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Geeks in the Forest = Pondering the Equations of Life

October 5, 2010 by libertatemamo 18 Comments

Happiness can be so simple

 The outside temperature has dropped to the 40’s (4°C), it’s drizzling a bone-chilling cold and we’re deep, deep into the TN forest. It’s moments like this that make you wonder what happens when 2 geeks in their expedition-weight Patagonia underwear spend several days holed-up in a large tin-can in the wilderness. Well, there’s many ways of keeping warm, of course…copious quantities of hot chocolate and mulled wine, woolen hats and good ‘ol-fashioned ehrmmm physical activity. But no matter how much we pretend to be normal the geekiness, after a certain number of hours, naturally comes forth. It’s the Natural Law of Techies-In-The-Wild and leads to a lot of interesting conversation about life, the universe and everything inside it. So, for today’s post I thought I’d share a few of our newly-arrived-at conclusions.


Where T = temperature (in celsius), and K is an environmental factor related to proximity of cold-running mountain streams and number of squirrels in the area. As you can imagine K, in general, gets larger the more “out there” and “up there” we go. So in a hot, city climate doggie energy (DE) goes to zero, whereas in a chilly remote mountain area, with a nice selection of small fast-twitch critters our dog will go “banana’s” with energy, mathematically speaking.


Where T = temp (in celsius)
Cat stickiness  (CS) is a technical term, of course, denoting how close to your body kitty “sticks” throughout the day. On the coldest days (lowest T), the cat is like super-glue and will elongate several miraculous cat-body-lengths over your body in order to attain the highest surface area of attachment. As you can see from the equation, at T>40°C (104°F), cat stickiness goes negative (i.e cat disappears) whereas at T=0 (freezing) cat stickiness is essentially infinite. Our experience has proved out both these facts.


Where D1 = distance to your neighbour, D2 = distance into the wilderness, CS = cat stickiness, DE = doggie energy and W1,W2 are weighting factors. So, basically the more we get out there, the happier we are, and the fact that CS and DE are in the equation just goes to show we like to have our fur babies around us. The weighting factors niftily allow you to adjust the equation to your own preferences.


This really says it all. Life is the sum of everything that happens to you, or rather, with a little mathematical generalization and a few simplification steps, life (and so by extension life happiness) is the sum of your experiences.

It’s amazing in retrospect to think that Einstein and Newton failed to derive these simple life laws, but it just goes to show what 2 geeks with a lot of time of their hands can come up with. So, go out there, get a sticky cat, take advantage of that crazy doggie energy and experience life to its fullest. After all, we’ve proved it makes you happy.

Q.E.D. (Quad Erat Demonstrandum)

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We LOooVE Comments, So Please Do

  1. Lynne says

    October 5, 2010 at 10:25 pm

    40 is shorts weather for me and 40 and rain = normal camping weather in the Far North/Pacific Northwest.

    And 40 = time to laugh at the Alaska tourists in their stocking caps and jackets and sweaters.

    And 0 = first time I get out the sweaters and sweatpants

    And -10 = time to put doggy boots on pups for daily walk

    And 20 is warm spring weather and time to pull off layers.

    And 40 below = a visit to Fairbanks, where they laugh at us weinies from Anchorage.

    And 90 is a number I haven’t seen in 9 years

    And 10 is fun and surreal and fun in the hot tub with snow on the ground all around you and northern lights dancing over your head. And cold is when you have to run for the house in your bathing suit or birthday suit afterwards.

    40??? Pshaw! Wimps!!! 🙂

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      October 6, 2010 at 9:37 am

      Well, Alaska girl…I have to take my thick wollen hat off to you! You’ve definitely got more Viking genes than me 🙂

      Reply
      • Lynne says

        October 6, 2010 at 9:46 am

        And I am going to be sweating my a## off when we get to the Lower 48!!! I’ll be the one in the campground with the red face…haha

        Reply
        • libertatemamo says

          October 6, 2010 at 3:14 pm

          Yeah, you’ll probably have to plan your 1st summer in the mountains. It can get HOT down in the valleys. By the way are you guys going to start full-timing before winter sets in? Or, are you waiting until after?

          Reply
  2. Shanna says

    October 6, 2010 at 8:02 am

    7 am – Current outside temperature: 37, current inside temperature 65. Cat stickiness still above normal range…!

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      October 6, 2010 at 9:35 am

      hehe….love it!!

      Reply
    • Lynne says

      October 6, 2010 at 9:49 am

      28 here at night, and chihuahua stickiness at a high level as well. 🙂

      Reply
  3. Leslie says

    October 7, 2010 at 7:58 pm

    What a great picture of Paul and Polly – happiness can be very simple and I know you guys have found it.

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      October 8, 2010 at 9:10 am

      Thanks Leslie! We’re definitely loving the simply life 🙂

      Reply
  4. Mark S says

    July 19, 2011 at 10:46 am

    LOL! Somehow, I missed this post the first time around. The mental image of the two of you huddled over the table debating the precise configuration of your equations cracks me up. I especially appreciate the nod to your readers with the user-friendly weighting factors you’ve added to Camping Happiness. When we finally get out on the road, I’ll be sure to add these to Excel for handy use. =)

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      July 20, 2011 at 10:11 pm

      Really happy you liked the post 🙂
      Your image of us all huddled up debating the equations is pretty accurate…we had a lot of time on our hands out there in the forest hehe
      Nina

      Reply
  5. Gene McKenna says

    November 15, 2011 at 9:36 am

    Bravo – reminds me of a trip to Hetch Hetchy with my wife where we tried to work out how far below ‘normal’ the water line was by measuring the time it to for a rock in our hands to hit the water and then trying to remember the right equation for motion. Glad to see your degrees are being put to good use.

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      November 15, 2011 at 6:14 pm

      Oh how I love those moments…so romantic, yet so wonderfully geeky.
      Nina

      Reply

Trackbacks

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    January 7, 2011 at 11:36 am

    […] 5/ You can take the RV out of geekville, but you can’t take the geek out of the RV. […]

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  2. The 7 Links Challenge | Wheeling It says:
    July 19, 2011 at 9:41 am

    […] Geeks in the Forest = Pondering The Equations of Life […]

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  3. A Perfect Photo Kinda Morning | Wheeling It says:
    October 26, 2011 at 8:53 am

    […] course, was blissfully unaware of any thermometer issues and was bouncing happily at an approx. Doggie Energy Level of ~100,000 around the very exciting chilly […]

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  4. Last Few Sunsets At June Lake, CA | Wheeling It says:
    October 8, 2012 at 7:12 pm

    […] the cats will accept. In fact they are already complaining and our handy dandy cat thermometer = cat stickiness is approaching infinity…a sure sign of imminent feline mutiny. Since we’re all about […]

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  5. Fall Colors & Hidden Hot Springs (Oh, And A Naked Man Pic…) – Mammoth Hot Springs, CA | Wheeling It says:
    October 16, 2013 at 3:10 pm

    […] are beyond what our little chicken-bones (especially mine) can take. Besides, at those levels cat stickiness is infinite which makes it difficult to do much of anything except shiver under the covers with fur-balls […]

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