Aeroplanes & Parachutes

Although the first recorded successful parachutist occurred in 1797, skydiving didn't become an international sport until 1951.  Many a people have said, "I don't see the point in jumping out of a perfectly good airplane." Its funny because the chances of dying in an airplane crash are 1 in 1.6 million, chances of dying in a skydiving accident are 1 in 100,000 (significant difference); however, comparatively the chances of dying in an automobile accident are 1 in 6,000 (wow) and those same people don't think twice about getting into their car every day.  Basically you'd have to jump out of a plane 17 times in a year to equal the same odds as driving your car.

As you might guess I recently jumped out of "a perfectly good airplane."  Although, perfectly good is questionable considering we didn't really have seats and there wasn't a real door on it...so I guess its relative.  However, the experience of free falling from 13,000 for 60 seconds was incredible.  The best part was stepping out the door and watching the plane fly away (or watching me fall away depending on your perspective).  The weightlessness, the wind blowing in my face, the confusion at the fact that it didn't cause an unnecessarily crazy adrenaline rush, the experience as a whole was incredible.  In fact, my thought was I was falling, besides, "this is incredibly awesome," was something akin to, "how does this compare to other things I love to do."  As many know, the thing I love doing the most is Alpine skiing in powder.  In comparison, I'd take a day of skiing in 24" of fresh powder at Snowbird in a fraction of a second over jumping from a plane.  Not because I'm worried about safety, but the enjoyment factor, the marginal benefit I receive from skiing in powder is significantly higher than the benefit I receive from jumping from a plane.  Will I jump again?  Absolutely, will I jump enough to get my United States Parachute Association certification, probably; but given the opportunity to spend a weekend jumping out of planes or dropping into the Bookends or Great Scott will have me donning my helmet and skis every time.

So here's a tribute to what I love most:

Standing Still...

I recently moved.  I've had a lot of people ask me why I moved.  I have a dozen reasons why, but in thinking about it I realized it mostly has to do with the fact that I just need change.  If anything stays too constant in my life for too long I go stir crazy.  The last 12 months has been the longest I've lived in a single location in the last 10 years.  I've averaged a new place every 6 months for the last 10 years.  Right now I want to travel, I want to go explore the world and visit new places, new people, and learn and understand more.  I've been feeling this for awhile but recently was reading my cousin's blog about her experiences (http://brooklynday.blogspot.com) and couldn't help but feel jealous for her adventures.  Perhaps I'll have the chance to travel again soon, and hopefully manage the growing frustration that comes with staying in the same place.

Classical Music: A radio epiphany

Part of the new market segment?
Source: http://www.watchmojo.com/blogs/
images/woman-rock-climbing.jpg

I found myself listening to a classical radio station while driving home the other night from the climbing gym. I enjoy classical music, but am limited in my experience and exposure. The DJ (if classical radio station hosts can be called DJs) was speaking in the typical soft, cathartic voice that causes you to only want to sleep rather than engage in what she is saying. It occurred to me that classical stations are failing to engage huge market segments. There are probably hundreds if not thousands of young men and women who would enjoy listening to classical music more, if the context of the delivery was tweaked. I thought classical stations need a segment—maybe on the late-late weekend hour so as not to upset their very rigid, traditional base—where the DJ is excited about the music and makes classical music rock. It seems a contradiction of term, classical rock music, but really it’s there, it’s interesting, and it’s fun, but I feel that its wasted on those few individuals who are tapped into classical music while the rest of us don’t even have the chance to know what we are missing since the cost of understanding what we are missing is so high we’ll never be able to breach the gap. So I’m requesting that classical music stations take time to find a DJ who will make classical music rock for the rest of us and maybe you’ll find a whole new market-segment you never knew existed.