Steph's Skydive Chicago AFP-in-a-Week Video

After playing with iMovie HD and iDVD over the past weekend, I was able to convert Stephanie's AFP videos into something suitable for the web.

Video footage from Stephanie's AFP (Advanced Freefall Program) in a Week course at Skydive Chicago.

The conclusion of Stephanie's AFP (Advanced Freefall Program) in a Week course at Skydive Chicago. NOTE: Looks like Warner Music Group doesn't like the use of Disturbed's Rise as background music, so the video has no audio until I can get around to changing it.

A Skydiving Family

Woo-hoo! Stephanie has completed the Advanced Freefall Program at Skydive Chicago and just received her A License in the mail! This looks to be a summer full of jumps with family and friends :-)

While Stephanie was busy going through the training necessary for her A License, I have been preparing for my B License exam. I went through water training a couple of weeks ago, a requirement for the B License, which involved jumping into a cold pond to practice getting out of your gear in a controlled environment. It was about 60 outside when I did this. Brrr. Other requirements for the B License include totaling at least 50 jumps and a minimum of 30 minutes of freefall time, and passing a written exam. As of today, I have met all the requirements and I am now waiting anxiously for my Class B License in the mail!

In further skydiving news, I am hopefully only about a week away from owning my own rig! More info on that to come shortly :-)

Blue Skies

Grad School, Spring 2009 Wrap Up

Well, looks like I somehow managed to get straight A's in my first semester of graduate school. Some tips for people taking the courses I was in:

• CS525 Advanced Database Organization: start projects early and study the lecture slides for the tests
• CS536 Science of Programming: know the difference between semantic and syntactic, study the homework problems for the test, and I would recommend against taking the night class (there is a lot of information that I found difficult to pay attention to over a three hour class)
• CS549 Cryptology and Network Security: Google and Wikipedia are your friends, the lecture notes are pretty sparse for figuring out homework problems, this class is more about theory than application
• CS586 Software System Architecture: attend the lectures and take notes

Up next, the summer semester with: CS542 Computer Networks I Fundamentals and CS595 Wireless Device Apps at Zoo.

Recipe: Biscuits and Gravy

My mom makes a great biscuits and gravy breakfast. I got the recipe from her over the weekend and will preserve it here for future reference:

Ingredients

• 1 package biscuits
• 1 package mild or hot sausage
• 1 small to medium onion
• 6 tablespoons flour
• 3 cups hot milk
• Crushed pepper to taste

Directions

1. Brown the sausage and onion together
2. Sprinkle flour evenly over the sausage, stirring as you add
3. Slowly add in hot milk and stir until gravy thickens
4. Mix in crushed red pepper to taste

2009 Skydiving Season

Woo! Jump number 42 is under my belt and I am now re-current after a long four month winter off-season. My goals for the upcoming season are to get my Class B and Class C skydiving licenses, make a dead-air jump out of a hot air balloon, and make a couple of high-altitude jumps. If I can get my jump numbers up early enough in the season, I would also like to make a wingsuit jump. I plan on spending a lot of time this season practicing relative-work and honing my skills in belly-flying while learning more about back-flying and sit-flying.