A beautiful morning, the best so far! It started out maybe in the low 50′s and warmed quickly today since our camp got good morning sunlight. You could watch the shadow of the east rim move down the west wall until the sunlight suddenly hit the camp. Pancakes with syrup for breakfast. Or in Ariel’s case, syrup with pancakes. [Note in the photo the cleanup crew is using a 4 bucket system for washing: pre-wash (plain water), wash (hot, soapy), rinse (hot, clear), and disinfect (cold with bleach added). The mesh bag under the table is a big drying rack for the dishes. You can see how they could get covered in sand if left there too long.]
Steve and Chris cleaning up after breakfast
(Click image to enlarge) The rubber gloves are essential for skin care in this dry climate. The tarp under the washing station is required by the park service to ensure food and trash stays out of the sand. Afterwards the tarps are dumped in the river.
TRIP TIP: Be sure to ask the outfitter for a pair of extra large latex gloves.
It took much longer to get packed up and get on the river today after having a layover day. I guess it takes longer to pack because everything gets more unpacked after two days. I have too much stuff! We could have left Ariel’s school books at home. There’s no way she’s going to do any schoolwork other than play cello to practice for the concert she has the second day she gets back to school. We finally left Nankoweap (river mile 53.5) and got on the river at 10:10 AM.
Kwagunt Rapid (Class 5 on the Grand Canyon scale)
Sunny and DRY. Sunscreen and hand lotion to be used liberally
After 9 miles and 1 easy class 5 rapid, we reached the Little Colorado River right at noon. We pulled out a collapsible table and made lunch before walking up the Little Colorado to go swimming. There are some huge fish in the main Colorado just upstream of the mouth of the Little. Doesn’t matter what they are, there is no fishing in this area because an endangered species nests here.
After eating, we all made our way up the bank of the Little Colorado. Normally this river is a welcome change from the cold waters of the main, but we are so lucky that the main is just as warm, almost 60. I expect the main hasn’t been this warm since they first filled Lake Powell 50 years ago. Hard to believe before they built the dam it was about 72 degrees. The new normal is 45 degrees. (If you know, please share that info.)
The little Little Colorado
I suggested to Ariel to bring a sleeping pad with her so she could ride it like a raft down the little riffles in the milky-green water. Kathleen had a double-thick pad that worked great. Ariel and I were the first ones to go. We floated down together on the mattress and didn’t even fall off going over the ledges. She had a ball and did it 3 more times.
Floating the Little Colorado using a camp mattress
The Press Box
Little Colorado and Colorado converge
Salt seeping from the canyon walls.
The water feels good. It’s very sunny and warm. After almost an hour we made our way back to the rafts, put on more sunscreen and headed down river. We got to Carbon camp, river mile 65, around 4:00 PM.
Ariel and Natalia making artwork.
We celebrated Chatham’s birthday tonight and Ariel played her cello in the dark. The day was nice, but I can feel the weather changing… Not sure if tomorrow will be as nice as today.
Happy Birthday Chatham!
Cello by headlamp
If you think I’m giving Ariel a lot of press, yep, you’re right. Don’t worry, you’ll miss her in a few days when she hikes out and goes back to school.
Important secret detail about upcoming IamLUG conference in St. Louis next month
Sun, Apr 14th 2013 12:15p David Hablewitz Lotus IBM professionals, have you made plans to attend IamLUG? Perhaps you never get to attend Lotusphere / IBM Connect because it’s so expensive for the travel and the conference fee? This is your chance to get all of the meat of the Big conference without all of the fluff. You won’t get an evening trip to one of the theme parks. You won’t have all the hoopla and grandeur of the Opening General Session or the intellectual entertainment of the Closing Session. But you&# [read] Keywords: domino
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A web resource by the Federal government to educate managers and employees about effective telecommuting
Mon, Mar 4th 2013 5:16a David Hablewitz In light of all the recent controversy Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has stirred up over telecommuting, you may be interested in checking out this online resource by the U.S. Government. It has training materials if you are a telecommuter or if you manage telecommuters or if you are a telecommuter coordinator.
http://www.telework.gov
One trend I have noticed in the computer industry is that, when it comes to working remotely, companies tend to be much more tolerant of it for software developers than [read] Keywords: office
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Breaking News: The Passport Advantage website has been updated!
