Saturday, September 18
8:00 a.m.
After a night of drinking beer with the Georgia delegation in front of
the Sandrift Hotel, our intrepid webmaster starts an IV of coffee and
ponders the beginning of a damp Saturday in central Florida... To
begin, Andy has done his homework, and anything that can be done has
been done in preparation. The DZ is set up very nicely, with a small
collection of mobile office buildings and a large banquet/DZTV tent
placed across the taxiway from the manifest. The taxiway has been closed
and a pair of buses will be moving jumpers from the usual boarding area
to the end of the runway. Andy's latest and greatest addition to the DZ
is the tiki bar in front of the restaurant, a very cool place despite
the butt-killing toadstool chairs.
Andy was also very gracious
in supplying OmniSkore with not one but TWO phone lines for our Internet
coverage. I have one phone line just for pumping the DZTV webcam up, and
the second for all other files. Among those "other files" is a
newly updated feature that we haven't used in a while: scoring details
for each team's jump. If you go the one of the results pages, you will
find an index of teams in the form of a
drop-down list in the upper right corner. Select a team number and it
will take you to that team's page, with a photo of the team and the team
member names. At the bottom of each team page you will find a link to
that team's scoring summary; click on that link and you will see how
that team has been scored by each judge. This page is generated by the
OmniSkore processor and uploaded automatically in real time; you can see
the team's score before they do! 11:00 a.m.
Official practice day -- today -- is touch and go with the clouds,
and teams continue to stream through registration. OmniSkore is locked
and loaded, the judges are warming up their bust buttons, and I'm off
for my third cup of joe. 5:00 p.m.
It's been dodge-cloud city all afternoon, but most of the teams are
getting in a practice jump or two. Airspeed has taken the day off, as
well as the Knights. Space Center FX put in a couple of jumps. I've seen
just about all of the teams I expected here and we are hopeful for
around 50+ 4-way teams. If we can get this Florida weather to cooperate
for a week, I think we'll have a terrific nationals. ![The packing area east of the main buildings](images/dz.jpg) ~
NEXT DAY'S TIDBITS ~ |