The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful - I did wind up getting three more jumps in on Sunday, culminating in a sunset load that turned out (with clouds and wind rolling in on Monday) to be the last load of the boogie. The Otter did a spectacular fly-by of the landing area, and our group opened a little high to enjoy the sunset and the views on what turned out to be our last canopy ride. (more…)
Between already feeling like I need to clone myself to get all my work done, and getting set for vacation (Belize in just over a week!) and making sure I have coverage, and having a lot of cool new things brewing in life … it feels BUSY. Some good busy, some just busy busy, but not so bad.
I’m set for my skydiving team this year, which is exciting, but there’s a lot I need to learn (like all the 8-way competition formations!) before our first training camp in April. But that’s fun learning. In other fun, I started boot camp class at the Burbank gym yesterday … and it’s a wonderful ass-kicker! Tuesdays/Thursdays for a month, though because of vacation and training, I only signed up for the first two weeks. They seem to run sessions every month, so I’ll re-join for the session after I’m back, as well. It’s nice to have someone to kick my butt down here since self-motivation can be hard.
Having dinner here in Burbank with a friend from graduate school - will be nice to get together and talk about something other than work for a change!
… is back in town this weekend. Despite an iffy forecast, yesterday’s weather turned out to be pretty good, so I headed up to Skydance. I got 4 jumps in fairly quickly, and spent the last couple hours just hanging out and chatting in the (not-too-cold) sun, drinking a tasty adult beverage (Captain Morgan Silver and Diet Coke) in a nondescript blue cup (since it was still before the “beer light” went on). At the end of the day, I got measured for, and ordered, a new jumpsuit. I’d been hoping to hold off till I reach my goal weight (whatever that may be) but I seem to be in an extended holding pattern at or near this weight, and I’m getting to the point where I’m fighting my old suits since they’re a bit baggier than I need right now. (more…)
I think with all the other forms of mass communication available, I find my way to my blog less and less these days. But still, the brevity of Twitter & Facebook doesn’t always do it for me - sometimes I really need to write.
This week, I’ve seen numerous friends post on Facebook about dreading the New Year’s Resolution crowd at their gyms. Yesterday, I was in Burbank for work and the salad bar had way more people than it normally does. At Safeway this morning, the Lean Cuisine (and the like) frozen meals were prominently displayed on the endcap of the frozen foods aisle, on sale of course. Within a few weeks, the gyms will be back to their late 2009 levels, the salad bar crowd will be back to normal, and the Lean Cuisine will be back to regular price. (more…)
Yeah, yeah, I know everyone else is doing it, but I’m home, sick, and bored on New Year’s Day and it’s a new decade, so let’s look back at the last. (more…)
In thinking “I should write an end of year/beginning of year” post, I looked back in my draft posts and found one that I’d started at the beginning of 2009. (more…)
Though I’ve enjoyed my time at the Skydive Arizona Holiday boogies in the past, each one has had some sort of bad memory associated with it. There was giving myself a concussion in 2005. Sean breaking his leg and two friends dying in 2006. Being sick in 2007. (We spent 2008 in ZHills, of course). This year, trying to keep our time away from work to a minimum, we decided to go back to Eloy since it’s easy to get to Arizona without taking any time off work for travel. I was looking forward to a boogie without any bad ju-ju, and I got it, and got the much needed mini-break from work, too. (more…)
Today my departmental holiday lunch was at a PF Chang’s at the Stoneridge Mall out in Pleasanton (much of our team works in Pleasanton, and I’ll likely end up there mid-year next year once they consolidate all of us in one location). I figured since I was already at the mall (4 days before Christmas!) I’d brave Macy’s to see if I could find any interesting clothes at a good discount. It was tolerably crowded.
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… till our mini-vacation in Eloy. We’re heading down Christmas Eve (late in the day) and coming back early on the 29th (the dates are timed so that we could use free Southwest tickets without running afoul of blackout dates). We’ve rented a team room at the dropzone for the 24th-27th, and a hotel near the Phoenix airport for the 28th since our flight leaves very early in the morning. It’ll also save us a day on the rental car. The team rooms are a modest step up from the bunkhouse (where we’ve both stayed before). The one we’ve rented has four bunks and a mini-fridge (but since we’re renting the whole thing out we’ll have all the space to ourselves). We’ll still use the communal showers, but it should offer much more privacy and quiet than the bunkhouse, which tends to be full this time of year. The fridge will allow us to pick up some food for breakfast, lunch, and snacks to save having to eat every meal out.