airann

Jessica- where Ya been? How are you? When you coming back down? Etc. Yeah- but I thought you meant the forums in general. Not just the text. I was thinkining membership and poster wize. Yikes.... There are some people I dont hardly know these days. Egads, Whats the web coming to these days. ?? ~AirAnn~

Hoping I would not throw up and Praying I would not wet my pants. But mostly The kiss I got when my tandem master and I were last to get exit the plane and the camera man wasnt looking. My mouth flew open, eyes bugged out and I forgot about the skydive. -Holy Cow- I thought- Did anyone see that? Did he just lick and kiss my neck? I hope I wasnt too sweaty. -Far Out- Huh? Look, I am walking funny to the door. Uh oh, the camera man is leaving.... (mumble mumble)... WHAT? ..Oh ok, watch my head..... In the door I thought - Voices from the left: Dont look down - you are going to die, .. Voices from the right: Relax, You CAN do this Voices from the left: Lozer, this is the end of the world. Voices from the right: This is something you Can Do, just try. Voices from the left: What idiot thougt of this? Voices from the right: I am going to go now.... And I will be great. Voices from the left: Who do you think you are? Voices from the right: You are who you think you can be. Voices from the left: You are what everyone says about you. You dont fit in anywhere. Voices from the right: I will discover this and I will know what THIS is like. At the last second- I realized, Yes, I can jump out of an airplane. And this is me doing something I didnt not believe that I could do. I completed my self imposed test. Without telling anyone I was going to try. However, I did leave a message on my answering machine in case the guy who just dumped my ass might call. "I have gone skydiving. Leave a message." After jumping, I discovered a lot about my self,my life and my feelings and I looked at everything in a different way. Most importantly myself. Its why I jumped, I wanted to know who was right. Can I do something that is real hard to do? Am I ok? Can I learn something new? Can I learn to live my life on various different terms? I believe that the video of me in the door smiling was the exact moment when I changed my life. My questions had been answered. Whatever it is- Yes, you can. and with that smile my life changed forever. I did not throw up -nor- did I wet my pants. It was a good day. ~AirAnn~

I had my first jumpsuit (Freefly suit) after 11 jumps. I couldnt jump it till I graduated. I had my helmet, protrack and Alt by jump 10 or around. My rig oppurtunity came at jump 19 or 20. My first rig had around 100 - 200 jumps on it. An all black Jav J1, Saber 150, Raven reserve and a cypress. The whole package contained $5000. The guy had a hurt neck from a car accident. He let skydiving go. He has since returned to skydiving 2 years later. He sold it to the DZO who sold it to me. I got my first camera & helmet at like 200 jumps or so. My advise to anyone buying gear off student status is to try to find someone you trust. An honest rigger works best. And understand what the market is currently on gear. At the time of this writing I know 3 people personally who cant sell their used gear. (2 Mirages and a Voodoo or a Mirage and 2 voodoos, I forgot already) Even when the gear has 45 jumps on it. All 3 rigs are brand new. A 4 yr old Mirage of a friend of mine went for practically fractions of pennies on the dollar. So, sportsfans now is the time to buy used gear. But only at a trusted friends advice. ~AirAnn~

Levin, I quadruple your hope that Rookie wins . I hope Missy wins too. Huh, Are they in the same catagory? Who cares. Competion will rate these skydivers on this day and at this time. Or an average of A given weekend? A moment in time. The day after? The day before? Who knows. I competed Once. I have no idea how that happened. However, I was paired with a guy of around 300 lbs and me at 120. I had never jumped with my guy before. On our jump -I last saw my guy at the door, then he turned into a speck way below. Rook turned the disaster into a super fun dive. Since it was just the two of us we just joked around. He laughed the whole time. I thought it was the end of the world. I thought (stupidly) that folks would think that THAT skydive was the extent of my ablities. Even maybe that was the very best I could ever do. Who I like in skydiving now, is moreover how they act on the ground. This is my 2nd favorite picture. LT took it. But its what Rook looked like coming to get me. I wish everyone a safe and happy competition - no matter what place they wind up with. ~AirAnn~

SkymonkeyOne is correct, that is one way. He can also talk to the people from Medicaid. They will cover costs. Have Ericka talk to those representatives from Medicaid at the hospital and they will retro his eligibility. If he gets transferred to Houston its all good. I know all the Sports Orhos and I will ask for a favor. And there should not be professional fees. One man here is the best. And he donates his time. Two things here.... For Skydive Houston to SHUT DOWN and allow their staff to go to support the Memorial Boogie at AggieLand and in addition have a fun jump day is just incredible. That says alot. They would have had plenty of jumpers show up on Friday to jump - I would have been one. But they chose to let that be an AOT day. Next, the pilot who had this accident is one of the nicest men I have ever met who flys jumpers. On the Memorial Jump for Mike Goodman, he was instrumental, instructing me just when to drop my garbage bag full of flower petals over the crowd at about 40 feet over the runway. (I couldnt see & my arm was trapped in the door) He always picks me up when I land way at the end of the property. Last time he picked myself and Levin up. Then he promptly apologized for the landing spot. Which was NO fault of his. He wont let you out of the plane if the spot is long and I havent ever seen anyone ask for a go-round. He just does it. Once the sky was iffy. Before we left the boarding area, he turned and the jumpers on the plane and basically took a vote. He wanted to do what we wanted to do. Well, it didnt work out so we rode to the runway and back. But it was nice to have been asked for our opinion. He was honest. He turned to us and said -"Im not sure, what you yall want to do?" Sincere best wishes to our Pilot and for a speedy recovery we pray. I am sorry I could not make it to AOT, however my hopes have been that it is a very successful event this year. Its certainly a worthy cause. ~AirAnn~

Yeah, damn those exact winds. Its that turbulance Grasshopper, off those pine trees to your right that broke my tibia and 4 bones in my freakin foot. If you are talking about the other dz, then the hangar to your left is your turbulance. (Concussion, face scrape, great video.) How do you face scrape on the grass? Sharp blade of grass or something? But now.... I have evolved after 3 years of lame stuff to a nice landing without anxiety attacks at 250 feet. Thats right, I am no longer a huge crowd pleaser. However, my strengths are still in between exit and landing. See picture... Yahooo, I landed well and have photograpic evidence. ... my new sponsored jumpsuit as well. You just need to cross wind it over by where everyone else does.... ~AirAnn~

Whoa, Jessica, that gives me an idea ...... (rainy day here) I have been watching way too many of those Home Improvement shows. Meanwhile, I have also decided most men dont look where they are going. They run into stuff. Hello? I moved the couch... Hark...? Is someone cussing? ... something about a broken toe??? (I think its healed by now) Oopsie. I could make something interesting rolling around on fabric with paint ...... Reminds me of Walt. He has I think 5 butts on the top of his canopy. The short of it is... he painted 5 girls butts and they sat on his canopy. Huh? This is a guy who never stops thinking... I like him. I believe one of the butts is JumperPaulas. Then, I got a Christmas Card from Walt. Walt is sit flying, a huge grimace look on his face, and you look at it for a minute and it appears he farted out an interesting looking cloud ..... Okeeedokeeee ... Think I will run down to the nearby paint store.... ~AirAnn~

Yeah, he and his bud are supposed to be super nice folks. I had an invite out there to jump with them in the Spring but I didnt make it out. Arrangements were made by a friend of a friend. You stick around long enough you will know people. Fritz is regular people. Just talk to him. You know, WhatzzzUpppp? Got any noteworthy advice? or What are you and the Boyz up to lately? If you run into him often - Get him to sign some covers and frame them. I have 2 Parachutist Magazines in the mail to the cover person (friend) and he will sign them and mail them back. Likely he will write something whacked too. .... On a picture of me sit flying three years ago ... he wrote... Superstar! and signed it. I framed that puppy. Its displayed nicely in the dark hall by the guest bath. LOL Anyway... I collect cool pictures and get them signed and framed. I continue to get some cool stuff over the years. You never know where people will wind up. Who knew a string bean guy like my friend (who joked that he would move to Houston if I would be his Sugar Momma) would be number one in the world eventually. (Actually, everyone knew he would be) Now, if I could just track down that Baldwin dude to sign my Movie Poster of Cutaway...... ~AirAnn~

AirAnn's Crunchy Coffee- aka Jet Fuel 2 cups Black Tar Coffee mainlined right out of the filter. 3 scoops sugar shot of water 4 large spoons Blue Bell Vanilla ice cream swish it around and wal-lah, Jet Fuel Breakfast of the Champions. ~AirAnn~

Hey Ted... I cant believe that.... Certain brisket eaters swoop thru trees and get a laugh. (not Skeet this time - Eric) Under power lines and thru hedges = Wah Hoo, Great Video!! However, he is a professional. Then you have the two house-mates of mine ... And another thing, if you have not been 'talked to' = you havent been skydiving very long. ...speaking of web-sites, Freeflyers.com is just about out and it is beyond outstanding. Every bit of the code is hand written. Logos and artwork is done by hand as well. Last time he did that the logo showed up on an Austrailan DZ home page as their logo. Busted! ~AirAnn~

Whoa.... Everyone is so Pretty!!! Those are great pictures of sister BBarnhouse??? Muscles are nice.....

