lauras

Zhills is closed on Tuesdays & Wednesdays during the summer. 10am - sunset Mon, Thurs, Fri. 8am - sunset Sat & Sun.

Thanks, everyone, for your helpful responses and PMs. They are much appreciated.

I'm having trouble with external rotation-type movement, but I'm able to perform push-ups, dips, etc without struggle. I'm not too worried about emergency procedures. But you're right. That is another facet to consider.

I'm hoping to field some opinions on switching from right-hand to left-hand deploy. Background: I had surgery in December, fusing C5&6, fixing some major issues with my right shoulder, arm & hand. After 10 weeks of doing NOTHING, started some moderate PT. Started jumping again in mid-April and ran into trouble with "hard pulls." It appears that I'm just not getting the strength back as quickly as I had anticipated, and just making two jumps a day is frustrating. So, if you've switched: - Was it temporary? - Was it a struggle to adjust? - Any other issues you might have run into? Thanks.

If the "fresh hot donuts" light is on, I'm pulling over. I can demolish a dozen glazed before pulling out of the parking lot. I am ashamed. Kind of.

Hey, thanks for showing us your new home! We'll come looking for you in the Skydive City parking lot.

The MIT dudes I hung out with (hey, I needed help with my physics class!) RULED when it came to pranks. They: - Took apart a friend's beater Honda, ran the pieces up a couple of flights of stairs and rebuilt it in his dormroom. Left the engine running. - Stole a huge 500+ lb. plastic/cement cow from Hilltop Steakhouse and hoisted it on top of the MIT dome. Not quite sure how that was done as there's only a really narrow staircase that reaches the top of the dome. - Rewired the Boston Sheraton's gigantic neon sign so it read ATO during rush week. Geeks have a lot of time on their hands.

About avoiding sunburn... Yeah, I'm melanin-blessed but I still get fried if I'm not careful (like a couple days ago). Take it from me, a former CA/HI water baby: use the cheap stuff and a lot of it. No-AD, sold in grocery stores everywhere, makes a clear, non-greasy zinc oxide creme in 45 which is great for your face, ears and the little margins right above and below your swimsuit which always seem to burn extra-crispy. Banana Boat sells a pretty cheap sweatproof 30 in the handy economy-size tube. Apply everywhere (even the areas hidden under your swimsuit) liberally about 20 minutes before heading out, and then every 30 minutes or so afterwards, whether you think you need it or not. Pay attention to the normal hotspots, shoulder blades, nose, tops of ears, eyelids, etc. You'll still get tan but without the pulsating, itchy burn. It's not cool when your friends can light cigarettes off your lobster-red shoulders. Have fun on your trip! I'm jealous!

No, Mr. Smarty Pants. That's 8 in the AM. Just remember, Oren is holding your computer hostage!

Ask Ron what Bill Booth said to him when he asked for reserve riser dive loops. I think his ears are still growing back.

Yeah, I know Anabel loves her job at PD and Deland in general yadda yadda yadda... but we miss her at Zhills! Send her back! Waaaah!

Any info?

So what happens when you manage to wrangle enough people to make up 15 teams, have video & manifest lined up for the day, and collect a bunch of cool prizes from Wings, PD, Sunshine Factory, Alti II & Sunpath?? Why, you get crap weather, of course. Oren & Drew will post a make-up date soon. Watch here & www.skydivecity.com for more info. Thanks to everyone for hauling their booties out to the dz at 8am.

Oren & Drew have already signed up about 40 Zhills locals, including the following dz.com posters: heatherb ladyskydiver stacy skybrat68 sikorsky rick mwolfe marcandalysse galen jerm happythoughts (I'm assuming?! C'mon Bill!) AND arlo to ensure that a little havok is wreaked. If you're worried about "can I do this" or "I'll hold everyone back"... as in last July's meet, Bob Healy will be there to help out teams with engineering, exits and overall coaching. We had people with 60 jumps, CRW dogs who haven't gone terminal in forever and freefliers who haven't been on their bellies since AFF all rocking it out. Don't worry about it. Come on out!

Munich, bitte. Also, if your layover in Zurich is longer than a couple of hours, take the train (right at the airport) 2 stops to Banhopfstrasse and have yourself a big time. You'll love "old town."

This is a little nit-picky, but you haven't performed these turns many, many, many times - not in the grand scheme of things anyway - and you're still relatively inexperienced. All that said, it's not a bad thing to PLF if you're encountering something new and peculiar on landing. I watched a jumper with over 15,000 skydives PLF last week due to some squirrely winds. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Glad you're ok.

I had an anterior cervical diskectomy with allograft and plating of C5 & C6 nearly six weeks ago (12/22/03). My symptoms were immediately relieved when I woke up from surgery. I can't pinpoint any one episode that caused the herniation of the disk, except to chalk it up to an extremely active youth (hard on the neck if you fell a lot like me), a couple of car accidents over the years and a number of whackety-whack! Sabre openings. I had been gradually been losing some range of motion in my neck over the last 3 years and by mid-2003, while doing a lot of training/creeping/tunnel time, I developed a tremendous amount of pain in my right shoulder. I temporarily fixed things with RICE, Vioxx and telling myself I'd see a shoulder guy right after Nationals. Lo and behold, Nationals rolls around and I'm rolling around on the floor at the Lake Wales ER. My MRIs concluded that I had a huge herniation between C5&6, a slight herniation between C6&7 and all of my shoulder problems and numbness & weakness down the arm & hand were due to the herniations. I firmly believe that recovery is better achieved if a problem is addressed immediately and aggressively. I did a lot of research and got a number of opinions from neurosurgeons, orthopaedic surgeons, sports medicine specialists and physical therapists. I didn't want to screw around with a lot of massage or chiro just to end up in the same boat a year down the road. One thing to note: seeing a sports medicine specialist was very helpful to me. He had an attitude of "let's get you back to your same level of activity, if not better" rather than something like "oh, well, you're engaged in a dangerous sport and you must hang it up." That's crap. Get more opinions. All of the opinions I received were pretty much the same, with the exception of allograft (cadaver bone) vs. autograft (bone harvested from your hip). I've just concluded six weeks with a hard collar and taking it pretty easy with just some daily walking, and am about to start six weeks of PT. My plan is to be aggressive during PT and back in the air by the beginning of April. I have, of course, made gear changes - like getting a Spectre with Dacron lines. I'll probably wear a soft collar while I'm jumping for a while as well. So yeah, it just sucked being on the ground during boogie season in Florida, but it's better than not ever being able to jump again. Good luck and please PM if you have any questions.

yeah, what he said. malfunction junction sucks monkey balls and having to battle that every day will make you want to hightail right out of florida. i live in new tampa. pm me if you'd like all the gory details. huh. well, there goes the neighborhood!

Quoteat least i didn't scare jody or martin to death.... Quote Noooo, that would be my job.

My, that's a sweeping generalization if I've ever seen one. You, Ron, know better than to do that. There is such a thing as being fiscally conservative while socially liberal. Just ask Robert Rubin or Jon Corzine.

Stacy already gave the rah-rah Skydive City pitch. I'll just add that you'll be so tired by the end of our Easter Boogie, you won't be able to lift your arms. It's that good. www.skydivecity.com

www.Sunshine-Factory.com, located at Skydive City, has been in business for about 20 years and enjoys an excellent reputation. They have quite a few overseas customers and know how to do things properly. Another good option would be www.tso-d.com, located at Skydive DeLand. You would be in good hands with either choice.

Huge fires of this scale happen pretty frequently in CA. Most Californians view the fires as a "normal" natural disaster, much like mudslides, earthquakes, etc.

Michigan suits. A whole lotta bang for the buck.

Just about 700 jumps before I tried freeflying a couple weeks ago... mostly as comic relief from 4-way training. Shhh! Don't tell my teammates! I'm supposed to be visualizing the dive pool! I suck, but I like freeflying. A lot. And as much as I love and adore my vicious Michigan comp booties, Mike said he'd make me an equivalently sick freefly suit, so now I've got fashion choices!