Jessica

I voted for the last one. It's clearly the correct answer. Skydiving is for cool people only

Me, I do! Skydiving is for cool people only

Something like this has happened to me. I was an idiot, and afterward I got a quiet talking-to in the packing area. I was humiliated, and I've never made the same mistake again. It wasn't like I liked hearing it, and I thought at the time the guy was an asshole, but it didn't take long for me to realize that I had indeed fucked up and he did me a favor. If he had called me out in front of everyone though, I'd still think he was an asshole, and I might not have taken his advice to heart. Skydiving is for cool people only

It says they've completed the first step in the instructional rating ladder, and that they have an interest and some training in teaching students. It's a three-day course complete with evaluated training and jumps. It's a legitimate rating. Why are you so down on people who are taking the first step in becoming instructors? And no, I don't have a coach rating. Skydiving is for cool people only

Oh boy! I'll be there! Everybody rope off your air mattresses and lock the rigging room! Skydiving is for cool people only

I'm so not picky about that. Austin Powers-esque is fine with me. Skydiving is for cool people only

TECHIES IN DEMAND FOR FBI JOBS Eds: Also moving financial queue By Jennifer Beauprez The Denver Post DENVER — Wanted: super-smart techies interested in a good salary, early retirement and great job security. Sound unusual in this economy? Here's the kicker: Must be willing to chase down terrorists and respond to bank robberies if necessary. Uncle Sam hopes metro Denver will be a prime recruiting ground for its fast-growing FBI computer crimes division. The agency has congressional funding to add 960 people nationwide next year, including 192 computer crime agents. “That's a lot of people to bring in,” said Jim Berry, FBI agent in charge of Denver recruitment. He said he sees gold in the area's skilled, but unemployed, tech workforce and plans to scout out a number of upcoming career fairs for new recruits. As much as two-thirds of the layoffs in Colorado over the past few years came from telecommunications and technology businesses. Yet landing a job at the FBI isn't easy, even for the Albert Einsteins of code writing. Flabby computer geeks who can't run a mile won't make the cut; neither will anti-social programmers who'd rather look at a computer screen than at people, nor those who've smoked pot more than 15 times. In fact, just 1.5 percent of all applicants typically survive the rigorous FBI interview process that sometimes can last a year, Berry said. People with more professional work experience tend to do better. “It's competitive,” Berry said. “It's not impossible, but it's competitive.” The select few who do get hired will make sacrifices. The most painful: They can't stay in metro Denver. The FBI's rule forbids new agents to stay in the city in which they were hired to eliminate any conflicts of interest. Plus, agents will be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week and must relocate on demand to any number of cities across the globe. For those who win an agent's badge, the rush of wielding a gun, busting down doors or sleuthing out hackers makes for a dream job. “It's like you get to be a kid for the rest of your life,” said FBI special agent Christopher Buechner, one of 11 in the Denver computer crimes division. Buechner sports a gun on the FBI's SWAT team, but most often sifts through computer hard drives seized by agents to root out evidence of child pornography, terrorist plots and corporate espionage. He's been relocated twice and sent on a mission to Pakistan most recently. “It's a great job,” Buechner said. “It's something I've always wanted to do. I'm honored to be an agent.” The agency's hiring practices have changed dramatically since Buechner joined the FBI in 1996, due primarily to homeland security concerns. The FBI in the past primarily has hired accountants, lawyers and language specialists. But for the past 18 months, the agency only has been permitted to hire people in a few key areas: computer science, engineering, accounting, biology or chemistry, military intelligence and foreign languages, particularly Arabic and Farsi. Computer investigators are critical because most terrorist activities and violent crimes have a computer nexus, whether they are conversations in e-mails or Internet activity, said Dave Mahon, the Denver-based special agent in charge of computer crimes. Mahon said the agency created the computer crimes division last year and is expanding it quickly, recently adding international agents in Scotland, Pakistan, Australia, Japan and India. Computer sleuths, Mahon said, are critical to protecting nation's critical infrastructure from terrorist attacks. Computers control all water, banking and power systems. The recent East Coast blackout underscored the chaos caused when cities lose electricity. “The next war is a technological war,” Mahon said. Yet joining the FBI's team to fight that war is like no other job interview. Candidates face a daunting gauntlet of tests. Everything is up for grabs: their credit history, ability to do push-ups and what their next-door neighbor or old boss has to say about them. Job candidates can't be older than 37 and must pass several rounds of hurdles, including a four-hour written exam, an hourlong interview, a polygraph lie detector test — when they're asked about drug use, among other things — and a 1.5-mile timed run. Survivors go into a 17-week training course at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., where they take yet more physical and written exams, undergo firearms training and learn physical defense techniques. The squeaky-clean, smart and physically fit recruits hired can make as much as $85,000 a year. They also find job security, something not easily found in today's economy. “Unless you really screw up bad, you're never getting fired,” Buechner said. Agents are required to retire by age 57and then receive “competitive” retirement packages, Berry said. But the job isn't for people who won't work weekends and odd hours or aren't committed to the FBI, Berry said. “People have to have the desire and passion to do this kind of work,” Berry said. “This isn't for somebody who just wants a change.” More people who have that passion emerged after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he said. “It's based on patriotism,” he said. “They want to come in and fight the fight. Fight the terrorism fight or the cybercrime fight.” Skydiving is for cool people only

Also known as keepers of online journals. Just curious. Skydiving is for cool people only

Need a login and password. Skydiving is for cool people only

And turns the freaky chicks on? Skydiving is for cool people only

You guys c'mon in, we got a lot of people there now Skydiving is for cool people only

Yay! It's a party! Skydiving is for cool people only

I'm bored. www.dropzone.com/chat/ Skydiving is for cool people only

The No. 1 monkey is wise. Agreed. Pop a bottlecap and relax. Skydiving is for cool people only

Hmph, I'm not going! Everyone is in Houston! Houston sucks! I'll see y'all fuckers next weekend. Skydiving is for cool people only

I think it'd be a good idea in that it would encourage posts on instructor-specific subjects. A long time ago, I went over to rec.skydiving and read as many archived posts as I could from AFF instructors on training issues. There seemed to be a lot more there than here. Why, I couldn't say. I think Safety & Training seems to get far more students posting questions than instructors. Yeah, I think it's a pretty good idea. I don't think it would fragment things as much as it would provide a place for posts that aren't really getting made right now (and I think they would get made if there were a specific forum for them). Tandem instructors have been begging for their own forum for as long as I've been on dz.com. Though I don't know how willing instructors are to discuss problems and issues they have on a public forum, especially since it opens them up to Internet-style flaming and armchair quarterbacking. Skydiving is for cool people only

I went to the Preyor home page and checked 'em out. Some of them are really really nice. I had a Pammi necklace and I loved it, but I kept forgetting to take it off in the shower and the hemp got ruined. Now I have one I made myself with black cord and wooden beads, and I like it fine. Skydiving is for cool people only

Bitching and moaning! That's what Riglets do best! OK, so I won't be out there at noon (not that it matters to all y'all Ballunar-going asshats) because I just remembered I have an appointment. I'll probably be out there around 3 or 4. Skydiving is for cool people only

OK, as long as there are air mattresses available for me to pass out on. Skydiving is for cool people only

Yeah, me too. I miss you guys. I got weekends off and went a little crazy with the traveling. I've been in Dallas, Houston, California...but I should settle into a weekend routine at SSM pretty soon I hope. That doesn't change the fact that I hate you with all that I am. What piercings? La la la.... Skydiving is for cool people only

I don't live in the ghetto anymore! And I have weekends off! Come visit me. Brains: I hate you and all you stand for. Skydiving is for cool people only

For you? No. Skydiving is for cool people only

Quiet Wingi. No one is going to be there. I'll be all alone. Sigh. Skydiving is for cool people only

I manage to stalk quite adaquately on a dialup! Unless you mean to send pictures. If so, add me to the stalked list. Skydiving is for cool people only

I had the sniffles. Come on Friday and I'll be there! Skydiving is for cool people only