DrewEckhardt

The situation is not unsafe as long as you don't approach each other too agressively, keep track of each other during the skydive, and achieve sufficient separation between eachother + other groups at break-off (plan to track in opposite directions perpindicular to the jump run). That said you'll learn faster when you know the other people are falling straight down and there isn't any confusion about who is orbitting whom.

Because ground rush is fun and BASE equipment is a safer match for a planned opening no higher than 1000 feet than the typical skydiving rig (whether than main or reserve container + canopy are being used).

When you have at least $5K in that 401K your former employer must give you the option of keeping it there.

I herniated L5-S1 about a year ago in a horrible sneezing accident. Didn't jump for months. Driving to the drop zone (stayed over-night last time we went to one 90 miles distant), walking arround with a skydiving rig on, or sitting on a plane floor 182, Caravan without seats) where I can't balance my rig on something is not comfortable (an otter with benches is OK). Pulling too many Gs spiraling is not comfortable although that's gotten lots better. Extension on the ground feels good; so arching in freefall probably isn't an issue. Openings don't seem to make a difference with softly opening skydiving canopies. I haven't made a wingsuit jump with my Monarch or tried one of my BASE canopies. Everyone's back is different. I started with a 190 when I returned to jumping in case it put me in too much discomfort to pay attention to landing. I eased back into things spending a few weeks under a 135 and couple months under my 120 before I returned to my 105.

It depends on whether some one else is reselling your services, W2 or 1099, location, specialization, experience, contract term, etc. I've seen $25-$125/hour. Drew's Software, LLC in Boulder, CO specializing in complex systems software has charged $70 (open ended)-$105/hour (with a 4 hour minimum) finding my own work and $70/hour as a sub-contractor (where they'd keep me working full-time in exchange for their $35/hour markup) all on form 1099s. You need to talk to an accountant you trust. You want to form an LLC or corporation which files as an S-corp. That company pays federal & state unemployment taxes, the employer's share of social security/medicare, and has payroll taxes automatically witheld. It pays you what the IRS considers to be a "reasonable" wage - ask your accountant. That's subject to the full 15% FICA + medicare tax. It distributes profits to its share holders (you) which are then taxed once at your personal tax rate. It can provide other benefits to you as other companies do. This is better than being a sole proprietor because that would make ALL of your income up to the cap subject to social security, you can pay for some benefits with pre-tax dollars, and it allows you to collect unemployment if business gets slow and you need to lay yourself off. You want to work from home every day. Your clients want that because when you're determining how your work gets done you're a contractor while when they tell you how to work you're an employee. That makes driving to your customer's sites business travel which reduces your profits at 44.5 cents a mile instead of commuting which is not deductable. You need to talk to an accountant you trust.

In the US raises don't increase the income tax you owe on the money you're already earning. You'd have gotten your money back as a tax refund. Or kept it in your pocket if you went through the trouble of figuring out what you'd owe in taxes, rounding up on the exemptions on your W4, and witholding extra so it came out right. Things don't get ugly until you cross thresholds for education tax credits, participating in programs like the Roth IRA, etc.

An agreement to abide by the HOA's rules exist as an easement against the deed. When buying the property the seller must provide a copy and the buyer has a few days after that to cancel their contract and get their deposit back. As long as they don't do anything too illegal and get the required number of votes for changing it (2/3 of the owners at our HOA) you're stuck with it. The HOA rule book tends to be bigger for condominums and town homes.

It's nicer although early in life I was a lot happier spending $350 a month for 1/3 of a townhouse with two roomates that I could leave to make 5 jumps a weekend over $750/month on a one bedroom apartment I'd be stuck in.

You pay for what you get where the minimum is set by the costs of materials, labor, shipping, and taxes. I paid my rigger $40 for materials on my last jumpsuit plus about $175 in labor which would have covered a half day's work at his usual rates. The result was better built than a Dakine suit. The average annual income in Pakistan is $2400 a year. Making the math easy by assuming 5 day work weeks with 2 weeks off each year that's $8 a day. So I should be able to have the same suit made by a Pakistani taillor for under $50. Welcome to globalization.

You can only claim trademark infringement when the products are similar enough that reasonable consumers would be confused. Hasbro sued Clue Computing, Inc over their using domain "clue.com" and lost because people shouldn't confuse a computer consulting company with a board game. Since reasonable people aren't going to confuse a Suzuki Katana motorcycle, PD Katana parachute, or Sanyo Katana cellular phone the multiple name uses aren't infringing.

It's a different feel. The Spectre takes a lot more control input to level it out. If you're used to the Stiletto's control sensitivity you might not like it at first. It is a more versatile canopy - it'll sink, is less likely to have opening problems on wing suit jumps, dives steeper than the stiletto.

Where's the fun in that? We're sport parachutists not conscripted paratroopers.

