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MakeItHappen

Reflections on 2006

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As many people do at the end of one year and the beginning of a new year, I reflect upon the ending year. I ask what happened and what progress in life was made.

There is always the body count in skydiving. Most years I only lose one or two friends. This year has an unusually high body count, not just from skydiving either, but they were skydivers.

Max Mueller was someone I had jumped with on many POPS loads over the past 10 years. Whenever you asked Max to do 'such-n-such' he would do it. You never noticed him on the dives because he was always right where he was supposed to be. He was a ringer on the SOS dives.

Chad Zielinski was someone I never did jump with, but I knew him as a jumper out at Perris and his computer background at Nationals and Square1. He was a very handsome man and had a very nice car.

Barbara Duke was also someone I did many big-ways and medium-ways with. She was always spot-on, where she was supposed to be, no matter what the conditions. As fate would have it, a lost dog, named Little Max, bound her parents and me together and to the desire Barb had to help helpless animals.

Mariann Kramer was someone I met years ago when she was a 'new kid on the block'. Her enthusiasm was contagious.

Paul Joseph was one of my students at Coolidge. He always had a cynical and dry humor. He was an erudite speaker, meaning he did not BS his way through a conversation. He knew what was what.

Denny 'Bear' Gainor was someone I met when I first started jumping in 1981. He was always the lovable guy at the DZ. He was Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

Paul Moran was always late to show-up times and dirt dives, but he was a pretty good skydiver. He was jazzed after the 4-way we did with Dan BC. We cranked a gazillion points.

On a more positive note, 2006 saw some life improvements.

I declined to go to World Team 2006 and watched the enthusiasm of others create a new World Record of 400. I stand back and wonder where my enthusiasm and wonderment has disappeared too.

I helped the SOS jumpers get a new World record. In a mere 3 jumps, they set a record with no slot changes to boot. That was amazing!

I got another dog. Max is a bit bigger than I thought she was going to be, but she's a sweetheart. RePete gets a bit annoyed at her constant requests to play.

I adopted OmniSkore. That has been a very challenging quest.

We deployed the new Square1 website with some cool 'in-stock' features that are real time.

I turned 50 this year. Many years ago I speculated about what I be doing at 30 and 40 years old. I never projected to 50 years old. Shit - that's a half a century. I have to admit to being middle-aged - even if my brain does not want to say that. I do know I still aspire to be an SOS jumper. Those folks are awesome.

I don't know what the new year will bring, but it will be interesting.

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Make It Happen
Parachute History
DiveMaker

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