations. The second article is my review of the venerable Rolex Submariner dive watch in the chilly real world conditions of a wreck dive in Lake Superior.

Live from Geneva

Next week I’ll be in Geneva for the annual Salon de Haute Horlogerie event, where many of the top watch brands showcase their new timepieces for 2012. I’ll be going under the banner of HODINKEE, the watch blog, and be trying to keep up with the all the happenings in as close to real time as possible. To that end, I’ll have my laptop, Nikon SLR and Canon videocam in tow and try to squeeze off missives between meetings with watch company reps and nightly dinners and cocktail parties. Not exactly war correspondent but it won’t be as glamorous as it sounds. Check in at www.hodinkee.com daily starting on Monday for all the watch news that’s fit to print.

A milestone: quoted in the New York Times

I was recently interviewed for an article about sports watches in the New York Times. I guess my online musings about dive watches caught someone’s attention! Here’s the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/10/fashion/10iht-gear-web10.html?_r=1

 

Summer was a blur

This was a busy summer, with trips to both coasts and adventures in between. Great fodder for writing though. My proudest moment was the publication of my dive watch review in Revolution magazine. I know magazines are a dying breed and the Web is where it’s at these days. But as an old-fashioned writer, I still tend to feel that magazines hold to a higher standard and to be published in one is a greater prize than my usual blog fare. I posted a PDF of my article in the Portfolio.

Another piece I’m proud of was the write-up I did of a factory tour I did at the Red Wing Shoe Company. Being a former tech writer, factory tours remain close to my heart and over the years I’ve seen how everything is made from Oreo cookies to Mennen deodorant to $100,000 wristwatches. This Red Wing tour was extra special since it was in my own backyard, here in Minnesota. That article is posetd as a PDF in the Portfolio as well but here’s a link to read it in its original format:

http://gearpatrol.com/blog/2011/09/26/last-made-made-to-last-a-visit-to-the-red-wing-shoe-company/

What do fall and winter hold for me? More dive trips – Lake Superior and Honduras, a trip to the North Woods, some cabin weekends and a trip to a watch fair in Geneva in January. Looks like life isn’t slowing down anytime soon.

Trip reports

As promised, some travel pieces I wrote are now history. I got a lot of mileage out of my Bonaire trip, with a trip report (with video!) on Gear Patrol (http://gearpatrol.com/blog/2011/07/29/7-days-in-diving-paradise-bonaire-caribbean/), an underwater dive watch review (again, with video!) on Hodinkee (http://www.hodinkee.com/blog/2011/7/6/a-week-on-the-wrist-the-audemars-piguet-royal-oak-offshore-d.html) and a magazine piece forthcoming in Revolution magazine, probably my biggest writing break to date.

Seattle was a great trip and my writeup of Olympic National Park went live today on GP: http://gearpatrol.com/blog/2011/08/16/gp-excursion-enchanted-valley-72-hours-in-olympic-national-park/

Other than travel, I did another bike review video, which turned out to be surprisingly challenging due to some camera hijinks and a very warm day. And I’m astounded by the play my Dive Watch Deconstructed article has gotten. I must have struck a nerve.

http://gearpatrol.com/blog/2011/07/20/timekeeping-the-dive-watch-deconstructed/

More fun to come. I’m off to New York to meet my editors this weekend. Should be fun and hopefully inspirational.

Over and out.

Travel. Writing. Repeat

I’ve fallen into a pattern. I take a trip someplace for a week, then come home and spend the next two or three weeks editing footage and photos and writing articles spawned from the trip – gear reviews, travel pieces and videos. It’s not a bad groove to be in.

My latest trip, to Bonaire, was fodder for a number of articles, including some shorts I reviewed for Gear Patrol, two wristwatches (IWC and Audemars Piguet) for HODINKEE and Revolution magazine and a travel piece + video for Gear Patrol. All will be published in the next few weeks.

Next up is a trip to Seattle and points west – San Juan Island and Olympic National Park for some kayaking and backpacking. It remains to be seen what will come out of it but surely it will bear fruit. Stay tuned.

LOOK here!

I spent over a month with a beautiful road racing bicycle from the French company,  LOOK. I rode it in all conditions and many miles and Gishani shot photos and video on two different days. I’m pleased with, and proud of, how it turned out. Here’s the article. And here’s the video: