Swoop!

[jay]

(SEG) I passed! *bounce*bounce*bounce*

After eight months of ice skating lessons and practice, I finally passed the last two beginner levels (gamma, delta) (!) and can register for freestyle next year. Catching up with my 11-year-old son :-). Tonight, my inside and outside 3-turns were precise, my forward outside-edges (kind of like S-turns) were better than usual, my inside-edges were marginal (the teacher was kind to pass me :), bunny-hop was acceptable (but I need blades with a reasonable toe pick) and lunges were "perfect". Heh. Now on to waltz jumps and spirals... it is interesting how some ice skating moves mirror aircraft maneuvers. Steep turns --> 3-turns, S-turns --> edges, for instance. And spirals are self-evident. :-)

At work, we have a 2-day symposium convening tomorrow about work done at our Arctic field test site on Devon Island, so I took advantage of having all of this summer's participants together to design how we will do our field communications. We settled on 3.5 GHz OFDM for trunk links (7-15 km, with a license), to either a fixed or mobile repeater (a Humvee that AM General is giving us), where we will shift to a modified IEEE 802.11b link 1-2 km further to the rover (a modified ATV). This required that several people give up their pet ideas... but it should work. Now to find a fast panoramic camera...

J and I aren't currently speaking, but other than that, today was an excellent day... (celebrating with Jameson's in coffee)

Comments

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

I find it to be lots of fun, and skating leverages my other interests in dance and flying... plus I have an LDR sweetie that has been skating for 10 years, so it gives us a common interest. One of my ambitions is to be able to ice-dance with her someday ;-).

There are two organizations that certify figure skating levels in the US: the Ice Skating Institute (ISI) and US Figure Skating Association (USFSA). Both also sponsor competitions for higher-level skaters. ISI tends to be a bit more laid-back and recreationally-focussed, while USFSA is a bit more serious and intense. I just passed the last two ISI Basic Skills (beginner) levels (out of six total).

[trinker.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the additional info!

Were you into ice skating before the LDR?

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

My oldest son was taking lessons before I was in that LDR, but I've only been skating for the past 17 months. Having a common interest in my LDR was as much of a factor as being able to keep up with my three boys (all of whom now take lessons :-).