If you limit your downsizing according to Brian Germain's .1/100 jump formula, you need to spend 100-200 jumps on each size. If you're making 150-200 jumps a year, limiting container usage to the designed size and one smaller gets you 2 years of life out of that expensive new rig. Stuffing one bigger in there gives you 50% more useful life. Of course, this disregards that some rig designs do a good enough job (tight closing loop, but the side flaps close at a less attractive angle) with a couple sizes smaller. Note that nearly all skydivers find a wing loading they'll be happy with indefinately (or at least until technology changes). When you hold off buying custom gear until after you've reached that point, you can get a _lot_ of life out of it even if you grow a beer belly or shrink one. I've had my first custom rig for six years and spent about eight years with the same sized main+reserve containers.

The price difference might not exist. I did AFF 10 years ago and don't think I spent much over $1200, plus an extra $25 per jump for the next 5 on gear rental. My old home DZ now charges $1340 for the complete AFF program without repeats. A local DZ here charges $1970 for their static line progression totaling 25 jumps (including 4 RW jumps). As long as you do enough hop-and-pops following the AFF program and RW jumps following the static line program you should end up in the same place.

Obviously, I was on drugs (or maybe should have been?) when I typed that. I meant Tempo, circa 1998.

The reserve is too small for your experience level, especially at your home DZ elevation. Note that many reserves of that vintage (including the Tempo) do not have span-wise reinforcing tapes. You want a PD, Smart, or Raven R-MAX. I admit to having a Smart in one of my rigs from before I knew better; paid $550 for it brand new.

As far as Bush is concerned Brown People are not "human life." That classification is reserved for White People of Western European ancestry.

1 US representative and 1 US senator totaling .3% of the legislative branch are neither Republican nor Democrat. Obviously, that means the political parties' influence is declining.

I'm so bored I'd rather be watching daytime television commercials. I haven't done anything this unstimulating professionally since my summer job as a lifeguard fifteen years ago (saved one person in two summers, taught a few group swim lessons each week, averaged cleaning one restroom a day, and spent the other thirty hours each week twirling my whistle and getting a killer tan).

If you have a group plan at work you probably want to use that. Mine costs me $12.44/month for a $500,000 policy without exclusions.

Free flying. You can put a handful of experienced skydivers in a plane, add a couple people with under 50 jumps each, and make multi-point flat jumps which everyone finds fun and challenging. Put a handful of typical skydivers together with a few hundred jumps for a freefly and the best likely outcome is a safe jump where you can see everybody from exit to break-off. Frustration with the later really limits who gets invited to jump with whom which is a big problem for new skydivers and has to be affecting the attrition rate.

I love tasty beer. It's one of my three favorite foods (the others being dry-aged steak and sushi). I figured that given the preponderance of breweries in the Pacific Northwest, a move to Washington state would not be putting me on a beer diet. I was wrong. After living here for a month, I hadn't seen a liquor store but didn't worry because QFC carries my favorite beer (Arrogant Bastard). Unfortunately, the last few times I've been there they were sold out. So I started to worry. And searched for liquor stores on-line. And found out that the state has a monopoly on liquor stores like Utah. Jeeze. I don't want tequilla, whisky, or rum. Just beer. Where do I get beer on the East Side? Anderson Valley, Stone Brewery, Boulder Beer, and Sammy Smith's would be great. While I like the Bridgeport IPA, a little variety would be nice.

I would have thought that any canopy that is given enough time and height would be able to level out without any input??? Is this no true? Only in a descending frame of reference (as in CRW or freefall RW). Starting from a dive alll canopies will eventually return to their trimmed airspeed without control input. It's like an airplane - you trim the elevator for a given airspeed and the throttle just changes your climb/descent rate. Without an engine the canopy must be descending at its trim speed. While at higher than trim speed some (the Stiletto is a good example that nearly everyone has jumped) will achieve level flight. Some will spend a while in a steeper dive than that needed to maintain their trim speed before flattening out to it. This is referred to as a negative recovery arc. They will never completely level out without control input. Contemporary canopies buiilt for swooping all fall into the second category. The behavior is definately more user friendly. If you get to your desired heading under a Stilletto too soon and have spindly software engineer arms you may be unable to hang on the front risers to keep it in a dive, it'll slow down not matter what, and if flying level will surge forward as it accelerates to trim speed. A Samurai will keep descending in a shallow dive at higher than trim speed for a while. An Extreme FX will stay in a steeper dive for longer. Avoiding the situation where you need to hang on both front risers by recognizing it sooner and slowing your turn rate with opposite front riser is a better idea because it maintains roll angle. With roll angle less of the canopy's lift is acting against gravity so the terminal velocity is higher and it's decelerating more slowly.

I'd have him neutered after which he'd be "No Nads." Pets are better behaved without their gonads.

Technically it could be done, but it's no where near worth the cost or trouble it would take to do it. With some manufacturers wanting $1500-$2000 for a new rig, a few hundred to them parts and labor for replacement flaps is a screaming deal. Some manufacturers will make rigs from fabric provided by you. Also note that without a rigging rating you can't legally modify your main & reserve containers.