Saturday, 2 August 2008

I say Good-bye and You say Hello

Due to continuing problems with the old blogging software or let's say Apache/Mod_JK/Blojsom I decided to give up this blog and move to the Mac Server's Blog. It's layout is nice, what else would you expect from Apple, and it runs smooth as glass. I will keep this blog up and running for some time maybe even try to port over some interesting content but I won't write here anymore.

Therefore please update your Bookmarks / Favorites to this:

http://blogs.madplanet.com/users/schaefa

I hope to see you   keep on reading here

Posted by schaefera at 9:33 PM in

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Friday, 1 August 2008

Strange but True

Things are a little bit weird here. As you see my blog is somehow messed up and I had a hard time to locate the problem. It turned out that using Apache and Mod_JK is the culprit because using the JBoss web port is delivering a fast and good result whereas going over Apache things are getting messed up and also slow done. Unfortunately I cannot fix that by just running JBoss standalone because I have my other web site: j-community.org on the same box. So for now I cannot solve it but I am working hard on it.

Have fun - Andy

Posted by schaefera at 9:56 PM in Mac

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Randy Paush dies

From a mailing list I got a link to the video of Randy Pausch' last lecture and even though it did not change my life, probably because I am too old, it did made me think about my priorities in life and my relationship with my kids. I have to admit that I am too often stomped by a brick wall but for important things I am stubborn and from time to time I get passed such brick walls. Still I would suggest to everyone to watch the video of his last lecture on Really Achieving your Childhood Dreams.

  keep on reading here

Posted by schaefera at 9:53 PM in Personal

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Monday, 14 July 2008

Jump 10 to 13 and Packing

Now that I graduated from the AFF program and are allowed to jump solo I can do more jumps more quickly. This weekend I did a few jump especially jump # 13 on July, 13th. These jumps are a lot of fun even though the adrenalin rush is not what it was at the beginning. I like to twist and turn, flying belly up and exit the plane with a few front flips. Now I can push the envelope getting more unstable for longer period of time and then recover from it. On jump 13 I also tried to do a mock up chute cut off and then pulling the reserve handle. Because I have bo  keep on reading here

Posted by schaefera at 4:10 PM in Adventures in Skydiving

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Wednesday, 9 July 2008

First Solo Jump

Today's my birthday and also my first solo jump as skydiver. Because I have two free video recordings that came with the certification package I also decided to record it for all you guys. Because this is a solo jump I could do whatever I wanted and so I decided to do some of the cool stuff I did during the AFF program (Level 1 to 8). So this was my dive flow:

Exit with a back flip: I really like that because it is the easiest, the turn is slow and it feels great:


keep on reading here

Posted by schaefera at 4:34 PM in Adventures in Skydiving

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Monday, 7 July 2008

Level 8: Final AFF Jump

After bringing our newborn baby to the doctor for the first time I still had some time left for another jump. This time it was my last jump on the AFF program which when I pass I would be able to do solo jumps. But first I had to get up to speed with the Level 8 drill / dive flow. First a front exit, then a front flip by pull the arms and head under one's shoulder, a barrel and finally a touch with the jump master meaning I had to fly to the jump master and touch him with the hands. This jump went through without a problem beside that I opened too early on the front flip le  keep on reading here

Posted by schaefera at 12:58 PM in Adventures in Skydiving

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Sunday, 6 July 2008

Jump Level 7: New Twists

On Level 7 one will exit the door facing backwards looking a tail of the airplane. Through stretching the legs one makes a back flip. So the exit was not problem and I could recover into a stable position much quicker than yesterday. Then I had to do a barrel which is a turn around one's axis by pulling in an arm. Finally I has to perform what is called a track meaning I stretch my legs, pull my arms back until I look like an arrow. My jump master told me that I was too fast for him to follow. Looking at the altimeter right afterwards I already passed 6,000 feet and was on   keep on reading here

Posted by schaefera at 10:30 AM in Adventures in Skydiving

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Saturday, 5 July 2008

Jump Level 6: Off the "Training Wheels" Went

Jump Level 6 was the same jump as Level 5 except that I exited the plane without the jump master holding onto my gear. This meant that I had to stabilize myself after the exit which took some efforts to keep relaxed. Afterwards I took some left and right 360 degrees turns which were quite simple and did not pose any challenge. The rest of the jump including the landing were simple and I had no problems whatsoever.

