Me, Backwards

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…)

… 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.

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Last night I had the good fortune to be invited along to a Los Angeles Kings hockey game with three coworkers.  I’d only gone to one hockey game before (a minor league game in Seattle) and was looking forward to experiencing the skill level (not to mention the hype) of an NHL game.  As you can see from the photo, we had fabulous seats (purchased at half price!) about 10 rows back from the ice.

I wasn’t disappointed.  I’ve never gotten into hockey, but friends who are big fans have said that if I go to a game, I’ll understand the appeal more.  I can definitely understand that - like basketball (a longtime favorite), I enjoyed the pace and the skill demonstrated by the players.  I’d definitely enjoy going to more games, for sure.

Even though I had four days last weekend and two this one, I still feel like my weekends are way too short.  But that’s not news - I’m sure most people do. (more…)

… was actually pretty successful.  I need to do a few things differently (like remember to bring my Netflix so I have something to watch in the evenings!), and remember the most efficient ways of packing, but all in all, it was good.  I especially feel good about how I was able to keep up good eating and exercise habits.  I worked out Monday afternoon, and Tuesday-Thursday mornings.  Monday and Wednesday were gym workouts (thanks to Noah for the ideas) and Tuesday/Thursday was running - with this morning’s workout I managed to complete Week 3 of Couch-to-5K; now it’s on to Week 4, which I must admit looks a bit daunting.  Then again, I thought Week 3 looked daunting … and I managed to do it. (more…)

By next Thursday I will have made three round trips to Southern California in just over a week.  Our trip to Elsinore has been planned for a while (Sean’s going for the entire week for the wingsuit bigway event, I’m popping down just for the weekend).  The work trips to Burbank (two days this week, four next week) came up afterward.  I thought briefly about combining the trips, but since the flight is so short and I don’t have a car in Burbank, the idea of not dragging all of my skydiving gear along on the business trips is more appealing. (more…)

Starting this week, it looks like I’m going to be getting back into semi-regular business travel.  I was reminded immediately today how tough it can be to stay focused and vigilant while on the road, with schedules disrupted, and fatigue being a bigger factor. (more…)

Well, here we are and I’ve gone over a week without blogging.  That week includes two days at the dropzone (Labor Day Monday, and the following Saturday) several days of work (yawn) and one day of being pretty darn lazy (Sunday).  Last Saturday’s weather was nutty; with forecast blue skies but what turned out to be quite a weird front moving through bringing with it clouds, rain, and crazy winds for about the first half of the day.  Still got in three jumps, and did my first coach jump work, when I briefed and supervised a student doing her first hop & pop.  I put her out at 5,500 feet and continued to full altitude to jump with my group. Labor Day was especially fun as we were getting extra altitude (15K) all day; took advantage of that for five fun jumps of varying size. (more…)

The above is what the JetBlue pilot called Beantown as we were getting ready to leave last night.  It certainly felt tropical with temps in the high 80s and high humidity to boot!  We were a bit north of Boston in Pepperell, MA, near the border with New Hampshire (we even stayed in Nashua, NH).

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Since I got back and posted about Daisy, I’ve been trying to keep up some semblance of normalcy in my life.  The fact that I have a job and workout schedule has helped, but in working from home Monday and Tuesday I found myself being a bit of a recluse and dwelling on the bad stuff in my life.  I needed to be in the office today and have had more interaction than I usually do (mid-year review with my boss, and lunch with my team).  I think that the walk to work (sunshine!) and being around others have helped a lot. (more…)