Just after Thanksgiving break, the Chairman was inspired... His inspiration
was not for a drop; it was for a video. He storyboarded it and spent two
nights shooting background footage for it with The F**k and BurgerMan. Several
days worth of preparation was put into the actual drop. When it was completed,
the drop and video cost in excess of $200. This drop added two-way radios, a
police scanner (to monitor campus police activity) and second video camera to
the usual arsenal of equipment. About a week before Christmas break,
BurgerMan, The F**k, CompuButcher and the Chairman carried an innocuous looking
green military-style duffel bag and two backpacks full of equipment to the top
of the CII stairwell. The duffel contained a douglas fir Christmas tree and
ornaments. The F**k and BurgerMan decorated the tree while the Chairman taped
it. When they were finished, control of camera one was passed to CompuButcher.
The Chairman took still photographs of the tree then made his way down to the
bottom of the stairwell. He set up video camera two outside a window, aiming
it at ground zero. He signaled the top crew that he was in position.
Approximately ten seconds later, artificial snow started falling past the
window. Several seconds after that, he heard a loud "whoosh" followed by a
bang as the tree fell. He yanked open the door to the stairwell and ran in.
As he snapped several pictures of the fallen tree he heard the rapid footsteps
of his comrades several floors above him. He then left the building, meeting
the top crew at the back door. By this time, all three cameras as well as tree
ornament boxes and the green duffel bag had been stowed in the droppers'
backpacks. The four calmly walked past a campus police car speeding towards
the CII on the way back to the dorm. They later found out (from John Doe who
was listening to a police scanner in his dorm room) that the top crew had been
spotted running on the seventh floor and a call went out to security for three
perpetrators. The only reason they weren't stopped -- there were four of them
by the time they were spotted.
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