Mixed Bag: A few days off and other items.

• I am taking a few days off this week for another Southwest desert photo trek and refresh the mind and expel the accumulation of stress. I plan on heading in a few hours down to the Arizona Utah border area to hike into the Coyote Buttes region which I luckily just got a permit for as they only allow 20 people a day into this protected region to protect it. I hope to photograph the Paria Canyon, the Paw, the Wave, Cobra Arch, Buckskin slot canyons and more in all their brilliant red and remote glory. I also plan to hike into Zion National Park and the Grand Staircase of Escalante. If I have time and the remaining energy I want to hike to the Angels Landing which can be quite a stamina and endurance test.  Along the way I have my survival gear and even a black light to locate some scorpions to photograph at night as they glow brightly at night when using a black light. I also plan to photograph some of the local pit viper species if possible and when only safe enough like the Western Pigmy, Desert Massasauga, Great Basin, as well as perhaps the deadly Mojave. My only concerns are the remote regions combined with the heat well in excess of 100 degrees Fahrenheit and the potential danger of thunderstorms when in a slot canyon. I will take all possible safety precautions as it would be stupid to be unprepared or take any unnecessary risks.
• I did have a cool brush with fame moment this weekend. I was eating dinner with my wife and realized we were sitting next to Dee Brown of the Utah Jazz. We left him alone to eat without bothering him but one person did have the nerve to interrupt his dinner for a photo.
• I have abandoned my favorite RSS reader FeedDemon for another, the Google RSS Reader. Is it just me or is Google taking over the world?
• Have an AutoCAD or Autodesk product tip to share or perhaps other tips? I have over 15,000 daily readers and would like to find some co authors on the blog to increase the tips and tricks.
• I just received the luggage that I thought I would never see again after it failed to show up on my arrival in Switzerland a few weeks ago. It was shipped to em by Federal express but I am not sure who to thank for the miracle just yet. Having given up any hope after several weeks of it missing I virtually replaced everything that was in the luggage already.

• I just heard about the quakes in Japan. I do hope all my friends, coworkers and their families are ok there.

Cheers,
Shaan