NWFlyer

Hmm... take the advice of the guy who is happily married to a really cool chick or the one who's bitterly divorced and not seeming to really be enjoying dating? Tough call. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Try www.ehealthinsurance.com. Look for insurance with very high deductibles (like in the $5,000 range). That's what people mean when they're talking about "catastrophic insurance." You'd pay out of pocket for routine stuff but if you have a major injury or illness, once you've paid off the deductible, you'll start getting coverage. If you're young (which I assume you are since you're still on your parents' coverage) you may even be able to get more comprehensive insurance on your own at a decent rate. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

B license is still 50 jumps, is it not? B is still 50. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

That's a long-running joke in the (House-watching) Mitchell household. John - hit me up at Prairie. I'm in for tickets. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

When did you go blond? "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Not to mention if his home DZ is accurate, he's got Gravity Girl right there! She'll hook you up! "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

That implies that once someone reaches the "magic jump number" they must downsize. That's like thinking that once someone reaches 200 jumps, they MUST don a wingsuit (shit, I better hurry, I'm 500 jumps behind!) or once they have 500 jumps they have to get a tandem rating... just because there's a BSR with minimums doesn't mean you have to do anything. Vs. right now where you can jump any wingload you want once you have an A license ... regardless of ability or experience. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Yeah, in that case, I can understand wondering how many hands had dug into the pile. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

I figure that the roasting process would kill any nasty stuff, and the peanuts came in a sealed bag ... so that wasn't really a worry. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

At a baseball game last night, one of my companions bought a bag of roasted, salted peanuts in the shell. She passed them around and I grabbed a handful and started crunching on them right in the shell. She looked at me like I had two heads, but I talked her into trying one small one and she agreed it wasn't bad (but continued to shell the peanuts for the rest of the night). I picked this approach up myself when I went to a hockey game a few months ago and one of the guys with us was eating the peanuts in the shell (and I had the same shocked reaction ... till I tried it myself). Your thoughts? Crunchy goodness or icky idea? "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Assuming you don't want to rent a car, and if you want to do some tunnel time in addition to your jumps, Perris or Eloy would be your best bets to meet all of your criteria. Both have camping space and cheap bunkhouses, on-site food/bars (though you WILL want to eat somewhere else after a few meals at either!) and on-site bars, and great coaching and organizing available. ZHills is also fantastic ... but you'd have to drive if you wanted to do tunnel time. Skydance is my home DZ, but it's not a 7-day a week DZ, so I'm not sure it'd be the best choice for what you're looking for. Cafe/bar is usually only open on the weekends, so it wouldn't meet your criteria of being self-contained. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

The links work for me in gmail, so I doubt that's the issue. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

No. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Not to mention on exits - that seems to be where my shoulders (both of 'em now!) get jacked up ... "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Yes, but you can't do the latter unless you do the former (AAD fires notwithstanding). "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

In the college dorms we'd put a piece of plywood under the mattress (these were basic dorm bunks with just a bed frame and mattress, no box springs) to give more support on the ragged-out old mattresses. Don't know how that would work if you had a box spring, tho. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Oh yeah, forgot that one! I went from a "stealth mode" black canopy with red ribs to a "damn that's obnoxiously bright" yellow/orange canopy. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Oh, the irony. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Not even over once you're on the ground. True dat. Saw a knee of a landing jumper hit the head of an already-landed jumper recently. I believe both of them ended up with minor injuries, but it could have been much worse. Why do we collide? All kinds of reasons. People who focus only on their own pattern and not where they are in relation to everyone else. People who believe they have the "right" to land where they want/how they want on every jump, no matter what anyone else is doing. People who think they have their head on a swivel but get myopic once they're in the pattern. I try to create separation as much as possible, both vertical and horizontal. When I find myself near another canopy, communication becomes very important. Kicking your legs to say "I see you" is a good start. Eye contact also helps. If you happen to be on parallel final approaches, keep up eye contact with regular glances to make sure you see them and they see you (and they see that you see them) and that your paths continue to be parallel and don't wind up converging. I know I've improved a lot on this in the last couple years - I was that myopic jumper in my earlier years; I shudder to think of what could have happened. Now I keep an eye out for that myopic jumper and do what I can to avoid them - if I don't see that they see me and are moving along a path that will continue to keep us separated, I'll do whatever I can to create even more separation and let them have their space. I'm perfectly happy to be the last one down, or the last one down before the tandems (who will almost always be waaaay above me and not an issue). "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Every one of 'em where everyone on the skydive walks away.

Where? I read that page over and over again and the only thing I can see that's been canceled is the FJC, which perhaps some coach course candidates were planning to attend to meet the requirement of assisting in an FJC. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

You log the jumps and have another licensed skydiver sign them.

Actually, people thought withholding no votes would be VERY meaningful. Let's say there were 3,500 votes needed to achieve a 10% proxy. If 1751 of those were yes votes and 1749 of those were no votes, the proxy would pass with the support of only 5.0003% of the membership supporting it. The idea was, then, if you don't send in a no vote, there are then only the 1751 yes votes would be counted, which would not allow the 10% to be achieved. Thus, the no votes (that were withheld) were VERY meaningful. Since there were well more than the minimum number of votes cast, this strategy didn't work in this case. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

I don't think he was alleging fraud at all. Votes can't get counted if people don't send them in. There were a number of people on this site who advocated NOT sending your ballot in if you believed the vote should be NO. The idea was that if the NO votes were withheld altogether there was a better chance of minimum numbers for the proxy not being achieved. The results show that strategy was flawed as there were more than enough sent in to achieve the minimums. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Spotted in my neighborhood ... "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke