Favorite Things
On this page is a list of my favorite things broken out into a few different categories
Books
Amazon Kindle – I love everything about physical books. I thought Kindles were a corruption of a perfectly good thing. I was so wrong. I read more, smarter, and with greater ease with the Amazon Kindle.
Into the Wild (Jon Krakauer) – The only book I read every single year. For me, no book has better-provoked my own reflection on what the human experience can be than this one.
Favorite quote: “You are wrong if you think joy emanates only or principally from human relationships. God has placed it all around us. It is in everything and anything we might experience.”
Start With Why (Simon Sinek) – Discovering my WHY, HOW, and WHAT was an important milestone in my personal growth journey.
Favorite quote: “Working hard for something we do not care about is called stress, working hard for something we love is called passion.”
Business
A2 Hosting – A2 Hosting is who I trust to keep my website up and running 24/7. For an entrepreneur such as myself, the cost is economical and the customer service is always reliable. (paid)
Films
The Shawshank Redemption – A beautifully moving story that demonstrates how life can be unfair and cruel but having hope and a dream is a powerful weapon.
Favorite quote: “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
The Truman Show – With each passing year it becomes a more valuable reminder of the dangers of in-authenticity and the importance of being true to ourselves.
Favorite quote: “Somebody help me, I’m being spontaneous!”
Fitness
Strava – Strava is the app I use to track my runs and bike rides and compare fitness progress over time. It syncs beautifully across all my devices and has so much awesome data if you are like me and geek out over that kind of thing. (free + paid options)
Trek Bikes – I’m still relatively new to the world of bike riding, but Shannon and I are currently getting our miles in on Trek bikes.
Evan’s Bike: Verve 1
Shannon’s Bike: 820 WSB
Money
Personal Capital – Personal Capital brings my entire portfolio together in a easy to navigate, yet powerful dashboard. (free + paid options)
Organization
Airtable – If you’ve ever had a lot of information and no ideal way of organizing it, Airtable might be for you. (free + paid plans)
Joplin – I’ve tried so many different note-taking apps over the years that I’ve lost count. Joplin wins for me because it is open source, fully encrypted, available on all my devices, and isn’t cluttered with unnecessary features. (free)
Workflowy – My brain processes information best when there are bolded words, bullet points, and headers and subheaders. Workflowy is a tool that provides me a simple way to organize my most complex projects. (free + paid plans)
Productivity
Google Calendar – I love having a good old fashioned calendar around. I’m a planner and I like being able to schedule my time at the daily, weekly, and monthly levels. Google Calendar can do just that AND sync across all my devices. (free)
Travel
Alltrails – AllTrails is an app/website must for anyone who loves hiking. All hikes can be filtered by location, distance, altitude gained, popularity, etc. so chances are it can find your next favorite hike. (free + paid plans)
Gaia GPS – Anytime I go off the beaten path I rely on Gaia GPS for my map needs. It has the best collection of layers available to cover all my topographic, nautical, and historical needs. (free + paid plans)
Google Earth – It currently doesn’t play a direct role in my travels, but there is no website I enjoy using more than Google Earth. (free)
Google Maps – When I need to find out the quickest way to get somewhere: Google Maps. When I need to find a vegetarian restaurant that has more than 4.5 stars: Google Maps. When I need to create a custom map for my next road trip: Google Maps. If I could only have one app on my smartphone: Google Maps. (free)
Wikitravel – An incredibly useful resource for learning about any destination. As it’s crowdsourced from thousands of travelers, it has information that you won’t find anywhere else. (free)
Airbnb – The place to go if you want to find that one-of-a-kind lodging destination or local experience. (free)
Vehicle
Toyota 4Runner (5th Gen) – In late 2020, I upgraded my adventure vehicle to a 5th Gen Toyota 4Runner. So far it’s been everything that was promised. Reliable. Durable. And extremely enjoyable to drive.
TentBox (Rooftop Tent) – Prior to our first major road trip together, Shannon and I decided to try out what having a rooftop tent would be like. We went with TentBox’s Classic model because of it’s claim to fit any vehicle. Sure enough, it fit my beat up, weirdly designed, Chevrolet Equinox.
Alpha Foxtrot Designs (Roof Rack) – Alpha Foxtrot Designs makes some beautiful looking products. The rack I have is engineered for 5th Gen 4Runners only, and has the stylings and sturdiness that matches the rest of the vehicle. It’s awesome.
Saris SuperClamp EX (Bike Rack) – This rack holds two bikes on the hitch of the 4Runner and does so magnificently. It takes less than a minute to load or unload bikes with it’s ingenious clamp bar locking system.