Thu, Feb 28th 2013 10:11p David Hablewitz In case you hadn’t noticed, the Passport Advantage website has a new look. I have not yet had a chance to explore it in detail. It looks like some (but not all) of the old issues have been cleaned up and it sports the new IBM website skin. I will post a more detailed review later. Meanwhile, take a moment to have a look. For comparison, see my article reviewing it almost 2 years ago. I’m anxious to see what was done that took 2 years of business justification and web development to [read] Keywords: ibm
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IBM announces MobileFirst and partnership with AT&T
Tue, Feb 26th 2013 11:14a David Hablewitz News sources are reporting the new announcement of IBM MobileFirst solutions portfolio. This is big because, unlike other players in this market, IBM is the leader in remaining device agnostic in the BYOD (bring your own device) business world. Mobile technology is blurring the lines between consumer and business tools. There is no doubt in my mind as I watch my 13-year-old daughter do 90% of her computer-related activities on her smartphone that this is the destiny of technology. It is [read] Keywords: ibm
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Putting Social Media to the test: Face-to-face vs. Online
Thu, Feb 14th 2013 3:11p David Hablewitz Which delivery method do you think has the greatest impact: Face-to-face, telephone, or online? Certainly face-to-face allows you to deliver the most personal message, but the web allows for a much broader reach. Phone calls are somewhere in between. So here is the challenge…
I am a firm believer in charity. I feel it is important to give back to the community. Over the years I have been helping with the YMCA Partners With Youth (PWY) campaign. This fund provides scholarships to families [read] Keywords: connections
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Doing well or not, it’s all about attitude.
Tue, Feb 12th 2013 7:11p David Hablewitz I first posted this in my status on Facebook. But the comments that followed my post made me realize this is relevant to a broader audience, so I will share it again here.
These people on the Carnival cruise adrift in the Gulf of Mexico are complaining because they have no air conditioning, no lights, no flushing toilets, limited hot and cold food, stuck in close quarters with a bunch of people they don’t know. Some are sleeping in tents outside because it’s so hot. Funny. We h [read] Keywords: facebook
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How IBM is raising the stakes with Social Business right in Microsoft’s back yard.
Mon, Feb 11th 2013 12:10p David Hablewitz IBM is coming to Seattle to talk about Social Business!
See the event schedule. The event is March 5.
Did I have anything to do with this? Not that I’m aware of. But I am glad to see IBM finally recognize the Seattle area market is tired of having no options besides Microsoft to choose from. Like everywhere else, businesses here like innovation and they like competition.
So from the makers of Watson, the computer that beat the champions on Jeopardy! and the perennial leader in new p [read] Keywords: collaboration
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Passport Advantage Revisited 2 years later…
Thu, Jan 31st 2013 6:12a David Hablewitz In August 2011 I posted an article giving a detailed analysis of the design of the IBM Passport Advantage website. That article received a great deal of attention, not only from the Lotus user community, but also from executives at IBM. I was even contacted by the person who oversaw the team responsible for the site. Finally, I thought, we would see some relief in our pain dealing with this website.
It’s nearly 2 years later. There have been some changes to the IBM websites, but Pas [read] Keywords: ibm
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Preparing for IBM Connect 2013 (Lotusphere) and another “Outlook can’t do that” moment
Tue, Jan 22nd 2013 9:17p David Hablewitz As I review my flight itinerary, I’m looking forward to the Alaska Air non-stop from Seattle to Orlando, fondly known as…The Disney Flight. No lie. See the photo.
This time there will be no missing B.A.L.D. due to missed connections, flight cancellations or delays because of a storm blanketing the center of the country. Wuhoo!
As I added my IBM Connect (Lotusphere) Conference travel plans to my IBM Lotus Notes calendar, Alaska Airlines graciously pointed out on their website y [read] Keywords: connections
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