CanuckInUSA

[sarcasm] I'll be taking applications soon for any young "you're a hottie and you know" types who will be willing to sponge off of my ties to the "new" promised land (the Saudi of the North ... Alberta Canada and it's oil sands). Of course currently it's not even remotely close to being a skydiving haven. But I figure with global warming, in X number of years from now it'll be pretty darn nice there and as long as the tree huggers don't expedite the leaders of the free world to develop any alternative energy plans anytime soon, the good people of Alberta will be basking in their wealth for years to come. Now I by no means should NOT be confused with one of the really wealthy Alberta SOBs (who can resemble Texans at times), but I do own a very small piece of the pie there and am not as bad off as some other Ice-backs, Wet-backs and Yankee-doodle dandies when it comes to having to provide for myself in the future. [/sarcasm] PS: I think we're all ####ed. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

For those who push the limits with certain types of BASE jumps, they may need to budget extra money towards replacing a rig which was either confuscated by the man after they got busted, or that they needed to leave behind on that cliff after they got hung up and were emergency evacs on. It can happen, it has happened ... and then all of a sudden BASE doesn't become that cheap sport some people assume that it is. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I can't speak for Grant, but besides lining his pockets (just kidding there big guy) a portion of the $50 goes towards course materials, the CPC and some may even need to go towards paying their judges this season like some of the other districts need to do. I'm not going to bother searching which thread it was in, but Chris Hayes wrote something not long ago which did a good job of making us realize where our money went. But of course Grant needs to save for his retirement as well and that's where your $50 goes ... once again, I'm just kidding. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Hey this is a good attitude and you shouldn't get too many of us arguing with you here. It's all about balance. Skydiving (and BASE) have been a mixed blessing in my life. It's taught me the lessons illustrated above (that there is more to life than the pursuit of the almighty dollar), but it's also taught me that my "all I want to do is jump" attitude can be destructive. I haven't been around this sport all that long, but trust me, it's all about balance. Agreed, that was rather harsh from Skin and a Greenie (a moderator) may deal with him. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Then don't get a 9-5 job. But don't fool yourself into thinking that you'll be able to get through life without working unless you get yourself into (as I said earlier): a life of crime or on the welfare roles. If you want to become a professional skydiver, then that's okay. There are plenty of people around here who can tell you about their experiences. But it is work and jumping will turn into a job (and is often associated with life at or below the poverty line). But you will get to jump a lot which to many is all that counts. But unless you're willing to be a packer or a "I'll do anything at the DZ" type of person, you don't just show up to the DZ and say "I'm here to get paid to skydive, give me money". You've got to spend your own money to build the appropriate skill set before others will pay you to jump. Oh also, since this thread started in the BASE forms. BASE jumping is not free. You've got the gear cost and travel costs to get to the objects. And if you want to do it right, you've got to do a shit load of skydives first. Sure BASE is more affordable than skydiving, but it sure isn't free. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

So you'll be doing one of two things: 1) Take up crime as your source of income. 2) Join the welfare ranks since you don't want to work. Shit dude, none of us want to work. But it is a necessary evil. Even the professional skydivers (who for the most part live a life of poverty) have to work. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Assuming that this is NOT an April Fools joke, I would say that America will be flurting with being ruled by a "Fascist Dictator" if GWB gets his way and is allowed to stay on as prez. For such an unpopular person, this has got to be a joke. Or is it? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

There's nothing wrong with jumping with an AAD. Just make sure you're not reliant on it and also realize that there are a few rare cases (usually as a result of something that you've done) where the AAD can do you harm. But as I said, there's nothing wrong with jumping with an AAD and it just could save your life one day if you get knocked out in freefall. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Good call Brad ... that extra 3-4 second of freefall aren't worth it when the shit hits the fan. Plus if/when you start flying a cross-braced canopy on regular skydives, you'll notice that the margin for error is even smaller. I love flying cross-braced canopies, but freefall is so much easier with larger traditional 7/9 cell canopies than it is with cross-braced canopies.. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I'm hoping to do more jumping soon. I've got enough jumps on the JVX to know what it's capable of doing, but I'm not flying at the level I was flying at back in September. My hockey team won our championship tonight (woo-hoo it's a good group of guys), so hopefully now a few of my hockey related injuries will now get a chance to heal (I messed up one of my knuckles ... which never stopped me from playing the game, I'm just played in pain). But I'm happy that Rob has setup up this (for me local) swoop comp. I realize that I've got a little spoiled last year and am curious as to what sort of local talent I may be up against. Remember it doesn't matter how far or fast someone can go, if they can't make the entry gates, it's all fluff. I need to check out Snohomish as well as a few other places soon. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I have a Cypres2 in my primary rig and I know why it's there (to protect myself from freefall collisions). But it's not all that uncommon if you were to check my rig after I've landed on a given jump to notice that the unit will have been turned off. Why you may ask? Well it's likely that I just came off of some sort of hop n' pop and/or high pull where I was concentrating on my canopy flight and swooping with an ultra high performance canopy and I surely don't want to run the risk of having the AAD misfire while I'm in the process of diving my canopy. The real danger with this behavior is that if I do get on a normal load and forget to do a gear check (and check the status of the AAD), then a freefall collision could be my demise. As long as DZOs are prepared to allow people doing dedicated swooping jumps (where we are at risk of a misfire) and CReW dawgs to not have to jump with an AAD turned on, then I'm not worried about DZOs asking me to have one in my rig as it's already there. PS: What's all this talk of banning hook turns? If you define a hook turn as "what happens after you've done something stupid under canopy and now need a ride in an ambulance" then yes I'm all in favor of banning hook turns. But if you define a hook turn as some form of high performance canopy flight, then some of you people are going to piss off a lot of us swoopers who while we know what we do is not safe, we kind of know what we're doing even though there are no guarantees that we can't mess up. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

There are days where chowing in the pond would definitely be a chilling experience since you've got to ride the trailer back to the packing area (with the wind being generated from the trailer ride). But over all, the WX in CO is awesome, the pond rocks (it's huge, but you don't need to go coast to coast) and pulling high (even higher than 5k) isn't all that bad. Of course I'm an Ice-back who's experienced much colder conditions than you FL folks could ever imagine and what's cold to you is probably warm for an Ice-back. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

As I said, there's no point in debating you guys since you seem to think that guns save lives when in fact they are used (sometimes lawfully, often not) towards taking lives. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Where am I saying that all guns are bad? Please enlighten me. I am however saying that easy access to guns in a culture where the idea of having a gun will automatically protect you is bad. More guns in circulation means that guns are more likely to be used in all different types of scenarios. Do you have a loaded firearm by your side 24/7 and are you ready and more important, are you alert to use it 24/7? If not how can you possibly think that your gun will be there to protect you when you least expect you'll need it. Would your gun have protected you if you were sitting in a house at 7:00 am in the morning after a night of partying when you least expected that you would need it? Better yet, don't you think that all school children should be armed? This way there's no possible way a school shooting would occur right? I mean if everyone is packing, everyone is safe right? LOL ... Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

The ratio of automobile related deaths between the US and the rest of the world is not all that different (auto travel is not a safe activity). The ratio of death by guns in the US dwarfs virtually every other nation. But time and time again you people are proving my point that you don't think there is a problem with all of your gun related deaths. So why are people surprised when year after year some nut case snaps and goes on a shooting rampage. There's no problem ... guns save lives not take them right? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

And what master plan is that? How many people in the USA die every year as the result of being shot? It's in the thousands if not tens of thousands. And you still think guns save lives? Debating you people is pointless. Guns are here to stay and Americans will never stop killing each other with your guns because you don't see a problem with all these deaths. Flame away ... Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

News flash ... my government does not have a congress. What part of "easy access to guns being a problem" do you not understand? But gun loving people like you do not see a problem in what happened in Seattle, so what do you care if some more innocent people die when the next nut case decides to take our their frustrations on society. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Very insecure comes to mind. Plus while I'm reluctant to memtion this ... WTF ... in the past she told me that she was an exotic dancer and as someone who doesn't like to judge people, I thought no problem. I'm a BASE jumper (not overly active) and average women looking to make families aren't interested in a guy like me. So I thought (based on the one picture that I've seen which surely didn't look like her in real life) that she could be okay. As I said, I clearly didn't do my homework on this woman. But her whore like attire, insecurity, demeanor and lack of a stimulating conversation was enough to rank her as my worst blind date ever. No biggie ... we usually find what we're looking for when we're not looking for it and right now I'm definitely not looking to get into anything serious in a town that I can't see myself living in, in the not too distant future. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I didn't do my homework concerning this woman as I really haven't been looking to get into anything serious here. Plus in many respects it's no big deal as I didn't go into the evening with very high expectations. I know we never had much in terms of sparks when I was in CO, but you're an angel Kara compared to this nightmare I just met. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I'm not going to go into the nitty gritty details, but I just came back from my worst ever blind date this evening. Being some what new to the city of Vancouver, last fall I signed up with LavaLife to meet some new women. Back in November I met one woman who was nice, but I don't think she was interested in myself and being a skydiver didn't help. I met another woman who was pretty good as well (probably even better than the first one), and we remained friends for a few weeks after meeting (plus she seemed to accept my jumping). But I guess I didn't show enough interest and she cut me away a few months ago (not the end of the world because while she was a good woman, I didn't feel any sparks). Well I have not been active all with LavaLife since last December as it'a been months since I last logged in and I'm pretty certain that I won't be in this city much more than a year or two (likely less). So I haven't been actively seeking new people here. But there was this one woman who I was talking to from the initial days and after not talking with her for a few months, she contacted me not long ago and asked if I wanted to meet her. Well tonight we finally met and as I said it was the worst blind date I have ever had ... she dressed like a whore, was not attractive at all, was not educated, excused herself within minutes of first meeting to go out for a smoke and I just knew then and there it was all a big mistake. I'm no angel, but this was not the woman for me. Plus I felt like a shit because of the cute waitresses I kind of sort of flurted with before this woman arrived. Don't get me wrong, I doubt the waitresses would be interested in me, but they were way more along the type of woman I'd like to be with than this nightmare I met this evening. Time to send myself to the penalty box for a while. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Let's see if we can get this thread back on topic as it's obviously deteriorating into a series of carefully worded PAs between a few select people. It's not the law abiding citizen and their interests in the recreational firearms that's worrisome. It's the easy access to weaponry that creates incidents like this (not all that different than what happen at Colombine). When mentally unstable people have easy access to guns and they decide to take their revenge against society, innocent people die. Sure in some cases guns can be used in self defense. But unless you're always packing and never let your guard down, your firearm will not protect you against someone who's already decided to take the initiative and attack first. Now I know some of you think that everyone should be carrying like they did in the wild west, but is that really the best way to go?. Two people who are packing and have a disagreement with each other are much more likely to resort to using their guns on each other than two people who aren't armed. If you think that there is nothing wrong with guns being every where in society, then you'll obviously need to not worry about this crime, past crimes and future crimes because as long as guns are readily available to the masses, they will be used to kill people ... as they were designed to do in the first place. Guns are a very efficient tool for killing living creatures. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Hopefully my sore hand (hurt playing hockey last week, but that still doesn't stop me from playing the sport since it is playoff time after all and my team is in the finals) heals in time for this event. Plus let's also hope that Mother Nature doesn't decide to rain on that day. But it will be fun to attend a local BC swoop comp. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Steve can be seen sulking in the corner knowning that if he was still in CO he could be competing at 10 different local swooping events this year. Oh well, sucks to be me. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I'm 42 and turning 40 didn't freak me out one bit. In fact I'm enjoying my 40s so far. My life started in October of 1963 and for others their lives started either sooner or later than mine. We're all given one chance here and it doesn't matter when it started only that it did. And for the younger generation who like to judge those older than themselves, remember (assuming that you survive) that you will be in our shoes before you know it. Getting older is better than the alternative of being dead. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Mark me up as one of the red/green color deficient peeps as well and like Cornholio, I've known of my condition for a while. Oh but I can see a 29 top right but nothing but spots in the middle left and both bottom panels. What can you do? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over