Aaron's Status

10:00 am

BUT, the Shimoda is huge. It’s designed for hiking so it has really thick, comfortable straps, and a massive waist strap with well-padded side pieces… But I am not intending to do any insane hikes on this trip so I feel like it’s overkill. It’s also great that it’s weather-proof, but if it rains in Death Valley it’ll be the end times so who cares?

I guess I’m mainly railing against the size. Is that reasonable? Should I even care? Other things that might matter:

• I can’t “really” use the Capture clip on the Shimoda straps. I made a very kludgy Velcro “solution” to attach it, but it’s not in a great spot and it isn’t how the clip is meant to be used.

• The Shimoda has two much larger water bottle pouches on the sides?

• The Shimoda has a ton of space left in the roll-top for things like clothes.

I just don’t know if it’s worth hauling this huge mostly empty bag just in case I am going to go on a multi-mile hike and I want to shed a layer and stow it in the top. Then again, if we’re going to go on any multi-mile hikes, I should probably bring the Shimoda rather than the Peak Design.

Then again do I need to bring all of my camera gear on a multi-mile hike? I would definitely bring a camera, but do I need all of my cameras?

6:10 am

The main thing on my mind is our trip to Las Vegas and Death Valley on Thursday evening, but there are some other things happening, too.

The door is done!

Finally, after over a month, we have a brand new back door and a real screen door, and the section of the kitchen floor that was water damaged is all replaced. It was somehow balmy enough yesterday to leave the solid door open and enjoy some fresh air without a thousand bugs flying in, so I guess we can call that “mission accomplished.”

Of course my guy who did the work also foolishly used a circular saw on my deck and cut a gash right across about six planks so now he has to go source replacements and repair my deck as well. Bummer for him! I’m not paying him anything until he repairs it of course. I hope he learns to be more careful using a saw on the surface of a deck going forward.

Cyberpunk 2077

The story here is that I own a Steam Deck specifically so that I can play it wherever I am, and especially on planes and in hotels, so I always give special thought to what I want to play when I’m going on a trip.

I completed “Thief” the 2014 remake, my general thoughts are here. I didn’t try to 100% the game or anything but it definitely felt short in terms of the storyline, and it had a “final boss battle” that is deserving of air quotes.

So after that I thought I would try replaying “Deus Ex: Mankind Divided,” which was one of the first “triple-A” titles I played on my PC after I built it. I remember enjoying it a lot and thinking that it was very graphically lovely. I bought it on Steam so I just double-checked that it’s verified for Steam Deck and installed it. I got a few hours in before feeling, just, not satisfied.

The main thing that turned me off was the performance. I had to crank it pretty far down to get it to ~40 fps and even then there are moments (especially walking around the city) where it would lag and stutter. Comments online basically conclude that the game was not really optimized and you’re on your own if you aren’t playing it on a powerful enough system.

“Fine,” I thought, “maybe I should replay Cyberpunk 2077.” I remember also really liking that game and playing a lot of the side quests and other optional stuff and just enjoyed being in the world of Night City. I bought it direct, though, so I’d have to re-buy it to play it on the Steam Deck. Maybe there’s a way to get around that, but whatever.

Anyway, it went on sale for 50% off, so I laid down another $30 for it. The game actually has a “Steam Deck” graphics setting, which it chooses for you automatically, which is cute, but I’m going to be honest, it still kind of runs like shit. For me, 30 fps isn’t going to do it.

I found a website with some detailed settings for the Steam Deck and I did what it said and almost like magic, it runs very nicely now. Probably sits around 50 fps most of the time but even during intense battles it only falls to around 40, which is very playable.

So listen, I know that when the game first came out it had tragically comical bugs. I played it after they fixed those so my impressions were more positive, but I’m just here to say, this game is such a masterpiece of world-building. It honestly puts Deus Ex to shame instantly with how detailed and rich every environment is.

In my first playthrough I did the default male “nomad” character, so this time around I decided to play as a female “street kid,” and so far that’s been pretty fun. As a “street kid” you get to start in the city rather than doing the smuggling run mission that you play as a nomad. It’s cool that they created totally separate intro chapters for each character type.

Anyhow, I’m going to enjoy playing some of this on my five-hour flight to Nevada this week.

Packing

Every time I take a trip, I tweak and optimize how I pack and what I bring, and each time it gets a little bit better. This time is no exception and I’m going to lay out what I’ve come up with that I’m really happy about.

First, charging stuff! I have a Peak Design “Tech Pouch” and this time around I have stuffed it with two Anker GaN fast chargers (each with 1x USB-A and 2x USB-C), six USB cables for all of those ports, a Panasonic AA/AAA wall charger, two set of 4x Eneloop rechargeable batteries, and 2x Baofeng radios (with USB-C charging batteries!) I’m kind of amazed it all fits in there but I think I’ve finally fully maxed out the pouch.

I then have a Peak Design “Field Pouch,” which will hold the in-flight charging stuff; another Anker GaN fast charger, a few USB cables, a backup battery pack, and we’ll see if I need anything else. That’s the one I will keep close at hand for in the flight and in the rental car.

All of my photo equipment comes with me in my Shimoda hiking backpack with the “mirrorless camera” insert, but this time I plan to stow that overhead and not put any in-flight entertainment things in it. I always stow it, but previously I had jammed the top compartment with the Steam Deck, iPad, etc.

This time, I got a Peak Design “Everyday Tote” as my “personal item,” which should be able to fit this laptop, Steam Deck, iPad, the Field Pouch, and maybe (just maybe) my water bottle. Even if the bottle doesn’t fit I’m going to clip it to the strap with a carabiner. Can’t be too hydrated, you know.

The Everyday Tote should be delivered today so I can test fit everything. I’m always excited to find more optimal ways to organize my life.

That’s all folks!