skybytch

O.P.D.

So she's a jackass with an Olympic silver medal. More than I'll ever have.

Ah, but what would you all be saying if she'd stuck it? Hmmmm?

I just finished watching the DVD. There is nothing in this video that wasn't in the "Femur is not a verb" article in the June 2005 Parachutist. Lots of footage of swoopers doing their thing, which is cool to watch but offers little in the way of possible learning for the majority of us. Very little footage of average jumpers doing good landings, quite a few clips of people performing less than ideal landings without any explanation of which landings are good or bad and why. The footage used doesn't match up with what the narrator or "pros" are saying. I'm very disappointed.

It's not a good deal for you because that main canopy is too small for your exit weight and experience and will likely continue to be too small for you for quite a while. Read the articles on buying a rig here, and talk to your instructors about appropriate main and reserve canopy sizes before you buy a rig.

"Woo Hoo" by the 5,6,7,8's. It's on the Kill Bill Volume 1 soundtrack. There's a few other songs on that album that I think will go well with skydiving video...

I didn't tell my parents I was jumping until I had almost 10 jumps. It took a couple of years before they would even come out to the dz to watch. My mom still doesn't want to know when I'm jumping because she'll worry - that's just what mom's do. But it's your life and it's your choice; they may never understand but eventually they'll stop giving you shit about it. Yes. What part of throwing yourself at the ground at a high rate of speed seems safe to you? It's not. You could screw up and be seriously injured or die. You could even be seriously injured or die even if you do everything right. Accept that risk for yourself before you jump, or don't jump.

Of course there's always two sides to every story, but if everything you're saying is true then I think I'd be upset as well. If the manufacturer was responsible for losing the order then they should step up and take care of you. Shit happens, but imho providing good customer service involves admitting you screwed up and then doing whatever it takes to make things right. Ask your dealer to see if the manufacturer will send a demo for you to use until yours is completed. If they won't, I'd cancel the order.

Cameras weren't allowed for that part.

My attempt at video editing is now up on Skydivingmovies.com. Check it out and lemme know what you think. Lots of thanks going out to Phil Zidek (Feeblemind), Scott Meeker, Matt Stephens and Nick Armstrong for the footage and to all the guys at SDM.com for the place to put it.

I used Sharebuilder.com for awhile a couple of years ago. Trades were easy and fast and they had a low minimum investment amount. If I ever have money available for investing in the future I'll use them again.

Once he has the tracking number he can easily find out if it was shipped three day or ground. The UPS website will tell him when it shipped, the address it shipped to, how it was shipped, when it was delivered (if it was already delivered) and who signed for it, if anybody. If that info shows it wasn't shipped via 3 day then he has every right to bitch and demand a refund of the difference between ground and 3 day shipping from the dealer (although assuming that an honest mistake was made and being nice about requesting it is a better way to go about things, imho). If it was shipped 3 day and UPS screwed up then his bitch should be with UPS, not with the dealer he bought it from (although any refund to him would have to be done through the dealer; UPS will only refund the shipper). Once UPS or FedEx picks up a package it's kind of hard for the company that shipped it to control what happens next...

Seven possible reasons why it hasn't shown up yet - 1) The shipper screwed up and sent it ground instead of 3 day. 2) The shipper put the wrong address on the package (very possible if you had it shipped to an address that is different from your billing address). 3) UPS tried to deliver it but you weren't home so they left it with a neighbor. 4) UPS tried to deliver it but you weren't home and the note they left was blown away by the wind/picked up and tossed by a neighbor's kid/etc. 5) You live in a an apartment complex and it was delivered to the manager/leasing office instead of to your door - or you had it delivered to work and it's now sitting at the receptionist's desk/in the shipping and receiving area. 6) It was delivered by UPS, left at your door because you weren't home and somebody stole it, or the driver left it somewhere on your porch that isn't real obvious and you haven't looked real hard for it. 7) UPS took Monday off as a holiday, which means it should arrive tomorrow (Thursday). Judging solely by the 8 years I spent selling gear and using UPS and FedEx to ship it, I'd bet that one of the above possibilities is correct. Best solution? Call PEC and get the tracking number. Use that to track the package on UPS's website.

I'm a former competitor of Bonnie's and I'd recommend her shop as a place to buy gear as well. She's good people and will take excellent care of you. Depending on how long you'll be in NorCal, I'd suggest jumping at Davis, Byron and Lodi if you can swing it. Each one has a different vibe, all three have great people and nice views from altitude and you can jump out of a variety of turbine aircraft (King Air at Byron, PAC 750XL at Davis, Otter or Beech 99 at Lodi).

Don't be an alcoholic. Be a drug addict. See, drugs cost more money than alcohol does, therefore being a drug addict means you have more money. Having more money means you are more successful. And being successful is the most important thing in life.

Go try sitflying even if you think you aren't interested in it. It's a lot funner (and a lot harder for us old school RW jumpers) than you might think. Try doing freestyle - you know, T's and daffys and Arabian rolls like Dale Stuart used to do. Do some tracking dives. Not just the typical zoo tracking dives either; try doing formation tracking. Get a group of people together and do more challenging skydives on a regular basis. Doesn't have to be for competition, doesn't have to be 4 way or 8 way. Plan to get together once a month and spend the whole day jumping as a group. Go do some hop and pops, high or low. Play with your canopy. How long has it been since you've collapsed it? That's loads of fun, especially if there's a low timer in the air who can see you do it. Do some cross countries. Grab a friend and go fly your canopies relative to each other - you don't have to dock or even get all that close. Try a wingsuit. You can pick up a used Birdman Classic or GTI pretty cheap, and a used Triathlon or Sabre (also available pretty cheap) will work great with it. Add an appropriately sized used container and reserve and you're good to go. One warning though - wingsuits can be addictive! You can pick up used DV cameras pretty cheap. Get one and go video some loads landings, then show the video to everyone at the end of the day. Great learning tool for all and it's kinda fun to be a target for the swoopers. Plus you can get some interesting footage for use on safety day or for teaching your students. Throw that camera on your head and learn to fly it. Used open faced helmets are also pretty cheap; if you're handy (or if you're not but have a friend who is) you can set it up for next to nothing. You don't need a camera specific jumpsuit to do this. And probably the best advice I can give - don't go to the dz every weekend, and when you do go to the dz, don't always spend the whole weekend there. Instead, find something else to do for a day or a weekend - go hiking, ride a bike, fly a kite, go for a drive in the country, clean the garage, etc. There's more to life than skydiving, even when the weather is awesome.

Current enough to think I'm safe (not likely to screw up badly enough to hurt myself or someone else) - one or two jumps a month. Current enough to think I can fly okay (on my belly; I'm still learning to freefly) - four or five jumps a month. Current enough to think I can fly as good as I've ever flown on my belly (or to see real improvement in my freeflying) - ten or more jumps a month.

Tired of being forced to listen to some asshole's phone conversation? Go here and get the Society for HandHeld Hushing (aka SHHH) "Dear Cell Phone User" cards. You may have already seen them, but I hadn't until tonight. I'm gonna start carrying these with me every place I go.

The truth about Apollo 11.

Sorry, but I don't see any difference between today, yesterday and tomorrow.

Not going to tell you what you need, but having a previous injury to protect, not staying very current and wanting to land safely are the very reasons I jump a lightly wingloaded main.

All women named Lisa are nut jobs.

The fact that I'm glad that my experiences with the majority of skydivers have been positive does not mean that I am looking down upon your experiences. It simply means that I'm glad that my experiences with the majority of skydivers have been positive. Of course you are free to interpret my words in any way you choose. And with that, I'm done here.

Because my experiences have been different from yours does not make either of our experiences universal.

I didn't say that. You said - I'm saying that has not been my experience in this sport. Yes, there are some people out there who act the way you describe, but the majority of those really good skydivers that I've met are not that way at all. YMMV.