Hooray for changes

Well, time for some more changes. I changed the format of the site, and might continue messing with it. I also turned on comments, since I know that a lot of blog visitors do not visit the forums. The google ads are gone as well, maybe for good. I know that they detract from the look of the site and I make next to nothing on them. Have fun, kids, and feel free to let me know what you think (in the comments).

I’m going to try to update this blog more regularly with actual useful content. I know I have promised to do this before, but this time I’m serious (don’t be surprised if this turns out to be a fat lie).

Out with TGR, in with Conservation Mart

Time for some life changes! TGR does not have as much of an emphasis on online sales as they use to, so I am no longer working full time for them. I will still be doing some work for them, but a lot of my focus is shifting to another company, Conservation Mart.

Conservation Mart is an Atlanta based online retailer that focuses on resource saving items, like CFL bulbs, electricity monitors, and low flow shower heads. The current item selection is at around 600 items, so there are a good bit of things to help save some money on utility bills and be a little nicer to our planet.

I am handling their online marketing, so any shilling you see around the Internet is probably coming from me. I started a blog that talks about our items and other conservation related topics, so give it a read every now and then and you might learn some useful information about saving resources. Since it is business related, I will actually update the blog several times a week, unlike my shameful attempts at keeping the GP blog updated.

On another blog note, I recently built a blog called Sustain Word for my brother. He owns a green construction company here in Atlanta and has been featured on the Weather Channel, the Discovery Channel, and in many magazines. Go give him some traffic too, since he has been going at the blog thing head on for the past couple of weeks, and has a lot of good content. He is tapped into green technologies and companies that are way ahead of most of what is on the market, so you will learn about some new ways to save energy and be more eco-friendly around your house or office.

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BC read GP

Well, here is some relatively definitive proof that someone at Backcountry reads Going Prepared. OK, maybe he did a google search, but I can hope!

Rocky and anyone else, join the board and make yourself known. We love BC and you might even receive some marriage offers from the womenz (possibly some of the more gear hungry men as well) in exchange for gear or employee discounts. If BC has a policy against posting on forums, tell us you work for a secret government agency or something. Womenz like mysterious men too!

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Pocket Chainsaws in stock!

I just received a shipment of Pocket Chainsaws for the store. If you are not familiar with the pocket chainsaw, here is a thread about them from a while back.

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Announcing Going Gear – come buy my crap!

My store is up and running!

I have been threatening this for a while, but test orders have been placed, items have been added, and shipping calculations are working (I think). I have been working on this off and on at night for a couple of months, making sure that everything is working properly. There is not a ton on there right now, but I have added several different firesteel sizes and a neat little zipper pull whistle. More is on the way, so you’ll keep on hearing me shill my stuff for the foreseeable future.

Yes, I know I need to change the logo, update the policy pages, get product pictures, etc. I’m working on it!

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GP Flickr Group

Cat (from the forums) suggested that I create a better way to share and organize our pictures for the members of GP. PHPBB (the forum software) is not really set up to do something like this, but Flickr is!

I just created a Flickr group called Going Prepared. I left it as invite only to keep the riffraff out, so PM or email me your email address if you want to be added to the group.

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Where are you?

Talk about a get together in the forums made me start wondering where the five people that read this blog are from. Please do me a big favor and add yourself to the map below so I can satisfy my burning curiosity. IP addresses only tell me so much!

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Topic Ideas?

I have been slack lately in the useful posts. I have a couple of already requested ones queued up after I figure out some technical issues, but not much after that. Is there anything anyone wants me to write about? I’m sure my areas of semi-expertise are pretty obvious, but I can write for days on fire, sharp things, flashlights, outerwear, or anything else you see me post about. Anything I don’t know about, I can research. Let me know and I’ll get to work!

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Forum Upgrades

I finally got my lazy butt around to upgrading the forum software over the last few days and finished it up tonight. If you are new to the site, be sure to check out the forums, since there are some great people over there that have some very interesting discussions. Everyone is helpful and will do their best to answer any questions that you have. I plan on making some of the forums’ posts viewable by registered users only, so now is a good time to join!

More info in the forums

New site direction – more useful information

I was looking through my previous blog/forum posts over the past few days for information that could be converted over to wiki articles. I was dismayed to see that not as many of them could be converted as I would like. Basically, I was not conveying information in the way I originally intended for this site. I wanted this to be a place full of tutorials, beginners’ information, step-by-step guides, etc.

Well, I am going to tilt the balance back toward the useful side. You will start seeing a lot more how-tos, videos, basic information posts, etc. from me. I started this off with an article on merino wool, a subject near and dear to all of us. There are corresponding blog and forum posts to go along with the wiki article. I am working on articles on packing a backpack, making a survival kit, starting a fire, and several others. My intent is that I can post information in the wiki at the same time as the regular blog and forum posts, so I need to have some actual content in there somewhere. You all are being very anti-wiki, but I still think that is the best way to get more people involved in the site, so I am going to plow ahead with new articles. I’m awfully stubborn, so it will be a while before I give up on the wiki.

Just so you know, I’ll still have plenty of pointless posts. You won’t be getting away from those that easily.

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