Yesterday at SkyDance, I met a gentleman named Ben. He saw me walking by and commented on the Leap for Lupus t-shirt that I was wearing. I explained that it was a skydiving event/fundraiser to raise money for lupus research. He mentioned that he had ALS and that last year he’d known some folks doing skydives as a fundraising event for ALS research as well. Read more
The Slowest Kid in Gym Class
The slowest kid in gym class (that would be me) needs to not be so damned hyper-sensitive sometimes! Long story short, I took something totally the wrong way … and got over it. Long story: Read more
Categories: Life
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April Check-In
April was a good month for me. I started going to classes regularly at Athletic Playground. I continued working out at Urban Fitness 2x/week. And I am ready (mentally, too, I think!) to restart boot camp there next week. (I’ve signed up so I better be ready!). Now the question is, what do with the $210/month I’m saving by switching from 1:1 sessions to group sessions? Read more
Categories: Life
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Rethinking Running
After my injury, I’ve been slowly easing back into the Couch-to-5K program again. I started in early February, and right now (end of April) I’m only “finishing” week 4. I put finishing in quotes because for each of the days I’ve done a Week 4 workout, I haven’t done it fully. I’ve always stopped and walked for a bit during the longer runs; so I feel like I need to go back and redo Week 4 before I really move on. Today was particularly bad – I got halfway through the second of four runs and said “Fuck it” and walked back home. Read more
Categories: Life
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Still Crazy After All These Years
Sean and I went to see Paul Simon at the beautifully-restored Fox Theater in downtown Oakland. So nice to have a really phenomenal theater that attracts great acts right here in Oakland. Sure, the City gets lots of great shows, but sometimes it’s nice not to have to cross the Bay. Read more
Categories: Life, Nostalgia
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Balancing Out?
It’s all I can do not to jump on the scale lately, but I promised myself no more than once a month, and I’m sticking to that. It’s tempting, though, because just in the last couple weeks I am starting to wonder if things are actually moving. I feel more toned, and I’ve noticed clothes feeling somewhat looser. Read more
Categories: Life
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Morbid Musical Notes
I happened upon the Internet Wayback Machine site today through a random series of clicks and started looking for archived versions of my blog. Sadly when I changed hosts I did it in a huff and didn’t execute it well and have (I’m pretty sure) lost everything before late 2008. Most of what’s archived is only the beginnings of posts, not the full posts, but I did find this one, which was posted in its entirety. Read more
Categories: Life, Skydiving
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The Next Big Adventure
Yep, that photo above will be me in mid-August. I’m finally knocking something off my bucket list – a rafting trip on the Grand Canyon with Outdoors Unlimited. After considering the options (full trip, Upper Canyon, or Lower Canyon) I decided on the Lower Canyon. Reason #1 – it’s the right length at 9 days. I felt like 15 days might be a bit much considering the longest trip I’ve done so far has been 5 days. Reason #2 – it starts with a hike into the canyon rather than ending with a hike out of the Canyon. The idea of doing a long, downhill hike to start the trip was more appealing to me than doing a long, uphill hike to end the trip. I’m pretty sure that all I’ll want to do at the end is head home to shower and turn into a pile of goo. Read more
Categories: Travel
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I’m Back
So, after all that angst, I made a skydive today. It was rather non-eventful, a moderately successful 12-way (exit funneled, but we got the first point back together). Unfortunately, the wind picked up and I decided to scratch the second jump; as the remainder of the group (many had dropped out because of the wind) was planning the third dive, the whole dropzone went on a wind hold. But really, I must say, Jump 788 was pretty much like the 787 before it – I was comfortable and happy and glad to be back. Read more
Categories: Life, Skydiving
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First Quarter Check-In
Back in early January, I set some goals, that included goals for that day, week, and quarter. Here were are at the end of the first quarter and it’s time to check in. Read more
Categories: Life
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