GabrielMathews.com | Biological Log

Last weekend on Sunday, I finally got up in a plane with the conscious decision to leap out of it at 13,000 feet.

Many of you already know this. What most of you don’t know is the small detail of my parachute failing…which I will get to shortly.

Currently I’m admitted to OSHU in the ICU…no…just kidding that is just f’d up. I’m fine…but my chute did fail.

Expanded:

My friend Rachel, (you know, the girl from http://blog.gabrielmathews.com/2009/10/social-experiment-002-and-my-30th-birthday/), and I decided the best idea we had in a while was to go to http://www.skydiveoregon.com/ and reserve a time to go and learn how to appropriately  fall to our potential demise while gaining a hefty dose of sympathomimetic catecholamine in the form of epinephrine.  We chose a cloudy day with hopes that the sky would break and we’d have a chance to fall.  Unfortunately, with a few hours of waiting, the clouds never did. Instead we were given a couple of vouchers stating our education on tandem jumping and our pre-payment status.

A couple weeks went by and finally the sky was looking less like January and more like June. I met up with Rachel for our weekly morning breakfast and we looked at the sky and realized ‘today is the day’. I ran back to my house to write a crude will and get on a t-shirt. I rushed back to Rachel’s house and we packed up and left. Out to Molalla, Oregon. The sky was still clear and the wait was the most excruciating part. The fun part, though, was getting a chance to watch the planes take off, see specs that were people appear in the sky followed briefly by a parachute opening and familiar silhouettes take shape in the sky, and gaining excitement for our turn. We met our instructors, mine made fun of my pants as they were still pegged from riding my bike earlier in the day, and we geared up. It seemed almost instantaneously that we were on our plane and facing the cattle door. You sit facing the back of the plane. with a bench in between your legs. An instructor was sitting in front of me trying to scare the girl he was attached to. My instructor was adjusting our attachments and joking with his colleague that Rachel was secured to. Finally at the 13,000 foot mark, the plane slowed, the green light went on, and an obvious veteran in a squirrel suit and a cobalt blue helmet said something that I couldn’t make out per the wooshing air in the cabin. She put down her metallic flaked visor and poured her body out of the plane effortlessly. Veterans in the back to newbies in the front. Ingenious really. You feel less afraid of the commitment and think to yourself, “Of course I’d roll out of a plane attached to only a human with a stuffed polyester blanket. in a backpack.” It was my turn. I gave Rachel a brief glance before scooching forward on the bench with my instructor. I peered off the edge holding my harness like a hiker’s backpack and just let go.

The Earth seemed to warp as my mind was bombarded with information. The wind pulled my face back and I reached a long moment of Zen before I noticed a slow in the decent. This was quickly followed by a sensation of speeding back up quickly followed by a sensation of a truck trying to yank out my spine.  What happened was the primary parachute failed to deploy properly (the slowing down), the instructor cut it free (the speeding up), the reserve chute deploying (the spine rip). He tapped me on the shoulder and said, “We just used both chutes!” The blood had rushed away from my head from the fast stop and I passed out for about 3 seconds. When I came to and realized that I was still coming down, reality washed over me. I was geographically lost and relied on the instructor for the rest of the drop to steer us into the field. Not that I had a choice, but I was glad someone knew where we were…not like you can stop and ask for directions at 5000 feet. We finally came into the field to land, with legs pulled high, we skidded in on our butts. I was really hoping to get a nice grass stain on my pants, but alas, the grass was too dry.

I waited for Rachel to land, came over and gave her a hug, and we came back into the building to de-gear. Both of us were sort of lucid as you might expect from the experience. We drove away from the field, found a spot by a passing river and ate strawberries and sandwiches while discussing our favorite parts of the adventure. My armpits are still a little bruised from the harness. (I’ll upload a picture eventually).

So that was my skydiving experience. I recommend it…especially with a reliable parachute…or an awesome instructor.

-G

My home base on the weekend where I share smiles, waffles, and some kick-ass french press coffee is Spunky Monkey. Located on the corner of NE 20th and Couch, this fine establishment used to be known as Ruby’s, has the perfect location in walking distance from my house. I can wake in the morning on Saturday’s and Sunday’s and count on kind baristas with no ego to make me a killer Charlotte’s Lament or a Conspiracy of Consciousness sandwich accompanied by a fine pull of espresso or an Italian soda.

The prices are just right and an ambiance created by Nick Drake and other wonderful folk musicians. The drive through in the back is signaled by a “Honk Clown Horn for Service” sign.

I’d go into some glamor shots of food and espresso, however, this is a place you just need to come to in order to really appreciate the holistic experience it offers along with free WiFi (on which I write my blogs lately)

So if you are ever in the neighborhood and are looking for a wonderful place to sit, relax, drink some Joe and have a smile. I really do recommend you give this place a chance.

You can follow them on Twitter- @SpunkyPDX

You can also visit them on the web at- http://www.monkeyroasters.com/

Have a wonderful and safe weekend folks.

-G

As I write this, I am watching one of the most ridiculous movies. “Doomsday” horrible flick. Anyhow.

At the end of March I started moving my things in to the new studio. The term ‘studio’ has such a sexy appeal before you actually move into one. With that terse statement out of the way, I must say I really am enjoying my new place. The new …OK…armor clad knights?…it has only been 25 years since the virus broke out…GUH this movie sucks…*ahem*…the new space is much smaller, but then again, it is only for one person with very few belongings. So I find it very appropriate.

More photos can be seen here in the flickr set.

Staying in the north east quadrant of the city was an appeal for me as I’ve fallen in love with it. I am literally 3 blocks from Burnside and a minute walk from a great coffee shop called Spunky Monkey. They feature their own brewed coffee, weekend waffles, and free internet (a huge plus for yours truly). A very friendly staff is matched only by the awesome baked goods and sandwiches that you would kill your family for…I recommend the sandwich affectionately called Charlotte’s Lament.

Seven blocks north of my new place is a lethal combination of DaVinci Arts Middle School and Steccato Gelato. I am stoked about the middle school as it has a great field for flying kites and playing games. Gelato is gelato.

I am now also much closer to Laurelhurst Park which I discovered this weekend. Aside from the pond algae problem I read about, it is quite a beautiful place to read, eat, and relax on these wonderful days Portland is experiencing.

As far as the work commute, I am now back in bike riding season, so it is pretty easy to coast down Sandy, to the new Sandy/Couch coupling project (nice work by the way Sam Adams), and ease down Burnside to the office just a proud 3 blocks south from there. In September iDL Worldwide is moving to a great new building in the park blocks in the Pearl District. This will be great as then I will be able to practically spit on Powell’s Technical Bookstore. I won’t spit on it though; however, I will buy copious amounts of math/science/and technical books.

This is a good new place. I am pretty sure I will be here for a bit while I save for something a little more permanent.

-Gabe