brierebecca

I said yes when he asked me to marry him

I got: a BLACK Ipod Nano with a really sweet engraving on the back from my fiance. Money. So now I can pay rent and do a few jumps at Z-hills this weekend. A book of poems by my favorite poet (which made my cry) A pair of boots, a pink cashmere sweater, some chocolate, and some DVDs. Oh, and 2 pairs of running shoes (they were two for one!). A new appreciation of my fiance. Our car broke down in middle Ga. last night, and he had it fixed in an hour or so - there was an autoparts store open nearby. It was great, I felt like he was my knight in shining armor or something.

We wanted to visit Byron! How far is it from Sacramento? Brie "Ive seen you hump air, hump the floor of the plane, and hump legs. You now have a new nickname: "Black Humper of Death"--yardhippie

Lee, I think I'm with you on this one. There's only one thing that's bothering me: A poster a while back stated that Shayna had most or all of her medical bills covered by Medicaid. Granted, this probably doesn't include the teeth, but why would she include the 200,000 in hospital bills if they were taken care of? It smells a little fishy to me. If she could clear that up for me, I'd be all for helping. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it's going to happen. Brie "Ive seen you hump air, hump the floor of the plane, and hump legs. You now have a new nickname: "Black Humper of Death"--yardhippie

Thanks for the replies. We are definitely visiting Lodi. We would be interested in going further afield....any other suggestions? Brie "Ive seen you hump air, hump the floor of the plane, and hump legs. You now have a new nickname: "Black Humper of Death"--yardhippie

I've posted a pic on here somewhere that has Travis and I kissing, him in HD and me in a sit. I think it was in one of GFD's threads. for regular HD, it doesn't matter, you can do it with your hands in a round or in a flower. If you're REALLY COOL, you can exit with another girl, kissing with boobie docks. Brie "Ive seen you hump air, hump the floor of the plane, and hump legs. You now have a new nickname: "Black Humper of Death"--yardhippie

Oh Lordy Kel, what restaurant are you working at? I assume you're back home in Atl by now... I'm assuming you're working somewhere nice, and I'm sorry you're getting crap from your servers. It's completely unprofessional for them to tell you how to do your job. That said, not giving them tables at all might be a little vindictive, especially because restaurants are tense and fast-moving places, and people don't always have time to be nice. This is their livelihood we're talking about. Wherever you seat people, you're going to get paid. The waitress you shafted won't. And not seating a server because of a personal vendetta can cause you to lose your job, too. If it were me (and I've been in this situation), next time one of the waitresses is rude to you, I'd smile and ask her to go do her job, and to let you do yours. If your manager is aware of the situation, there's no point in bringing it up again, unless the their conduct escalates. If you do bring it up again, I'd also bring up the sexism you mentioned. I know it's a fact of life, but your manager will be aware of the lawsuits that have arisen from situations like this, and it will get his attention. Hope this helps. Brie "Ive seen you hump air, hump the floor of the plane, and hump legs. You now have a new nickname: "Black Humper of Death"--yardhippie

Who was it who referred to Bush as being born with a silver foot in his mouth? Brie "Ive seen you hump air, hump the floor of the plane, and hump legs. You now have a new nickname: "Black Humper of Death"--yardhippie

Hello all, My fiance and I are honeymooning the week of May 20-27th in Northern California. We're going to be in Yosemite during the week, but we want to jump both weekends. What DZs are in the area? We primarily freefly, but can be talked into doing hybrids and the occasional belly jump.

oops! Sorry, didn't see your adjustment. However, I would argue that a 120 loaded 1:1 and a 170 loaded 1:1.7 would perform much differently, with the 170 being much more aggressive, despite the fact that the 120 is smaller and has faster turns. Once again, I think it also depends on which canopy we're talking about. See my post above. Also, please take my posts on this for what they're worth: just a small female perspective. I'm offering my opinion on how I've had smaller canopies perform at light wingloadings, and I don't claim to be any sort of expert. Brie edited for spelling "Ive seen you hump air, hump the floor of the plane, and hump legs. You now have a new nickname: "Black Humper of Death"--yardhippie

I'm one of those "little people" and I agree. I haven't always made the right decisions regarding canopies, but being required to load at .7 at 500 jumps (135 square feet), no matter what the size of the canopy, would have really pissed me off at the time. I know smaller canopies perform differently than large canopies, and are more aggressive in general, but the performance difference between a 120 and a 107 is not so much that it would make a huge difference when loaded lightly. BTW, I'm currently on a XF2 109, and I have about 850 jumps. I'm still only loaded at about 1.2. It's plenty fast for swooping, at least at this stage, but when flown conservatively, I could easily have handled this canopy at 500 jumps. Maybe there should be a canopy distinction for smaller jumpers as well. There's a HUGE performance difference between a Triathlon or Sabre 120 and a Katana 120. I wouldn't have flown a Katana under 500 jumps, but would be more comfortable with a Sabre or Spectre or Triathlon. I flew a Sabre 1 (107) when I was approaching the 500-jump mark. Just a small girl's opinion. Brie "Ive seen you hump air, hump the floor of the plane, and hump legs. You now have a new nickname: "Black Humper of Death"--yardhippie

You are so sweet to do this, Chris. Nowadays, when coaching can cost over 80 bucks a jump, it's nice to see someone step up and give of themselves. What a nice Christmas present.

unless it's because of an affirmative action program. In which case it's not only not actionable, but completely acceptable, because it's easy to pass affirmative action statutes in favor of homosexuals.

