Sat`

Today was another great day for jumping. I woke up at 6:30 in the bunkhouse to make the first load and left around 9. Thats a full day right there. I am going to pass out right after saving this. I jumped with someone who i fly great with and had some really fantastic jumps. I am not ready to leave town.

Friday

After a 7am rehab and then workout i headed to spaceland. I jumped all day, and spent the night. The day started fast and i got slotted on a 4 way freefly jump within 5 min of being there. Next thing i know i was on a plane. I talked to Alex about some drills that i could do in the air. He started me off with riser inputs and different flares. I did 7 jumps. 

Thursday

Today i woke up and felt like crap. Didnt work out. didnt do anything but sleep. I had no motivation. I was hoping to go to spaceland, but was not up to it. Defiantly going tomorrow.

Wed

I went to rehab today and worked out so i got to spaceland pretty late. I was hoping to get on some loads, but there were no tandems or student so no jumping. I went up to the loft and just did the same stuff i have been. Starting to get used to the process and just listen to Dennis talk. Its really something to listen to someone who has been in the sport since 68' and has over 9k jumps. I have been out there everyday this week and since i am jumping again, i will be out there every day this week. O did i mention that the spaceland sponsored 8 way team is jumping tomorrow, which means light fun jump loads and lots of them!!! I am hoping to get 6-8 jumps in tomorrow. Really looking forward to it 

Tuesday

Today was the best day i have had in exactly two months. 5/19 is exactly two months from 3/19 which was my last jump. I spent the morning repacking my reserve with my rigger watching over every single action. I packed my reserve with out help except for placing the canopy in the bag (IMPOSSIBLE). Once it was done i got back into the air with one of my really good friends and did a two way. we did my favorite exit and i was in my sit while he was carving me on his belly. The next jump we did a 3 way clear and pull, so we were in the air for 15 min. It was so beautiful it was so nice. so nice. 

Starting up again

Today i went to spaceland and started to get all my gear good to jump. I pro packed my main and reassembled everything back together.  Today was a pure rigging day. I watched repacks and just helped out handing tools off and keeping tension on rigs, hanging up canopies and other things that i have learned over the past two weeks. I am going to attempt to repack my reserve under the supervision of my rigger. Something tells me that I am going to need alot of help. I am so so so excited to get back in the air and planning on jumping on wed. 

Sunday

I spent all day at spaceland. It was nice to see everyone jumping because the winds have been so so so bad the past two months. RW teams are going full speed and more freeflyers are showing up. The dropzone was at full speed today and is most likely going to be from now on. You should look at the 10 day weather for rosharon, tx becasue its flawless!!! I am going to pack some of my reserve this week and then i am jumping wed or thursday. Alex is going to give me my canopy course this week and im so excited to get back into the air! Today was busy catching tandems, bringing students to class, packing for instructors, picking people up who landed off, and helping STP students. Was actually a very exciting day there. CAnt wait to jump! 

SAt

Today was rainy and i did not want to go to the dropzone and see all the sad faces on my friends who can not jump and deal with all the tandem students asking when the weather is going to get better and complain about how they drove 2 hours to get there to skydive while it was raining and they want to jump. So i cleaned up the house and slept

Friday

Today was really nice again. I woke up really early and went to rehab and then straight to the dropzone. Most of the day was helping out the office. I brought students through the tandem class and looked over waivers and put their info in the computer. When things were slowing down in the office i practiced packing There needs to be more days like this.

2nd thursday

Today was the best weather i have had in houston in a very long time. Way too bad i am not jumping yet. I am going to jump next friday. I feel like i could jump about a week ago so i am waiting 2 weeks past that point. Today i spent most of the day taking students to class, spotting canopies, and helping out the instructors. Today was so busy for a thursday. I think they got up around 12 loads. Steve needed a little help in manifest so he tought me about the manifest program "jump run" it is confusing at first, but is really user friendly so i got used to it.

Wed

Today was another good day at the dropzone. I did a little work with the manifest ladies just moving tandems in and looking over waivers to see if they are filled out right. I brought tandem students through the class. (showed them the video and answered any basic questions). I observed how to fit a tandem student into their harness. Rory and Dennis were busy most of the day so I just packed and helped out where i could. Tomorrow is going to be a very long day because i have rehab at 7 am !! and then going to spaceland. Lots to learn, so little time.

There we go!

