NWFlyer

EH! I'm big in Japan! "Do you know who I think I am?" "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 longer you're in this sport the more you'll realize that one of the really cool things about it is the accessibility of the "big names" in the sport. They might be hanging out at the DZ, or organizing at a boogie, or hopping on with your group to take photos for a milestone jump. Chances are that unless someone tells you you're not even going to know that they're a "big deal." I've only been in the sport for 5 1/2 years but I have a theory that so far has proven to be true with every "big name" that I've met and had the good fortune to jump with: the true top talent in the sport is uniformly cool and laid back. The egos tend to fall one or two levels down with the wannabe skygods who know they're not quite at the "best of the best" level, but feel that if they spend enough time telling you how badass and cool they are, that eventually they'll get there. I'm sure I'll meet some "big name" someday who doesn't fit the rule, but so far, so good... "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

Who needs to waste all that time? Here's the condensed version. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muRtutFrwwE "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'm sorry, but LMAO! Dude, you're just not extreeeeeeeeme enough to appreciate it. Go pound a few energy drinks then you'll understand. "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

Is there any way to turn off the "friend" functionality entirely or at least make it more difficult to send a friend request? I'm completely uninterested in using that functionality on this site and have turned off the ability for others to add me as a friend. However, a acouple times now I've accidentally clicked on the "friend" link either on someone's profile or on their profile summary next to a post and end up sending a friend request when I have no intention to do so. Can there at least be a confirmation so that you can cancel out? "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

If those were needed, much of the board probably couldn't attend. I kid, I kid. Meetings are (for the most part) open. There may be a few closed-door proceedings, but otherwise, buy a ticket, and go. Not that too many members ever do, but it's worth attending at least one, I think. "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

About 800 miles, for 3+ years. How we were able to do it... I'm not quite sure, thinking back on that time (we've lived in the same city for about 1 1/2 years now)... but I know a bunch of things worked in our favor. 1) Both of us could afford to travel with reasonable frequency (averaged out to about 1x/month, sometimes more frequent, sometimes less frequent), and I even had jobs that could flexibly be done in remote locations as needed, which gave even more flexibility in traveling. Helped that we were in the same time zone and a 2 hour flight - it made weekend trips easy and practical. We'd also do a lot of trips where we'd both fly somewhere else and meet there. 2) We were and are very independent people with our own very well-established lives. When you don't see someone for weeks at a time, your life and their life have to go on. Yes, we missed each other and enjoyed the time we spent together, but our lives didn't get put "on hold" when we weren't together. 3) What comes out of #2 is that you have to have trust. You can't wonder what the person is doing all the time or who they're doing it with. You aren't going to know. Not that you really should have an expectation of knowing when you live in the same place, but somehow the natural rhythms of life fall closer together when you live nearby. Doesn't mean we didn't talk/e-mail and share the happenings in our life, it just meant that there was no expectation of knowing every detail of every day. 4) When communication breaks down, it can break down hard ... and you have to be grown-up enough to confront it. You have to be able to pick up the phone and say "I'm [sad/angry/confused/frustrated/whatever] and here's why." There's no room for passive-aggressive games ... and when you can't always see the other person and read their face/body language, you have to be willing to be a bit more straightforward in your verbal communication because in between visits, that's all you've got. 5) And I think this is most important ... lack of drama. Our relationship is on a pretty even keel. We don't do big fights and dramatic breakup/makeup cycles, we don't play petty games, we don't measure love through possessiveness or jealousy or any kind of public drama. From an outsider's perspective it probably looks pretty boring, but it's really just being mature and respectful of each other and the relationship and not sweating the rest of it. I can flirt and joke around with other men, he can flirt and joke around with other women, as long as we don't disrespect each other or the relationship. And there's never been any debate over those boundaries, because neither one of us has ever felt the need to test/push those boundaries for validation of ourselves or of the relationship. Come to think of it, most of these have very little to do with a successful long-distance relationship. They're more what makes a successful relationship, at least it's what works for mine. "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

Talk to Collin Bruce (collinb here on DZ.com) for RW coaching. He's great to work with. "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

NEVER stop looking till you've accepted a written offer. Too many people approach the job search that way - one opportunity at a time. It's a numbers game till you've signed on the dotted line. Instead, get out there, network, talk to as many people as you can in your industry (and outside of it, too). Let everyone you know from your postman to the gal who makes your lattes know that you're looking for a job. You'll never know who knows the person who can connect you to your next job. For jobs that are listed, you should do exactly what you did on this one - do your best to connect directly to the hiring manager. Even better if you can do that through an introduction so you're not "cold calling." "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, we had a couple weather days, but when weather days mean bright blue skies, warm temps, and breeze, so that I can still lay out by the pool or hop on a dive boat 10 yards away from the hotel ... I won't complain (that breeze translated into high winds over the buildings by the landing area, which made for some pretty turbulent air in the landing area). Ceilings were low on a couple other days, but overall we had great weather, great skydives, and great people. Thanks to Rich Grimm for organizing a fantastic event! What a special place Belize is.

Since Christmas, the SO and I have been through security in Oakland, Phoenix, SFO, and Miami with multiple rigs. I don't think they've even been pulled out to be swabbed in any of those airports. If anything the TSA seems *less* interested (but that's probably just a coincidence). "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

It doesn't suck. "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

Of course I already knew that. I'd just like to hear what our esteemed board has to say on the topic. "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

And the "clarifying email" that was sent to instructional rating holders (including coaches) made it even more confusing! Looks like it's on the S&T committee agenda. JP, here's an interesting one on the Group Membership committee agenda ... can you ask them how they DO monitor and enforce compliance for US-based group members? "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

If you re-read my second reply in the women's forum, you'll know which issue to ask for. "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've said that twice now, but in a quick read of the article, I didn't catch anything that was obviously a case of the "parachute failed to open" type journalism typical of the whuffo media. You going to tell us what's wrong or just keep dropping hints? "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

If it were possible, I'd avoid going public at all. But I think that when you accept the money you sign away the ability to be private about it ... I may be wrong, but it seems like the lottery boards require winners to do at least a very small amount of publicity b/c it gives them positive press. "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 what my 5% is for. I don't want to feel like I can't have fun at first, but I also want it to be at least somewhat limited while I really figure things out and figure things out for the long run. "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

"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 post on the recent lottery win by some British skydivers got me to thinking ... how would you handle a huge windfall? Seems there are a lot of sad stories out there about people who win the lottery and less than a decade later find themselves in worse financial shape than when they started. Not that I even play, but I'd like to think this would be my approach. 1) Take the lump sum rather than annual payments. 2) Immediately set aside whatever I'd owe in taxes (assuming that amount hadn't already been taken out of the payment I received). 3) Put 95+% in a relatively illiquid low-risk but relatively short-term account ... to force a "cooling off period." Basically, this would lock the money up for 6 months to a year so that I have plenty of time to plot a longer-term strategy for investing, saving, spending, donating, dealing with the parasites that would come out of the woodwork, etc. THEN I'd figure out what kind of fun to have. How would you deal with it? "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

Whew! I thought this was going to be another Scott Lutz thread. Given how crappy life seems to turn out for a lot of lottery winners, I'm not sure I'd say they're "lucky" just yet. Hopefully they can manage their money well so they can assure a good life for themselves and their kids. But quotes like this one make me think "uh-oh." "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

What is this winter you speak of? It was in the low 60s and sunny at the DZ yesterday. (Okay, to be fair, we *have* had a lot of rain this year... El Fucking Nino and all...) (Says the gal going to Belize at the end of the week ) "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

Depending on how the bank sets it up the relationship between the old and new accounts, it might not even impact that. I've recently closed a couple of mileage reward cards because I was no longer flying the airlines regularly and didn't want to pay the annual fee for those perks. I switched both to non-fee, non-mileage cards and the "cardholder since" year stayed the same (the original year opened). BTW these were at two separate banks, so it seems to be standard practice. "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

It cannot possibly arrive soon enough. It's just that I'm too busy being crazed at work and thinking "I can't wait to go to Belize" to post about it all the time! "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

Skydance usually has them during the American Boogie, last weekend of June. "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