Summer in New England

Every summer brings a chance to go to Onset Mass and see Wendell and his family. This summer was no different but I got to do a lot more than my usual fly in and fly out.

Skydiving, you betcha! I flew in a couple days early to check out the DZ in Pepperell Mass. Small DZ for the most part, but the bonus was that they had an Otter. Well, not just any Otter, they had Otter Mike Fox from my DZ and that was pretty cool. It was AWESOME and very comforting having an old friend carry me to altitude. She did her job as always. See ya back in Texas in October.

DZ packing room. That is my pack job on the left right before I closed the container.

Stayed in New Hampshire while I was there. I ended up crossing the border several times going back and forth between my hotel and the DZ. Along the way I also got 15 minutes in the Skyventure Wind Tunnel in Nashua NH.

Thursday night was dinner with Dave, Heather, Adam, Matt and Paula. We have planned this dinner for a long time and it was great to finally meet my friends after so many years of gaming.

And this would be Adam's Mini - easily the coolest Mini I have ever seen. Behold Car47.

Back at Wendell's house, I did a lot of this.

And then I did some of this.

Unfortunately Chelsea and Darlene were not able to meet us this year but Brock and Rashaanda made it. The whole weekend at Wendell's house was really laid back and relaxing. We spent a lot of time running around with Wendell's kids and simply catching up. Saturday, the three of us went to Provincetown, the oldest city in Massachusetts at the most easterly point on the Cape.

Travels

I suppose that I am officially in my summer travel mode now. Seems like I never get to travel and make plans like I would like to, but that will happen soon. That trip to Spain, Argentina or Hong Kong is coming one day soon. For now, it is Austin, Boston, and San Diego.


Had a great weekend in Austin with Angie and Andy this past weekend. It was a hell of a lot more tame than some of the previous ones. Really wanted to go see the Scabs at Antone's but that did not happen. Still had a descent day on the lake Saturday despite the weather. Even with the rain, we still managed to have a good time.


Angie and Andy have an awesome new pup, Annie. She is personality plus and then some. I guess the down side will be when she gets bigger and there is a fight for alpha status in the house. That will just have to resolve itself and Bear will have to take it down a notch. Being around this little lady made it very clear to me that no matter how much I want a dog, there is no way that I should own one without having some help. My time and activities are too scattered to devote the time that I should to a dog no matter how much I love them.

Tomorrow I am off to the Cape for the annual summer trip. It will be a bit different for a lot of reasons this go round.

This year the purpose is to get some of the grad school crew from Kellogg together. It will be Wendell, Chelsea, Brock, Rashaanda and Darlene at this point and I think it will be the first time we have seen each other since Lisa's wedding. Secondly, I am going a day early to skydive in Pepperell Mass which will be a new experience. Ironically, one of the Otters from my DZ, Spaceland, has been there with one of our pilots. Gotta get a picture of me next to Otter Mike Fox in another state!!!! Lastly, I am really looking forward to meeting some of my long time gaming crew from xblf (really since the gamertag days.....) and also a blogger buddy as well. If all goes as planned we will meet for dinner on Thursday night!

The Champion!

Restored 1970's Era Champion Decathlon!

Now this was cool! You sit in the front seat and the pilot sits in the back behind you. It is so small that you can't sit in it facing forward while also wearing my gear and still be able to turn to get out the door. Basically you sit in the door sideways and put your feet out on the wing strut. You can't put your feet on the door sill because that is where the pilot's rudders are. Exit altitude was only 3,500 feet and boy was it slow!!!!

Skyfest AN-2 Jump

Skyfest 2007

The one thing that people say unanimously when I mention that I sky dive is, "Ah, so you are an adrenaline junkie!" I think that is so far from the truth now. There is a reward and gratification from flying my body in free fall or under a canopy that only another sky diver could understand. I do it for that challenge and reward without question. After Skyfest this year (Thursday through Sunday) I feel this reward even deeper and my gratification to my peers is much like a debt that I will pay back over a life time.

