peregrinerose

I've taken much worse than that as well. But freefall skills don't give the whole picture... did the student spiral through traffic or be a hazard in other ways under canopy? Show poor judgement in other areas? Bad attitude? There has to be much more to the story that what the student is saying. I'd like to hear from the instructor as well. (edited to add, never mind on that... Bigway had some good points about the DZ not saying anything) Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

I'm anti abortion but pro choice too. Your 22 year old slut should have easy access to sterilization procedures, birth control, etc (so should the guys that she's screwing on a regular basis). Stop glorifying teen moms in the news (even 'bad' publicity sends a message to teens regarding the acceptability of pregnancy). Have parenting classes be the norm not the exception for all parents, so maybe the next generation of kids will have better parents and thus be less likely to get knocked up young. Prevent the conception to begin with and abortion isn't needed. Solve the problem (unwanted pregnancy) rather than just the symptom (abortion). Until the root problem is solved, it's better to have abortion be an option (within reason....very early stages only) than to have the system burdened with even more unwanted children that keep the cycle going. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

Unfortunately for men, the reality is that they really don't have a choice in the matter after the woman has become pregnant. It's not fair, but thinking about who you put your dick in should help cure that problem some. So women and men are not equal........ This starts a whole new debate. Men and women are equal but different. And I agree with Conundrum... if you don't want to take the chance of an unwanted pregancy, get snipped, use condoms, and/or don't have sex to begin with. BOTH men and women need to quit whining about negative consequenses of their actions and accept responsibility for getting themselves in that situation to begin with. If you don't want to risk paying child support if a chick keeps a kid you don't want, don't screw her to begin with. It's not rocket science here. Is abortion killing a baby? Honestly, I don't know. I don't see a problem with very very early abortions (first month, maybe two). I do have a problem with late term abortions... if a baby can be born at 7 months gestation and survive, then abortion at that stage should not be legal. Where's the line drawn? I don't know. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

Unless he's raping his wife, the person I responded to was not discussing rape. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

There are conditions regarding the females choice. However, there aren't any conditions regarding the males choice. I believe that if the female has the choice to abort then the male should have the choice to give up parental rights and financial responsibility. I agree 100% . But My beliefs go a bit further, and I feel that the father should have a say in the an abortion. If my wife chose to abort, My life would have been destroyed, I would not be able to live with myself, and would just, give up. I disagree. She's the one that has to carry the baby, she's the one that makes the decision. That is exactly why conversations regarding birth control, abstinence, abortion, etc, need to take place PRIOR to having sex, not after an unintended pregnancy occurs, so that issues like dad wanting to keep a kid that mom wants to abort don't come up. I don't like the concept of abortion, I'd rather see none take place through abstinence, birth control, adoption, whatever. Until that happens though, abortion at an early stage should remain legal. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

I know a guy (actually a woman) that regularly plays golf with Joe Kittenger. I know a guy that used to sleep with Nathan Lane. I know a guy that is Arnold Palmer's uncle. I know a guy that used to be Tom Cruise's rigger. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

Good points. It does go the other way as well... I left a big turbine DZ where the instructors do 10+ working jumps in a day to be at a single 182 dz, where I do 3-6 working jumps a day. I make less jumps in a weekend, but this is infinitely better. I know all of my students by name, can give them as much time as they need for ground preps and de-briefs and have a lot more freedom to customize the jump to their individual needs. I'm happier this way... and if I'm happy, everyone's happy. If I'm cranky... watch out!!

We spent the last 3 years at the Thanksgiving Boogie, so it has become our annual family tradition to do the 'relative work' in SC Thanksgiving Day, and entirely more fun RW the following 3 days at CSS. We're really dissappointed that the DZ is closed. It was always a wonderful time and we'll miss everyone we hooked up with on a yearly basis down there. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

I agree with the landing thing. My AFF students that have done multiple tandems all have the same two big issues.... landing on their butts (very dangerous in a student, I've seen backs broken this way) and legs on their butt in freefall. They also have a tendency to hang onto the pilot chute instead of throw it at pull time. Because of these three things, I'm not a huge fan of tandem progression. On the flip side, students that have done a tandem at some point tend to have less hesitancy at the door, less sensory overload, and better recall. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

Don't you love 'easy money' students like that?

On your 28th jump it will make no difference what so ever. Myself, I made it on #32. You have a great attitude and that will serve you very well in this sport. Agreed. Mine was jump #33

How is a student supposed to learn that they are back sliding if the coach is busy staying close? I'll help the student a little bit, but for the most part, I fall and let the student adjust his body. To the OP, two things, first keep your legs out, legs on butt is very common and makes you back slide. Second, don't dock on anything you can't bite... meaning DON'T REACH for the grip! That'll make you pop up and back slide too. Third, be patient with yourself. You have 20 jumps, not 2000, you're still learning the basics and perfection is not expected this quick Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

I had a patient named Nemesis (mom thought it was a pretty word, had no clue what it meant). Another named Vagina (pronounced Va GEE na). And another named Apartheid. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

I've been through marriage counselling 3 times with 2 husbands, so have a little experience here. #1 was with my ex. The counsellor told me there was something wrong with me as a woman because I did not want children of my own and I needed to seek independent help to 'fix' me in that regard (It didn't matter that ex knew this from day one and was ok with it until he changed his mind 4 years later). That was my one and only session with that shrink and that husband. #2 was 3 years ago with my husband. He's not a very outwardly emotional man, he's very non-feeling. That's just how he is. Shrink decided that he was the broken one and had to be fixed. To Chad's effort, he really did bust his ass to try to be what the shrink wanted him to be, but was going insane in his own head trying to be something that he's not. The sessions consisted of an hour of shrink grilling Chad while I just sat there hoping to get something out of it and feeling sorry for my husband. After a few months of this, Chad just mentally broke and couldn't do it any more. #3 was also with Chad. We met him initially for PTSD, but it morphed into marriage counselling. This guy was absolutely phenominal. He worked with both of us and who we are as people, and helped us learn to communicate better with each other. We went every week for about 6 months and our marriage is infinitely better for it. He didn't put blame on either of us, he let us be ourselves and showed us the things we did right as a couple and the things we needed to improve on, then gave us exercises to help practice. It's been a year since then, and things are great. The point is, you both have to want to be there, you have to both realize that the state of a marriage is in both of your hands (not one person's 'fault'). In order to fix it, you both need to make changes in yourselves. You will never change another person, only yourself. Once you understand that and work on your own weaknesses as she works on hers, the changes really can be amazing. And the right counselor makes a huge difference in the success of the sessions. My first two were idiots, the third one phenominal. If it wasn't for him, we probably wouldn't still be together. Seeing just how happy we are again, even better than the beginning of our relationship, it was worth the work, stress, and humility. Good luck. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

Ummm, you're doing a poll to see if people believe in polls? See the irony there? Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

I don't recall saying anything about boarding. My pet sitter comes to my house and takes care of all the critters. $15/visit, I give her dates and times, and she does the rest. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

Heaven forbid you actually take responsibility for the pet you decided to take on. We have a shitload of animals and travel quite a bit. That's why dog-sitters were invented. $15 a visit pays for 45 mins of attention to our critters. On our long days at the DZ on weekends, she visits once in the afternoon so they are fed, let out, cared for, and played with when we can't give the attention ourselves. When we're out of town, they get 3 visits a day. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

I know... and I said that was an issue, however the person who said that parents can come after US adoptive kids year later is full of shit given that so many are in foster care and parental rights are terminated by the state. Parents coming back later is a total non issue in those situations. But no one wants to give those kids a chance Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

I disagree with Lv1 being a 'free ride' and passing a student that doesn't pull. But with regard to lack of debriefs and blowing smoke... no one has advocated that. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

You, Nick and I all keep saying the same thing... talking about both the good and the weak aspects of the skydive is important, not ignoring the good and focusing on the bad (or vice versa). I haven't seen anyone yet advocate blowing smoke, saying is something is good if it's not, etc. I was responsible for filling out my own log book from jump 2-3 or so... it's MY log of MY jump, not my instructors. I encourage my students to do the same. I read over what they wrote and add a note or two, but it's their log, not mine. I let them read the DZ log too, there are no secrets from students, ever. I probably spend 30-60 minutes on every AFF debrief (depending on level, student, and how the jump went). Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

This is total bullshit. I'm adopting out of foster care, in the process now of matching with children. When parents lose their children to the state, in PA at least it takes 22 months for parental rights to be terminated (time varies by state). During that 22 months, reunion is the goal. Once parental rights are terminated, that's it, parents have absolutely no claim to these kids. There are 100,000 kids in the US legally free for adoption and bouncing around the foster care system. A majority of them age out of the system without ever getting adopted. More people need to get off their asses and hold off on their own breeding a year or two and give some of these kids a chance. If you adopt in-state, the state will pay for all of the fees and most provide a stipend to the parents until the child is 18. Several states offer reciprocity to other states. There are 16 or so that will pay for all the bills if I (PA resident) adopt from their states. We are staying in-state though, so if the child has extended family they are close to, they can still maintain relationships there. HOWEVER, most people want infants, and in the US, infants in foster care have fetal alcohol syndrome, disabilities, siblings, or are minorities, so 'not good enough' for the people that go blow their money on kids overseas. Private adoptions are somewhat more likely for that healthy WASP kid most parents want, but also more legally risky (ie mom decides at the last minute to keep the kid just after birth., or later depending on the state and whether they signed over parental rights... this is the only grain of truth in what your friend said). There are not a lot of private adoptions available. PA has a bunch of agencies that do the recruiting/training of adoptive parents. I have been gathering information for years on this, so had a list that were recommended to me by patients and collegues over the years. I interviewed about a dozen of the agencies, and narrowed it down to two. One will not work with gays, singles, etc, and they frown on non-Christian adoptive parents. I ruled that one out... not because I'm gay, but because to me, that agency didn't work in the best interests of the children based on that policy alone. So I am working with another one. It's also Christian, but puts the kids needs first and will worth with any person who truly wants to give a kid a home. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

From what I've seen, both in life and in skydiving students, is that there are two general subcategories of people... those that set goals and work their asses off to accomplish them and those that set goals and whine a lot about not reaching them. Guess which group of students tend to progress faster

I've been on staff at 2 DZs, both keep a master log that's kept in a filing cabinet, plus the students have their own log books. I typically write the same thing in both. I don't know if "most DZs" do this or not, but the two I'm at as well as a couple of others that I've called to confirm student experience (lost log books) do this as well... it definitely isn't an uncommon practice. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

You are expecting more of yourself than is possible with your currency... imagine if you only rode a horse 10 times in the last year for about 4 minutes each time... how quickly do you think you'd progress as a rider? How fast do you think you'd be able to solve problems? Probably not very quickly...yet that's what you're expecting under canopy. Have someone video your landings and have an instructor de-brief you on the landings with the video... that's the easiest way to learn what you're doing wrong. That, and jump more

I think almost every DZ I've been to does that. DZs barely break even on fun jumper tickets, why should they have to lose what little profit they do get on a credit card company? Don't like it? Write a check. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda