cloud_monkey

Not me - I still have a broken leg Oh yeah, I don't live there anymore either, doh!

Yeah, I have to agree - lots of "poor me this and poor me that" goin' on on that page But, there was a few bone graft cases to check out - looks like 2 weeks of more pain, bruising, and swelling - a few more stitches and scars, and eventually, some healing of da' stick. Thanks for tip - Z

I just got back from the hospital and I found out that my Tibia hasn't healed the way it should have by now. They left about a 1/4" gap between the upper and lower portions of my Tibia and it hasn't really changed much over the past 4 months. The Doc says that they can take some bone from my pelvis and graft it in to my leg That just doesn't sound very appealing to me. They also want to wait another six weeks before they decide what to do which pretty much takes me out of skydiving for the rest of the season. Has anyone here had a bone graft? If so, what kind of results did you have? I'm just curious to hear other peoples experiences. Peace, Z

He's in a hurry to see how it looks with his new tooth paste blue thong

Did the damned thing come with a note "Some assembly required"??? Look for a small loop somewhere inside each sleeve. You can take the binding tape, tie one end to the loop inside the sleeve, and then make a loop for your fingers on the other end - That's the only thing I can think of - If you don't have any swoop cords it just pulls the sleeves right up your arms. Oh yeah, another idea - If you can get someone to do a minor bit of sewing - Remove the snaps from the wings and sew some doubled up binding tape to the end of the wing. Then you can sew the snap to the end of the binding tape. That should make it look and function pretty much like mine. Peace, Z

That's too damned funny - and disgusting at the same time - Brains skydiving in a thong.....eeeewww I used to hook mine to the hardware on the legstraps and that worked just fine. Just make sure you hook it through the UPPER portion of the hardware so it doesn't loosen your legstraps when you pull your wings tight Of course, that depends upon how long the wings are - you might just have to hook'em to that thong of yours Just another thought - When I first got my Tony Jacket - I took those tiny key rings and put them on the hardware for the legstraps - then all I had to do was hook the sanp to the ring and I could wear shorts/ ff pants - what ever - besides a thong that is. Peace, Z

This topic has been discussed a number of times before but this should help answer your question - Clicky Peace, Z

Try using the Shutter Priority Mode or TV-Mode on a Canon. Set your shutter speed to 1/500 on a nice sunny day and when it gets cloudy I use 1/400 or 1/320. My cameras adjust in 1/4 stop increments but most moderately priced cameras do not. For now anyway, I would stick with either ISO 100 or 200 film mainly because ISO 400 tends to get grainy when the pictures are enlarged. As far as the focus goes, if you use Manual Focus and set your distance to "infinity" (usually means 10 -12 feet or more away from your target on a 28mm lens) you will have to stay 10-12 feet or more away from your subject each time you take a picture. Any picture you take inside that range (10-12 feet and closer) will be out of focus. You could also focus on a subject on the ground at the distance you would normally fly in relation to your subject and then tape the lens at that point. On the other hand, if you can keep your subject centered within the confines of the Auto Focus Sensors, Auto Focus will work just fine in free fall. Many people will disagree with me on this but I have literally thousands of pictures to prove my point. The trick is simply to keep your subject perfectly centered and set the focus mode to Continuous - this means that the camera continuously adjusts the focus until the moment the picture is taken. I rarely use "Sports Mode" because it usually opens up the Aperture to such a large degree that you loose a lot of detail from the surroundings and I really like to have the plane, the clouds, or the ground in some cases, in sharp focus too. You'll have to play around with the settings on the camera until you figure out what works best for you but this should help you get started in any case. Peace, Z

1253 - I had a malfunction and the tandem that I was filming had a malfunction - made for great video. Then about 100 jumps later I had two malfunctions in 4 jumps. Just goes to show that you never know how or when something is going to bite you in the ass. All you know is that sooner or later it's gonna happen

Sounds like a plan. I don't know if my leg feels like takin' me jumpin' quite yet but I guess I could grab the gear and a cooler (just in case) and check it out.... Peace z

Well I'm drinkin' the store bought stuff I was actually lookin' for something fun to get into tomorrow. I heard the bad news about the DZ in Kapowsin - unfreakinbelievable - but since I can't skydive yet anyway I thought it might be fun to get out and meet some fellow crazy people, have a few beers, and check out the local scene.

What's up peeps? My company moved me up here to Seattle about 5 months ago but three weeks after the move I broke my leg and I've been stuck at home on the couch ever since. Now that my leg is good enough to support my sorry ass for an extended period of time I find that I don't know jack about this place. So, I thought I'd toss up a post and see if any of the locals felt like drinkin'......any takers????

Actually, you are correct. DVD-R is compatible with more DVD players than +R and that's only logical since DVD-R is the original format. The difference is pretty minimal 93% compatibility for DVD-R and 88% for DVD+R. However, those figures refer to commercial, error free DVD's which in most cases, are created with much nicer equipment than is commonly found on your home PC or editing station. DVD+R is compatible with the CAV writing technique (Constant Angular Velocity) which ensures more accurate and seamless writing. When burning a disc in CAV mode, the disc maintains a constant rotation speed where as in Zone CLV (Constant Linear Velocity) writing (only method used on DVD-R), the writing of the disc is split into different zones (zones are split from the center and outward on the disc) and each is written at different speeds. When writing is completed for each zone, the writing is suspended momentarily until the disc can reach the new higher rotational speed and then restarted. The recording is then linked to the previous zone using buffer underrun protection. The errors most often occur at the link points between the zones and results in a poorly written disc that many players will not be able to read. The issue isn't necessarily one of compatibility but of quality. Burning at lower speeds can certainly help, but burning your disc on a DVD+R disc with a DVD Burner equipped with CAV writing technology will almost certainly solve the problems that you have described. Peace Z

Most of the newer players will play DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD RW's, VCD's, SVCD's, and MP3's. It's usually the older players that have the compatibility issues.

DVD+R is compatible with more DVD players than DVD-R. I know DVD-R's are cheaper to buy but I'm sure you'll find less compatibility issues with the +R discs. Peace, z

Just use the "Guys Guide to Medical Wellness" If you feel something weird on one side - check the other side - if you've got one on that side too, you're probably O.K. Hope you get to feelin' better bro. I know how bad that shit hurts. Hey, here's an idea - grab some morphine and a beer. I promise, once you wake up next week, it'll all feel just great

Dads Against Daughters Dating My 16 yo daughter hates it, but people constantly make comments about it. M.A.D.D - Marines Against Desert Dwellers -

Ahhh, don't worry about it. Is it still straight? No strange angles or anything? Trust Dr. Monkey - You'll be fine I did the same fuckin' thing the day after I got out of the hospital. Walking in to a gas station and I hit a wet spot on the floor. Crutch slipped and I accidentally put all my weight on my left leg to catch myself. It hurt like a bitch and I was really worried about it for a while but once I got the x-rays six weeks later all was peachy - But, dude, honestly, if you really think you jacked somethin' up you should go and find out for sure. You don't want to have to go through this whole freakin' thing all over again now do ya???

Ooops! Yeah 24' might wee bit on the freak show side - as if 24'' isn't????? No federal buildings or court houses yet - but I do travel a lot for work and the NTSB peeps really get a kick out of watching that gadget blinking and beeping at my shin -

Oh hell yeah - The babe down at the grocery store still thinks I was attacked by a Bull Shark off of Catalina Not that it's done me any good so far, I mean, I'm not the one with the 24' schlong Let's see - there's been the story of the flesh eating bacteria, and yes, the Pit Bull, an alligator in the Everglades, and of course, the freak gardening accident where the lawn mower got away from me Honestly, I'm not too worried about the scars, just the function of my leg. I do have an option of having plastic surgery but as long the damned thing works I just don't see the point. As luck would have it, it really is getting better and I can almost walk without a limp. A couple more months and I'll be back to my old self - with the addtion of a few extra metal pieces Getting through the airport has proven to be quite a bitch though

The graft is all healed now but, it did look pretty nasty for some time. (not that I'll be modeling Bermuda Shorts or nothin' but...) The reason the stitches looked so jacked is because the skin they grafted in was only half as thick as the surrounding skin. Plus they said that my leg was so swollen when they made the first cut that it just kind of splattered open It wasn't exactly straight if you get my drift. My mom took that peace sign pic about 3 weeks after my last surgery - you can see the skin is finally grown enough to cover the muscles but it hadn't quite yet grown together with the surrounding tissue. All of the scars and stitches are healed but I still have a ways to go before I'm joggin' again But hey, at least I don't have to use the motorized cart at Albertson's anymore Here's what it looks like today

I went through SSI in Austin, Tx. I took the intensified course - One weekend in the class room and pool and one weekend at Lake Travis. It was a lot of fun and from what I remember it only cost a couple hundred bucks.

Wow! Now that's self esteem at it's pinnacle. But then again, if your winkie looks worse than that picture of my shin I'm sure the cure is way beyond the scope of modern medicine.

Vomit? Why? Those pics weren't that bad - That one was taken almost 3 weeks after surgery - This one was taken when I got back from the hospital It's a repost, I know, but who cares Appetizing, ain't it?

Nice update LOL Those external fixtures reminded me of something. You know, when this shit first happened to me, I was feelin' kind of down and little depressed....Like most people with a shattered tib/fib I would assume. But, after the first post-op visit I felt so much better. There was one poor bastard who had a V-8 dropped on his legs and pulverized both femurs...Another dude broke his back and neck in a car accident and had external fixtures -YIIKES - just looked nasty. Once you look at some of the situations "normal" people get into I really didn't feel so bad for myself