This year's Skydiving for MS is past, and while it didn't go off without a hitch -- due to the same threatening systems that dropped tornadoes around Chicago, all the day's flights were grounded -- we still had a big turnout, including our corporate sponsor Red Bull, and hailed plenty of attention and funds to the cause ($12-14,000 as of last week, final tally to come -- and that's even having lost the contributions of a busy day's worth of jumps, a percentage of which usually goes to our total).

This event naturally attracts energetic and optimistic people -- I was looking forward to jumping alongside a gentleman who is 97 years old, but it wasn't to be -- but no matter what happens during the day, we all leave the after-party feeling warm and ready to take on the world!

Thank you for your expressions of support! Next year, I'm taking it even higher.

Me on the left, with the Grand Poobah, Skydiving for MS Chairman Dave Perez

Fly, boys, fly

Conquer the sky!

SKYDIVING FOR MS COUNTDOWN: 5

What do you know, Skydiving for MS in England!

Oh, the entire jumping process is a charge, all right. Cool freshness in my nose and lungs, anticipation in my skin, squinting against the golden sunrise. Suiting up. The urgency and noise of a rushed boarding. The ascent into the clouds (I'm tapping my feet). Of course, the intensity of freefall. The peaceful vista under the canopy. I feel very alive during those moments.

Now, if ever I were to splat, I would look the fool. We are blessed with one life, so is it wise to flaunt it? I mean, driving a car is dangerous (numbers of dead equivalent to the total Americans killed in a whole decade in Vietnam are lost on our streets here at home about every 18 months or so, unremarked), but driving is usually necessary to function in society. But parachuting?

Well, it is my act of defiance against my circumstances. Something attacked me, some unknown agent, an organism or some other twist in my fate. Life has got me in its grip, and it's not letting go -- it's squeezing harder.

Life's got all of us, really, but I'm feeling it acutely. I can't swing an ax. I can't toss a baseball to the kids. I can't open a jar of pickles for my wife. I can't even sign my name like I learned in kindergarten. I can't do very many things.

But I can skydive.

The time draws near.

Suiting up.

Hearing the roar of the propeller engines in the background.

Tugging those harness straps one last time, good and hard.

Piling into the side of the airplane, while the wooden stairs are pulled away.

The door rolls down.

The engines scream.

Through the Plexiglas, the world speeds past.

And then it all falls away ...

Nothing but blue skies and puffy white clouds floating in the air before you.

The door rolls up, and the cool air blasts you in the face.

Take a deep breath (the air is thinner up here).

The Earth is threes miles below.

Time for action!

OK, you've got to excuse me, I'm psyching myself up. The big day is less than a month away. Skydiving for MS 11 is going to make a big noise!

I saw this article recently, about a new kink in the sport. It's called SWOOPING (make sure you watch the video on this page!), where these madmen do all the crazy maneuvers when they land. I've seen it for years already: guys skidding off the water, slaloming around obstacles at 100 mph, even burning out on a Slip and Slide! Now it's got a formal name.

Whatever ... it all gets your heart racing.

To life!

(Photos courtesy of Big Air Sportz.com, Blue Water Adventures, Photo Nuclear, Jupiter Images, The Roanoke Times and the New York Times.)

The Associated Press: Ex-Pres Bush Goes Skydiving Again

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP): He's 83 and just had hip replacement surgery in January, but that isn't keeping former President George H.W. Bush from skydiving.

Bush celebrated the grand reopening of his presidential museum on Saturday with a surprise skydive, his sixth and his first since 2004, when he jumped to celebrate his 80th birthday.

Bush jumped on Saturday strapped to an expert from the Army Golden Knights parachute team, as he did three years ago.

His first parachute jump was in 1944 when his plane was shot down over the Pacific island of Chi Chi Jima.

The 69,000-square-foot museum, described by the former president as the "centerpiece of my library," has been mostly closed since April for an $8.3 million facelift.

The museum and library opened 10 years ago this week on the Texas A&M University campus about 100 miles northwest of Houston.

[Also, here is excellent video of jump 2004 with the Golden Knights. Strong!]

In the wake of the big event, I needed to recharge the batteries. But I'm OK. I've been writing a lot for my wife's business, and hadn't energy for much else. Thanks for the e-mails, and sorry to worry you.

I've got a write-up to post any day now, including great news of Ms. Vanita's recent exploits.

In the meantime, here's the transcript from a TV profile of one of our Skydiving for MS diehards. MS activist and mother Michelle Tapia is not only dedicated and generous, but she's a percolator of ideas who is energizing simply to talk to. Cheers to her and her wonderful husband Humberto and kids.

Chicago area family helps mom with MS

It was a fantastic weekend, and the turnout and final totals were amazing. I'm still recovering! More tomorrow.

It's time to go, in a mere 12 hours. Yeah!

The donations are in. People are in from across the country, including veteran jumpers and just normal participants with MS. I myself have friends in from Kansas and Ohio.

Thanks to Kay Douglas, Hollywood Casino, and Branmor's American Grill for helping make Skydiving for MS X a success.

In fact, it's a measure of the popularity and size of the event now that we had to schedule our jump for 7:30 a.m. There will be two planes bringing up over 60 flights of divers, all day long. That's massive.

