clrarch

Everyone is different in their time frame for being comfortable with getting involved with someone new, especially after the break-up of a serious relationship. I dated someone recently for four months and took it very, very slow in the beginning because he was pretty recent off a two-year relationship. At first he seemed to really miss having a girlfriend, so he treated me as such pretty quickly. We'd been seeing each other about three/four weeks when I talked to him about his readiness to be involved with someone new---not because I wanted to dive into a relationship, but because I wanted to be dating someone who was at least open-minded and has his "bags checked" (so to speak). My rule: You're allowed two carry-ons, every thing else must be checked Anyway, long story short....he said he was ready, we continued on for four months, I started to fall, and then he got very confused because he hadn't resolved his feelings for his ex. We were in the midst of dealing with that when I was accepted to school in California. Ultimately, we broke up (still friends), but I guess my advice is just make sure you're ready. I think you're questioning all of these things about these dates to a certain extent because your mind-set is still in "girlfriend" mode. May be better to take some time to yourself so that when you do decide to start dating again you know you can do it from a calm, open-minded perspective. Just my two cents

I've never met Paul, but this accident breaks my heart. I'm so sorry to hear about the car on fire and his injuries.....You are in my thoughts and prayers.

When I was in college I was a counselor in a freshman dorm and one of my duties was to keep the stock of condoms and *dental dams* (they were in envelopes taped to my door....boy did my mom like that when she came to visit

Well, he wasn't a college girl, but I dated a Brazilian for about four months and yeah.....something about those South American genes that make 'em pretty wonderful...... Didn't work out with my guy (I'm moving to California, he's moving to Toronto), but what a good four months we had

I agree.....they are both adults. Is he crossing a line if he's her instructor? Definitely. If he is just using her for some action, she'll figure that out when she sees his actions for what they are. And she eventually will see what's up when he moves on. It's one of the harder lessons you learn when you're 18 and you haven't figured out what those puppet strings mean....

For me the hardest was Level 6 when I had to track for the first time----I felt so wobbly and kept thinking "I suck at this!!!!". I became so obsessed with trying to track properly that I misread my instructor giving me the pull signal, lost altitude awareness for the first time, pulled low, and had to land off the dropzone. That jump scared the crap out of me---really scared the crap out of me because there were too many mistakes on my part and too many "firsts". I thought I was the black sheep of the dropzone for a while, but other jumpers and instructors were really supportive and just kept telling me "You can do it". It took me two weeks to work up the courage to get back in the air and repeat the jump. I nailed it the second time.

I'm going in 1/2 hour to see The Hulk. Bring on the big green man

I've had a lot of experience with knee surgeries, unforunately.....tore my ACL in half during a basketball game my senior year in high school (1990). I had arthroscopic surgery about six months after the initial injury, and was fitted with a special brace so that I could continue to play basketball and downhill ski. I ended up joining the crew team in college, so I rowed for years with the torn ligament and didn't have it reconstructed until 1997. My surgeon used my hamstring tendon to rebuild the ligament (said my knees were too small to use the patella tendon). It's common now to use cadaver ligaments, which I wish I had because even now my hamstring is still not 100% for range of motion and flexibility. I started physical therapy one week after my surgery and it was slow going at first (I spent about six hours a week at the physical therapy facility, in addition to doing "homework" I had to help with rehab). After three months of therapy, I was "functional" but limited athletically....Just to give you an idea of the intensity, my surgeon was the same guy who operated on the University of Michigan football team and I was doing the same type of therapy the athletes were doing. It took about six months to get to the point where I felt I was doing really well. I also worked out a lot before the surgery, and it probably did help, but the surgery is more or less turns your leg into jello and you have to put in a lot of time and effort into teaching your leg how to react, balance, etc in addition to rebuilding strength. It's been a little over five years since I had my reconstruction and my leg does fine as long as I workout and maintain my strength. I still notice a slight difference between my left and right leg in strength because my right leg still compensates for my left a little. I started skydiving last summer and always wore that special kneebrace I was fitted for back in 1991 "just in case". Never know when you might land hard or funny, and bust the ligament again....earned me the nickname "Robocop" at the dropzone

I'll throw in an extra .02 about yoga and how it can be helpful with skydiving (I've been practicing yoga for five years now and it's been really helpful with the arching/muscle memory)...Regardless of your level of flexibility, yoga can help you out a lot because it's not just about twisting yourself up like a pretzel When you get into a yoga class, you'll learn a lot of breathing evenly (helps with relaxation) and as you work on the postures taught in the classes you will become aware of your legs, arms, hips, etc. You'll start to make a connection between your mind and your body which should help you out a lot with muscle memory and being aware of your body in freefall. Don't think you have to some sort of rubberized human to do yoga, not the case at all! I'm out for the winter as well....hate it, hate it, hate it

I've had many busted knees (three surgeries on the left knee, kneecap that didn't track properly on the right)---all brought on by years of basketball, rowing, skiing and running. I've taken Aleve, Advil, Tylenol...I've iced and elevated, done physical therapy, yoga.... All of those things have definitely helped at points in time, but nothing has helped as much as acupuncture. I go once a month and I haven't had to take painkillers in almost a year.

Fly Away - Lenny Kravitz There is a good Sublime song on my tandem video (don't ask me the title). Whenever I hear it on the radio on my drive up to the DZ I always take it as a good sign

For all the skiers out there: I just got home from the first screening of Warren Miller's "Storm"---his 53rd movie. Great footage of back country skiing and freeform/freeflying skiing and boarding. It was pretty amazing---when you see some of the mountains these skiiers tackle, you wonder why people think skydiver's are so crazy

I won't jump into the debate on what we have a right to know....I'll throw in my .02 from a student's perspective (two tandem and 7 AFF jumps). When I started my AFF program, especially after my Level 1 jump, I started seeking out information about skydiving fatalities because I had a real need to know what caused the fatalities, more or less because I wanted to understand what kind of risk I was assuming learning the sport of skydiving. I bought "The Skydiver's Handbook", because I wanted to keep the information from my FJC in my head about skydiving emergencies and add to it, to study and learn about gear, wingloadings, canopies, winds, landing patterns, wow...there is so much to know, and I want to know all of it. I moderate my fear by trying to understand how fatalities happen in skydiving, and the book told me there is an annual average of 29 people fatally injured while parachuting. The book has statistical breakdowns on collisions, failure to pull, canopy malfunctions, etc. Specifics of the incidents are unavailable in this particular text. Obviously with the world wide web, seeking out this information has become easier. The trick is to determine what constitutes a reliable source. Looking for this information is how I found dropzone.com and the incidents forum. I lurk, I read, I try to understand what is reported and yes, I often have to separate between speculation and reported fact. It's always better in any situation to wait to know what has been investigated and determined. In some cases, as you know, sometimes very little can be determined and all people can do is speculate. This is where you can get into trouble and curbing that tendency is important. It's helpful as a student to be able to read what has happened---often when I read an incident report I find I have a lot of questions about gear, wingloadings, canopy control...things I didn't necessarily know about or understand and being able to read and learn and ask improves my training and my knowledge of safety. When you're only a few steps away from whuffo, knowledge is the key to keeping motivation (for me at least), otherwise the risk would seem far too great. Of course the risk is ever present, but having a better understanding of the risks involved and how people have handled or not handled them, is how we continue to educate and train ourselves. It's our responsibility and we can help each other.

Does anyone know if they presented the clothes she cut the tags off of as evidence? There's been all this talk about the security person who saw her cutting the clothes, and her being caught with the clothes, so were the cut clothes presented as evidence in the tiral? It seems funny to me they wouldn't be because it would be pretty damning evidence, don't you think?

145 lbs. is my body weight---I'm estimating my weight out the door is closer to 180 lbs with my gear on (I'd be pretty skinny if my weight out the door was 145 at 5'-9"

For my AFF Levels 1-5, I had a 240. For Level 6, I transitioned to a 220 (I'm 5'-9", 145 pounds--so that makes my wingloading around .8:1, if I'm doing the math right). I like to refer to the 220 as my "putt putt" canopy

That's it---I'm moving. But if I move to where it's really warm, then I won't be able to ski....that's a problem.

Yelling beer everytime someone walks in the door is ridiculous....the rule is you buy the case for a "first"---I've found firsts and had firsts and happily made the trip to the beer store. Always give first to those you jumped with---then it's a free for all. If the guy is a whuffo, he shouldn't be telling people when to buy beer. Put his ass in the plane and see what kind of "firsts" he earns on his own....and then him buy 10 cases for it

And freeze his bra! Wait, that last one probably wouldn't work. It works. Ask any girl who's been to slumber party while growing up.

Amen----you've got a good head on your shoulders, Carrie and sound like a very cool woman

I've also had trouble flaring my canopy. I start to flare and get to about my collarbone and then.....ugh....so I get in my head that I need to REALLY push to get past my collarbone. Once the resistance gives there, I end up slamming down into the bottom of my flare because I've pushed so darn hard. On the recommendation of one of my JM's, I've started doing a lot of tricep work because my lack of strength there seems to be the cause of the problem. I've been rowing for about 10 years and have no tricep strength. I can pull really hard on an oar, though Does anyone have any other recommendations?

I just want to be comfortable, so I wear my speedo. hahaha A speedo is really sexy Funny story from when I was in college: I was at cocktail party with a group of friends; we're standing around in our semi-formal wear, talking, hanging out, having some dignified drinks. A friend of mine notices a female party-goer standing next to our group. She's wearing a dress with a heart shaped cutout at her chest----it shows off her, um, assests quite well. Naturally, my friend was checking out her assests. Well, she looked at him and said, "What are you looking at?" And he replies, "Um, your chest". Her jaw kind of fell open and she asked, "Why are you looking at my chest?" And he said, "Well, if you wear a dress like that, you obviously want people to notice your chest, so I noticed". And that was the end of the conversation. She walked away, but he was right....I'm a girl, and I admit it---he was right she wanted people to look. Doesn't mean she wanted it to beyond looking, but she wanted people to look. I've done the same thing: I think I have a nice back, so I'll wear backless dresses sometimes. And when people say, "You have a nice back" I say "Thank you" because that's the compliment I was fishing for in the first place. The funny thing is it's usually when I'm all grimy and nasty from a day at the DZ or a workout that I seem to get hit on the most. Why is that????

46 and cloudy in Boston

I've been happy to see the threads about tracking and gear. When I mentioned not being able to see my handles and emergency procedures there were some great replies posted. I thought it was cool I could bring it up in that forum...I probably could have brought it up in Safety and Training as well, though....although there probably would have been more "boobies" posts

You know who has the life? I was in Hawaii for two weeks at the beginning of October and dropped by Pacific International Skydiving while I was there. Amazing, unbelievable views, and really cool, laid back people....I'm back in Boston now and every day I think a little bit more about moving to Oahu. Wouldn't it be nice?