Kendall Card 2.0

My brother -in-law Scott works for Novell. He’s been a “lucky” one, surviving innumerable layoffs while Novell has re-branded and re-organized itself.

The following are two things that impress me about what Novell is doing, despite what the street says.

1. Blogging. Take a look at the Novell Blogs, where they have both strategy blogs and product blogs. Some are “official” company blogs while others have been given this area of the Novell website where they interact with other “tech geeks”. It’s progressive and frankly it embarrasses me that my company hasn’t done this yet. Then again, if it were to do this I would be the guy to do it so I should be saying “I embarrass myself”. Anyway….

2. Linux. A few years back, more than a few, Novell decided to play its cards and go for the end zone with Linux. And although they are still considered an underdog they have a fighting chance of making it happen, in a big way thanks in part to their dedication to Linux.

This is one of three videos from Novell that they came out with at the recent Brainshare conference. Playing on the popular Mac vs. PC media campaign launched by Apple, this video has just the right amount of wit for it to remain sticky in your mind.

Friday was quite the day. Up early to climb and ski Mount Superior with Derek and then a late night at the Backcountry.com (I work there) warehouse “putting out a large fire” I was spent when I finally hit the pillow just shy of 2am.

Like Friday, Saturday started early as well with me up at 6 and off to the Salt Lake Temple with the youth of the ward and then back home around 11. I had planned a mid day bike ride with Chad and so I hit the pillow once again for a quick 30 minutes of shut eye. I couldn’t sleep any longer knowing there were projects to be done so McKinley (my oldest son) and I cut siding on the table saw before Chad arrived for our ride at 12:30.

Our destination was to ride around the Jordanelle Resevior, which would be the first solid ride of the year for me. We headed out of Kamas on Hwy 248 heading towards Park City. Chad dropped me on the first hill and try as I might I couldn’t catch him. I reached the top in 19:45, a poor showing considering my best time on that hill is sub 17:30. We sailed down the big hill and pushed up the Browns Canyon intersection hill, a slight headwind in our faces.

Rather than ride completely along the busy Highway 40 we went into Park City, up to Deer Valley and cut through Deer Crest. I can’t say how thankful I am to the developers of Deer Crest who allow cyclists to pass through on it’s roads and trails. I grabbed the newest flavor (Superfood Slam) of ProBar from my jersey pocket and downed the 350 “energy packed organic and whole food mmmm that was great” calories. I was ready to rock.

After the tough hill into Deer Crest and a speedy downhill out the back we merged onto Highway 40 for the downhill towards Heber. We were both feeling it and knew the hill coming out of Heber towards Francis would be tough.

I told Chad as he passed me at the start of the climb (which measures just over 2 miles at 8% grade) to wait at the overlook. But to my suprise I was able to hang on his wheel. It was a grind but a short while later I passed him and worked to set the pace. He later passed me and we pushed hard to the top, straining up the last hill through the road cut.

We road casually around the rest of the lake, saving a bit of juice for the Francis hill which like it always does put the hurt on us. 2 hours and 18 minutes and I was home with a great ride under my belt. I’m anxious for the next one!

Ride Details – Taking the route we took we covered 40 miles and 3500′ vertical of riding.

Aside – As we were heading down Highway 40 towards Heber , Art, the founder of ProBar drove by in his Audi that is wrapped with the ProBar logo.

I’m always up for a ski. Unfortunately, or fortunately, my friends know this. Derek called and wanted to do a dawn patrol of something up Little Cottonwood Canyon. After a couple of south facing suggestions we settled on hitting Mount Superior which rises nearly 3000′ from the canyon highway, right across from Snowbird Ski Resort.

We met at 6am at the park and ride and drove up to Alta. Parking at the Hellgate Condos we walked down to the start of the climb and donned crampons. I was surprised how little snow remains on Superior and as we climbed up the face I remembered that it was July 1, 2005 when I last climbed the face of Superior. On that occasion I was solo and headed for Country Lane (or Suicide Chute as it’s also known) and on that day there was still plenty of snow with a continuous line to the base. On this day in April of 2007 Country Lane is done, cliffing out with no option for a continuous descent.

Despite having gone on a bike ride the night before we made great time and topped out just below the summit in about 1 hour and 30 minutes. The climbing was engaging with good firm snow for cramponing and some spicy steeps near the top. Derek and I lounged for another 20 minutes, enjoying the views and company while waiting for the sun to soften the snow to “corn” for us to harvest. And harvest we did.

The descent was steep and engaging. Derek and I swapped the camera to film the descent which was enjoyable at the time and more so know that the video is complete. Check it out on Derek’s site – Fritzrips.com in either standard resolution or in HD quality.

Finally hooked up with my friend Chad Wassmer for some road biking after work today. I’ve known Chad for a number of years as he works at Deer Valley and when I worked in the ski resort biz our paths often crossed.

We did a casual ride up the Mirror Lake Highway to the gate and back. I coerced Chad into exploring about a 1/2 mile beyond the gate but after crossing 4-5 patches of snow we turned back, arriving home in Kamas just as it was getting dark. After passing Samak, we counted 2 automobiles and enjoyed riding side by side the entire time. I wish the private highway would continue but Kamas needs the summer revenue of an open highway.

One of the things I enjoy about my job at Backcountry.com is the opportunity and often the challenge of finding small events that we can sponsor.  From this I often meet the most amazing people and get a chance to not only represent the brand I work for but also get to create a lasting relationship with the event organizer.

One event that I sort of took a chance on was a request from Jeannette Cezanne who created the Bread and Roses geocaching event.  Recently Jeannette has written a book about geocaching which is part of the Open Your Heart series, a Why To in the sea of How To books.  I had the chance to read the book (pdf’s are great) and was very impressed by the reasoning behind the pursuit.  I’ve never before done geocaching but found through the book a new understanding of what it is but more importantly the why behind it.

What I realize is that geocaching is full of adventure and exploration, similar desires that drive me to hike, climb and ski mountaineer – some of my favorite pursuits.

Check out the video hosted on Jeannette’s website – Open Your Heart to Geocaching. besides being a good overview I give her kudos for such a cool way to promo a book by using new media.

I just got back from a dose of winter that has been missing from the past three weeks. I was starting to actually say to myself and others that I was over winter and that I no longer needed to ski. What a crock!

I had a long night on Wednesday thrashing around the Uintas hunting for snow to ski, finding only a bunch of mank that once resembled skiable snow, so Thursday morning found me unable to get out of bed and sore from an encounter with a tree. But a call from Derek telling my that I had missed out and the remote opportunity to slip up to Little Cottonwood Canyon from my work in Salt Lake City today was all I needed to put all my gear in my car as I was leaving home.

Meetings and work stuff kept me in Salt Lake all day and 5pm found me weaving through traffic, east bound on I-80 and contemplating if I should take the 215 exit and head south to LCC. It looked like it had been snowing all day and cold so I opted for the outing, arriving at the top of LCC by Alta as the storm was breaking. I changed into my ski gear and walked over to the snow covered summer road where I bumped into a good friend Jim Stefan and his friend Lorenz.

What followed was some great conversation, trail breaking, amazing sunset views, alpenglow snow and nearly 3000′ of fantastic powder skiing from 2 laps – one on Patsy Marley and one on Twin Lakes Pass (the peak to the north of the pass). It was so good I’m going back for more tomorrow morning!

It’s 10pm on a Tuesday night. I’m with 6 teenagers ages 16-18. Their mom’s wouldn’t believe this if I told them but their son’s have volunteered to clean, yes clean without pay or prize, a building. But this is not your typical ordinary building.

The “Mormon” Tabernacle was built

I can’t remember a time in my life when I was so interested in the presidential outcome so far in advance of the actual election as I am now. We’re still 10 months away from the first caucus and the buzz is, well buzzing enough for me to start contemplating the front running candidates to be.

Of the candidates I’m most interested in learning more about Obama and exactly where he stands and additionally I want to know more about Mitt Romney. Of the later, my mother-in-law sent the following to me in an e-mail:

On June 2, 2006, Romney sent a letter to each member of the U.S. Senate urging them to vote in favor of the Marriage Protection Amendment.^[31] In the letter, Romney stated that the debate over same-sex unions is not a discussion about “tolerance”, but rather a “debate about the purpose of the institution of marriage”. Romney wrote, “Attaching the word marriage to the association of same-sex individuals mistakenly presumes that marriage is principally a matter of adult benefits and adult rights. In fact, marriage is principally about the nurturing and development of children. And the successful development of children is critical to the preservation and success of our nation.”

What impresses me most about this quote is Mitt’s ability to see through the political fog to the real issue at hand, in this case the point that gay and lesbian unions are not at the root about tolerance but about the purpose of marriage. Marriage serves the adult participants in many ways but at the root of it marriage between a man and woman provides the ideal situation for children, our future, to be raised and nurtured in a way that will provide society and humanity with the best possible future.

I’m looking forward to posting some of the things I learn and extrapolate from the next year and a half until the election in November of 2008.

When I moved to Kamas, Utah just over a year ago I knew that I would be buying a road bike. The long country roads and the ones that intersect the mountains would surely become my new training grounds. I didn’t give much stock to the Mirror Lake Highway that connects Kamas to Evanston, Wyoming as it passes through the Uinta Mountain Range. The reason I essentially wrote it off was because it sees some pretty heavy traffic in the summer and the shoulders are non-existent in many areas, particularly after you factor in the many camper trailers that are a common caboose to F150’s and the likes.

But the one thing I didn’t factor in was that the road closes each winter and doesn’t open until May or even June. There is 14 miles of paved road that is open for winter access that is kept clear for winter access and recreation. As the snow melts out the pass will still be closed but the road may be clear for 25-30 miles from Kamas until finally UDOT will plow the pass.

So I set out for a ride yesterday afternoon
with plans of going up Weber Canyon but decided to head up the MLH. What a call that would be. After the first 4 miles that are Samak, I counted a total of 2 cars on the way up and 2 cars on the way down. 2 other road bikers were seen but other than that I had miles of road to myself. It was my own private highway. What a score!

Speaking of score, just after turning around I found some string cheese, granola bars, Ritz crackers and bottled water on the side of the road, obviously left by some snowmobilers. I didn’t dare touch the cheese but the rest of the booty was either consumed or taken home for future outings. Yep, I’m a dirtbag at heart, but at least I’m not a thirsty, hungry dirtbag.

So the jazz man is gone, replaced by the image of my ski tracks above that my friend Jamie (FoothillFreak.com) took on March 7th while we explored some ridges in search of powder in the Uintas.

Speaking of gone, it felt like winter was gone today. Highs in Park City were in the mid 50’s so I took advantage of the weather and went on my first road ride.  I have to say, I’m impressed with the Park City UDOT folks as highway 248 leaving Park City headed towards US Hwy 40 had been swept.  Now if the Kamas UDOT team would get on the stick and get the rest of the shoulder of 248  to Kamas cleared off.  I saw a number of cyclists out that way headed around the Jordanelle Reservoir and into Browns Canyon.