Next Jump will be a challenge because there I am deliberately made unstable and I have to recover from it. This starts with a "scuba diver" style exit, followed by a keep on reading here

Posted by schaefera at 3:44 PM in Adventures in Skydiving

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Thursday, 3 July 2008

Another Mouth to Feed: Marcus Schaefer

After a sleepless night Marcus was born this morning 7/3/08 at 7:51. He weighted 8lb and was 21'' tall. He and his mother are feeling great and recover from the stress. I am sleeping a few minutes here and a few minutes there which does not really help to recover but that will take some time anyhow. Maybe the 4th of July will give a chance to sleep a few hours during the day even though I don't like to do that at all.

Beside a relative simple delivery we had the fortunate that Marcus was born in his amniotic sac which is rare and many see that as a sign of luck.

Next Stop: Joy  keep on reading here

Posted by schaefera at 4:47 PM in Open-Source

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Monday, 30 June 2008

Jump Level 4 and 5

Slowly but surely I am becoming an independent skydiver progressing in the first part of the certification. Up to Jump 8 (or AFF Level 8) I jump with two or one jump master. After that I am able to jump solo only guided by a coach. Still every higher level is giving me a little bit more freedom and more tasks to perform like checking the gear, do more advanced programs during free fall and even during the landing.

So level 4 programs (dive flow) was less than level 3 but I was let go earlier. Unfortunately I somehow got the idea that I need to turn which caught my jump master off gua  keep on reading here

Posted by schaefera at 8:12 PM in Adventures in Skydiving

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Friday, 27 June 2008

Third Jump this Morning

Another day another jump. This morning I had my level 3 jump which means that I did not have to do much but the jump masters would let go of me after I was stable and did the initial checks and the practice touch (touching the puller that will pull the chute open went pulled out). My master jump master was confident enough to move in front of me leaving my side meaning I did good. So next jump will be the same but with only one jump master and we will jump out backwards and not side ways as we did up to know.

Have fun - Andy

Posted by schaefera at 10:40 AM in Personal

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Thursday, 26 June 2008

A License, Second Jump and Thoughts about Risks

Yesterday I decided after all the adrenalin cleared my body that I love Skydiving and that I want to make the A license to become a certified skydiver. So today I was back at the Drop Zone for my second jump which was more or less the same drill just with turns rather than forward movement which is more exiting because going forward is hard to judge on 8,000 feet and 120 miles free fall but a turn is quick and noticeable. The jump went through quite well even though I have to make sure that reading the altimeter is not glancing at it but really understand what it means and to read it right. Around 6,000 feet I oversaw the altitude and later on 5,500 I though we are still at 6,500 because the altimeter runs counter-clockwise. After I saw the needle move I realized the mistake and pulled the chute.

  keep on reading here

Posted by schaefera at 3:58 PM in Personal

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Rip a DVD to post on Dot Mac

For my folks back home I wanted to put the video from my first jump on Dot Mac so that they can watch it over the Internet. Unfortunately this was a longer undertaking that expected. Anyhow I finally succeeded with some help from the folks at the sky diving school. ATTENTION: this is not an invitation to publish copyrighted material / DVDs but rather to convert material legally even though the entertainment industry has a quite corrupted view of that but that is another story, isn't it.

First, I downloaded keep on reading here

Posted by schaefera at 12:28 PM in Mac

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Wednesday, 25 June 2008

Jumping out of a Perfectly Good Airplane

Today I got an early Birthday present in form of a jump out of a perfectly good airplane at around 12,500 feet above ground. Living in Lake Elsinore, California, has the advantage that there is a Skydiving facility just around the corner.

Yesterday I took the First Jump Course lessons which ends with a jump but because of strong winds that was not possible. Therefore this morning I was at the facility bright and early to take the first plane. There I met my jump master which went through the procedures of the first jump several times. Eventually it was time to gear up and to rehears the jump again:

  keep on reading here

Posted by schaefera at 12:42 PM in Personal

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Sunday, 22 June 2008

The Clock is Ticking

Sorry for not blogging quite some time. First I was busy with the j-community.org site and then my wife started to building a nest for our forth son which is due by the end of the month. I, due to some experience, am still relaxed because the baby will be two weeks late like all the others. But one never knows and so I let my wife do what she has to do. So far everything goes nearly as smooth as glass and we are looking forward to our first, and hopefully last, home birth. My wife's sister is here helping us with the kids and to make sur  keep on reading here

Posted by schaefera at 9:02 PM in Personal

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