skybytch

Check with the community colleges in your area. Some offer online or hybrid (mostly online with occasional class meetings) classes in nearly every subject area. $20-ish a unit isn't a bad thing either.

Wanna go backpacking? LMFAO!!!!!

Yes, you were being an asshole. Actually, you should sit down when you are both in a good mood and talk seriously about finances long before you walk down the aisle. You guys need to be on the same page when it comes to how the money that isn't needed for the basics is spent. You shutting up about it will only make the next fight worse, guaranteed.

Ball And Chain.

"Only the strongest will survive" refers to species, not to individuals. At least that's what my physical anthro teacher and textbook said. To the OP - Without getting into the deep philosophical discussion of whether anything really exists at all, I have proof that there is a table upon which my computer is sitting. What proof? I can see, touch, even taste it if I want to. The existence or non-existence of any spiritual being simply can not be proved. Why not? Because it cannot be experienced with our senses. Can you touch God using your hands? Smell God using your nose? Taste God using your tongue? See God using your eyes?

Lots of mains open softly. Few reserves do - they're not supposed to. If you don't think you can handle a slammer on a main, do you think you will be able to handle a terminal reserve opening?

Not sure if they're operating midweek, but they've got an Otter on the weekends. Supposed to be a BBQ this Saturday, stop by if you're in the area.

Sorry, didn't realize you had so many jumps and so much time in sport. I'm sure you know far more than people like Brian Germain, with his measly 15000 jumps and 20+ years in the sport.

How long has it been since she's been able to spend any of "her" money on something that is just for her rather than on bills? Has it been longer than it's been since you got to spend any of "your" money on something that is just for you?

That ranks right up there at the top of the list of "worst advice ever given on dropzone.com."

1) Road trip down the California coast, out to the Perris area for a couple days and then to Eloy for a long weekend, Jan. 12-18 2) Reno for part of PIA 3) As many overnight or two day backpacking trips as possible once the snow melts 4) Perris in May for a bigway camp (depending on finances) 5) Lost Prairie 6) Perris in September for JFTC (depending on if I can afford the BWC and if I get a slot)

? Used canopies don't pack smaller than new ones. They're just easier to control during packing because the fabric isn't as slippery. If you intend to jump a 170, buy a container built to fit a 170. You'll be able to safely put a 150 or possibly even a 135 into it later. Unless you truly enjoy packing, you won't enjoy stuffing 170 sq ft of slippery snot (even if it is used slippery snot) into a space designed to hold 150 sq ft of slippery snot. Trust me on this one... I put over 300 jumps on a 170 in an Infinity built for a 150, packing it was not fun.

People who assume that those who speak out in public against things that are fucked up are doing so only to be politically correct instead of because they truly believe that whatever issue is being discussed is fucked up.

Assuming that you've spoken with your instructors regarding canopy sizing (ie you and they are confident that you'll be able to safely land that 170 in a less than ideal off dz location or if someone cuts you off on final on your first jump on it) and you've jumped a Sabre 2 in the past (so you know that you like how it flies and flares), it looks to me like you've done your research well. If you want and can afford new gear, you should get new gear. You'll have no problem selling that main when you're ready to downsize.

Racists.

Me too. Yesterday's safety comment at the dz was "don't forget your legstraps." At about 8 grand on one load, it was noticed that a camera flier had a completely undone chest strap. While it's wonderful that it was noticed and fixed before jump run, it's not such a good thing that it wasn't noticed before he even got on the airplane. The camera flier is a current jumper who is also very aware that someone just saved his life. The likelihood of him ever forgetting to do up his chest strap again is slim. But the biggest lesson from this is for everyone else. Keep looking at your buddy's gear in the plane, but also take a moment to look over your buddy's gear while you are waiting in the loading area. Doesn't take a full gear check to catch a fatal error like a lack of leg or chest straps.

You Brits are weird. In the US, we drive on the pavement and walk on the sidewalk.

Men in stupidly high body-lifted 4 wheel drive trucks with $4000 worth of wheels and special off road tires that have never and will never leave the pavement.

+1. You don't SALE something, you SELL it or SAIL it. SAILING is accomplished on the water, not on the ground. And it's not FOR SELL or FOR SAIL, it's FOR SALE. Empty beer fridges, ringing cell phones in class, pointless wastes of bandwidth and people who hear but don't listen are fairly annoying as well.

It doesn't mean that I regulate me. It means that if we don't as a group keep injuries and deaths to a minimum, the government can and probably will step in to regulate for us. USPA is the organization that has been tasked with the self-regulation of the sport of skydiving in the US. Other countries directly regulate the sport. Personal responsibility, on the other hand, means that I am legally responsible for everything about my skydive, and so is anybody I jump with. That doesn't excuse me ethically/morally if I do something that causes someone else to be injured or killed though, especially if I am operating under a piece of paper that says I should be working to a higher standard...

The OP stated that the guy has about $10k into it. I'd assume that means the guy feels it's worth about $10k. To him, anyway...

Agreed, but unfortunately most people don't live in a world where people respect other people and their property. We can't kill the fuckers (legally anyway), so if we're smart we put our valuable items in places where they can't be fucked with.

Why not jump the dz's student suits until then? Seems like that would be much less of a pain in the ass to do than trying to dye the suit is going to be.

Leaving $10k worth of toy outside when you have the option of securing it inside is just asking for someone to fuck with it. Didn't his mother ever tell him that he needs to put his toys away if he doesn't want them to get screwed up?

Send those tandems up despite the 30 mph winds. Go ahead and send those first jump students up at deep sunset too. I agree, in part. Money is a big part of why many dual rated instructors (tandem and AFF) will choose to do tandems over AFF jumps - more money for less effort. But I also think that a big part of a few of the issues that you brought up (situations that occur post-A license) are our own fault. Consider this scenario - Bob survived doing something that others told him he wasn't ready for. When Joe asks about doing the same thing, Bob tells him he'll be just fine. Joe listens to Bob instead of to Henry (that old fart who jumps that big ass old boat of a canopy and tells everyone that they shouldn't do that; eh, his 20 years in sport don't mean shit). Somehow Joe survives doing the same stupid thing. After Joe gets an instructional rating (since there are no requirements for maturity or common sense to get any rating), Ricky asks Joe the same question and gets the same answer - and since Joe is an instructor of course Ricky will believe that his advice is golden even though it conflicts with accepted safe practices (ie the recommendations in the SIM - which Ricky has never seen). Unfortunately, Ricky wasn't as lucky; he ends up getting hurt doing whatever it was he really wasn't ready for. But Bob and Joe aren't going to understand that it was they who got lucky and that they bear at least some moral responsibility for the injury; they assume (and tell all their buddies) that Ricky fucked up because he is a dumbass who shouldn't be skydiving. And the circle remains unbroken. This kinda proves the point - there is a complete canopy control course outline in the SIM. Have we seen a huge increase in available canopy control courses? No. Why not? Because instructors can make more money and log more jumps hucking meat than they can spending an entire day or weekend teaching canopy control.