my random ramblingsan infrequent (and these days, mostly Mira related…) blog

weekend of borscht, movies, trip to Ukrainian Village, and a visit with the family at Vicky’s for Labor Day. new job starts in 2 weeks, better enjoy my time off while i can…

been back for a week now and staying pretty busy between shopping for random things, looking for a downtown condo, and planning the details of our Vegas trip. “Taste of Greece” in Greektown last night and the new Planet of the Apes movie tonight.

drove to Detroit on Friday night and met up with Pat downtown for dinner and drinks. UD alumni game Saturday morning – great to see Etian, Pat, Donnie, Kevin, Chris, and Chris. unfortunately, our lack of fitness and training was obvious and we got crushed – hopefully it means the UD team will gave a good season. lunch with Pat and Donnie afterwards before the long drive back.

second time on the lake, this time at the North Avenue beach. morning workout with some folks from POW!, paddleboard lessons on the lake, and ending up with food and drinks at the Beach House. very hot and sunny day, left the beach a little fried. stopped at a bar in Roscoe Village to watch the disappointing final of the Women’s World Cup before heading back.

day 2 at the Grind-In, but didn’t feel like building another knife from scratch. brought a bunch of knives with me that i touched-up during the day, and also acquired better sheaths for both yesterday’s knife and the knife i built at the February Ice-In.

drove up to Escanaba on Friday night for the BRKT Grind-In. Mike still didn’t have a blank large enough for my karambit design, so i instead built a knife based on the Scagel large hunter pattern, with a modified full-tang handle. fun day, and much easier now that i know the process from start to finish.

another late morning and into the office for a little class time and learning about slider up jumps. made our way to the bridge and i launched a round with a 3 second delay into the river on my first jump. 2 more after that, including my first slider up jump, but was very windy and having some ugly downwind landings. happily, i figured out my correct exit body position and am now feeling much more confident. lunch, then said goodbye to Mike and Amy as they started their drive back to Jackson. returned to the office and a little more class time. dinner again at Tom’s house then back to the office to pack my rig. back to the hotel late to catch a little sleep before my morning flight to Chicago. 15 jumps in 3 days and looking forward to my next opportunity.

later start, spent the morning packing and with more class time. grabbed a late lunch then came back to the office and took a nap. finally left for the bridge and our first jumps at 6:30 pm. did 5 more jumps during the evening, finishing with a night jump in total darkness at 10:30 pm. another great day, although was a little frustrated as i experienced some stability and launch body position issues on a couple of the jumps. grabbed a burrito at midnight and went back to the office for some debriefing and videos. finally back to the hotel at 1:30 am.

met Tom at the 486 foot Perrine Bridge at 7:30 am for our first jump. got in 4 jumps before noon, starting simple with pilot chute assist and hand deployment launches with no delays. yup, it’s scary… difficult to put the feelings into words, pushing off from the railing, 5 seconds until impact with the ground. back to the office for some more instruction and lots of packing. returned to the bridge and met up with Amy. got in 3 more jumps, including our first stowed jumps. finished after 9:00 pm with 7 jumps in all, and was a bit tired and sore from the long day. after every jump there is a 1 mile hike out of the canyon. took a quick shower and the 3 of us went over to the Outback for a late dinner. fun night discussing our first day BASE jumping.

got into Twin Falls, ID last night for my First Jump Course. wasn’t to start until after noon, with Mike’s arrival from Jackson. met with Tom a little early and spent some time at his house and meeting his family. drove to his office and got a gear check on my new container and canopy. Mike finally arrived and we spent the next 5 or 6 hours learning and packing. Was asked to write a sobering letter as a liability release for the course. Tom rigged some ropes 30′ up in 2 trees for us to practice launching and proper body positioning on exit. dinner back at Tom’s house and eventually back to the hotel for a short sleep before tomorrow’s excitement on the bridge.