Skyfest is a gathering of about 300 skydivers from all around the world that come to my DZ for this weekend every year. I met and jumped with people from France, Japan, Israel, Norway, Canada, Mexico and all over the United States. The whole purpose of Skyfest is to raise money through the registration fees for the Jerry Schrimsher Scholarship Fund. Jerry was a very well known skydiver for over 40 years who passed when he had a heart attack during a jump with his friends in 2000. Jerry believed in the advancement of the sport and bringing the new generation of sky divers into the sport with safe training to bridge the gap between being a student and growing to be coaches and instructors. These scholarships, which equal funding for training jumps for skydivers that are selected by their home drop zones, are given to several drop zones that support the foundation events. An awesome cause.

Although I did not jump today because it was wet, I still managed to get in 18 quality sky dives and also jumped from a few things that I normally don't get a chance to. Jumping with all these cool people made the aircraft even more fun. I think that it was on Friday that I looked across the hanger and saw Norm who I actually jumped with a couple of weeks ago in Deland Florida. He and his wife Nicole were really cool and he mentioned that he might be in town for Skyfest. I had no idea at the time that I was on the same jump run with Norman Kent, easily one of the top two skydiving photographers and camera men in the world. Yeah, it was Norm Kent. The guy looks over at me and recognizes me and we speak and catch up. He then says, "Glad that I saw you. I need to get your information because I got a call about a film where they needed a black sky diver for an actor/stand in." Are you kidding me.......wha........who knows if this will come to be. Films come and go and many are never seen, but what an honor for this guy to even consider me.

I got a chance to jump a few times with a guy just known as Bigun.....well....because he is about 6' 5" and 260 lbs. He was one of the load organizers that was brought in to coach and help out some of the rookies. I had a chance to watch him mentor and work with a lot of people which just showed how cool this guy is. Before the award ceremony (.....beer pouring.....) for my Star Crest Recipient that I got back in April, Bigun asked the three SCR's to come up. He says a few words about giving back to the sport and what it means to him and they throws this on the table for me.

This is a brand new Evolution altimeter by Free Fall Accessories. It is beautiful. I have my workhorse altimeter but this is and incredible hand crafted instrument. I had no idea what to say as this guy who just met me gives me a brand new altimeter that is probably one of the best sport altimeters out there. He only asked that I pay it forward. Indeed I will. Thank you.

This morning kinda sucked because it rained. It actually poured. The field was soaked and immediately accumulated a lot of water. I probably would not have even gone down there if I would have known that it was gonna rain that much. When it did let up, I was less than inspired to jump because I would have to land and risk falling and maybe getting muddy. What is the point of that after I just got in 18 jumps over three days.....I can wait. It would be different if it had been a couple weeks. I BS around for a while but decide to leave even when the sky clears and people start jumping. For some reason though, I keep running into people that want to talk and I get delayed and delayed over and over again. They are asking me to stay and hang and just wont let it go when I tell them I want to leave. After they keep holding me I tell them OK, I will stay for one more hour.

A little while later I hear somebody on the PA calling me to the center of the hanger. What? As I am walking back in, everybody is standing around and in the center of the hanger are Jerry Schrimsher's son, the owner of my Drop Zone Steve Boyd, and Tom Jenkins the senior formation team lead at Spaceland, waiting for me. They have selected me as the winner of the Jerry Schrimsher Scholarship Fund for this year. I had no idea that when opportunities opened up for me to jump with many of the very experienced people at my drop zone that they were evaluating me and ultimately selected me for this honor. I was completely speechless.

There is absolutely nothing more humbling than being honored by your peers. Indeed, I will pay it forward. What an awesome long weekend.

Knife's Edge

I was wisely given the advice to either get busy living or get busy dying once. I get the point of that sentiment. I really don’t think people say that to emphasize that you need to make a choice to do one or the other. The point seems to me to be that maybe we really don’t have a choice.

Life is all that we have.

Three deaths and two funerals lately has left me a bit stunned. I still do not believe/understand/accept the line between life and death and I think it is quite possible that the lives of these people and families highlights this even stronger for me but in a different way.

I do know this: there is no way to fully put into words just how much we under-appreciate the gift of life every day.

Go to bed
Wake up
Send your kids off
Go about your day
See your friends
Enjoy your family
Make plans for the future
Live your carefreehappygoluckynotacareinthefuckingworld life…….

Do we ever think about how fragile the gift of life that we are given from God really is? The line is thin. The moment is quick. The promise is shattered. It disappears in a blink. It is gone forever.

Life is all that we have, and maybe it really does not belong to us.

