skybytch

Heck yeah! Time for the NonDescript Red Cups; it's sunset somewhere!

I just took the wind meter onto the taxiway at Davis. It recorded a 34.5 mph gust.

You should get what I have cuz it's the best.

Hey, how do you make that clicky thing?

Real skydivers don't need RSL's. Besides, wtf do you know, you don't even have a D license.

As long as the battery has been changed in the last 2 years you should be good to go.

That really sucks. I hope to hear soon that the city has been shown the light and you're jumping there again. Good luck!

The unit should have a sticker on it showing the date of last battery change and another sticker showing that it had it's 4 year done. You can contact SSK and ask if the stickers aren't on it. One really cool thing about the skydiving gear industry is you can contact any manufacturer and someone will usually happily take time to answer any questions you may have.

Depends on how much of a cold wussy you are. Some people jump year round in places like Canada, others refuse to jump when it gets below about 60 F on the ground. Depends on how thick your wallet is (or how high your credit limits are), how busy the instructors are where you are jumping, what the weather does while you are doing your student jumps (if winds exceed a certain speed your instructors won't let you jump, you can't jump when it's raining, etc), how often you can get out to the dz, how many levels you need to repeat and how much adrenaline you can take in one day. Most dz's will limit students to 3 jumps in a day. You'll be learning a LOT and be under quite a bit of stress; you may find that one or two jumps a day is enough for you. Once you are "off student status" (also called "cleared to self jumpmaster"), how many you do in a day is usually limited only by you, your wallet and how many other people want to get on the plane that day. Half your income for the rest of your life. Welcome to our dysfunctional world!

I'd like to thank Brian for all the canopy control education he's done and is doing - the books, the seminars, the posts here, the times he's been on SDR, etc. We'll never know how many lives and broken bones he's saved but I'd bet it's a lot. My questions for Brian are about the suggested downloading chart that he put together and presented to USPA. Many people say that it is excessively conservative (I'm not one of those people; I'd love to see it incorporated into USPA's S.I.M.). How does he answer those people? What factors did he consider in coming up with his wingloading-to-jump numbers recommendations? Under what circumstances would he recommend that someone exceed those recommendations? Under what circumstances would he recommend that someone go bigger than those recommendations? Thanks! Looking forward to the show (actually, I look forward to every show, but that's beside the point).

Nobody swooped the pond. Mainly cuz they were scared of the Bytch Slap (tm) they'd have gotten if they did. Also could have been that there were only two people there who had the skillz, and one of them wanted to get laid again...

Congrats to both of you! May your life together be filled with love and laughter.

Good for you! I generally won't jump if I can't see the ground too. Besides the fact that there might be something I don't want to hit hiding inside them (ie airplane) and the fact that pilots and GPS' aren't perfect (so we might not be over the dz), there's also (in the US anyway) the fact that there is an FAR that specifically states that skydivers aren't supposed to jump through clouds.

Why are you calling Jim an ass?

No worries. I'm a broke and unemployed college student so anything I play has to be free.

Check out Adventure Quest. It's responsible for me getting nothing done today.

You'd be better off getting a used 190 main with a 176 reserve. Spend 100-200 jumps learning all the stuff about canopy flight that you haven't learned yet and dealing with all of the different wind, weather and traffic conditions that you haven't dealt with yet. Then sell the 190 for a couple hundred dollars less than you paid for it and replace it with a 170. Check out what Brian Germain says about canopy sizing for new jumpers here - click on "downsizing recommendations" to download his chart. While you're there, read the other articles he has up and be sure to pick up a copy of his book "The Parachute and it's Pilot." Brain is arguably one of the most experienced canopy pilots out there - i.e. he knows wtf he's talking about.

Don't watch it on TV. Go to a game. Preferably with someone who knows something about it.

Not sure what your point is...

No. Once someone is cleared to self-jumpmaster it is assumed that they know how to take care of themselves. Checking the gear prior to putting it on is part of taking care of one's self.

I didn't get hockey at all until last year. My b/f took me to one preseason game and I was hooked. Wish we could afford to go to more than a few games this year. Hell, hockey season almost makes me wish we had cable TV.

Posting rumors is bad form.

GO SHARKS!!!

I thought the God comment was pretty funny myself...

The internet is an awesome resource. Google cocaine, meth and ecstasy and do some reading. I'm sure some are, but there are just as many who are not. One example - cocaine and meth are stimulants. Stimulants are used to treat ADD/ADHD. Many people with undiagnosed ADD/ADHD have found that coke and/or meth help them focus, so they "self-medicate" with them. In many cases, once the ADD/ADHD is diagnosed and treated, the desire to use coke/meth disappears (source - the book "Driven to Distraction" and observation of a formerly meth-addicted family member).