The video above is the 32nd jump of our final camp … we were getting a little punchy by then, but it was a fun, great way to end the season of training and get fired up for Nationals in a few weeks.   In case you can’t figure out which one is me - I’m wearing a black jumpsuit with gray grippers, my rig is mostly black with some gray.

This camp was our warmest by far, with a couple of days creeping over 100 degrees.  Because of that, we started early-early in the morning - meeting at 6:15 for stretching and prep to be able to be on the first or second load at 7 or shortly thereafter.  That allowed us to crank through the 8 jumps before the worst of the heat (and crazy winds) kicked in later in the afternoon.  The first four jumps were generally comfortable, the last four got pretty darn warm.

It’s nice to see the team gelling as we go through the year.  It’s been way too much fun and I’m very glad that I’ve done it.  Can’t wait to compete in Chicago in a few weeks.

Because of some scheduling/visa/injury issues, we were down three people in this camp, so Uli decided to focus on work for the center four of the 8-way formations.  We ended up doing 15 minutes of tunnel time on Saturday morning plus six jumps, then another four jumps on Sunday and another 15 minutes of tunnel time.  It was nice to have a camp that was a little more low-key, since we have a four-day, 32-jump camp starting on Thursday.

Sean came down with me and did a few jumps himself in between packing for me (he volunteered …).  We stayed at a local jumper’s house, who rents out bunks in his spare bedrooms.  I’ll stay there next camp as well.  Much more comfortable than a hotel and nice to be able to use the kitchen as well.

It’s only a few weeks now till Nationals - I’m really excited.  This team has been a lot of fun to be a part of and I definitely feel like I’ve learned a lot and that my skills have improved throughout the year.  I would definitely like to be a part of a team next year,  too, just need to figure out what/where exactly.

And that was all I needed to hear - I’d been making excuses for myself “Well, I’ll just be going to Lost Prairie and it won’t be easy to eat well there” or “Well, it’s too hard when I travel for work.”

July 12th, the day after my last training camp, I decided to give it a shot … till I left for LP.  I gave myself permission to “do my best” at LP but not beat myself up.  I set a goal of 10 lbs by the next training camp (August 13).  In the two weeks before Prairie I had that nice little low carb jump start, dropping 7 or 8 lbs … then stopping cold.  I did well, even on a work trip that included a visit to a baseball game.  I bumped up about 3 lbs during LP, but it actually wasn’t too bad at all staying primarily on plan.  For the most part I ate low-carb, though I did have some pizza, some beer, and some bread, overall I was happy.

Came back and buckled down again, and on this morning’s weigh-in I was down 11 lbs, beating my goal by a few days.  Now it’s time to take advantage of this positive energy and channel it into really maxing out exercise frequency again - I’ve slipped back into a 2-3 days a week pattern after being into a nice 5-6 days a week pattern for a while.  I exercised on my own yesterday and with Noah this morning.  I have two more sessions this week, which leaves me only 2 more days to motivate on my own before the mini training camp starts on Saturday morning.

Next goal is to be down 20 lbs (total) by the day I leave for Nationals (September 11).  Quite achievable, methinks!

This weekend marks a year since Daisy passed away.  I was reflecting on just how much of Franklin’s personality has come out since then.  Though I was sad to lose Daisy, it’s almost as if he’s decided his personality needs to be twice as big to make up for it.  After wondering for a bit if he’d be better off with another cat in the house, he’s made it abundantly clear that his world is happiest when he commands 100% of the attention from the humans in the apartment.  Of course, he’s invariably a bit clingy when I first come back from traveling, but other than that, he seems to be thriving and blissfully happy being an only cat.  Although I don’t know the precise date, Mr. Franklin has also recently passed his 3rd birthday and shows very little sign of slowing down from his occasionally still-manic energy.  He enjoys time in the windows checking out all the activity in the building’s courtyard, including my neighbor Mel’s three cats, all of whom have free reign of the courtyard.

He can still be a stubborn pain in the butt when he wants, but he’s also turned into quite the “lap slut,” jumping upon my lap when I’m trying to work, or when I’m stretched out on the couch reading or watching TV.  Of course, he still takes up as much real estate as available in the bed at night, which can make for interesting sharing when both Sean and I are also trying to use available real estate.

But really, when it gets to the point when I can’t remember life without a furry creature in the house, it means said furry creature really has woven his way into the fabric of my life.  I’ve been so fortunate both here and in Seattle to have great cat-sitters available - if it’s just a work trip, Sean will come check in on him; if both of us are traveling, I’ve had neighbors who don’t mind popping in at all.  Fortunately he’s super low-maintenance.  He’s a good “free feeder” meaning that I can leave dry food out all day and he’ll just graze on it a bit at a time.  So happy that (so far) his eating habits are such that I don’t have to restrict access at all.  He’s not too picky about his bathroom, so he doesn’t require his box to be cleaned twice a day.  All that makes it much less burdensome for a pet-sitter.

This year’s trip to Lost Prairie was the wettest I can remember - by a long shot.  I think maybe one year in the five previous years, I remember a little bit of drizzle …. but nothing like the storms Mother Nature unleashed this boogie.

After missing two years, Kevin decided to go again, and since his drive over from Seattle coincided with our arrival in Spokane, we skipped the rental car and he picked us up on the way over (and dropped us off again on the return).  It was great fun to reprise all our past road trips through Washington, Idaho, and Montana.  We arrived in the late afternoon with plenty of time to set up our tents in the daylight before the evening fell.

The middle of that first night unleashed the first of several storms; fortunately, our tent did really great and kept us (relatively) warm and (completely) dry inside.   I think it took till noon or 1 to start jumping on Thursday, but we made it through most of that day dry.  Another storm greeted us Friday morning, keeping the planes on the ground till after 4 p.m.  I did learn how to play cribbage, as well as get in on some good $5-buyin Texas Hold ‘Em games, so all was not lost.

Saturday started out clearer, though there were some clouds rolling in and out throughout the day.  All in all, a very weird Prairie … but still absolutely wonderful.

Sunday we packed up and headed back towards Spokane … with wonderful memories as usual.

The American Boogie was at the end of June and was a good time as always.  I strained my shoulder on the first day (where I did six jumps), took Friday off, and did another two on Saturday before deciding to call it quits and let my shoulder rest.  Still, it was a fun boogie, and the jumps on Saturday were some of the coolest I’ve been on.  Photos of those jumps (among others that I wasn’t on) are here - we did bigger jumps (24 to 28 people) and color coded the jumpsuits for visual effect.

July 4th had us back up in Davis again for the annual 4th of July demo into the fireworks celebration in downtown Davis.  This year, Sean was lucky enough to get a slot on the jump, and I was there to watch him (and the others) land.  Very cool, as usual.  The firework launching point was moved slightly, and our front-row seat was just a little too close to the action as we found bits of cardboard and ash raining on us throughout the show.  Nothing still hot or flaming, fortunately!

Then it was off to Perris for another 4-day training camp.  This time, the weather was on our side (save for a bit of fog the first morning that got us off to a late start) and we were able to complete the planned 8 jumps per day, for a whopping total of 32.  It’s a pretty hectic pace, but a lot of fun.  I was also able to catch up with a lot of old friends who happened to be out there that weekend, which was great.

Yesterday I went up to Davis for some fun jumps, and spent much of today in the city volunteering for AIDS Walk.  Our group totaled up the pledges that came in on the day of the event, allowing the organizers to announce the grand total at the walk’s closing ceremonies.

Coming up is a work trip to Pasadena next week, then the following week is our annual trip to Montana.  August is also chock-full of skydiving trips, with two training weekends, and a trip up to Oregon for the annual boogie at Skydive Oregon.  Finally, USPA Nationals is in September at Skydive Chicago!

Work is still … well … work, but things have improved somewhat on my project in that I at least have a couple of sounding boards within my own department who have become more involved in the project and now see from the inside what a mess it is…

This weekend was our first skydiving training camp for my 8-way team (Blue Ice), following our tunnel camp back in April.  Wednesday night I flew down to Ontario and grabbed my rental car for the 45-minute drive down to my hotel near Perris.  Up bright and early on Thursday to start training … and faced with not-so-bright skies.  We met, stretched, talked about the day’s plans, and waited till about 11:30 before the clouds cleared enough for our first jump.  Out of a planned 8 jumps, we got 5 in that day.  We were geared up and ready to go for our 6th when the DZ called for another weather hold, and at that point we decided to just call it a day.  Turned out to be the right decision as the weather never did clear back up again that afternoon.

Spent a couple hours hanging out in the Bombshelter (Perris’ bar), and was fortunate enough to meet a couple extremely cool folks who were on the DZ consulting on a planned high altitude skydive project called Red Bull Stratos.  The first was Bill Weaver, who, as a test pilot, survived an SR-71 disintegration.  The story is reprinted here.  Pretty cool story, and he’s as down to earth and humble as can be about what he’s done.

The second is a hero to many skydivers, Colonel Joseph Kittinger, who still holds the record that the Red bull Stratos project is trying to break - that of the longest freefall.  I was able to talk to him for a few minutes in between project meetings, and found him to be funny and gracious and a real pistol at 81.  He was kind enough to indulge my request for a photo as well.

That evening, I headed back up to Ontario to pick up Sean, who was only able to get away from work for one day.  Friday, he took the car and headed down to San Diego to catch up with family, while I spent another day on the DZ.  Fortunately, the weather was great the rest of the weekend - getting hotter (and with some wonkier winds) by Saturday and Sunday, but overall not too bad at all.

We did 8 jumps each on Friday and Saturday, and 6 on Sunday before calling it a day, turning on 20 minute calls (which means jump, land, drop gear at the packer, debrief, plan the next jump, and be back on a plane within 20 minutes of landing).  it’s a pretty different pace than I’m used to - I’m more of a land, chill out for a while, eventually do another jump kind of person.

There were definitely many times this weekend when I wondered what the hell I was doing; things that seemed reasonably simple in the tunnel were maddeningly challenging in the air. Sometimes it was one step forward, two steps back, sometimes two steps forward.  The toughest part for me was getting the exit right, which is something that can’t be practiced in the tunnel.  The lightbulb finally went off for me late on Saturday and Sunday’s exits were pretty good.  I can still refine them, of course, but I think I’m getting the basics of timing and presentation down.

There’s still a lot to learn, and watching the videos with Sean this morning, I was definitely picking apart all of my mistakes, but that’ll help me to know what to work on between now and our next camp in early July.

Headed up to Ontario yesterday afternoon, stopping at California Pizza Kitchen to split a pizza and a salad.  Sean surprised me by ordering an apple crisp when he got up to use the bathroom - thus continuing our Memorial Day tradition of pie (or something close to it) that started when we first met.  Five years and going strong!

Today’s been a much needed lazy day at home; breakfast, a short walk to do some grocery shopping, and a lot of laziness on the couch.  I’m glad we planned the trip this way to have an extra day at home rather than going straight back to work.  My body’s pretty bruised and battered anyway, so a day off is a welcome thing.  I’m not sure how much energy I’d have had to jump even if we’d stayed down there!

This weekend was the first training weekend for my 8-way team - Perris Blue Ice.  I’m one of four new members this year, who joined with the four returning members (including our player-coach).  Our first weekend was in the wind tunnel in Raeford, North Carolina.

You may wonder why a California-based team (with two wind tunnels in the state and another just over the border in Arizona) would go all the way to North Carolina for wind tunnel training. Well, it’s true what they say - size matters.  The tunnels in California are both 12-foot (diameter) tunnels; the one in Arizona is 14 feet; Raeford’s is a whopping 16 feet.  Which means that an entire 8-way team can train together.  Some of the formations aren’t quite the right shape for a round tunnel, but the vast majority can be trained in the tube.

Paraclete XP Wind Tunnel

This video shows an 8-way team training in the tunnel.  That’s what we did all weekend.  Well, we’re not nearly as good as that team, but that’s the general idea.

Got up super-early on Thursday morning and Sean was kind enough to drop me off at SFO for my flight to Raleigh-Durham.  Connected through Chicago and was into RDU by late afternoon.  Met up with my old friend Brent for dinner (mmm Carolina BBQ!) and his wife joined us afterwards for coffee.  Really nice to catch up with them - I’d last seen them when I was in town for my 10th reunion 3 years ago.

Picked up one of my teammates at the airport and got down to Raeford quite late in the evening.  I dropped him off at his hotel and made my way to the dropzone (about 5 miles from the tunnel) where I was staying with my friend Steve who lives on the DZ.  He’d made up the extra bed in his trailer for me, and I settled in for a few hours of sleep before getting up to meet the team at 8:30.

The team, though Perris-based, hails from all over - two from Florida, one from Vancouver, one from Uruguay, and one from Alaska, in addition to two from Southern California, and me from Northern California.  We did introductions and began prepping for our first session.  Having never done “official” 8-way before, I needed to take what I’d read in books and put it into practice.  Easier said than done for someone who does not have a “3-D mind.”

But, all things considered, I think I did pretty well.  My biggest fear (largely unfounded, I think, given that the teams were put together with full knowledge of everyone’s skill and background) was that others would be flying circles around me.  I think I hung in there just fine.  We all made mistakes, and I certainly made my fair share, but I also tried to learn and listen, and I definitely showed improvement from session to session and over the course of the weekend.

We did more tunnel time in 3 days than I’ve ever done - I think my max was about 45 minutes in a day, and we did 4 hours total (1 1/2 hours each day Friday and Saturday, and 1 hour today).  I was so tired after session 3 on Friday I was a bit worried about making it through the weekend but as I relaxed and got into it I think I was able to fly more efficiently.

Dinner Friday was with the team - nice to spend some time and get to know everyone.  Crashed pretty early on Friday night in anticipation of an early start on Saturday.  Three more 30-minute sessions on Saturday, and we were done by mid-afternoon.  After agreeing to meet the team back in Fayetteville for a later dinner, I went back to the DZ thinking I’d shower and drive back to Fayetteville (a 20-30 minute drive).  After immediately running into some old friends and joining them for a couple of beers, I threw the “go to dinner” plan out the window and settled in for a couple more beers at the DZ.  Finished up the drinking early (another early day today) and got an okay night’s sleep and back to the tunnel at 7 this morning.  We had a long break between our two sessions today, finishing up at around 3:00.  I drove a couple teammates back to RDU, then settled in at my cheap motel down the road for a quick night’s sleep before an early flight home tomorrow.  Fortunately, I’m flying back into Oakland which’ll make it much quicker to get home.

All in all, I’m happy with my performance and progress this weekend.  There’s a lot to pick apart still, but I can see improvement and I think I learned a lot, so really, that’s all I can ask of myself.

I barely have the energy to get through my days, let alone produce the level of work I would prefer to produce.  I don’t have the energy to fight the battles that don’t really seem worth fighting anymore on the project; I am just laying low, trying to do my job as best I can in the increasingly toxic environment, and pushing back where I need to in order to maintain a very baseline level of sanity and a life.

If I couldn’t skydive and escape (almost completely) on weekends I’m not sure I could keep up this pace in this environment.  Even so, the two days of each weekend aren’t enough to recharge me for the entire week; it’s just Tuesday and I’m ready to not set the alarm and miss the beginning of my meeting tomorrow.  I won’t, but it’s tempting.

Right now, I will sleep, knowing that I may have a slightly better outlook tomorrow.  At the very least, it’s hump day.