Conquering rapids

Since my last white water kayaking trip in April, I had been looking forward to beginning of school term in falls as JHU Outdoor Pursuits would be organizing trips again.

I signed up for the beginners' trip on Sep 14 where we kayaked along Violet's Lock. It was the same river I went to for my first kayaking trip.

As safety was paramount in this sports, I went for my rolling session. I remembered that I was able to roll with the kayak model called Pop and practiced in it. I succeeded in rolling eight out of ten times which helped to boost my confidence for the trip. However, I still felt the need to have someone watching over me before I rolled.

The weather on Sunday was perfect. In fact, it was hot and dry as compared to the cold and rainy conditions for my previous two trips. I was able to paddle straight as opposed to the first trip where I was heading left and right except straight. I had learned to control my paddling strokes and use my hip to control the direction I desired.

There was one section of the river where we could practice surfing because of a big hole. A hole is usually formed behind boulders where water is circulated. In order to get to the hole, I had to pass fast flowing current. As I did not tilt my kayak towards downstream, my kayak caught the current and I went down under.

Not feeling panic and refusing to do a wet exit, I went to the starting position of rolling over. With one swipe of the paddle, I got myself upright and was feeling high from 'self-rescuing' myself. Undeterred from my failure, I tried one more time but failed. This time round, after attempting thrice, I could not roll over and drank a lot of Potomac River water. One of the kayak leader did a T-rescue. I was coughing badly after letting some water entered my trachea and my throat as of today, Sep 25, still feels weird. (I was coughing badly for two weeks before this trip and I am not a hypochondriac).

Along one stretch, I T-rescued a fellow participant who had capsized unexpectedly. Fortunately, I saw him since no one was around.

At the last stretch of the trip, I too capsized and tried to roll but failed. I was trying to hold on to the riverbed rocks with one hand and the other to the paddle so that the leaders would not have to retrieve it downstream. I could feel the river current swiping me downstream. After being rescued once again, my hands suffered several small cuts from the rocks.

It was fun and great to be able to roll in rapids but I would need more practice to perfect it. I am considering on the next beginner's trip which is on Oct 5 but it clashes with the river rafting trip I am organizing.

Hooray, my Nikon D70S camera is back in action

After my Yellowstone trip in June 2008, I found there were black specks on every picture I took. Being a perfectionist and a detailed guy, I was upset at the specks marring the pictures, especially of clear, blue skies. This made me uninterested to take pictures till I got rid of those specks.

Since I had two lenses, I tried to determine where the specks could be by switching lenses. Alas, the specks appeared on the exact spots which meant they were inside the camera body.

I sent my camera twice to Nikon Servicing Center (NSC). For the first time, I sent my camera body but they shipped back without doing anything. For the second round, I sent both my camera body and newly bought zoom lens where they replaced some components of the lens. However, the specks were still there.

I was frustrated and felt cheated even though I printed out a picture indicating the locations of the specks.

During my last trip to New York City, I met a guy at The Top of The Rock where I asked him to help me take pictures of me with The Empire State Building. I approached him since he was carrying a Nikon camera too. He asked if he could change the manual settings on my camera. That was my sign to ask him if he could help me identify what was happening to my camera.

He said if there were black spots, then the sensor needed cleaning. For greenish spots, the problem was fungal. He also said any camera repair shop could clean the sensor after I mentioned sending to NSC.

Not willing to be disappointed by NSC again, I searched the internet and found an independent authorized Nikon repair service center. I called them up and was given an estimate of $45 to clean the sensor.

After sending the body to Illinois, I was getting worried when I did not get any phone from them after three business days. Thinking to call them the next day, I got a letter of repair estimate on the same evening. I was shocked to see the bill. It cost $115 plus $12 shipping.

I called the next day to complain why there was so much discrepancy between what was quoted to me and on the letter. There were services which I did not requested such as auto-focusing adjustment, TTL flash etc. After resolving the amount, it was settled at $45 plus $12 delivery.

Just when I thought I should be getting my camera back, it arrived on the same night. I wasted no time to take pictures and check for specks.

I was elated to find the major specks gone from viewing the LCD screen. I would need to transfer to a computer screen to scrutinize the cleaning but I am upbeat about it.

Striking off another "things-to-do-before-I-die" list: Tandem skydiving on 9/21/08

I guess I am not the only one interested to skydive at least once in life. In fact, I think it is a cliche but who cares. For example, in the movie "The Bucket List" starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, one of their wish lists included skydiving.

I had to skydive before I have no guts left and major life commitments prevent me from doing such a risky sports.

The drop zone I went to was Freefall Adventures, located in New Jersey. I was surprised to see a crowd already filling up waiver forms before the official opening hour at 9 am.

There were at least eight pages of waiver form I had to sign and initial, agreeing not to sue if some mishap were to occur to me. I found one item amusing but realistic where I had to fill in any distinguish marks since it meant that my corpse had to be identified by someone.

Participants also need to view a short video clip, emphasizing on the risks involved in skydiving and a longer section on the thrills of skydiving.

I decided to include a video package to capture my first tandem skydiving for memory sake. My senses would be overstimulated from an adrenaline rush.

Rob was my tandem instructor who had 17,000 jumps under his belt and started skydiving since 16. My video cameraman was also called Rob.

After gearing up, we were taught how to exit from the plane, adopt the free fall position by arching the hip, landing with bended knees juxtaposed, and most importantly, pulling the cord to release the parachute at about 5000 feet or the instructor would pull the cord.

The aircraft we boarded had a rectangular, transparent door where I had a good view of things getting tiny since I sat closed to it. I got more nervous as the plane ascended higher. I was having second thought on why I had committed myself to jumping out of a plane at 13,000 feet. I had to psych myself that my life was in good hands.

When we reached an altitude of about 13,000 feet, the door was opened. Rob, the cameraman was the first to jump. I did not have the chance to hesitate since Rob, my instructor, was pushing me towards the door. My heart was in my mouth when we leaped from the plane. I felt I was committing suicide. You could see I opened my mouth during the exit (second photo).

I remembered seeing the clear, blue sky before flipping back to see Earth. As I wanted to feel the full effect of free falling, I was dressed in shorts and a long sleeve with a t-shirt over it. The temperature was cold. We were falling at a rate of approximately 100 feet/second for about 60 s. During this time, Rob was filming and taking pictures of me where I did the Superman's pose and breast stroke or mahjong pose. I was also supposed to hold on to him where we spun around for video taking. I felt a tremendous force pulling us apart when we locked our hands. Rob, my instructor, was spontaneous and posed with me.

I was enjoying the rush of free falling and was shouting away. My mouth dried up quickly when I opened it. The force of the wind was so great that it created folds on my thighs and cheeks.

Oblivious of time and height, Rob pushed my left hand towards my face and I saw the altimeter's needle at 5,000 feet graduation. Conditioned from the safety training, I pulled the cord at my right hip.

The sudden slowing down by the opened parachute caused me to swing up and I could feel the strain around my thighs where I was strapped.

Thereafter, Rob, the cameraman proceeded towards the landing zone to get ready to take my landing shots while I admired the scenery from above.

I had to blow my ears because of the pressure built up from free falling and my voice was coarse from shouting with excitement.

Rob did some maneuvering of the chute where we spun around and I felt the strain again.

Instead of landing on both feet, my left foot got the impact. It was painful but I was uninjured.

The one-minute of free falling was awesome, thrilling, and exhilarating. I would consider jumping again if I have spare cash.

The Last Lecture

After reading The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch during my travel to New York City this past weekend, I was motivated to think positively. My life is not bad at all. (I am undergoing a period of searching and maturing as I am wrapping up my life chapter as a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University.)

Suffering from the certain death sentence of pancreatic cancer, he concentrated on living life to the fullest. The book is a very practical and optimistic way of leaving behind a living legacy, not only to his children but to those seeking fulfillment in life.