Zen, Thanks for not broadcasting our relationship all over the dang web. Your description of me is flattering, however. News is traveling that you are hottest thing on the DZ right now. (skydiver chat room discussion) The hot skin head goatee guy with the slick Purple and White Firefly pants... Dang! I am SCARED of YOU!!! Also - suggestions are out to be sure to check out your butt, ...... I mean your pilot chute, er pin ... er stuff, like check out your harness, er package or something... Just a rumor... Merely a safety precaution. ~AirAnn~

Sat morning- It damn near looks jumpable. I have holes all over the sky here. Then a cloud, but to me it looks jumpable. I dont even have wind as they predicted I would at 40 mph. Looks like less than 10 here now. At Sland they may have more of an issue due to their closeness to where Fay made landfall. My house is exactly 1/2 way between Houstons 2 dz's. At least I could jump over my place. I expect anywhere further inland persons are starting to gather all looking skyward. The thing is there are 'feeder bands' that will move over the rest of the day going north westerly. Sort of a wave effect. Speaking of waves, Fay caought me unprepared, I have dings on both boards and no fiberglass or resin. I might be able to be prepared for the nice organized waves when the wind switches. But by then its jumpable for sure. Decisions.... Surf or Sky? It would be great if Houston had a ski-able mountain. Life is just way good. I have sun now, what a difference a day makes....... ~AirAnn~

I answered the questions as Myself... It came up Buffy the Vampire Slayer... Cool... ~AirAnn~

I know a really big dude... zero neck ... all muscle. In his AFF days, he had some trouble. Mainly his arch wasnt great at first. Later on he learned to relax and fly. It took some mental training as opposed to muscle training. It works out fine if you just relax and work with it not work at it. Then I believe he crossed-over and did mostly sit flying and found he flew better that way. He has a kinda big freefly suit. But certainly not as big as some I have seen. Id say its rather tight for a big guy. But he maintains. Come to think of it, I never see him flying with anyone. But then he is a really quiet guy. I know he will jump with me, so next time I see him I will ask him. Most people will jump with me at least once. But anyhow, he did learn to fly and fly rather well from all accounts. He found his own style and went with it. I think its what we all do. Figure it out. Find our sweet spot and build on that. Time and space is all you need. He never altered his normal lifestyle with wieght lifting. He just added an additional sport. ~Skydiving~ ~AirAnn~

I am glad to know you made it back to the Flag waving US of A. Seems like it took forever. Your perspective (since you have been gone) is highly entertaining. As well as, enlightening. A little about culture or the lack of - I guess. ~AirAnn~

How did you get that picture???? Holy Cow - You little shyt. Thanks for the re-post of your picture. I had put it in a file and I forgot which one. Now I know where it is. Hehe... Any and all attention I get from super good lookin skydivers (like you guys) is naturally appreciated. Is it hot in here? ~AirAnn~

Andy- its my camera port. Not my computer port. We have 3 computers networked here and a IBM raptop for running around. And I have no idea what their names are other than Anns, etc. Thanks Phree -again- you prove to be an awesome friend. Duo- The "transfer fee" is high for Sony Repairs. Phree thinks $250? Last I heard it was $125. Dang. Transfer Fee is Anns Joke = To transfer from MY hands to Sony's hands. My last check was for Sony just to open her up was $125 or $150. The repairs would be additional. I had a friend open my PC7 last week. He found some screws and a chip of a chip. The Chip has to do maybe with pixelation problem or something. The PC7's issue is Levin swooped low with it, got it wet and it didnt work. Then I got it to work and it has periodic audio and pixel weirdness. It too unreliable to fly with. Likely it would weird out at the exact time I wanted it to capture something spectacular. So that leaves me with my TRV11 whcih I can video all I want. Only I cant download the vids to my computer or to anyone elses camera. However I can play them on my TV big screen. Erg..... I supose I could transfer camera video to VCR tape and back on to another camera? Lozing much quality I quess. ~AirAnn~

My firewire port is apparently whacked. (TRV11) First my PC wouldnt recognise my camera. That was weird. Next at the dz we couldnt fire wire the videos to each others cameras. Then Levin couldnt fire films to my camera here at home..... Conculsion ... The port is whacked..... We tried different wires, hooking it up to other cameras with same wires. The wires were fine. Anybody have any experience with this? Anyone know an inexpensive repair? This is a huge problem for me. ~AirAnn~

My bug- I see too many people who add a chin cup and then have their former chin strap connected as well. This bugs me. I tell them to pick one. And I tell them why I say that. (see below *) ( I have a TRV11 on top of a mindwarp, top plate, and box, all Bonehead Comp. with a chin strap) *I did this for about 8 jumps and then had someone pull on my camera mount/helmet and I tried to get out of my camera helmet. Get this... it was difficult. So about chin straps - you dont need two. IMO ~AirAnn~

Oh POOT... I missed it! I would love to Pie my ole JM. For just any old good reason. I still have a ton of silly string from Levins 1000th that I missed. Did Hookie drink his 3 beers? I miss you guys! ~AirAnn~

The Luminous One has said it best. So, as far as the dz goes... read his thread again. In addition... we have a nice freefly school. The 3D Academy. (www.freeflyers.com) The Waller famous CReW Dogs are never too far away at their CRew Dawg Camp. Eric Butts is always has entertaining landings while not doing tandems. Its not a political dz. and everyone is nice. There is just one itty bitty thing..... a new rule I highly object to. No dogs. At first I thought this surely referred to people. I am currently working on a loop hole to this outrageous ruling. Skeet can pass as a black horse, no problem there. Olav ZipsTer can pass as a fuzzy rug... FleaFlyer? I am not to sure what his disguise could be.... maybe a CReW dog. ~AirAnn~

Yeah Vik ... You are hot for sure ... show them that picture from the swimming pool. I LOVE that one. This happens to me quite often. When I leave the dz I kinda have to sneak away. (I always get dogged real bad when leaving. ) I leave in my freefly suit sometimes. I cant help it if I am the dz Princess, Anyway... On the way home I stop by the grocery store. With my freefly suit on, tied at the waist, I believe the regular population of evening grocery shoppers may think I am.... a race car driver. ?? A circus preformer. ?? Something... ???? What would a non-skydiving person think if they saw a someone dressed like me? Especially at grocery store far removed from a dz. in middle of Houston ? My hair looks like I have been going 171 mph as well. Whoo Hooo..... This actually causes me much refection and perplexing thoughts .... I wonder what they think they are looking at? Maybe one day I will ask and see what the survey says. I am willing to bet no one picks Skydiving. Top Ten: Race Car driver Circus Preformer Plays drums in a band a mechanic I give up..... ~AirAnn~

Hey!!! Very nice. How did you like that opening? How did you manage on landing with a hand held tube? Interesting stuff. Seems like I know that videographer. I would know that sleeve anywhere. Did you ever get that 2nd rig?? So many questions... I had a fairly good weekend, I made 5 on Sunday and just one on Sat. I hope you had a good one too. Good to see you in the air again, even if its someones video. Yesterday -somehow- his camera was on night shot (Thank God) and mine was still on standy by, unfortunately. I was murdered in the door, 4 way gorilla with myself mashed and beaten by the back of the plane and door. Thank goodness for helmets. I could have used some body armor on my left side and arm as well. I thought I was dead down the hill. I realized I was not and joined that zoo dive again. I would have had some great shots of Levin and Eli against the sun backdrop and etc. You know what they say about 'when all cameras go bad on a jump'. Its semi true. Blue ones- ~AirAnn~

Oh I forgot, Susan was here during the height of the Flea issue. Shortly afterwards.... We loaded up the family ride and visited Mr. Vet. The great dane specialist. (I thought everyone should see the same vet) Long story and I think $571 ... everyone is squared away. We now have an aresonal of nuclear type things to use aganist all pesky pests. However, I have never been one for chemicals. I had an 11 year old parrot killed by apartment personel that way. Birdie had been thru 2 divorces and a robbery with me. Plus countless road trips sitting on the headrest. But anyway... at the sight of a single flea we break out camo and go to work. Outside grass, Atrium, front yard grass, carpet.... bedding.... all nuked. Special shampoo for Zippy Do Dah. Gotta go jump. .... Levin is 4 minutes ahead of me now....,. Lozer ~AirAnn~