lauras
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Everything posted by lauras
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The pond is being fixed. Ian, Aaron & a bunch of the guys were working on it this weekend to get it ready for the season. Drunk assholes shouldn't be let loose near wells, unless they're being forcibly held in them. Regular organizing starts up again first week of November. Yeah, it was pretty quiet if you're freeflying, but that should pick up when the season starts. Summer is usually locals only...
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Dew Crew! Thanksgiving Weekend at Zhills!
lauras replied to RkyMtnHigh's topic in Canopy Relative Work
Waaaah! Friday's 8 way & Saturday's 16 way and I already said yes to both. Dammit! I always miss the don't-scare-the-newbie CRW camps! Whenever I come slinking around, you guys are busy organizing some kind of jumbo thingy that gives me palpitations and I end up slinking right back to rw world... -
Man, Arlo is going to kick your ass!
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It's probably more intuitive to them. And people in Tennessee and Kentucky. One would think so, but it doesn't appear that that's a consideration when the "let's drop a bomb" argument is bandied about. On another note, the South Korean media (both conservative & liberal) is going nuts about how eager the US is to move on to North Korea as a new battlefield now that Iraq has turned out to be such a winner.
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Not necessarily a reply to you, Steel, but to the "let's drop a nuke on North Korea" argument. I have a serious problem with this, especially considering my parents along with many other family members live in a northern suburb of Seoul and you can drive to the DMZ in about 30 minutes from their home. It's like dropping a nuclear bomb on Tallahasee and expecting the folks in Gainesville to be just fine and dandy. Not the most practical solution if you care at all about innocent lives. I haven't heard a single politician bring up the proximity of North & South Korea when they discuss the idea of nuking PyongYang. The two countries are located on the SAME FUCKING PENINSULA and it's about the size of Utah. Does this only occur to the people that actually live in Korea??
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It's like trying to drive 2 cars at once. Lots of stop, go, stop, go, stop, go, etc.
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I'm stating it publicly so everyone that visits Zhills over the winter can meet and jump with The Man, The Legend (drumroll please), Norm Olson. A little something I wrote about Norm earlier this year: Norm just got back from a Kate & Tony camp at Perris. They had him docking last on big ways that would make me poo my pants. He's talking about doing more camps. Norm makes everyone else on the dz look like a pack of slack-asses.
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Spinning mal on both canopies...yikes!!
lauras replied to mattyblast's topic in General Skydiving Discussions
It's not impossible, but it is more difficult than people think and it sucks to find that out after flying all the way to final. Example? I'll use my friend, Seth Karp. On the last jump (I think #56?) of a long weekend training camp, Seth opened with one brake that he couldn't unstow on his Sabre. Flew with one riser & the one stuck toggle. At about 100', he lost control of the canopy & spiralled twice to his death. This was an experienced jumper with well over 1000 jumps and hyper-current from 4-way training camps. Remember the "controlability test" from first jump course? Is it there, square, steerable & landable? If Seth had answered those questions honestly, he'd still be here with us. -
Yeaaah, I forgot to mention that returns on anything that cost more that $100 kinda sucks at Performance. My bad. As far as my local goes, there are 2 pairs of Nike shorts for $95 each and that's about it. Selection is not their strong point. Repairs, on the other hand, rock.
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I like Under Armor but really anything for cycling will serve well and the prices are usually better. Go to the clothing section of www.performancebike.com to start. Performance Bike's private label gives a lot of bang for the buck, you can machine wash (but hang dry for longevity), and everything's cut to hug the body. I usually bring a pair of wind pants or something like that out as prancing around in skin-tight leggings is so 80s.
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I'll add my most recent stupid thing: CRW on little Katana starting at 1800' by two people who should know A LOT better. Oh yeah, and I had my chest strap wiiiide open which made looking for handles just that much more exciting while spinning around on my back. I was under my reserve and looked at my alti at 600'. The ground is really fucking big at 600' for this non-base jumper. Many lessons learned, including that I was off my game and needed to rethink some equipment choices. It's never too late to upsize! And CRW down low sucks (for me, anyway)!
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I'm convinced that's one of the mysteries of life... the radio that suddenly doesn't work under 500'.
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Thanks all for your suggestions & thoughts. I'll try anything at this point except, PAUL, the all-nude PLF instruction that you're busy envisioning. Well, I suppose it would make a good illustration of contact points! See you tomorrow.
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Fair enough, I certainly wouldn't want the rest of my holiday bunged up. It's very expensive and I'm sympathetic to that. I'm leery of people who post about their dissatisfaction without stating if they've tried to do anything to rectify the situation. I also think there's a massive disconnect in expectations and reality when it comes to learning how to skydive. I think many students come in expecting things to be as orderly as booking a table at a restaurant and being seated within 10 minutes. Skydiving operations demand flexibility and I don't think that's properly communicated. In the meantime, try to enjoy the rest of your training. You'll be soon ready to jump at any number of dzs and find the ones that suit you.
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? for you: were you experiencing a malfunction or did you decide to cutaway to see what would happen?
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So, I have my students plf'ing off of everything and anything and I make them do it over and over again. I explain about distributing the momentum rather than concentrating it on, say, an ankle. I draw parallels to mountain biking & snowboarding and how those sports do essentially a PLF with equipment attached to their feet. I emphasize feet & knees together under canopy. And then the student assumes the Big X and you know the rest. Any suggestions? I've run out of ideas.
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it's lovely when someone creates a new identity to slam the competition. grow a set, own up to who you are (ashamed, perhaps?) and then your words might have some credence.
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Beautiful!! Dedicated rw people are now pondering dressing themselves up in zero-p due to some your photos!
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One of the coolest projects I've ever run was planning the interior of my then-boss' personal G4. I was flown to Long Beach, met with some specialists, picked everything finishes & layout-wise, including the exterior pinstriping. Now, that was some fun!
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You'll be in a great area to check out a number of DZs! Check out as many as you can. As far as Zhills goes, the dz's closed on Tuesdays & Wednesdays until 11/1. The Sunshine Factory, which is right there, rents gear as long as you have your A. They have an assortment of well-maintained rigs including Wings, Javelins and Icons. There are also a good number of large canopies for you to try as well. It's a bit quiet during the week with maybe 10 loads flying per day, but when the weekend roll around the locals show up to play.
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My local Starschmuck baristas are finding a cure for cancer and you are disturbing their incredibly important fact-finding mission whenever you ask them to do stuff. Like, pour a cup of fucking coffee. I love to hate Starbucks.
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Condolences - Paul Joseph - AKA darnknit and crwpj
lauras replied to Tonto's topic in Blue Skies - In Memory Of
Oh, PJ...you've made your super secret fan club made up of exactly one member cry. Here's hoping your feet continue to make the folks around you throw up a little. Now who's going to offer me a ham & swiss with "something extra special, baby" with that evil cackle?? Farewell, caveman. -
I think of my sweet smiling friend, Alicia, often, but especially so in the days preceding 9/11. She was a flight attendant on United 175, a mere newbie with less than 6 months under her belt. Alicia's a much bigger part of the universe now & that brings me some peace. www.sweetalicia.org
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Another missing testicle nickname... A friend had testicular cancer, had one of the kids removed and we started calling him the Uniballer.
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Ok, ya got me! Let's define chains as the big state-wide places with 100 and 1 choices on the menu...Chilis, Bennigans, etc. I totally agree with you that they do serve a purpose and they certainly make going out with a crowd after a day of jumping a lot easier. An example: I used to love Roy's when you could chose between the one in Honolulu and the one in Kaanapali, but now they're everywhere. You can pretty much guarantee a decent meal as at many of the "higher" end chains, but it still bugs me to be able to get opakapaka in Chicago. Formula cooking without regard to local ingredients, season and regional personality bum me out.