*sings* do do do do do MANA MANA do do do do MANA MANA with a blooper at every MANA MANA

I think you're talking about an amendment to the Mining Act of 1920, which updated another Mining Act from the 19th century. The 1920 Mining Act disallowed the patenting of federal lands for mining purposes. (I just took the final for my Natural Resources class last wednesday). Fortunately, the Mining Act of 1920 substantially limited the substances that could feasibly be claimed in patenting tracts of land, because subsequent court decisions on the subject have made it really hard to gain any pro possessio rights (this is the right to entry before the patent is perfected) to any land that contains minerals that are not distinctly valuable. Also, these "mining purposes" are harder to satisfy than you may think. Court cases have established this. Also, BLM lands are subject to approval by the governing agency, and the Secretary of the Interior can flatly deny these kinds of claims. I wish the Secretary of Agriculture had the same power over National Forests and other lands covered by the Organic Act, but he doesn't. The agency can, however, limit such activites in their scope so as to limit the amount of land that can be leased or patented. They can also make them subject to environmental permits. I guess my point is that I share your concern, but the courts have limited these claims to mining purposes only, so its much harder for developers to take advantage of the Mining Act anyway. Interestingly, the $1000 an acre price on the land is up from the 5.00 an acre that it used to be. Brie "Ive seen you hump air, hump the floor of the plane, and hump legs. You now have a new nickname: "Black Humper of Death"--yardhippie

The other issue with this philosophy - in this case a magnified version of it - is that this is the ultimate price to pay for what society may only quantify in very abstract terms. So I absolutely agree that it can be hard to prove the deterrance works at all. However, if we start justifying punishment in terms of deterring others for committing the same crime, then we do away with punishments that are supposed to fit the crime altogether. This is because we're not punishing the criminal for committing the crime, but so that others won't. That's the wrong reason to punish, at least in my opinion, despite the fact that society may gain in some small way from it. That said, I also agree with the argument that those for the death penalty are unable to argue for it rationally because it is largely an emotional response. In my opinion, it is irresponsible for the government to undertake such an emotionally-charged option. It tips those scales of justice, if ya know what I mean. Brie "Ive seen you hump air, hump the floor of the plane, and hump legs. You now have a new nickname: "Black Humper of Death"--yardhippie

There's something wrong with this argument, though. If you're only executing someone to make a statement about what will happen to others if they do the same, then you're not executing him because of what he did - just what it will do for the sake of others. Seems kind of unfair to me. I've been against the death penalty for a long time, mostly because the system just doesn't work. The reasons it doesn't work are many. The system is racist. It's sexist. It's just plain incompetent. The other reason I'm against the death penalty is that I've never heard a good reason to keep it, and there are lots of reasons to do away with it. Every reason I've heard for keeping it doesn't do adequate justice, to the inmate or society. I'm with ya, Nightingale. Brie "Ive seen you hump air, hump the floor of the plane, and hump legs. You now have a new nickname: "Black Humper of Death"--yardhippie

I just got done with finals. I'm in my second year of law school.

ooh, Travis and I will be passing near there on the way up to see family....maybe we'll drop in for a few hours....

yep, I'm no fun at all. But seriously folks, this is a great opportunity for those of you who want to improve your freefly skills. Chris is the shiznit.

I'm looking forward to: bacon-wrapped filets at my parents on the 23rd (a family tradition) Christmas in the mountains with my fiance's family lots of chocolate finding out what Travis is getting me (not knowing is killing me!) new years in Z-hills

Ooh! Ooh! Pick me! Pick me!

are you sure it's the right size? Literally every freakn'suit I've seen has come way way too big, including mine. but who cares?? you go on with your bad self.

Quit beating up on me Ian. I never said I chose to sit on the sidelines (quite the opposite, in fact). And I don't think that women should get to the world meet through a women's class or anything. I just was saying that I would consider competing in a women's event more seriously because women are a minority in this sport, and it's fun to meet them. And if women's classes will bring more women to compete and meet eachother, then I support them wholeheartedly. It's not about segregation, at least to me. I couldn't care less if women do better because they're only competing with other women, or if that's fair or not. Skydiving is about having fun, and many of our competitions are new and experimental anyway. And despite the fact that you take your competitions very seriously, I don't think I'd have as much fun if I did. This is not about the ladies doing better when they compete against eachother. It's not about them doing well at all, or whether women are just as able to compete on a level with men in skydiving. I just think it's great to get the ladies out there competing, and if having women's events will encourage that, then I'm all for them.

heh, I did 400 jumps my first year in law school. Of course, I'm not in the top 5 percent or anything, and I do go to FSU.... And I don't jump the few weeks before finals. Like now. This sucks. brie "Ive seen you hump air, hump the floor of the plane, and hump legs. You now have a new nickname: "Black Humper of Death"--yardhippie