peregrinerose

I will let a student check my gear on the ground with another jumper keeping an eye on it, but I won't ask anyone without a license to do a pin check on me on the plane. Honestly, I rarely ask for a pin check on the plane.. the way my container is set up (Racer) I can easily feel my pin and loop myself. I do make sure it gets checked every jump. My husband jumps a Javelin, and with his long monkey arms, he can check his own pin too. I do ask those around me, particularly newer jumpers, if they want a pin check on the ride up though. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

I'm with most of the others. Keep your hands off my rig unless you talk to me first, if it's a true emergency (my pilot chute fell out and the door is open), or I ask you to do a pin check or something, or you know me very well. In this case, it would have taken you 2 seconds to lean forward, tell him his pin is almost out before just taking it on yourself to fix it. Be loud, make sure the door stays closed, and let him know exactly what is happening before touching it. What if he moved just as you were going to adjust the pin and you ended up knocking it out the remainder of the way accidentally, just as the door was opening? That would have been all kinds of ugly. Keep doing what you're doing in making sure you're watching everyone else's gear, just handle it a little better next time. I've seen students point out misrouted chest straps on D licensed skydivers... anyone can save a life in the plane. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

Mine has a log cave kind of thing, occasionally she uses it. Most of the time she curls up on a little ledge at the very top of the cage, beside the heat lamp. That's her favorite spot. She also enjoys a dunk in her water, or climbing on a branch that's in there. She's pretty active at night and seems to enjoy exploring. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

Honestly, I wouldn't go through a dealer either... have you contacted a local reptile rescue? You'd be amazed how many reptiles get abandoned and need homes. That's how my college got the Burmese and how I got my ball python. Lucy, my ball python, is in a large aquarium. I have 2 stick-on heaters catty corner to each other on 2 sides of the aquarium (you don't want them under the aquarium, it can burn the snake). Don't use a heat rock, same thing, it can burn them. Try to keep the cage about 70-75 degrees on one side, 80-85 on the other. They like a little humidity. I just keep a large glass bowl full of water, so she can drink or soak, but it also keeps the humidity pretty constant around 60%. Try to handle your snake frequently. Take walks outside with it if it's warm. Don't handle the day before, day of, or day after feeding. I prefer to feed mine live mice, I think it's healthier for the snake and less risk of bacterial infection.... After all, would you rather have a fresh steak or frozen? If you feed live, don't leave the snake unsupervised until the rodent is dead. Rodents can cause some serious damage to snakes (though MUCH more common with rats than mice). Your snake may not eat sometimes when you think it should... don't panic. With the season change and recent shedding, mine hasn't eaten in about three weeks. She's healthy though and I know sooner or later she'll get hungry again. Enjoy your new snake, they are a lot of fun! Edited to add... I can't stress enough to go through a rescue. It's cheaper too. I paid $20 for my ball python. She was about 2.5 ft at the time, about 3.5 ft now. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

Realistically, there's not much that can be done about bullies unless their parents step in and work with them. In the real life, there are bullies everywhere. I know one guy who's a 50+ year old immature bully and absolutely thrives on it. Bullies don't just happen in school. What CAN be done about bullies is teach kids how to deal with them. Bullies have absolutely no power unless it is given to them. As soon as a person lets a bully determine their self-worth or affect their life, that bully as power. Teach kids not to give bullies power. Teach them to find self-worth internally, that bullies just grow up into bitches and assholes and it's impossible to live life avoiding them. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

Baggage is anything that a person brings to a relationship that impacts their partner and the relationship. It isn't derogatory. Everybody has baggage. In-laws, kids, childhood issues, health concerns, pets, debt, all are baggage. Some people just have a carry on, other's need a cart to lug their baggage along, but we all have something. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

In addition to the stats everyone else mentioned, I write little anecdotes about the skydive sometimes... this is my skydiving diary, and it's kind of fun to flip back and see what was going through my mind at the time

Even if it's 'just dating', your kids are still in the picture.... if 'just dating' turns into more, then the guy is has to deal with your kids. If the guy is looking for a long term relationship, why should he be obligated to accept the fact that you have children if a ready-made family isn't something he's interested in committing to? I see it as more respectful of both you and the kids for a guy to be straightforward with you on that point. He's not putting up any kind of front or pretending he's ok with something he just isn't. When I was dating, I tended to avoid guys that had kids. It wasn't a total deal breaker, but I also knew that I really wasn't interested in helping to raise someone else's children. It's not just about the kids, but with filling the shoes as 'step-parent', knowing that the kid's bio mom would have been in the picture as well, so I'd have to deal with that end of things. It's just a lot more baggage, even in the best of scenarios, than I wanted to invest in. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

About 1 in 8 guys is born with some degree of color deficiency. It's pretty common. Unfortunately it can't be fixed. It's usually red/green issues, meaning that there are fewer or no receptors for either red or green in the retina. There's no way to make a retina perceive a color that it's not physiologically set up to see. There has been minor success in research using a red contact lens in one eye to compare color hues between the tinted and non tinted eye, so a blue and a purple that would look the same with the naked eye would be slightly different shades through the red lens. It won't give the ability to see new colors though. In real life I haven't seen any sucess with this system though. Love the shirt link though

My husband and I have identical alti's... and they fairly consistently are 300-500 feet off between 3000 and higher. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

Nope.... if your alti is at 0 when you take off from the ground, it will be on 0 when you land on the same ground. In-air, there can be variation from one alti to the next... if you change yours to match someone else's on the ride to altitude, when you land, it won't be on 0 any more. I've seen altimeters read up to 500 feet differently than mine on the ride to altitude... I've still never made mine match theirs. If you have a question about your altimeter's accuracy, you can always have it checked. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

One guy at our DZ, didn't have a license yet, caught a D licensed jumper with a completely unhooked chest strap on the plane. Ever since then I've been telling FJC students that it's important to constantly be watching out for each other and that even they could make a difference in saving someone's life. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

Heh.... I can top that. A cat A student asked me at 8K on the ride to altitude 'exactly how do I pull again?' Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

I like your rule... it's a good one

At 100ish jumps, I'd have been nervous about it too... actually I probably would have refused the jump and done a solo, depending on who the other jumpers are. At this point, if it was someone I'd jumped with before, I have no problem conjuring up a skydive in the plane I did an impromptu 3 way with 2 other AFF instructors a couple of months ago.... winds picked up while we were on the ride to altitude. One instructor volunteered to stay on the plane and ride down with the students, the other 3 of us had literally 2 minutes to come up with a dive and go with it... it was fun

Beautiful job! Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

I watched the videos from the other thread and agree with the comments everyone else made about the stall, the uneven flare, the foot reaching. All normal newbie mistakes. What concerns me is that you didn't acknowledge that you are making newer jumper mistakes on a canopy and wing loading that are not forgiving for mistakes, and instead blamed the wind conditions and new canopy for the landings. Funny, I made my first jump on my new canopy (Sabre2 135) Saturday in no wind conditions and wearing 6 lbs of lead (Big AFF student). My landing didn't look anything like yours, it was absolutely beautiful. The next 6 jumps were exactly the same, despite turbulance and shifting wind conditions the remainder of the day. You said that you wanted to downsize to go faster and get a better flare... honestly, if you can't flare and get consistently pristine landings on a bigger canopy, you have no reason to go to a smaller, more aggressive, less forgiving canopy. Uneven flares, late flares, reaching a foot, are all things that newer jumpers tend to do... and may be the reasons you don't get the flare you want out of a bigger canopy. None of us would bother writing to you if we didn't care. I've seen enough people get hurt. I became an instructor so I could do whatever I could to keep more people from getting hurt. I also know that nothing I say (or anyone else) will influence you to put your 105 on a shelf for a while, until you are 100% ready for it.... but I have to try. I hope you're never in the incidents forums, but if/when you are, I hope you're man enough to look back on all your posts and realize just how much you rushed it unnecessarily, maybe teach someone just like you a thing or two and save them the hardware. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

I kept an eye out for you, but never saw anyone new at the DZ... I'm sorry if I totally missed you... I was working with AFF students all day. We ended up having great days both Sat and Sun, never too windy even for students... maybe you'll come again

Oh, did you ever make a mistake posting this where the Cburg beer marshall (and that would be ME) could see it Bring your cases! And I'd be delighted to jump with you and introduce you to everyone, there are craploads of people who will jump with you, we don't care if you have 30 or 300000 jumps, we're a friendly bunch. Jen Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

I'd pay the $50 and switch docs... Docs are on your pay roll, you can hire and fire us as needed in your best health interests, and a doc that's nickel and diming for every service really says something about their practice philosophy. Every one of my patients leaves the office with my cell phone number and email address and I wouldn't dream of charging if they needed to use either of them... docs of all kinds need to be accessable to patients without the patient worrying about financial repercussions of a simple email or phone call. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

Yeah. And girls don't fart, belch or poop either, right? But I've never broken a sweat finger trapping. Now that I've said that, next time I use mine, the duct tape is going to disintegrate into a sweaty disaster area. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

But the doctor can always say 'no' to the refills if they need to see the patient again, so it isn't really in lieu of, and charging for the service won't change that. Some meds I'll refill over the phone (ie allergy meds), some I absolutely will not (ie steroids). If I haven't seen the patient in a year for whatever the problem is, I won't refill anything. I can't imagine charging to call in a refill though. That just blows my mind. Or copying a patient's chart, especially now with electronic records, it takes me five seconds to pull up their chart and hit 'print'. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

Considering the beginning of the month was yesterday, you're being just a little impatient

For crying out loud, do you really think I don't know the stories of what happened in Bataan? And other regions? I feel sorry for the victims of any war, whether they be civilian casualties that are required for the greater good or the Bataan marchers, or concentration camp dwellers. I don't think that empathy for people who have endured horrible situations needs to be limited to one side or another of a war. Both of my grandfathers were WWII vets (one a bomber, on in the navy). Easy Company's re-enactors come to my DZ to earn their wings and a lot of the original Easy company members will be there for the weekend, I spent as much time as possible sitting with these men and listening to their stories of jumping into Normandy and how things changed between Normandy and later drops. Last summer one of the Tuskegee Airmen showed up at the DZ to watch for the day. He was 89 years old and told his story, not as much military, but what it was like growing up black in PA, then going down south for pilot training and dealing with the blatant racism down there that just didn't exist in his hometown in PA at the time. I have immense respect for these guys. But I also have respect for the Japanese-Americans that were taken from their homes, job, schools and communities and stuck in camps purely because of their race during WWII, for the civilians who were victims first of their political leaders and then American bombs in H and N. Having empathy for someone else who happens to be on the 'other side' in a war does not in any way belittle what people on our own side went through. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

Little tatts usually look kind of tacky, go with something with at least a little bit of size to it