A thousand years
A thousand more
A thousand times
A million doors to eternity
I may have lived a thousand lives
A thousand times
An endless turning stairway climbs to a tower of souls

If it takes another thousand years
A thousand wars
The towers rise
To numberless floors in space
I could shed another million tears
A million breaths
A million names
But only one truth to face

From the Office

The Gravity of the Situation

Deland Florida 6/30/07
Scott Miller's Essential Skills Canopy Course

Last jump of the day was designed to be a long spot from the Drop Zone. The plan for me was to exit from 13,000 feet with another guy in the class, "Itchy", and open our canopies starting at about 5,000 feet. We were in the front of the Otter and the last group not in the class leave the plane. The other fun jumpers leave and the pilot cycles the light for us to hold. We head further out for a few more seconds. Light is green, Jim exits. A few seconds later, Itchy and I head out and have a really good jump. We share my altimeter and I begin to turn and track at about 6,000 feet, wave, pitch my pilot chute. I am under canopy fairly quickly right above 4,000 feet as planned.

Where is the drop zone? No big deal, I grab a riser and turn finding that it is 180 degrees behind me. Although it was designed as a long spot and I expected to fly in brakes to make it back, I did not expect what I saw. 4,000 feet and this is what I see ahead of me.

Map One

Ok. In my heart, I really did not think that I was going to make it back and I knew this fairly quickly BUT I still have to try. Immediately I go into deep brakes and hook my fingers under my leg straps holding my brake lines so my arms won't get tired. My next priority was to figure out what I am dealing with and what is under me for alternate places to land. I did do the smart thing and looked behind me - huge open field. Sure I could make that but I still had options before me. Being found would be a huge problem. It's gonna be dark soon so if I am lost and hurt, then that is even worse.

So what do I have? I see the edge of the drop zone ahead of me and there is a chance that I could make that edge and that would be all I needed without being greedy. Between me and that edge are an ocean of very bad decisions mixed with a few possibilities.

Power lines
Roads
Power lines
Small lakes
Power lines
Houses
Power lines
Several parking lots
An industrial park

Of what I see, before me the parking lots, industrial park and the median of the state road look like the choices that I will have to deal with. Whatever I choose in the end, I know that I will likely land somewhere that was never, ever considered for somebody to land in. This is not my home drop zone with fields all around. I AM IN THE SUCK. As I now near 3,000 feet I am clearing the houses which I am really glad about but I am not making good progress to really make it back home. I review all of my choices again and decide pretty much then that the best of the shit I have to deal with is the industrial park. There is a small green clearing that I see along a road in the park. Are there power lines and tall equipment near by? You bet. I still have no idea if I can deal with what is behind the fence but I will know when I get closer.

2,000 feet - hell with it, I am bailing out of trying to make it back. I see Itchy slightly above me but a good half mile ahead and he is clearing the main highway which I have not. At 2,000 feet this is what I saw.

Map Two (I flew a straight line from the first point to second)

The industrial park it is. I see a lake ahead of me and the last thing I want to happen is end up in the water (power lines or whatever) so I am making this clearing no matter what. Whatever it takes, I am gonna put it down there. There is a ton of equipment and machinery in this factory on the property but I try to focus on the grass and it seems to be clear of power lines. Set up for my pattern, make it to my final and see that I might be staring at a barbed wire fence so I grab my front risers and swoop it in and stand up my landing.

Map Three (Landing Zone)

A couple people looked at me like an alien but I was just glad to be alive. They found me, and eventually came and picked me up.

I grew up a lot Saturday in the sport and I learned some hard lessons. If I had it to do again, I would not have gotten out of the plane if I knew the spot was that long. The spot is my responsibility and only I am accountable. Sure the pilot shares some blame but I got out on my own. I just thought the spot was good enough to make it back. There is blame to be shared but I am my own pilot.

The good that comes from this is that I was truly tried by fire in a situation that would put a percentage of jumpers out of a hundred in a hospital at best. I did well. I managed my risks. I made all the right decisions given the situation before me and I lived without a scratch. I gained confidence in myself. I learned. I am alive. The best thing that I can do is move on from this and put it in my past and not allow my future jumps to be colored by fear of this happening again.

Today as I was driving back to Orlando to the airport, I passed a familiar fence and field.