Nightingale

you could just draw a line, like this: ___________________ _________________________________ __________________________________________

I have met him in person. He came to speak to our university when he was a presidential candidate. I was the one in charge of making sure he had water, munchies, and whatever else he wanted. I must say, he was demanding and rude. Not just to me, but to everyone around him. It wasn't so much what he said as how he said it. Treated people like serfs rather than assistants. He gave a fairly good speech to an audience of a couple hundred students, but wouldn't take questions.

I hate seeing people tell newbies that they are not "qualified to have an opinion." If I'm qualified enough to throw myself out of a plane, I'm qualified to have an opinion on certain aspects of my gear. It seems like, instead of refuting the low-timer's opinion with actual facts, situations, or issues, people have a tendency to say "you don't have enough jump numbers to have an opinion." and then don't add any more info. Anyone with an A license, according to USPA, is allowed to have an opinion on cypres use, helmet use, canopy size, full face vs. open face helmet, etc... They HAVE to have an opinion on stuff like this, because as soon as someone gets an A license, they're allowed to make their own choices, and therefore, MUST have an opinion on the correct choice to make. If you want to contradict their opinion or offer an alternate view, fine, but don't tell them they're not entitled to have some idea of what they should do regarding their own safety. A better response to the cypres issue would have been "in (insert situation here), you may not want a cypres, because (insert reason here)." rather than just brushing someone off for their jump numbers.

what I said is "I don't see a reason why I shouldn't use one." There is still no good reason why I shouldn't use one that outweighs the reasons why I should. I never said anything about needing one. When I made that comment, I'd had extensive discussions with two of my instructors about what a cypres was, how it worked, and why it was used. I wasn't telling anyone else what to do. I just said I didn't see a reason for ME not to use one.

I list mine, but I almost didn't... When I had two or three jumps, I posted in a conversation about why people do or do not use a cypres. my comment was something like "it seems like cypres are kinda like seatbelts. you hope you never need them, but when you do, you're thankful, because they can save your ass. At this point, I don't really see a reason that I shouldn't use one." One of the responses I got was something to the effect of "no offense, but you don't have enough jumps to even form an opinion on this." Well... fifty jumps later, and my opinion hasn't changed. With what I do, I still don't see any reason to jump without a cypres. Jump numbers can be deceiving. You can have someone with one or two jumps who doesn't know shit, or you can have someone with one or two jumps who's been packing, rigging, or working manifest for ten years. If all you look at is jump numbers, you'd think these two folks had the same knowledge base, but they don't. One has had infinitely more exposure to the sport.

They can't/won't deny coverage just because someone skydives... they can, however, exclude all skydiving related injuries. read your policy carefully.

Are you also against random drug testing of skydive instructors? Or just for minors?

I have blue cross insurance. under my policy, skydiving injuries are covered.

on my AFF level 8, Raoul Gravell shot some awesome video... he got a great shot of my deployment from wave off... he shot it from slightly above me, so you see pretty much the entire deployment sequence.

:0:0 no chance to jump this weekend... did manage to get to the renaissance faire yesterday, and was mired in schoolwork today.

Anyone have an extra copy, or don't want theirs?? or does anyone know if USPA sells back issues? my name's in it for my A license, and I wanted to show it to my folks... I left it on my coffee table (MISTAKE!) and my cats got to it... its kinda shredded now. sigh.

You have to look at the motive of the child here... If the child knew that the teacher had a life-threatening peanut allergy and tried to secretly expose the teacher to peanuts, that is attempted murder. If the child was just trying to play a joke, that's another matter.

LOL!!! I was laughing my ass off!

PLEASE get the PT, even if you think you don't need it. I didn't. Took me six months of physical therapy a few years later to undo what six weeks of PT after the sprain would've taken care of. I was en pointe (toe shoes) in ballet class and didn't have nearly the flexibility in my ankle that I should have.

Killing an animal for the sake of killing it is simply cruel (provided there are no extenuating circumstances such as overpopulation, and the animal is not a nuisance or diseased). Provided you eat what you kill and don't simply hang a head on the wall and leave the rest to rot, I have no problem at all with hunting or hunters.

Its sad that, for the most part, someone has to come home in a box to be branded a hero. EVERY SINGLE PERSON in our armed forces is a hero.

35%

Thanks, Rosa!!!! It was almost midnight when I wrote my other post... I was thinking "I kinda know where I got it from, but I'm too tired to look for it now..."

bah... I usually remember to link the source. I'll have to look it up again. I'll look for it tomorrow.

oooh.... One Particular Harbor is my favorite. I also like A Pirate Looks at 40, Come Monday, and Last Mango in Paris

Reese- RELAX! There's nothing bad about repeating a level. It isn't a failure. Its just another opportunity to work on your skills. Think of it this way: a repeat jump counts towards your A license requirement of 25 jumps, you get another chance to jump with instructors, and different instructors can give you different feedback, you won't have to do as many solo jumps, which sound exciting now but get really boring after you've just done six in a row, and... a repeat is still a SKYDIVE! Whether you pass or fail, you're still skydiving and you're still having fun, which is what's important (other than pulling and landing safely, of course ) on your level 5, if you pass the first time around, GREAT! and if not, take a deep breath, chat with your instructors about what you need to work on, and smile, because you just made a skydive! then, get back on the plane as soon as you can and give it another go. Best of luck!!!!! -Nightingale ps- I have my whole AFF experience posted on my website (linked in my sig), and I know Michele has hers posted up here somewhere... you could probably search for it. Trust me, you're not alone in that nervousness, tension and anxiety... heck, I was so scared on level 2 that I rode the damn plane down!

sigh. I'd rather pay a few cents more a gallon for a cleaner environment... then again, I use the train to commute to work so my car isn't even on the road, so I'm doing my best to not add to Los Angeles' already rotten pollution problem. I hope that more people, especially here in Southern Cali, take a second (or first!) look at public transportation. The metrolink trains are comfortable, faster than driving, and you can read a book, listen to music, or read the newspaper, so you're not just wasting time sitting in traffic.

I get this all the time through hotmail... what happens is the virus spoofs your email address. then, the email goes to the recipient. the recipient's mail server detects the virus and bounces the mail back to the person whose addy got spoofed. In this case, the spoofed addy (his) and the recipient were probably both yahoo users, which is why the email came from yahoo admin.

it probably wasn't your computer that sent the email in the first place. some viruses scan through other people's address book. for example, if Jamie's address book lists: Kennedy Cheryl Jason Mark the virus, although it's on Jamie's computer, will send an email that looks like its from Cheryl to everyone else in Jamie's address book, and Cheryl, although her computer isn't even infected, gets emails saying "why'd you send me a virus??"

what the heck is it???