Man, 7:30 a.m.! That air up there, three miles up, gets pretty brisk. Some cobwebs will be shaken. But then, we'll celebrate the harder.

So say a prayer for us, a well-meaning planeload of goofballs soaring through the chill air while you're enjoying your morning coffee.

Geronimo!

Dana Bowman was a member of the US Army Special Forces elite paratroopers, the Golden Knights.

(The Knights in action.)

On a 1994 training maneuver over Yuma, Arizona, Bowman collided in midair with another jumper, Sgt. José Aguillon. They hit at 300 miles an hour.

Bowman lost both legs.

Aguillon lost his life.

(Sergeants Aguillon and Bowman.)

Thirteen years later, Bowman continues to tour, speak and skydive. He spreads the message to continue living, and to concentrate on what you have, not what you haven't.

DanaBowman.com features his story, along with videos and speech excerpts.

To life!

(Only four days until MS-X: the 10th Annual Skydiving for MS!)

... they look a little something like this.

That's Jay Stokes, 640 times, last September 8 in Greenberg, Indiana, setting the world record for most jumps in 24 hours. Stokes is a 50-year-old former Green Beret who attracted a ton of media coverage and used it to raise money for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation (providing scholarships to the children of fallen serviceman) and the Special Olympics.

And to think, for the record he only needed 600! Cheers, Jay!

From the event website:

A normal skydive: this typically involves packing, practice on the ground, preflight checks on all gear, weather and wind observations, loading into the aircraft, flight to altitude (20 minutes), preparations for exit, exit, freefall, canopy, landing, and debrief. This "average" skydive could easily take 90 minutes, from start to finish.

Jay's Skydive: Jay comes swooping in as near to the aircraft as safety will allow; he has already undone his chest strap on the way down. Two or more people come running up to and alongside him as continues running toward the waiting plane, wriggling out of the used gear. The assistants remove his rig as he runs and put on another one, which he must attach, chest and legs, without missing a step. A stumble would waste precious seconds. From the time his feet touch the ground to when he's back on the plane takes about eight seconds, if all goes well. He jumps onto the plane as it is gathering speed for takeoff. Onboard, a jumpmaster checks his parachute's attachment points, deployment and cutaway handles, as he puts on the seat belt required by aviation law. There is an oxygen console on board to help overcome the constant fumes of the revving engines, plus food and water. He drinks purified water and energy drinks and eats only the carefully planned food, all on a schedule of hydration and nourishment worked out well in advance. In a few seconds the plane ascends to the "release point." Jay checks the location of the landing target and jumps out at exactly 2,100 feet. He activates his deployment device immediately as he goes. Once open under a good canopy he immediately pulls down on one of the steering toggle handles to begin a radical "spiral" to the ground. This greatly accelerates his descent and requires strength and stamina to hold the "toggles" in the proper position all the way down. The centrifugal force generated by the spirals and the effort to hold the toggles in the correct position are the most arduous and physically demanding elements of this athletic marathon. The pilot has put the aircraft, as soon as Jay left, into a nose dive to the runway, generally beating Jay to the ground. Jay lands his canopy and runs to the waiting plane. 600 times in 24 hours.

Jay's attempt will require one skydive every 2.5 minutes for 1,400 minutes, or 24 hours, starting at 8 a.m. on Friday, September 8, and ending on Saturday 8 a.m., September 9, 2006. He will be the only person in history to ever do such a thing. "During the event, I always think about what it is for, those families and children and their hope for the future and that gives me strength." When asked how expects to accomplish this feat, occurring incidentally on his 50th birthday, he says simply, "I will not stop until I run out of time."

It's just that simple.

Meanwhile, MS-X is 9 days away!

(And man, am I having a hard time logging on lately!)

It's 10 days from today.

Ten days from today, propellers will be revving,

Hearts will be pounding, adrenaline pumping,

Corks will be popping,

Heroes will shout,

Cowards will pray,

Hopes will soar,

And over the cornfields of northern Illinois,

A thousand colored parachutes will open like new flowers as

SKYDIVING FOR MS 10 is underway!

Check back here for all the excitement of the countdown. And thanks for the wonderful welcome back, my friends! I missed you too.

Skydiving for MS 2007 -- MS11 -- is June 9, 2007.

Congratulations to Hollywood Casino in Aurora, Illinois, for sponsoring the event. You guys rock!

I'm already starting to plan and fundraise for 2007. Here's to the spirit of MS10!

http://www.nationalmssociety.org/ILD/event/event_page.asp?p=2015&e=456

The big day is this Saturday, June 10.

Already Chicagoland Skydiving Center's biggest event, this year we expand from one day to a full weekend. This will attract even more star jumpers, more industry sponsors, more participants, more media, and more dollars invested in MS research and services. Thanks to the generous local businesses and volunteers, 100 percent of the money from Skydiving for MS goes right back to you.

To donate, visit

http://www.nationalmssociety.org/ILD/event/event_page.asp?p=2015&e=456

(And who is this good-looking guy?)

Biggest donor gets to push me out of the plane. Only stand back, or I'll take you with me.