peregrinerose

Take a deep breath, relax. You haven't seen this guy in 20 years. His myspace page may be a little weird, but that doesn't mean much. You aren't the same person now as 20 years ago, neither is he. Clearly, he already knows who you are on myspace... email him back saying that you left the past in the past, you have no interest in talking with him now or in the future, wish him well and let it go. There's no point getting this worked up over one message... give the guy the benefit of the doubt to some degree. If he persues contact with you after you tell him to leave him alone, then be more concerned. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

I'm not sure what there is to get angry about. It's their rules, we're the visitors, why should they have to change their rules to accommodate us? They turned a blind eye as long as they could, after last year, they couldn't do that any more. Isn't there a nearby campground or something that could be used for tents/trailers/drinking? It's not the end of the world that no drinking is allowed on airport property, there are always alternatives. To me, it almost makes us look like pouting children when we throw fits about drinking on airport property and storm away like this instead of working with them to find a viable alternative for all concerned. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

I was thinking 'where's the drunk dialing patients' option. Just had one of those a couple of weeks ago. It's incredible what people say to their eye doc when they are completely wasted. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

I have about 450 jumps on my Spectre 150, loaded about 1.05:1. The opens are nice, it's forgiving for body position, minor mals like line twists or a popped brake on opening have never been a big deal, easy to fix. Even when I had my line over, the thing flew in a straight line before I chopped it. Factory setting for brake length was too long for me, I'm only 5'3", but shortening them 3" gave me very nice flares and zippier turns (have you tried wrapping the brake lines to flare/turn?). Getting back from a long spot is easy with it, accuracy easy. It's not the easiest to turn front riser wise, but not bad either. I just ordered a Sabre2 135, time to get something a little zippier, and I loved the demo time I had with one, but I'm keeping the Spectre, it has too many good points for me to want to stop jumping it completely. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

I differ... true love is taking that unbelievable funk and trying to create an even more unbelievable smelly funk in a rich series of relationship enhancing farting contests. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

I have a friend in your exact shoes... been in the hospital on bedrest since week 24, going to have a C section next week (week 36) for twins. Our email list we're both on used the cheer "GBG" for her... GBG stands for "grow, babies, grow!!" So, here's for your babies... GBG!!! Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

All kinds of good vibes heading for you and the babies. Hope you have a laptop so you can postwhore while in bed Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

I don't think relationships are hard at all. They may have a couple of bumpy moments, but good relationships shouldn't be hard. People tend to be silly sometimes, not communicate at all, say one thing but mean something else, assume the other party knows what they mean, etc. And that's true in any relationship... business, friend, romantic. If people were more honest and straightforward with each other, those 'hard relationships' wouldn't happen nearly as frequently. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

I have 2 rabbits, and 3 very large dogs. Both of my rabbits are indoors, they are in cages, litter trained. The dogs ignore them if they are in the cages. If they are out of the cages (and I do let them run around), one dog grooms them, one will just watch them, and the other (the rottweiler) is terrified of them. Don't underestimate your dogs... unless they hunt rabbits in their spare time, they may surprise you. One of mine is a greyhound, taught to chase rabbits, and even he's ok with them Don't do the pet store thing, get a rescue rabbit. It's so sad how many "Easter Bunnies" get abandoned, abused, etc. If you get a boy, get him neutered ASAP. They will hump ANYTHING. Including cats, dogs, your mother-in-law's leg They stink when they do it too. Costs about $80 and worth every penny. Litter training is extremely easy. Rabbits are very clean animals and will always go in the same place. Don't use cedar chips in the litter box, that can destroy their liver. The best thing is that recycled newspaper littler stuff. Newspaper works too, so does pine chips. Make sure to trim their toenails periodically. They don't like it, but will put up with it. They love attention, the more the better. I've had rabbits non-stop since I was 8. They have all been rescued as adults, and I can't imagine not having rabbits. Let me know if you have any other questions! Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

Two cases of Guiness and a bottle of Bailey's later, I'm a happy girl A little poorer, but at least I had good beer to drink at the DZ for a while! Not the normal horse piss Coors Light and related crap that most people buy. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

Keep up the good work with the handle touching... it really does make a difference. My first chop was a month ago, a line over. Since I do my own reserve repacks, I knew that it was done well (though it was my first save!). It amazed me how chopping was instinctive, I didn't have to think, just started pulling handles. My only coherent thought was 'shit I owe a lot of beer for this' Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

But is it worth your 'piece of mind' to risk losing $2000+ in gear (main, free bag, handles) and risk a reserve malfunction when you have really nothing to gain from it? You won't know how you'll deal with a malfunction from a psychological standpoint until you actually have one. Chopping a good main can't teach you that. Every mal probably feels different (high speed vs. low, spinners vs flying level, etc), so what one mal feels like isn't indicative of every mal. Chopping a good main won't teach you that. If you want piece of mind in your reserve, call PD and spend the $50 in shipping to get a demo reserve and put a bunch of jumps on it so you know how it flies. If you want piece of mind in your cutaway procedures, practice them constantly... I still touch my handles 3 times before EVERY jump (2x on the ground, once in the plane). Touch your handles in freefall (be careful not to pull them, do it very high so you maintain altitude awareness and pull your main at the appropriate time), so you know where they are. Touch your handles under canopy, same reason... they are in different places when you are standing on the ground vs. in freefall vs. under canopy. If you want piece of mind in your reserve system, the next time you are due for a reserve repack, go through a malfunction procedure standing on the ground... throw your hackey, actually cut away, actually pull your reserve handle. I make everyone that I do repacks for do this at least one time so they know what it feels like to pull their handles.... I prefer that they do it EVERY time, just for practice. If you want piece of mind in your rigger, watch him/her inspect your reserve and repack it. Ask questions. Learn your gear yourself. Better yet, take a riggers' course an learn how to maintain your own gear well. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

They charge you $5 to rent a pair of $8 goggles?????? Get a Protec and cover it with fur like all the cool kids are doing www.peltheads.com Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

Aren't you being just as hardheaded thinking your way is right/better? As long as they are happy and their current financial system works, why should it matter to you?

What could possibly go wrong? Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

$550?!? Holy crap. For cleaning alone it was $100 at my vet, another $100 for the removal of 4 teeth. Did they use a diamond studded platinum toothbrush on your dog or something?? Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

Ours was a retired racer, so had mushy food and no dental care for the first 5 years of his life. It's kind of a given with greys that they come this way and need at minimum a cleaning and often some teeth removed. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

I have a greyhound, and greys have horrible teeth. Mine ended up having to get 4 removed completely they were so rotted out. Greys also tend to not do well with anesthesia, but mine had no problems, was back to normal by the time I picked him up from the vet. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

That's not the impression I had at all of him. He MADE time to talk with us. He listened to our opinions (and I differed with him on a couple of things and wasn't shy about telling him what I thought). He didn't agree with me, but was respectful of my differing opinions. I don't know why he didn't go to the Richmond Boogie, but why don't you call or email him and ask him yourself instead of making gross assumptions? He seemed very straightforward and approachable. Verbally condemning him without asking him directly and finding out the truth seems rather immature to me. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

Oooh, you'll make millions on this one! Hope you have your Paypal account set up Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

He didn't say anything about the Richmond Boogie... he had just finished one rating course (coach, I think?) and was just starting a tandem instructor course, plus managing the DZ and working. We didn't get the chance to talk with him a lot until Monday afternoon... he was very very busy. My impression was that he had no intention of undermining the Richmond boogie. Even though we had planned to hit that DZ over Labor Day weekend for months, I had no idea that anything was planned. They called it a labor day boogie, but it really wasn't boogie ish. Just an excuse for more drinking and discounted jump tickets. Sure as hell didn't seem like he was trying to compete with Richmond.... I could be way off base on that, but it's the impression that both my husband and I had while there. Honestly, both my husband and I had a great deal of respect for him by the end of the weekend just watching him work with students, other jumpers, running the DZ, and listening to his philosophies of skydiving as a whole. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

There's nothing safe about jumping 2 weeks after LASIK... your corneas haven't even begun to seal down that flap well at 2 weeks P/O. Do a search for my posts on LASIK and you'll see. I wouldn't recommend jumping for at MINIMUM 2 months after LASIK, preferrably longer. It's why I won't do LASIK... I'm not willing to spend that much time out of the sky. If I decide to get refractive surgery, I'll get PRK. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

My husband and I spent 2 days jumping at Start Skydiving over Labor day. When we first arrived, people were introducing themselves as soon as we walked up to manifest and inviting us to jump with them. The intro to the DZ was a little sketchy, we had to ask to be shown a picture of the main landing area (which isn't visible from the current main hangar), but they did make time to answer our questions. We both watched how instructors were interacting with students, and it was a very universally professional atmosphere for both AFF and tandem operations as far as we saw over the weekend. There was a helicopter pilot who gives lessons at the airport and is accessable, from what we could tell, pretty much full time for helicopter jumps. He was a delightful person and made the chopper jump we did that much more fun. Our second jump there was an 18 way to set a new DZ record.... these people had never met us, but still invited us on the load. They even flew in an otter from Xenia since there were so many people interested in an RW bigway that afternoon. The only drawback, as far as we saw was that the 'fun' jumpers there are very focused on 4 way and competition type mindset. Lots of complaining when 'fun' jumps didn't go 100% perfectly (even 12 points on a 4 way and a 5 pt 8 way wasn't good enough for them) there was a lot of complaining about it. That took a little of the fun out of it, though we did both learn a lot from the other jumpers... we are both more fond of no stress skydives. Greg, the master rigger, is one of the most interesting people and incredible riggers we know, so we can't say enough great things about him. We stayed in the camping area... there's plenty of room there. The showers were clean. There's only one porta john there which might be a problem on a really busy weekend, but wasn't an issue when we were there. Overall, we had a great time, learned a lot, enjoyed all the new people that we met, and will definitely be back!!!!!! I only wish it was closer to home than an 8 hour drive... :-)

In defense of this particular USPA board member, I had a freaking blast at the new DZ in question. That was our first time meeting him, and we had a couple of lengthy discussions (well, he talked, we listened) about USPA board, policies, etc. Although I disagreed with him about a few little things, for the most part, his mind is in the right place, he busts his ass in that position, and I had a lot of respect for his input (and total willingness to piss off other board members as needed). I hope to pick his brain even more that what I had the chance to over the weekend. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

I think women are worse. In general, women tend to expect the flowers, jewelry, phone calls, all that little romantic courting type behavior from the guy. They tend to forget about the guy taking out the trash, doing the little fix-its around the house, all the things that the guy does do and instead focus on what he doesn't do. Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda