karenmeal

No.. I read what you were saying. Edited to add: I just read fast. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

How often do you hear someone who is fat bitch about not being respected? I would bet that this hardly ever happens.. maybe you saw it on Oprah once or something. My experience with friends that are overweight or obese is that whenever they bring up their weight it is usually when they are talking about their weight loss attempts or being down on themselves for not being sucessful at losing weight. I don't know ANYONE who actually goes around saying, "Fuck you, I'm fat, DEAL WITH IT." Most people tip toe around the subject because they are embarressed, ashamed, or dissapointed in themselves. So it is not even remotely correct the way you are trying to characterize people with weight problems. But who knows, maybe you are just incredibly rude and hurtful to people with weight problems and you get a response from that person that doesn't actually characterize the way that they feel. Personally, I am very supportive to all of my friends who are trying to deal with their weight, they have never ever whined to me about how people won't accept them. They don't want to accept themselves. They don't need you to be an asshole to them. You know what? The solution sounds pretty fucking easy. I mean, how hard can it be to do less of something? You actually get to be more lazy, right? No. The solution is actually to reverse a lifetime of bad habits and to change your lifestyle completely. Often people have to try to block out components of their culture. If the solution were to go on a diet for a few months, plenty of people would be sucessful at losing weight. But in reality, you have to be sucessful at really changing who you are. So basically, my point is, quit being an asshole. They are trying. And if they aren't trying, I guarantee you that obese people are angry enough at themselves, they don't need your hatred for "help." "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I haven't heard of it setting in at 30. Maybe you've had mild asthma for a long time, but the fact that you kept in good shape masked it? Maybe you're feeling it now that you're out of shape? Working out is something that really helps to keep my asthma under control. And about having attacks.. I've had asthma my whole life.. rarely do I have an actual "attack." Mostly it feels like just a tightening in my chest, like I can't take as deep a breath as I want to. If it happens again, sit up straight, you can put your arms over your head to lift your rib cage, have some caffeinated coffee and try to relax. You can also get a primatine mist inhaler.. it isn't great, but it's better than nothing. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

ummmm.. 4,200 isn't low. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Obviously, you win. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

What the fuck is that blue thing? "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Sorry, But I find it really funny that you posted that twice. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

The search function is down. Edited to add: Doh! It's back! "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Man.. I've got a lot of these stories. It's hard to pick just one. I once landed in a gun club. When I recieved the airport briefing the fact that the DZ landing area bordered a gun club didn't register. I figured it was a place where people just drank beer and talked about guns.. I didn't think that they were actually shooting them! But I landed just beyond the bunkers. So it was fine. I just got reemed out later. I felt like an ass. My second AFF jump I landed in a forest with really tall trees. (High winds on a manta.) I crashed through the branches and the canopy got hung up just as I had a tip-toe landing. It was my only stand-up landing in my first 20. And then there was that time that I had some beers while under canopy and forgot to flare... Won't be doing that again! I have learned many many many many lessons since I was a silly teenage skydiver. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Jon, I also do that.. I feel it is a really good thing to do. However.. I didn't feel like trying to explain how to do that over the internet. Don't want to be responsible when someone accidentally pulls their reserve! -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Very tentative... maybe in the evening/late afternoon. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Pin seating is not a little thing to be checking for. It is a BIG thing. What should you be checking when you open up your reserve flap when inspecting your rig? You check to make sure the pin is seated to just below the shoulder (the part of the pin where the thickness starts to flare out) and that the reserve closing loop is in good shape. And just to cooperate with the FAA, you check to make sure that your reserve seal is still in place. But a broken seal isn't the sort of thing that can bring down an entire load of unsuspecting jumpers. A worn closing loop or a reserve pin that is sneaking out is something that can most definitely kill people. Personally, before every jump I check to make sure that my reserve pin in seated properly and that the closing loop is in good shape. (Among many other things.) I don't think it is sufficient to just do this once a day (when making multiple jumps.) It is not that difficult for your reserve pin to get moved around a bit. All that has to happen is for something to tug on the swaged end of the reserve cable (the end at the handle) and without lots of effort the pin can be moved. Also.. since everyone was asking about the seal not being broken... The seal is not supposed to break until the reserve is opened. (It is hard to tell from that picture if the seal would have broken when the reserve was deployed.) The purpose of the seal is to prevent people from tampering with equipment and identifying who packed the rig last. I don't think that this example is a reason to not extend the repack cycle.. I think that this example is a reason why gear education should improve. Too many jumpers understand dangerously little about their gear. I think that this sort of lackadaisical attitude about gear knowledge and maintenance is scary. But with so many experienced jumpers who can't/won't pack their own gear.. I guess it's not surprising. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Whoops! I guess you would know Jeanne. Jeff was giving me the only number he had. It turns out there are hours of operation Cindy!

The DZ is open Friday through Sunday. A phone number for the DZ is: 425-344-4587. You can call this for opening hours on Friday. I'm not sure if official hours are established yet. But on the weekend people will likely be camped out.. so stuff should get going relatively early. Maybe I'll see ya there Friday afternoon! Will pack for jump money. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Why does a girl have to be hot to consider having a relationship with her? If you will only date "hotties" then yeah, the selection may very well be limited. But if you are looking for a good woman, then "hotness" should not be the primary factor in determining who you date. Go for the girl who offers you a beer as you're landing at sunset.. or packs your parachute just to be nice. Those are the keepers. (And you should return those favors too.) "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Meet women who are doing the same sort of things that you like to do. (Drinking beer, bullshitting, skydiving...) If you venture out of your element to meet a woman, you probably won't have as much in common with her. Then you'll be one of those guys who has to make up a new excuse every weekend about why you are staying late at the DZ. ("Yes honey, I am really stuck editing videos until 1:00 am." or "I'm waiting for triple A to come open my car because I locked my keys in there for the 3rd weekend in a row.") If you meet a chick at the DZ you can hang out with all of your buddies, skydive, and drink beer around the bonfire all night long! (Unless you need to go home so that you can have sex some place besides the jump planes.) "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

That picture is so cute!! What a happy family.

I'll be up at least 1 evening this weekend. Save me a beer and a burger. Maybe I will bring some cake for a special someone too. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Did you enter in your diet? I was stoked to enter in my food and find that the only nutrient I was mildly deficient in was Iron. And that is the only supplement that I take! -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

The link that I put up there gives you a place to enter in all your foods, your age, weight, activity level, gender, height... and shows your specific needs compared to what you're getting. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

If you want to know if you're overdoing it.. go to http://www.mypyramid.gov/mypyramid/index.aspx and follow the steps to do a free analysis of your diet. Try to enter in the foods for a typical three day period of eating. (And be honest, enter everything!!!) This will show you any nutrient deficiencies that you have in your diet and you can see what sort of supplements you may benefit from. There is a lot of research that fish oil is a very good thing to be taking. Also, glucosamine/chondrotin have also been found to be effective. For women, taking calcium always seems to be a safe thing too. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

:3:0 (Almost) all of my buddies were up at a new DZ this weekend and I was stuck packing at a tandem factory. After something like 20,000 parachutes packed.. can you say burnt out? "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

It would be pretty cool to have a skydiving scholarship for college. Don't know if all of the USPA members would like that though "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Silly whuffos. (Or whuffoes?) I was hanging out with some friends from school last night and someone's boyfriend came by to hang out. My friend told him that I was "Karen the skydiver". Apparently her boyfriend has done one tandem at a DZ that I used to work at. So I started asking him the usual stuff about his skydiving experience... but then he started to lecture me on how unsafe my current DZ is! Apparently he found out from a very reliable friend of his (who has done 2 tandems) that someone had a cutaway once at my DZ. (Gasp. I had no idea.) He feels that the DZ that he did his tandem at (that I used to work at) is much safer and he can't believe that I will actually jump at my current DZ. Anyways, I tried to explain a few things to him (and I really tried hard to be nice) but he obviously was of the mindset that I was brainwashed or something and my opinion was completely invalid. (Flipping ticked me off.) At the end of the conversation he told his girlfriend that he didn't want her going to skydive at my current DZ because it was unsafe. Argh. Silly Whuffo. I hate know-it-alls who can't realize when they are clueless. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

The only thing I like about ballet is checking out the guys packages. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham