My Dad died last week.

I took my bike up into the mountains for the first time since moving to Seattle, which is honestly a tragedy. It's gorgeous up there!

The last day of my 43rd year was...

Looking back at the decade that was... it's been a ride. I got married. Emigrated to another country. Took a terrifying job that continues to excite me

Fandom turns out to be pretty nifty

I am about to start playing D&D again as a player for the first time in years. Well, not D&D specifically, so much as Pathfinder. It's a bit jarring -- having run a 4E campaign for a while -- going back to the Vancian magic system that characterized D&D …

You can't see it, but his mother has an xbox controller in her hands.

Char and I just spent the weekend in Jasper, one of the few vacations we've taken both in north america and on short notice.

It was really, really nice.

We didn't really do a lot; lounged around the hotel, lazed in the pool, walked a bit. Maligne Canyon is freakin' …

And we're in.

It's a pretty flash place.

So, thanks to a great many friends -- of whom only two have a web presence, and therefore get a web shoutouts -- the move went off as close as can be to the ideal "without a hitch" experience.

I would like to formally …

It's quite a sight, the spew of boxes collected into three large stacks and two small ones. An entire life... scratch that, two entire lives piled up and ready to uproot.

Char and I are entering into the second most significant collective choice we'll ever make; it comes a reasonably …

On why I choose to fly

Anyone that partakes in a sport that is outside the norm will have some reason or other for doing what they do. Mostly, their reasons boil down to vague notions of thrill or of challenge; they want to do something that scares them, or …

... and it did.

So, the other shoe to which I referred has, in fact, dropped.

I have been informed that despite my dislocation being just my first, I am among the unlucky ones whose dislocation caused a fracture that renders my shoulder extremely unstable from here on out.

200 km …

Permanent Damage

I got a phone call from my physician on Wednesday in which he told me that the MRI I had indicated cartilage damage in the shoulder, and that I was going to be at risk of join instability pretty much forever.

Which does not bode well for my …

Eeeyowtch!

Christ, dislocating my shoulder hurt.

It's not common to be injured during freefall, but I managed it, and am in a sling for the next two weeks. Typing is a pain...

CSPA # 12206

That's my membership number.

I'm now a certified solo skydiver, with the pin, membership number, certificate (duh!) and a sticker :)

This is... cool, if you ask me.

Yep, I'm to be Certified

For those of you that weren't actually at the drop zone yesterday, I just completed all of my requirements for solo CSPA certification, which means that I can jump solo anywhere in Canada.

Three good skydives, yesterday.

I'm a happy man. So were Ryan and …

Alone in the air

With a flutter or two of butterflies in my stomach to keep me company on the way up, it is done! I am now certified to jump solo at the club level, meaning only at Eden North, and I'm a short hop away from being able …

So sorry about having dropped from the face of the earth for a week, folks. I know my readership isn't huge, but i suspect at least one or two people missed me :)

So, here's the scoop: The downtime resulted from Char and I moving, and shaw not moving as fast …

Flying... low

Holy. shit. what. a. rush.

When i woke up this morning, i could barely move out of bed. Lifting myself - against the burden of gravity - seemed to be too much effort to contemplate. Simon called at about 7, 4 hrs after i went to sleep, letting Dad and …