Life is like a roller coaster ride. Birthdays are the parts where you look down and get sick.

I went to Busch Gardens today with my friend Lara since I hadn't been in quite a while. She works at the local hospital and had a little time available before her weekly volleyball game in Rocky Point. Since I live so close, I decided to take advantage of the deal at the park where Florida residents can purchase a single day ticket and get a pass that is valid for the rest of the year. Although it does not include amenities such as free parking or food discounts, I figure it was a good enough deal since it would actually take me less time to ride the bicycle to the front gates than it would to take the car, park, wait for the tram, and then walk to the turnstiles (plus waiting to board right when the park is closing and everyone else is trying to leave).

I've always really enjoyed the evening ambiance and like to go to the park for a couple of hours every 2-3 weeks when there are few people around. One can still get a free beer or two at the hospitality house if they wish and practically ride all the coasters as much as they like. We were able to hit the Gwazi wooden roller coaster twice in a row without getting back in line since there was no one waiting when we returned to the station. Since she hadn't been previously, we rode the dive coaster, SheiKra, a couple of times before heading over to Egypt and taking a ride on Montu, the coaster that has the track above the cars. I think it was a little much for me a start to feel a little bad after the last trip and decided I had enough of the rides for the day (I blame my dad's genes for that since he is pretty susceptible to motion sickness).

I refuse to tiptoe through life.. only to arrive at death safely.

On Saturday I had my first (annual?) Skydive Hash event. I really was not expecting nearly so many people since only about 10 people told me that they were going to camp and stay for dinner. Tina was a fun person that I met in New Orleans in February at Mardi Gras and convinced a few of her friends from Baton Rouge, LA to do a road trip to Tampa. They came in Friday night so I took the camper up so I could hang with them for a while. My friend Melissa came out with her buddy Robin for a tandem. Both of them just happened to be at the hang gliding field a few months ago when I was there. I later met Melissa and we thought it was pretty weird that we were standing next to each other a few months ago, only to met in person later. On Saturday quite a few people decided to make the jump including my father. He came out to watch me do my first skydive nearly ten years ago and I finally convinced him to come out and give it a shot. Dad even was planning to join in the hang gliding event a few months ago but was unable to fly due to high winds (though he did take the opportunity to do a flight on an ultralight). It was great to be able to ride up in the plane with him and even invert and watch him exit the door of the plane. A bunch of my other hash friends like Marcia from Jacksonville and many of the Tampa folks came to enjoy the weather and the event.

There were many big loads going up (such as 80 person formations) at the drop zone, so there was always something to see. Setting trail on Saturday was fun, but apparently the pack got lost when some locals decided to wash the flour marks away. :(
Anyway, the event went pretty well since a lot of good folks stepped in to assist such as Karen, Diana, Jason, and Jon, so their efforts are very much appreciated. We went through a full keg, 5 cases of beer, half a slab of ribs, chicken, and hamburger for the 35 people or so that showed up.

Nostalgia isn't what is used to be.

Here is the deal of the week for anyone remember some of the olds days of the arcade games. I remember when my dad and I use to play gmes on the old Atari or Intellivision. The classics of PacMan and Space Invaders are still going strong and there are several gaming joysticks that have the entire game in the joystick itself so all you do is plug it into the TV and start playing. Gamestop has a few of the classics available for about $5.

GameStop has a number of "Plug And Play" TV Games consoles for $4.99 with free shipping code FREESHIPALL.

Titles include:

• Spongebob 2
• Outrun 2019
• Namco Classic II: Ms. Pacman
• Ms. Pacman Wireless Classic
• Menacer
• DragonBall Z Collection
• Arcade Legends Space Invaders
• Fantastic Four

Skydiving - When in doubt, whip it out!

