[This blog post is part of Trek Light Gear’s Sleeping In A Hammock series. If you came here first, do yourself a favor and check out what you’ve missed by starting at the beginning. Click the link above or right here!]
In Part I of this series, you learned to avoid the spreader bar if you want to have a balanced and healthy night sleep in your hammock (or if you just want to avoid getting tossed on the ground at any point in your day). In Part II we’re going to take a look at the next and even more important factor when it comes to getting the best hammock experience: the material, design and construction of the hammock. The material your hammock is made with and how it’s put together is crucial to your overall comfort and I’m here to again help you put an end to the hammock brainwashing and tell you what to look out for so you can avoid the dreaded ‘bad hammock experience’.
How To Tell If You’ve Been Hammock Brainwashed: A Test
1.) Yes or No: This looks comfortable and relaxing, the perfect place to lie down and take a nap:
and one more…
2.) Yes or No: This looks comfortable and relaxing, the perfect place to lie down and take a nap:
If I were into dramatics this is where I would say ‘BAM!’ and just end the blog post and walk out of the proverbial room and allow you to draw your own conclusions. But, I’m here to help and we should talk this through. I think it’s safe to guess that most of you answered ‘Yes’ to the first question and a slightly hesitant ‘No’ to the second. If you answered a strong ‘Yes’ to both of them I’m going to guess you’ve either got a rope fetish or you’ve got a severe case of hammock brainwashing. Only one of those I can help you with.
The top photo represents the iconic image of the hammock and it was just one of hundreds like it I came across while searching. It’s the type of image you see in posters, paintings and travel brochures and there’s a good reason for that – the hammock has long invoked feelings of vacation, freedom, travel and most importantly, comfort and relaxation.
What about the second image though? It’s just showing what the hammock above looks like up close, yet chances are that rope doesn’t scream comfort to you in the same way. The image of the rope hammock has dominated our culture to the point that it symbolizes comfort and relaxation for most people, but when you really look at it you’re staring at a bunch of criss-crossed ropes that have absolutely no reason for being synonymous with comfort and relaxation. That, my friends, is hammock brainwashing.
Prepare yourselves for what’s next.
[click to continue…]
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That’s right, we’re having a video contest and the winner will walk away with a cool $200 worth of Trek Light Gear!
Last year, we hosted a photo contest called ‘Better With Trek Light Gear’ and it was a huge hit. We received a ton of great submissions and hundreds of people voted for their favorites, all in all a lot more interaction than we’ve received for our past photo contests. Why? Because all of our previous contests involved sending in pictures of our products in action, meaning you already had to own a piece of Trek Light Gear to enter. If there’s one thing we’ve learned it’s that many of you in our Facebook community, following us on Twitter or reading our blog, are fans of who we are and what we do without even yet owning one of our products.
If that sounds like you, this is your chance to change that and bring some Trek Light Gear into your life!
The “I Need Trek Light Gear” Video Contest
Film a short video telling us and the world why you need Trek Light Gear in your life. The format can be whatever you like: Take us on a tour of your job, your favorite hangout spot, your backyard or just sitting at your desk. Wherever you are and however you film it, the important part is just sharing why you love Trek Light Gear and how it will make your life better. If you already own a hammock but you could really use one of our V9 Strong Tarps or Bug Free Hammock Shields to keep the rain and bugs out (or maybe you just need more hammocks!), you can still enter and show us just how much you need even more Trek Light Gear!
UPDATED 7/16/10: We hoped to use Facebook’s built-in functionality to handle both the uploading of the video and the voting via the Like button. Unfortunately many of you were unable to upload the video for unknown reasons and the voting process quickly became scattered with votes accumulating in several different places for the same video. To remedy this we’ve partnered with Wildfire, a third-party app designed specifically for running contests like this within Facebook. If you’ve already submitted your video unfortunately we’ll need you to submit it again and if not, please follow the instructions below. The voting process will also begin anew, but we’ve extended the submission and voting deadlines (see below) so you’ll have plenty of time to submit and gather votes.
How To Submit:
The easiest way to enter is to look for the giant new contest banner at the top of this page or any page on TrekLightGear.com. Just click the ‘Enter Contest’ button and a popup window will walk you through the entire process. Or, visit our Facebook page look for the new tab at the top of our wall that says ‘Contests’. Click the tab and you’ll be brought to the entry page to begin submitting your video and information. Once you enter your info you’ll be given the choice to upload your video either to Facebook or YouTube, make sure you choose YouTube so we can avoid any more upload problems with Facebook.
Winner Selection:
Voting will be handled through the Contests tab on our Facebook page. Just click the Contests link and you’ll see a button that says Vote Now. Once your video is submitted we encourage you to tell your friends to show their support and help you win. In order to win you must be a fan of Trek Light Gear on Facebook so if you’ve entered the contest directly from the popup banner on this page make sure you visit us on Facebook and ‘Like’ us so you’re eligible to win.
Timeline:
Because of the submission and voting problems we encountered we’ve extended the timeframe of the contest. The video contest is open now (7/16) and entries will be accepted until July 31st. Voting will continue until August 6th and the winners will be announced the following day!
Prizes:
The Grand Prize Winner will receive a $200 Gift Certificate valid for all of the items sold at TrekLightGear.com. The runner-up will also receive a $50 Gift Certificate!
Let us know what you think in the comments, on our Facebook page or send us an email. I can’t wait to see your submissions, let’s show the world why we all need Trek Light Gear!
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