Travelogue... continued..

Just thought I'd post another entry in my trip travelogue. Oh, it's been a while since I last posted!! Sorry!! Anyway, on the last day before leaving Zion Nat. Park, we shopped around a bit in Springdale, UT. The others wanted to stop at this place, the Worthington Gallery. I wasn't really interested in getting anything, but went along anyway. Well, I wound up buying this vase for my living room. I thought it was kind of cool, and it wasn't too expensive ($48) for an original piece. The photo is only an example, since every one is different because of the glazing process the guy uses. As the glaze cools after firing, the different rates in temperature change cause the various colours.

Anyway, after that we proceeded back to Vegas for the rest of our trip. Just one more trip entry to go!!

I have to leave today for Halifax, NS for meetings for the next few days but at least today is sunny, which we haven't had for quite some time. We will be meeting with a bunch of other people from the region as well as people from our Head Office - that should be interesting, since I completely disagree with about everything they say....

Helping IT Bring Efficient Service to You


As a result of a support request that I filled this week for a malfunctioning printer, I have compiled short list of ways which will ensure that you get the most prompt, efficient and courteous service from your local Information Technology support personnel.

1. When you have an IT related problem, DO NOT call the IT helpdesk right away for support. Rather, complain among your coworkers about how crappy the IT service is, how they can't fix anything quickly and that you're totally fed up. After about two weeks, place the call for the request. By holding off, you get the satisfaction of making everything you said actually be true!

2. When the IT support person arrives (approx .5 hours after you placed the call) make sure they know what you think about IT and how it is the local techs that are the cause of malfunctioning software and equipment, Microsoft's buggy software, how you can't get anything done because it's all so complicated, the federal budget deficit, and the bad case of shingles that Joe from two cubicles down has. Because, you know, these huge responsbilities give us a great boost in morale and job satisfaction knowing that our work affects so many.

3. While the IT tech is trying to fix the problem, make sure you stay with them to watch them carefully, in order to provide assistance regarding the problem or, preferably, reiterate everything that you said in #2 above. This will keep us motivated, focused and prevent us from being distracted and wandering off following after a piece of dust floating by.

4. If the tech is unable to fix the problem on the spot, but must return to their desk to call in a hardware support ticket, wonder aloud if you have to follow them down to their desk as they make the call to make sure it gets done. This provides us with extra incentive to make the call rapidly, and not be stupid dolts or liars and not do what we just said we would do 2 minutes ago.

I hope you have enjoyed these helpful hints and will find them useful in dealing with your own tech support people. I am sure they will love and appreciate you for it.

Just for further reading, here is a list of more tips:

http://jokes.hellacool.co.uk/joke/2fe909b159d034dfe303733a92b177b4.html

Until next time, the one who put the "G" in "guru"

gForce..

Just thought I'd take a break from the travelogue and post some random thoughts.

Reading mheh's recent blog post about being single got me thinking about my own status, and you know? I'm okay with it, if it means not being with someone who I really don't care for. The sad thing is, of the people I know, about 9 out of 10 of them are either divorced, separated, or unhappily married. I'm even hard pressed to think of anyone that I know that is having a truly happy relationship. Colour me discouraged!

Lest this post become TOO morose, I should add that it is hot outside today! The temp today here was about 34C which is around 90F. It was a nice change though from the cool (cold!) Spring we've had so far. I don't mind the heat, but I just wish we could get something kind of in between teeth-chattering freezing and sweaty heat. Oh well, I'm still not complaining!!!

Angel's Landing Hike

Here's a few pictures from our hike up to Angel's Landing in Zion National Park in Utah.

After about a 2 mile hike through a side canyon and after climbing up a set of switchbacks called "Walter's Wiggles" to get up to the "scary" part of the trail - this is the view. The trail is along the thin edge of rock up to the very top and then out a bit on the promontory.

This is the view along the side of one part of the trail. It's only about 1200' down there!! In some cases, the trail is only about 3 feet wide, with that much drop on either side.

This is a typical climb along the trail - it's not too bad at all... just don't look behind you!!

This was some loser along the trail - he looks like he's having a good time, though ;)

This is the view from the "top".. Spectacular!!

This is on the way back - it gives you a good idea of the drop behind.

Here's another view on the way back - the trail goes along the edge and you can see the ridge going down to the upper right of the picture.

Here's me going down part of the trail - it looks like I'm going to jump!! (Don't worry, I wasn't even THINKING about Alison being on TAR5...)

I should add that by the time we got back to the bottom, the temperature there was around 100 degrees F. It was actually cooler walking than if you stopped, because at least then there was a breeze. If you stopped for a rest, you just stood there and stewed in your own heat.. Yikes!

Anyway, it was a great hike, and I actually can't wait to do that one again...

Bryce Canyon

After we picked up our car at Marble Canyon, we headed North up to Bryce Canyon and stayed over night at a cool B&B in Tropic, Utah (a little town of about 400 people.) The next day we headed over to the park and did a little sightseeing. I have to say it is one of the coolest areas I have ever seen. The formations in the canyon are "hoodoos" or tall spires of rock that have been eroded out of the surrounding stone. They almost look artificial. The park's web site has some other cool pictures. Here's another couple of cool shots.

We also did a day hike down into the canyon a bit. I was cool - I will have pics of that up on my next entry.

At the end of the day, we headed over to Zion Canyon NP which I have been to before, but the other two had not. It once again is a completely different type of scenery from either the Grand Canyon or Bryce. As we got to the hotel, the moon was just rising over the cliffs.

The next day would be a great hike up the Angel's Landing Trail. It was skeery!!

A Few More Pics

So, are you people bored yet? I don't know if you still want to see these pictures or not, but like the poor guests who aren't allowed to leave until ALL the slides are shown, here you are!! Oh, wait, don't click the back button! There's just a few more.. really!

Anyway, here is a couple of pictures of some of the rapids we were on. The first is actually on the first day, and the second one is called Lava Falls. It is the final big rapid that we ran on the last day, just before the end of the trip. That last one was great! It may not look like all that much there, but when you're on the raft, it is really something else.

Here's some Bighorn sheep that we saw along the side of the river. We actually saw a lot of them on this trip, and I had never seen Bighorn anywhere in the Canyon before. They weren't all that shy..

On the last day (it was a Sunday), the guides read a beautiful poem called the "Boatman's Prayer". Unfortunately, I can't find the text of it anywhere on the Internet, but it was very touching. It was basically how the boatman knows that he is not perfect, but he tries to do what's right, and every day in seeing the beauty that surrounds him, he knows that God is there and loves him nonetheless.

Anyway, on the last day, after our big run of Lava Falls, we sailed a bit further down the river to our pick up point. We actually got taken out by helicopter up out of the Canyon to the North Rim, where caught a plane back to the car.

After it was all over, it felt kind of weird getting back in the car, since we had been away from "civilization" for so long (well, 6 days anyway). It was like waking up from a good dream and going... aw, darn! Oh well, we still had some fun to come.. More pics later!