I never wanted to go anywhere near the water.  Not when I lived by Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, WI, not when I lived near the Black River in Watertown, NY, and most certainly not when I moved to the state of 10,000 lakes and the mighty Mississippi!  What happened?   Years ago, I tried a variety of adventures using rental kayaks, took some classes, but ultimately felt too cramped in the hull of a 17' sea kayak.  Then I stumbled on an inflatable craft called a Sea Eagle:

"You say we don't need to load it on the racks?"
"I can pack it in the trunk or in a corner of the garage?"
"If the water allows, I can kick my legs out and take a quick nap in the sun...?"
"Let's get it!"

About a week later I was hooked.  It was still a lot of 'stuff' to haul around, but I loved it.  Another thing I enjoyed about Inflatable Kayaks (IKs) is that in almost any sized vehicle, you could bring 2,3, or 4 kayaks with you...so I could get my friends in on the fun too!  Since then I've moved on to a variety of inflatable kayaks, plastic boats, even an 18' sea kayak.  However, when spring begins I go right back to getting my inflatable kayaks out of the closet.  Whether its taking my children out on a lake, scooting down some rapids, or loading up the car for an excursion into the wilderness, the inflatable kayak is the most versatile watercraft.

I'm not just about kayaking though...to pay the bills, my passion is an application development platform called Lotus Notes/Domino.  Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino allow one to rapidly design applications that communicate ideas and organize information, and it does e-mail too (some people think that is all it does!).  My day job involves Domino, this website is running on a Domino server, and when the idea strikes me, I sometimes get published with the 'world's experts' in The View, The Technical Journal for Lotus Notes and Domino.   Just like the path you take down a particular busy stretch of water, my talent is in recognizing and taking advantage of the possibilities before me.

I hope to hear from you, whether you're a paddler, a Lotus Domino enthusiast, or just some person in the Midwest USA that wants to share their thoughts.

Cheers,
Rich Thomsen