I feel much better today. I did not have rehab today. I woke up around 8:30 after a long night sleep. Went to the DZ and found a lot of work to be done in the loft. Today was the first time that i saw a reserve repack from start to finish in one sitting. It takes about 2 hours for someone who has a couple thousand repacks. I never could have imagined that it would be this complicated and hard, and i have over 200 main canopy pack jobs. I also learned about kill lines on a pilot chute and SKYHOOK. The skyhook premise is really cool, it automatically deploys your reserve in a cutaway, however unlike a RSL it uses the cutaway main as a pilot chute. I have never seen one in a rig before it was really interesting. I dont have rehab tomorrow either so its going to be another full fun day at the loft. Tomorrow i am going to install a hook knife on my rig!!

Monday, Monday

Ugh... I woke up for my rehab, and i was not feeling to well. I ended up taking a nap after and just did not end up getting anything done. Not too much to report. I should have three good days coming up

Sunday Sunday Sunday

Today was pretty relaxed. I slept in and headed over to Spaceland. I just hung out with my friends and helped out when needed. The winds were really high all day so most of the work was catching tandems and bringing them to class. I just got finished writing my weekly reflection. 

Weekly reflection

            This week was a little different that I imagined. I thought it was going to be a more relaxed week, but it was quite the opposite. Rehab and working out has been very difficult. My time on the dropzone has also been very tiring. The goal that is most important to me is to learn about rigging. My main interest is to learn more about the chute that is most important, the reserve. I have now deployed multiple reserves and have seen them unpacked and packed a couple times now. I am now much more aware about how reserves work. Packing reserves are much, much more complicated than I could anticipate. What I have enjoyed most is just the massive amount of knowledge that has been shoved into my head. When I walk upstairs into the loft, I do not know what is going to be up there waiting. To list off the top off my head I have learned to hang up canopies, reattach cutaway mains, adjust harnesses, pro pack, flat pack, flat pro pack, connect risers, install a kill line on a slider, and there is so much more to learn. I have not worked in the office yet because they have been so busy and not ready to teach me. I do not think that the office is going to be able to teach me everything I want to, but I will have years of knowledge to find in the loft. What a great time this is. 

rest

today i rested all day. I am heading to the dropzone tomorrow to help out

interssting day

today was very long and i need some time to sleep. ther eis only so much i can do. waking up today at 6:15 for 7 rehab was very hard and i found my slef dosing off today. I did do some more reserve packing watching, but it is still muchn harder than i expected. Going to take a lpot more time. I am not planning on heading over to spaceland today becasue the riggers are going to be jumping and i cant work in the office or do rigging on weekends, so i might not sue yet. i am goign to get as much sleep as i can tomrorow

by the way

My new mentor's name is  Alex O'Conner 

3512 Broadway Apt. 1306 

Houston, Tx 77581

his cell is 513 518 9097

he took me on my first solo and 

Another long day.

Today was another long day on the drop zone. I got much better at the propack, and kind of figure out more about the reserve. Just another day with the new rigger Rory failing at putting the canopies in the bags and repacking, repacking, repacking. I have rehab tomorrow at 7am. and then I am heading to the dropzone! 

Wow

Today was a long day. I woke up at 7 and got to spaceland around 8. I just got home.  There were some chores to be done around the dropzone and i pitched in. Today i learned a couple things that i have wanted to learn for a long time. The first thing we went over was reconnecting a cutaway main. There was also a reserve repack that i watched. It was a lot more complicated than i thought. I also helped install a kill line on a slider. It bunches the slider all together after deployment so it doesn't make a lot of noise under canopy. The biggest surprise that i had is that my sponsor in no longer working at Spaceland. He moved to florida to start his own dropzone! So i asked the jump master who did my first solo jump to be my new sponsor. His name is Alex O' Conner and i will email both Josh and Michelle his information tomorrow. Going to take a nap now.

YEA!!

Well today i went to physical therapy and had my second post op doctor appointment. Doc says that i am way ahead of plan and that i can start lifting upper body and start doing throwing range of motion stuff. I am going to bed right now because I am waking up at 7:00am for a 12 hour work day tomorrow!!! Senior project starts tomorrow.

First Day

Today was my first weekday home. It was filled with running shopping and Rehab. I found out that my shoulder is doing really well and that I am on a good recovery timetable. I have my second post op appointment tomorrow and I am starting all the rigging stuff on wed. 

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