Nightingale

I don't think anyone would argue that the love between partners is different than the love between a parent and child. Statements like that make your overall position weaker.

Make sure your legstraps are as tight as you can make them. A big cause of bruising is the straps being too loose, so you get slammed into them on opening.

I agree! I'm downsizing to a 210 because of rental costs (the 210 can be borrowed, the 230 must be rented for $65 a day) and I called and talked to THREE of my AFF instructors, all of whom have seen my landings, to make sure I'd be okay on that canopy. Every single one said the 210 should be fine, since my wingloading on the 210 would be .75 I called them. I asked. If they'd said no, I wouldn't have argued. I would have thanked them for their advice and continued to rent the 230 whenever I had the cash. Its much better to be on the ground and safe than jumping in a situation that is not safe. I'd rather stay grounded today and not hurt myself than jump in an unsafe manner and get hurt or worse! The sky will always be there. I have a vested interest in making sure I will be there too.

What people do with regards to their family life has nothing to do with me. I don't care who people want to marry and raise children with, as long as the children are treated well. beyond that, frankly, I have enough to worry about in my own life. what goes on in other people's bedrooms matters not.

only happens in the movies full of fanatics. I never go to see fantasy or sci-fi movies on opening day, and that's one of the reasons.

we had a rotten landing on a flight to hawaii... the poor flight attendant had just about had it. we could tell when she made the announcement "please remain seated with your safety belts fastened as Captain Kangaroo BOUNCES our way to the terminal."

I had a sign up by my apartment door... "People found smoking will be considered on fire and treated accordingly." After putting out a cig or two with a super soaker when my bro and a friend dared to lite up in my place, they took me seriously. Arm your friends with squirt guns.

Thanks for the heads up. I have a guner but haven't jumped with it yet. I'll size it before I leave home and put a stitch or two through the strap.

Are you an organ donor? I'm just curious. Its been on my mind recently, because around last christmastime, my family found out that my mom's cousin, Karen, is going to need a heart transplant. She has cardiomyopathy. She and her husband, Chris, have two children, Kelly, 14 and Kenton, 9. Kenton has also inherited a heart problem related to his mother's, and Kelly is showing the beginnings of problems as well. Why do you think more people aren't organ donors??

tell your doctor you WANT physical therapy, that you're an athlete (skydiver) and need to make sure it heals right. a lot of times docs don't prescribe PT even when its warranted for sprains.

if $ is tight, just have a friend on the ground video your landing.

Elsinore required me to do a coach jump because although I'd passed AFF and was current, I didn't have my A, so I was still a student. The coach jump made me more comfortable with the new DZ, though, and they landed me on radios just to be sure.

Well, at least you have the consolation that you probably got everyone at the old job sick!

Sorry... she'd advised tylenol if the fever spiked. not for a fever of 99. on wednesday and thursday, I was so dizzy from the fever that I couldn't get up to do basic stuff for myself like get a glass of water. My blood pressure is naturally on the low end of normal, so my doc's told me that I have a tendency to get very dizzy with a fever. I don't understand what one has to do wiht the other, but apparently there's some kind of connection. The tylenol made me feel well enough so I could at least get out of bed to take care of myself, get water, gatorade, juice, soup, etc... I live alone, so there isn't anyone else looking out for me.

please, please, please, follow your doctor's instructions to the letter! Sprains are worse than breaks in many ways. They hurt more, they take longer to heal, and they can involve complex connective tissue. If you don't properly let a bad sprain heal, you can end up needing surgery. I have a very nasty scar across the top of my right hand attesting to this.

I can't get flu shots. the side effects are too terrible. Badly inflamed muscle tissue to the point where I had my arm in a sling for a few weeks after getting one a few years ago. Same pattern with two different years of flu shots, so I've come to the conclusion my body just doesn't tolerate something in them very well, and I'd rather get sick than put up with not being able to fully use my arm for a month. Sick is only a few days, week max. My flu: tuesday approx 2 pm... started feeling achy. everything hurt. was thinking "my canopy landings weren't THAT bad yesterday! WTF??" Tired. cranky. at work and wanting to go home. tuesday approx 6 pm. temperature of 99.9. called mom, described symptoms, got advice on drinking lots of juice, taking tylenol, and got some sympathy. wednesday 4:30 am. alarm woke me up, felt like I'd been hit by a truck. large muscle groups HURT (quads, biceps, lats, etc) Fever of 102.5. called in sick. All day wednesday, fever went up and down from 99.0 to 102.9, depending on whether or not tylenol was wearing off. Ditto with thursday. No fever late thursday night. Dragged myself to work on friday. Should've stayed home, but I don't get sick pay, so this f-ing flu had already cost me $300 from not working. :( Doctor said if no fever, than not contageous anymore. Felt rotten all through the weekend, should've stayed home on monday to get a bit more rest, but again, no sick pay. its now over a week later. I still feel tired and run down. I did virtually nothing on saturday or sunday other than sleep. Last night, I got home from work at 6:30, and was in bed, asleep by 8. And, I wanna go back home and go back to sleep. I don't feel sick anymore, just very tired, like my body used up all its reserves fighting back to back food poisoning and then flu two days later, and I have absolutely no energy left... but, I lost 10 lbs. that's good, right? wouldn't be my ideal method of weight loss, but hey, I'll take what I can get.

Godiva sells those little boxes with four chocolates in it... I keep a stash in my desk for when someone unexpected gets me something.

I'll take those blank journals off your hands! I use those things all the time!

Beer if I'm in a just kick back and have fun mood (usually either Corona or Guinness) Cadillac margaritas or amaretto sours or midori sours if I've had a rough week and really need to chill out. also depends on who I'm with.

Yep! Love chess. Love pretty much any board game, but chess and monopoly especially.

http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Programmable_20Alarm_20Clock here ya go! the alert is recordable, and you can set multiple alerts... so just record the alert from your audible!

he's got CYPRES listed as his AAD under his profile.

Sounds of the Wild A mother was reading a book about animals to her 3 year old daughter. Mother: "What does the cow say?" Child: "Moo!" Mother: "Great! What does the cat say?" Child: "Meow." Mother: "Oh, you're so smart! What does the frog say?" And this wide-eyed little 3 year-old looked up at her mother and in her deepest voice replied, "Bud." Baby bear wants to live somewhere else The three bears had been having some trouble recently and had ended up in family court. Mama and Papa bear were splitting up, and baby bear had to decide who he was going to live with. So, the judge wanted to talk to baby bear to see what he thought about living with either of his parents. When he asked baby bear about living with his father, baby bear said "No, I can't live with Papa bear, he beats me terribly." "OK," said the judge, "then you want to live with your mother, right?" "No way!" replied baby bear, "She beats me worse than Papa bear does." The judge was a bit confused by this, and didn't quite know what to do. "Well, you have to live with someone, so is there any relatives you would like to stay with?" asked the judge. "Yes," answered baby bear, "my aunt Bertha bear who lives in Chicago." "You're sure she will treat you well and won't beat you?" asked the judge. "Oh definitely," said baby bear, "the Chicago Bears don't beat anybody."

first time I jumped a spectre (jump #11) I almost grabbed for my handles because the snivel felt so much longer! I gave it another few seconds though, since I'd pulled high, and it opened no problem. Was just slower, but a very nice opening.

Ivan?