With the imminent release of iOS 7, are your Traveler servers ready to handle the new operating system? Traveler has to be at 8.5.3 UP2 IF4 and 9.0.0.1 or later releases. New functions in iOS 7 may not be fully supported until later releases of Traveler.
To get the latest updates and fix packs for Traveler, go here.
Link: IBM Notes Traveler support for the latest device updates
. . . in frustration: Ask me to find IBM software on this site:
For a site that is used quite a bit, you would think that someone would be an expert at navigating it. Not so. I have said, in meetings with IBM, that it is “soul crushing.” Oh, I know what I want, it’s just finding it that kills me.
Which brings me to an idea I had for a session at a User Group Conference or even at Connect. It will be a panel of individuals from the audience and whomever from IBM that is responsible for this site. Someone will emcee the panel. All guests sit in front of a computer, at the Passport Advantage home screen. The emcee will ask the panel members to find and download an IBM software package. The first person to successfully do so will be deemed the “winner.”
I think that this session will take longer than the allotted time.
As an aside, my co-workers know when I am using that site, based on the sighing and the language that emanates from my cube. What do I hear in return? “Passport Advantage?” Then laughter ensues.
Just kill me.
Well, this is a bit late, however the TechNote will be updated in “a couple of weeks” so at least you will have have the opportunity to review the slides and the Q&A.
You are invited to join an Open Mic Webcast on the topic “Using the Database Maintenance Tool (DBMT) and Compact Replication in Domino 9”. This event will be held Wednesday, 11 September 2013 at 11:00 AM EDT (15:00 UTC, or GMT -4), for 60 minutes. After a presentation, you will have the opportunity to ask questions directly of IBM Developers and Support Engineers. See more details below. (Note: To view this information online, go here).
When Date: 11 September 2013
Time: 11:00 AM EDT (15:00 UTC, or GMT -4), for 60 minutes
Title: Open Mic Webcast: Using the Database Maintenance Tool (DBMT) and Compact Replication in Domino 9 – 11 September 2013
Doc #: 7039379
URL: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27039379
Before the call, the technote will include:
An iCal attachment to add this event to your calendar
Details on how to join the call and web conference
The slides that will be presented during the session
A couple of weeks after the call, the technote will be updated to include:
A recording of the session
A written Q&A transcript
To be notified when the Webcast technote is updated, subscribe to IBM My Notifications and select “Webcasts” as a document type of interest.
This article provides a side-by-side listing of new features available in both or in either IBM Notes 9.0 and IBM iNotes 9.0.
Yancy Lent is riding in the Pan-Mass Challenge, to raise money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. You can read about it here and donate here.
To garner more interest in the ride, Yancy offered free advertising on PlanetLotus. As a donor, I agonized over what my ad should be. After this past weekend, it became clear what I wanted to advertise on PlanetLotus.
Clicking on the icon, you are taken to the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, an outstanding group that is responsible for the motorcycle riding classes I have taken through the State of Ohio. Because the courses are so good, I’ve decided to give back to other riders. My goal, next year, is to become a motorcycle instructor for the State of Ohio and teach beginning and returning riders safe motorcycle practices. I also want to take a couple of other training classes; the Advanced class and also one for dirt bikes (I need to overcome my fear of gravel).
So, for those of you in cages, talking on cell phones, texting, using your mirrors to adjust your hair and whatnot, please “look out for bikers.”
Saturday, I joined four other members of Star Touring and Riding for an unbelievable day of riding. We were going to ride two of the best motorcycle roads in the entire state of Ohio; Route 555 and Route 26. It was going to be a ride not for the casual rider; about 450 miles, two very challenging and technical roads, gone for roughly 10-12 hours. And, it was a spectacular day, sunny, with a high of about 80°.
Now, you may think that I am a homie for saying that these are great roads. At a gas stop in Millersburg, OH, we got to talking with two other bikers. They just completed the Triple Nickel (Route 555) and were heading to Cleveland, via Route 83, to eat at Hot Sauce Williams. Big deal, you say? What if I told you the bikers were from New Jersey and specifically came to Ohio to ride 555? Yeah, it’s that good.
Here is the route (click on map for a larger version):
Highlights:
Here is the actual route we took (click on map for a larger version):
A little bit shorter than we expected. Because the unexpected occurred.
As I had ridden a portion of 555, and experienced Route 26, I was a bit conservative riding 555; I did not look at any of the scenery. Rather, I was fully focused on the road. No goats for me this time.
At point B on the map, one of the riders in our group, Doug, went down as he was negotiating an uphill, blind right curve. Adding to the complexity, there was gravel in the road, from nearly the center line to the edge of the pavement. For those of you that ride, Doug went over the high side of his bike, the bike sliding on the left side. As I was behind Doug and another rider, I was the first to ride up on the scene. I thought, “Wow, there’s a bike off the road.” Then, seeing the other rider in the road, running to the bike, I changed that thought to “I know these two people.” Another emergency stop on what passes for berm in Nowhere, OH, I was off my bike.
Because that wasn’t enough of a shock, we had AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint customers in our riding party. None of us had any sort of cellular signal at all. Yes, we were, quite literally, in the middle of nowhere.
Then, about 3 minutes after the accident, the first of two great things happened: A rider, behind us, stopped and assisted. He had been in the medical field for 10 years and took over the scene, making sure that Doug was a comfortable as possible while asking him questions to ascertain his injuries. About 7 minutes later, a family in a pickup truck stopped and asked if they could help. As luck would have it, they lived about 2 miles up the road and had a land line – they were the ones that called 911 for us.
Roughly 25 minutes after the accident, EMS and firemen rolled up.
If you click the above picture, I have added notes, explaining some of visual damage.
After loading Doug into the ambulance, I and another ride followed the ambulance to the “nearest” hospital, in Zanesville. The other two riders stayed on scene to wait for the Ohio State Highway Patrol to arrive and answer their questions and for the wrecker.
About three hours after arriving at the hospital (roughly 5:30PM), Doug was discharged. He suffered a concussion and a break in his ring finger and in the little finger of his right hand. Plus, road rash on his knees and other bumps and bruises to his body.
By the way, as hard as I tried, I couldn’t get the hospital to perform invasive procedures on Doug. I guess $20 doesn’t go as far as it used to (humor/laughter is critical to a healthy recovery).
Why “just” a concussion? Let’s look at his helmet (notes included on this photo):
Nice crack, huh?
After being discharged, Doug rode home with his wife and the wife of one of the other riders. Two people that drove to Zanesville from Cleveland, shortly after being informed of the accident. The rest of us, the remaining four riders, rode home.
Today, Sunday, myself and another member of Chapter 178, drove to McConnelsville with a trailer to bring Doug’s bike home.
A long weekend on the road, but it was worth it to ride, to assist Doug, to bring his bike back home, and to spend nine hours with Joe today.
Finally, in case you were wondering, yes, I always wear a helmet when I ride. I highly recommend that you do as well.
My Flickr set from Saturday.
I’m considering a season pass, anyone care to join me?
The much-maligned email and calendar software, formerly and more disdainfully known as Lotus Notes, has been cited by a range of departing executives recently as one of the things they disliked most about working for the holding company. It crashes all the time, it’s not intuitive, and it’s generally “old and clunky,” they say. Don’t even mention the near-useless webmail access. For a holding company that loves to brag about how digital it is, it sure does give employees archaic technology for the most basic of modern communication.
“Emails would take hours, and sometimes days, to be delivered through the Notes servers,” said former Digitas CEO and current Weather CEO David Kenny. “It became common practice to text people to have them watch for and confirm sent emails. The redundancy drove me crazy.”
It’s really easy to fly off the handle on this article, but I think that it served a purpose. What that purpose was, I’m not totally certain, as the whole story isn’t told, leaving the reader to draw their own conclusions. Leave it to the commenters on the article to ask some intelligent questions, which will never be answered. In the past, I have written to the authors of these sorts of articles, asking for more details, only to have those messages go unanswered. Color me surprised.
The other Publicis news. I wonder what messaging system Omnicom runs?
I took a week off of work last week to attend Star Days in Harrisburg, PA. This is an annual event that brings together members of Star Riding and Touring for fun, friendship, and riding. Joining me on the ride out to Harrisburg were two members of our Chapter, John and Jeff.
I wanted to ride Route 30 most, or all, of the way to Harrisburg, as it is a great route (Thank you, Denny, for the assist on the route through Pittsburgh). However, by the time we made it to Irwin, PA, all of us had enough of Route 30, it’s 40mph speed limit, and the oppressive heat. The road was really good, the towns we passed were interesting, and it was a pleasurable ride. But it was time to get on the turnpike and get to the hotel, and air conditioning, as quickly as possible. We made a tactical error on the turnpike, only stopping for gas and refreshments (lots of Gatorade and water). This made for a pretty grueling ride, an error we would not make on the way back to Cleveland.
Wednesday, we started the day with a Feed the Children ride. We loaded up our bikes with boxes of food, rode a police escorted route to a distribution point, and helped distribute food to 800 families. Because our Chapter was in the Top Ten of all chapters for money raising, we were afforded the right to ride in the front of the group. After we were done, John, Jeff, and I headed back to the hotel to take advantage of the bike wash (our bikes were pretty filthy from the ride to Harrisburg), to have some maintenance done to them, and to check out the vendor area. I availed myself to the Yamaha tent to ride a Stratoliner and a 1300 Deluxe. On Thursday, I rode the VMAX. Twice. It was the most fun I’ve ever had on two wheels. Melt your face off performance.
After all of the demo rides and after John had his oil changed, we headed off for Thurmont, MD and Catoctin Mountain Park. I’ve driven through there on several occasions and knew it would be a great bike ride. It was, as I scraped floorboards on several occasions. The cool, fresh air was welcome respite from the heat. From there, we rode to Gettysburg and to take the bus tour (air conditioning cannot be underestimated). It was the first time I’ve had a guided tour of Gettysburg and it was wonderful. On the way back to the hotel, we had to stop on the side of Route 15 as we could see rain ahead of us. We geared up for it and rode on. For about 15 minutes, it was wonderfully cool. And wet. Very wet. Then, it was over and the heat returned. Since I was head to toe in rain gear, I was extra hot. How hot? It was like I was in an oven bag, cooking up with some potatoes and carrots. When we stopped for gas, I stripped off the gear as fast as I could, as if I had fire ants in my pants.
Friday, we headed back to Cleveland. This time, however, we made plans to stop at every other rest stop on the turnpike. To gas up and to replenish our fluids. It was a great plan. Just before Pittsburgh, we checked the weather and decided it would be a good idea to gear up for rain. Back into the rain suit and full face helmet for me. The temperature dropped (yeah!) and the rain came. But we soldiered onward. At the first rest stop in Ohio, we stopped, stripped out of the rain gear, and gassed up. Looking at the weather map, we were heading into some rain. But we decided that there was no way we were going to stay in the rain gear, it was that hot in the gear.
Not too long after that, we hit the rain. Torrential rain. Rain so hard that we passed about twelve cars sitting on the side of the road waiting out the rain. We waved at them as we rode by.
“Pussies,” I said to myself.
Then it stopped. And I started laughing. Water was pouring off of me, my front was soaked, my back dry. Every time I turned my head, for example to move into another lane or look at the scenery, water came off of me. It was hilarious. Except for my wet socks inside my boots. But it didn’t take long to dry off in the heat.
We made it home with no more weather related issues. Nor any issues with drivers.
Some have inquired as to how I travel on the bike, so here are two pictures of it, loaded for the trip. The Flickr photos have notes, which should answer most questions. Plus, you can see the enhancements I’ve made to it.
Next year, Star Days will be in St. Charles, MO.
The Star Days route (you can click on the picture for a much larger map):
Then, on Saturday, I joined Mark and Doug for a ride to Roar on the Shore, in Erie, PA. While taking a break from walking around, we were caught by a staff photographer, relaxing on, and behind, our bikes:
When the week was over, I had ridden 1303 miles. My bike, which I purchased new, with zero miles, in April of 2012, now has 16, 713 miles on it. I think I love riding. A lot.
This past weekend, I was invited to ride with Star Chapter 300 on their July ride to Marietta, OH. This ride, through southeastern Ohio, included several portions along some of the best motorcycling roads in Ohio (State Route 555 and State Route 26). Roads like these are not available in northeastern Ohio, so I *had* to join the Chapter and ride with them.
Here is the route:
Just looking at the map brings a smile to my face. Look at those curvy, winding roads.
While the day started overcast, it quickly turned sunny and warm. A perfect start to the ride.
Everything was going well until we rolled into Somerset, OH. There, we had to stop for about an hour while the town enjoyed a July 4th parade. When we were finally able to get riding, it was more great roads to McConnelsville, OH. I believe that I was smiling the entire way, it was that much fun.
After a lunch stop in McConnelsville, we bid farewell to two bikes and it was off to Marietta. Phenomenal roads and scenery greeted us. And so did some rain.
We didn’t stop to gear up, even though we did pause to decide if it was worth it to get in the rain gear.
After a gas stop in Marietta, it was off to ride State Route 26, one of the best motorcycling roads in Ohio, which runs through Wayne National Forest. In a word, awesome. On the way north, we stopped to see a covered bridge, a pretty popular stop along 26. I was fortunate to see a wild turkey, and, what I think were turkey vultures (feasting on fresh road kill, which was pretty abundant). I also saw some baby goats, which were a major distraction for me.
Those damn goats made me lose my line in a curve and I ended up dropping the bike, as I rode onto the gravel on the side of the road. Thankfully, the engine guards and saddle bag guards prevented any damage to the bike. And my Kevlar jeans and jacket prevented any damage to me. Although I am a bit sore from where my unprotected ribs hit the pavement.
Lesson learned: ALWAYS, always focus on the road.
After taking a little break to allow me to settle down, we continued onward to Route 78.
One experience on Route 78 is worth noting. And, if you are ever in the area, or near it, you really need to stop and see the bucket from Big Muskie. Pictures are one thing, seeing this monstrous bucket up close is totally another. And the view from Miner’s Memorial Park is incredible. It is said that on a clear day, you can see the curvature of the Earth from the park.
It was about when we rode into McConnelsville that it started to rain again, but sadly it was also where I said “goodbye” to the other riders. We shot up Route 60, them to get on Route 70 and head back to Columbus and I to check into a hotel in Zanesville.
Roughly 240 miles, we rode from about 11AM until close to 8PM.
Link: Photo set from the ride
Gregg Eldred 