Saturday, March 28, 2009

New Video

Watch in Higher Quality by clicking the 'HQ' button in the bottom right.

Friday, March 27, 2009

NEW CAMCORDER! - Fav Photos - #?


Just got in a new Canon HD Camcorder (the HF100). I settled on this one because it is tiny and only uses flash cards for storage, so no tapes or DVDs to keep track of and no internal hard drive that could fail - plus it makes it smaller.

So it will be good for hang gliding - I also bought a depth of field adapter so I can put my 50mm Nikon lens on it.

Stay tuned for my upcoming videos will be in much better quality!

Sunset out west


Entry into Aconcagua Park

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Breaking News

Really? This is what 24/7 news gets us:

More like Shmareer Shbuilder

What the f?

Careerbuilder's contest picked the top 10 and my vid isn't in it despite having a higher star rating and views than almost every one they chose!

One video only has a star rating of 2.5 stars from 15 ratings!

My video has 4 stars with 42 ratings!

Someone made an interesting comment on my video, and all other entries that weren't picked.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Weekend Pics

Me, Trevor, and Ricker


Launch - overcast

Monday, March 23, 2009

Weekend Flying

Saturday there was a crew of 14 or so pilots at Whitwell. I launched third and flew to 'Dunlap Int'l' by myself (7 to 8 miles?). It only took two climbs to get there.

While I was breaking down Ricker and Trevor showed up. Ricker took this picture with Trevor in his new T2C. The rigids made it to Hensons.


Sunday was really good for some. The rigids (Ollie, Stinnett, Lee-team) went to the Sequatchie valley and did a 100km task! Others towed or foot launched at Lookout and some got high (7,800' - good job Ricker and Jeff Nibler). I foot launched and struggled to get to 1,000' over the mountain at a time that a lot of people got flushed out which I did as well.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

AIG

I wish people were as angry about this AIG bonus money as they were about all the bailouts to begin with!

AIG bailout: $170,000,000,000
AIG bonuses paid that people are pissed about: .1% of their bailout money


Don't get me wrong, I'm all against the bonuses, but that's like getting slapped in the face but then being mad the person that slapped you didn't wash their hands first. Inflation here we come!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Nicholas Cage and Letterman think HG is cool

Our sport is well represented here!

This makes me feel cooler than I think I might be, thanks Nicholas Cage!

It starts at about 3:15 minutes in.

In almost a week, I have gotten 0 votes here, but hoping to be in the top 10 in this contest on the 24th

Friday, March 13, 2009

Hero to Zero (If bored, check out all the links)

Thanks for everyone's participation in my recent Jim Beam Contest and Careerbuilder.com contest.

In the past couple of days I've gotten 0 votes on the Jim Beam contest. That one is looking beaker, I mean bleaker, with each day. I was in third a while back, now I'm in 8th. The video in first has garnered over 400 votes in 4 days, I've gotten 166 in 3 weeks. The carrerbuilder contest voting for the top 10 will begin on the 24th, so I'm crossing my fingers for that one.

What I would really like to do is make a Warren Miller-esque documentary on hang gliding - its got to be done and I'd love to do it!

Got my HAM license - my call sign is: KJ4KEQ - I don't think Top Gun would have been as cool of a movie if they had to use those kinds of call signs.

Here's another Aconcagua photo - looking at the mountain from the Normal Route's base camp (I climbed up one side of the mountain and came down this side)

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Ultrasport 135 FOR SALE

I'm selling my WW 135 Ultrasport, suitable for pilots in the 125-210 weight range. It is an INTERMEDIATE glider.

It has about 80 hours on it and the sail and everything is in great shape. There are only a few cosmetic spots on the sail, but this glider has a lot of flying left to do! Last time I flew it was June 08. I've got a topless now, so that's the reason I'm selling. This thing is a thermaling machine!

Make a comment if you want to see more pictures and I can email them to you. It's located at LMFP in Georgia.

See this glider in action here and here

____Asking $1000, or make me an offer!_____








Friday, March 6, 2009

Testies

Vote for my videos here and 5-star rate this one

I'm taking the HAM radio test tonight, and am about to begin studying - college taught me well.

Eric has a cool short video of him flying over the flooded LZ here

Below is another Aconcagua pic, taken at about 19,000' the morning of summit day. That little bump in the horizon is the shadow from the mountain.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Sixth - email from the contest - dropped grad school - Fav Photo

Moved from 5th to 6th (Jim Beam Contest) today as a video jumped about 100 votes in a few hours to be in 2nd. People are pulling some weird stuff with the voting.

Luckily, voting doesn't count for much right now - I found out today from an email from the contest administrators. Being the good citizen I am I just sent them a note saying you might want to watch as there are some weird things going on with voting. I got a nice reply that said to pick the top 5 the judges don't look at votes, votes will be reset once the 5 are choosen. Quote: 'the votes are just for fun right now.' Which is probably true, but couldn't hurt to have a bunch of votes.

Dropped out of grad school today - now I can be a real hang gliding bum (but I do still have a job).

I'm going to post a few photos over the next couple days from my trip a few years back when I soloed Aconcagua (22,841'). This one is the third day of the hike to base camp 'Plaza Argentina.'

Monday, March 2, 2009

Dropping like the Dow!

Well, I dropped from third to fifth over the weekend and to two really bad videos, I mean you have to see them to believe how bad they are.

So now I'm 21 votes from being back in third in the Jim Beam contest, but my careerbuilder.com video has gotten a lot of good star ratings (see previous post), so thanks to everyone for your help! Also just noticed, someone made a video with the same title as mine! wtf!

The viper is sold! But I still have the matrix for sale if anyone is interested!

Below is a funny picture from a college race, the conference meet a few years back. Can you tell the photographer is standing in the middle of the course? If you look at my face I think the other guys are overreacting a bit - I came in third in this race, behind number 21 and 17 from Depauw (I'm to the right in purple, the one without the mohawk).