Since I'm hosting the skydiving hash next Saturday, I figured it would be a good time to get current again so I'd actually be able to jump with the folks that come out. Looking at my logbook, it had been a couple of years since my last jump and then even a couple of years before that since any real active jumping. I decided to do a coaching jump (pretty much jump with an instructor who helps work on form or technique) to make sure things were about as I remembered. Just like SCUBA diving for me, I can be out of it for quite a while but just as easily step back and have a tendency to remember these kinds of things (emergency procedures, traditions, etc) relatively well since it is mostly muscle memory and just paying attention or being observant. My buddy Jon also wanted to get back into it, so he sat in on an AFF class and did a Level I jump to make sure things were what he remember. We'll be definitely joining us next weekend, so it'll be good to be able to get in some fly time with a few friends.

Since we used the rig and parachute for a photo shoot for the hash tags last Thursday, I even had to repack my own main at home but was able to remember everything with relative easy. Except for being a bit unstable as a result of not flying in such a long time, everything went just as planned. It felt really good to be able to get back into the air again and I'm going to have to simply plan to try to jump at least once every 2-3 months to stay current. I don't think I'm going to be a regular jumper and get into relative work (doing formations with groups of skydivers), but I'd just like to feel the wind every now and then and enjoy the fall and parachuting itself ever now and then.

Never snort Coke.. the ice cubes may get stuck in your nostrils

Passover is here. No, I'm not Jewish, I just like Passover Coca-cola. Due to the special dietary restrictions for observant Jews (Ashkenazi Jews are prohibited from consuming corn during this period), the company puts out a special batch during the holiday that uses sugar or sucrose as the main ingredient rather than corn syrup. The special product is only really recognized by the yellow cap instead of the typical red or white. I like it because I can taste the difference in the product and think it is indeed a good bit better. Coke produced in other countries, such as Mexico, are also usually sugar based and can sometimes be found in specialized Mexican grocery stores. While you may not be able to find it on the store shelves at your typical Publix, Piggly-Wiggly, or Wal-Mart, often the managers can procure a few bottles for you from the distributor if you ask for a special order.

NPR had a blurb a couple of years ago if you're interested in listening to the short (~3 minutes) story. There is also a site that mentions a bit more about the history of the Passover Coke.

But this camera has a ROUND lens, I want to take SQUARE pictures!

I've had my Nikon Coolpix 5000 for a couple of years and really enjoyed taking pictures with it, however I've noticed a lot of the shots I want are actions pictures. Even group pictures and parties or events can be hard if you're trying to capture a moment or some kind of fast movement (ok, hold it, wait, one sec as it focuses, ok, almost... now, opps, no flash, hold on, hold on, one second....). I had been planning on getting a new camera for a while and have been doing some research. This week I decided to finally look around and order the camera. Just by coincidence though, the day I was going to look for pricing and make an order I saw a post on Slickdeals for a deal on the Rebel XT at Dell. Besides being a decent price, the poster found a 20% off coupon, recommended purchasing an additional $35 off $400 coupon from eBay if you didn't already have one, and pointed out the $100 rebate from Canon. I got the coupon at an auction for a total of $2 and had it sent to me within a couple of minutes and then made the purchase.

The camera arrived Friday afternoon while I was at work, but was ready for me to check out when I got home. Excitedly set up a picnic with my friend Lara at the local park along Hillsborough River got a chance to play with it for a while and got some neat shots. While we were there I checked up on my geocache and dropped off an old travel bug that I held onto for too long. The ease of use and quality of photos is very impressive. Although it doesn't have a rotating monitor since SLR cameras have no preview mode, the other features more than make up for it! I've posted two of the pictures below. The one on the bottom was taken of a couple having a picnic when it was well past sundown. They had a bunch of bags with tea lights around the blanket area that could be seen in the distance. A combination of the timer (so I wouldn't jar the camera) and long exposure (20 seconds) made for a great picture such that the photo came out much better than I could see. I could barely see the outline of the closest tress in the dark whereas the camera was able to make out quite a bit of detail. I'm looking forward to learning more of what the camera has to offer and getting some great shots in the future.

Life is a roller coaster, you have your ups and downs unless you fall off

Sometime last year Sheikra opened up with much fanfare at Busch Gardens. This is a dive coaster that Busch Gardens set up to increase attendance (they seem to open a new ride every 3 years or so). The coaster take you up to ~200 feet and then teeters the car over the edge for 3-4 seconds before dropping nearly straight down. There are a few other loops, a second drop and then a finish as it skims over the water throwing up a rooster tail behind it. A couple of weeks before it opened to the public, Busch Gardens set up a photo shoot for some marketing material. My friend Monica, whom I miss seeing after having not seen her in a couple of months due to a new boyfriend, works in the Busch Gardens marketing department and invited me to join. When she invited me for the first photo shoot in late May, I was just getting vertical again after severely twisting my ankle trying to get to second base several weeks before while playing kickball (apparently no means no). Since I figured that they wouldn't want to have crutches in the pictures nor deal with potential liability, I had to pass on the opportunity. A couple of months later another shoot was set up and she remembered me.

We had to show up around 6:30 in the morning and wear colored shirts sans any logos or marks. After signing a photo release we boarded and were told to keep our hands on the handle bars or below us and look like we were having fun. Then we just held on and waited to ride as many times as we could handle. The car would run through the circuit and we would stay in place until ready for the next ride. Unfortunately I could only handle 5 times in a row before I had to take a break before jumping back on 10 minutes later for another 2 rides before the shoot was done. Cameras were set up on the car as well as several places around the coaster to get some good shots. I didn't know if anything came of it until Monica dropped off a small stack of brochures for me while I was at work one day with my smiling face circled on one of them. It is kind of neat to see yourself in print, so I appreciate the opportunity as well as the chance to try out the ride a bit before it was generally open to others.

Running-A-Muck

This weekend was spent at Camp Run-A-Muck. This is the annual campout organized by the Orlando Hash House Harriers. We had the entire campground reserved for the 120+ hashers that showed up from all over the state and even outside Florida. Kiddie, CB and I left my house around 1:30 and got there around 5 o'clock to set up. After getting the camper set up relatively close to the fun we were ready to party. Festivities started early with disorganized games of beer pong, tippy cup, 3 Man (a dice game) and other things like that. Much of the weekend is a blur or fun and activities such as the Hash Olympics that had us doing dizzy Frisbee golf (twirl around a golf club 8 times and throw the Frisbee at your target within 5 seconds and then quickly repeating the process until you hit the target), board shuffle (4 people standing on 2 8' 2x6s had to walk in unison around an obstacle course), musical chairs using ones designed for pre-schoolers, boccee ball, and other fun things. The trail on Saturday was great since within the first one hundred yards we had a water crossing and a bare minimum of anything resembling a street or level ground! At some point some anonymous person (whom shall never be named by this blogger for fear of retribution) even fortified CaughtFromBehind's tent around 3 o'clock in the morning as he slept. That anonymous person has taken note that next time the industrial wrap used for packing pallets and luggage would be more effective and take less time to apply.

Some of us went kayaking Sunday morning while others just stayed under the shade and watched everyone else move around. My favorite part is always Sunday afternoons when there is a core of folks that just hang around and talk and swap stories. After partying all weekend people are just relaxing and I have as much fun then as the other previous days. Somehow someone came up with a queen sized mattress and threw it on the flatbed that previously carried the cooking gear to the hash. Somehow we all just gravitated to the trailer and then found ourselves doing an impromptu fat boy trail (traditionally a very, very short trail that is usually less than 100 yards in length done in the mornings after a big event so we can say that we did something athletic) where someone unexpectedly jumped into the truck and drove the trailer around the parking lot. After doing a quick pub crawl with some of the final folks to hang around (though I stopped drinking hours before since I had a long drive ahead) we finally left Orlando around 10 o'clock. Needless to say Monday was wholely unproductive, so I'm sure I'll be working overtime for the next few days to catch up. Oh well, it was well worth it. I met a lot of great people as usual and must give a shout out to Senior Spitzen, Kansas Snack Box/Rebarb/Give the *itch a Ring (no one could remember her name so we just kept renaming her all weekend), CaughtFromBehind, Kiddie, ThanksForTheMammaries, LunarEClit, Peterphile, Wronghole (who took the picture of me that is posted above) and all the others that made this a great weekend.