karenmeal

You know, I would have bought the beer for you no problem. No excuse man!! -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

No actually.. It was awesome. I love the discipline that the folks I was jumping with have. I love freeflying, but most people don't care to dirtdive the nitty gritty details, if they even want to dirt dive at all. We got 19 points on one jump from 10.. it was fucking awesome! "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

TODAY FUCKING ROCKED! I don't care what you crazy freeflyers say, RW is cool. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

But Jaye.. didn't I just show you? I think the plan now is to have Todd teach the class and for me to be his little helper so he doesn't slack off. I know a lot about gear.. but Todd knows more. I can look into some reading material that may be appropriate for the masses. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

You keep doing that and come tell us how it works out for ya. Being outside the box is dirt diving what seems to be impossible to do, and so difficult to visualize that you need to use dolls to figure out how it will work out. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Seriously though, last time I went and tried to turn points on my belly I had a hard time getting used to the lack of extra wind to fly with. In freeflying I'm so used to using smaller movements, but in belly-flying I really had to use some extra input and it felt wonky. The occasion is blue skies over Seattle. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I'm going belly-flying tommorrow and I'm scared!!! It's been sooooooooooooooo long. Last time it had been this long it felt like I was flying on the hill the whole time, I had trouble breathing and I freaked out about breaking off at 4! Hahaha.. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Quit trying to hold in your farts. It would be a lifelong battle. Just let it go, you will be much happier. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Yes! That is a good one. It is always shocking to me how so many people can be confused about how their canopy is hooked up. This would be a good time to try to clear up the mystery. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Hey.. Lets watch the anti-packer comments. I'm a packer, and I most certainly do care. In fact, I take care of a large portion of gear education on my DZ for no cost, I even show up for packing review classes on bad weather days for free. So be nice. With that said, that is a good idea, ways to prevent excess wear and tear on your rig. I don't think a lot of people realize/remember that they should be gentle with stuff like the yoke of their rig and the bottom of the reserve tray. Could be good to spread that kind of info around to the masses. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

JW, Thanks for the list. That pretty much sums up what I did last year. I will definitely be sure to go over important issues again this year.. pilot chute stuff, line stuff.. cutaway system maintenance. I also had the rigs that had things wrong on them and plan on doing that again this year. Hmm.. I would like to think that people retained what I said last year, but chances are, I could repeat everything again and it would be just as good as trying to prepare something new. Thanks for the input. Any other ideas anyone? Keep em coming! -Karen -Blindfolded packing? Sounds like fun.. I'd actually like to have people challenge me for money.. I'd win.

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Oh, well if you had pot and handguns in the car thats an entirely different story! Dude, I'm all for pot being legalized.. But you should have gotten a lack of common sense ticket. Seriously, driving with a suspended liscense, expired tags, guns and drugs in your car?? WTF were you thinking? -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

That is so sweet! I want to be the cool aunt one day. (Probably have to graduate first to be that cool though..) -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Hey all, So I am looking for some brainstorming help from you guys. It looks like I am going to be teaching the gear portion at our DZ's safety day this year. I would like to do something beyond what the USPA sends out.. which is information on how to do a lengthy/complete gear check. I plan on going over that stuff, but I have an hour to get up on my soap box and talk to people. Last year I gave out dytter batteries to the whole DZ, gave everyone a new closing loop so that they never had to procrastinate about changing it, and made a big poster about when things will break. The poster made for a good 15 minute discussion on things like when to get a new line-set, when to get a new pilot chute, when to replace risers, and of course, when to replace your shoelaces when they go bad. I think the poster was good because we kept it up around the DZ for most of the year, so people became familiar with the items that they need to keep an eye on. Soo.. This year I want to do something slightly different, but equally helpful and informative. Any ideas? What things have you seen at a Safety Day that were really interesting? What things would you like to learn at a gear-related safety discussion? Any ideas for this years poster? Thank-you for your help! -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Well.. it sure is a good thing that officer noticed your socio-economic status and treated you accordingly! Now those poor people.. they certainly deserve to get hauled into jail much more than you do. -Karen By the way.. what was in your car? "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Wait.. Are we talking nutritionally, botanically or ethically? "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Hey, I'm 46% gay too! Maybe we should get together sometime.. and you know.. be 92% gay together. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

It is both a vegetable and a starch. It is a starchy vegetable. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I don't think I would trust a free hooker. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

That is exactly how I feel. I didn't think I would be emotional today.. but then I just had a thought, that this last year would have been a great year to have Josh around. I started going to school at the UW (where he went to school), I've become even more jaded about various issues (politics, religion..) Basically, I've got a huge list of things that I wish I could catch Josh up on. But I guess there is nothing special about this year.. Josh was just a great person to have around no matter what. Whether things were going wrong and you needed him to cheer you up, or if things were going great and you just wanted to share that with him. Man, I miss that guy. Still doesn't seem fair, I wasn't finished with being his friend. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I don't know if VRW is for me. Certainly I like it sometimes.. but I wouldn't be surprised if freeflying went in two directions.. one way that is more like traditional RW.. and one way that is like small group freestyle but without the ballerina stuff. That's where I'd be at.. dancing upside down. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

The same thing bothers me sometimes. If we go up with a very loose plan and horsing around happens, that's one thing. If we go up with a good plan and someone just decides they don't feel like trying to do it, well.. they're kinda wasting my jump. If they try but can't that's one thing.. but if they just don't try, that bugs me. I hate when you dirt dive a freefly jump and you can tell that a bunch of people are ignoring the plan, or not commiting it to memory. I want to jump with people who rehearse the jump a few times before they board the plane, and a few times on the way to altitude. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I am guesing C2H6O is an alcohol molecule? So tequila? That is my guess. My solution is: Try to relax. And procrastinate less. But I'm still working on the second part. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I don't get it.. ? "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham