Hoosier State Swing?

A new SurveyUSA poll came out today with results from Indiana (11 EC votes). They showed Obama leading McCain 48 - 47 percent among 627 likely Hoosier voters. While this is a statistical tie it is still an amazing result from a state that went Bush by more than 20 points in '04.

In conjunction with the Quinnipiac poll released last week this is good news for Obama. Quinnipiac University polls are historically the most accurate of the major pollsters. The most recent release shows Obama leading McCain in all three of the big swing states. In Florida Obama edges McCain 47 - 43 percent, in Ohio Obama tops McCain 48 - 42 percent, and in Pennsylvania Obama leads McCain 52 - 40 percent.

Water on Mars!

It has been confirmed, there is ice on Mars. When the Phoenix first landed, any old Joe could look at the photos and say "That sure does look a lot like ice." But then no water showed up in the soil when it was baked in the oven. It seems that it took so long to get the soil in there that any ice had sublimated. Now, bright chunks of material that were excavated by the robotic arm four days ago have disappeared! The only explanation that I or anyone else can think of is that they were chunks of ice that sublimated.

Also on the topic of water, we launched the Jason II satellite this morning aboard a Delta II. Jason monitors ocean surface levels around the globe to the nearest inch. This is an amazing instrument for updating ocean current models and tidal data in addition to answering the obvious question.

Business Trip

This series is me running the meat of Boulder Drop on the Skykomish at 8,000

Buried in the hole next to House Rock


Keith vs. Ledge Hole


About this time I thought I was going swimming...


To be included in highsideing 101 instruction manual

I have been in Seattle for the past week testing rocket engines. We use a small maneuvering thruster to steer the upper stage and the mission I am working on requires additional lab analysis. The work has been interesting and I am learning a ton about a side of the business I have not yet seen. It is really cool stuff. The highlight of the trip has been seeing friends and family.

I got a chance to go down and see Bill and my Mom in Portland. Pa was 24 hours post-op after having his prostate removed and now appears to be a cancer survivor. This has been really stressful for me and I am so relieved to hear the good news. Wednesday night he was recovering well and hadn't lost his humor or the twinkle in his eyes, so I think he will be just fine.

Thursday night, I had a wonderful dinner downtown with my aunt Nancy, uncle Mike and two cousins Evelyn and Rachel. I haven't seen them in such a long time and the girls have really grown up. They are both so articulate and are growing up to be fabulous young ladies.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Patrick Hower, Kelly and Jason's three week old son. He is a real cutie and I even held him for a few minutes without being too awkward. I don't have the cable to get those pictures off my camera just yet, but they will be coming. The conversation is always so good and it seems that we just pick up like no time has passed.

Saturday morning I took Mel's rolly luggage and went rafting. I met Franz and Aaron on the Middle Fork and they offered to take me boating while I was out here. I took them up on their offer and made three runs in three different cats over the course of two days. Sunday, Franz and I decided to step up and run Boulder Drop down the gut. That was some big water but neither of us swam, but I did get worked by Ledge Hole.

One final note, the rental car company decided to bestow upon me a 2008 cherry red Ford Mustang. Amazingly enough, I have managed to drive this thing for a full week without a speeding ticket. It's not my style at all, but still kind of fun.

I think this NASA image of Phoenix coming in for a landing on Mars is really cool. That is the lander hanging from it's parachutes in the inset. The photo was taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This is an amazing mission and it got so much cooler with the excavation of what appears to be ice when Phoenix landed.

Middle Fork Salmon

Beautiful Frank Church Wilderness from a hill above Sheep Creek camp.


Camping out on the way to the put-in


Me and my extra-cute girlfriend


The whole crew happy to be out of harm's way

The Middle Fork at 6' was a bit more intense than any of us anticipated. Overall, we were a bit outside of our comfort zone with only a two boat trip. Luckily there were numerous other parties also feeling a bit taxed and they were more than happy at the suggestion to team up and go for some safety in numbers. The only problem was the other groups were having a more difficult time on a whole than we were. Granted, we flipped both of our boats during the course of the trip, but other groups were getting stuck on logs, wrapping boats, flipping numerous times, getting stuck under their boats, sustaining injury and flying out of the canyon. There was a fair bit of carnage, but it really seemed to up the camradery between the various parties on the river.

Oh, the Middle Fork is awesome! 120 miles of wilderness boating through an incredible canyon with lots of hot springs. I can't wait to do this trip again. The sooner the better. Maybe next time I will go a bit later in the season with slightly lower water and a bit more sunshine.

Audubon

A couple of weeks ago Josh, Andy and I went into the Inidan Peaks wilderness to ski a couloir on Audubon. It was quite a fun day and Andy took some pics that are worth sharing.