NWFlyer

I'm not, because I just had one for dinner after spending all day at Elsinore. "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

Are you going to tell US who is on page 137? "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

We have been know for that in Atlanta! I know. I'm surprised y'all put up with me for as long as you did that summer. "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, really, this won't hurt a bit. "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

Hey, marko. Glad your only injury was to your pride and I'm really glad you did come back and post. It sounds like you've got some great mentors working with you and I hope your canopy course and time on the 170 goes well.

Finally, edible undies for the low-carb crowd! "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

Apparently you're a lousy judge of character. "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

Google maps is more realistic: 85.6 mi – about 1 hour 30 mins up to 3 hours 10 mins in traffic. Mapquest: Headquartered in Denver, Colorado and Lancaster, Pennsylvania Google: Headquartered in Mountain View, CA Who do we think understands traffic better? "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

Ah, I kind of missed that part. All I saw was "not hiring a car." Ah, yeah, good luck with that. I suspect finding someone to do an airport run would be a lot easier if it were Ontario and not LAX. To the OP - perhaps the camp organizers can connect you with others who are coming into LAX (or posting on the thread for the camp itself would help you identify others who will be coming in that specific weekend). "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

Me too. Especially when it is right as I wake up and look next to me. I thought we agreed we weren't going to talk about that night. "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

Well, yes, once I had my memory jogged, of course I remembered where we'd met... it's just that initial oh shit this person knows me moment that always gets me in trouble. "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 still maintain that I hadn't met you before Seattle. "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

This battery is boring me. "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 goes both ways (I'm still feeling bad about that blank stare I gave you in the loading area at ZHills last week when you called out my name!). Of course, I had my name on my jumpsuit, so you had a little help remembering me. "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

See this thread: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3144461 "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 thought the video was a really interesting learning tool as well because it's something that's usually not brought up in the "should I downsize" discussions. Most of the discussion is spent on whether or not someone can handle the increased speed on landing (particularly when things don't go right - off landings, obstacles, getting cut off in the pattern, etc.), and that's where it's most likely someone's going to break themselves if they're not ready. But seeing that video made me realize that high wingloadings and lower experience add another dimension that jumpers with lower experience may not have considered - are you ready to handle a wingloading that can be more prone to malfunction if you deploy with poor body position and/or any asymmetry in the harness? Are you ready to handle a wingloading where it is easier to induce a spinning malfunction of the type marko induced? If your first malfunction is at a high wingloading, are you ready to handle it? Obviously there are many, many jumpers who make it to thousands of jumps and to higher and higher wingloadings without malfunctions, but maybe by the time they get their first one, they've seen malfunctions like marko's at higher altitudes under larger wings and have the altitude to get out of them rather than being at an altitude where they're forced to cut away, and they've learned a thing or two and when they do get the first real chop it's not quite as much of a surprise as marko's experience was to him. "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

True dat. Which is why I've left the actual advice-giving to people with a lot more experience than I have (and looking through this thread there are many, many people with thousands of jumps who have put in their thoughts). I've somehow been lumped in with the evil crowd that wants marko to die (quite to the contrary, I'd prefer it if no one died skydiving), but I haven't made a single comment on marko's choice of gear - I'll leave that to people with a lot more experience and skill than I have. "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

Be up front with company X, but don't mention the money - mention the additional amount of experience/responsibility you expect to get with company Y. Presenting it as a career growth opportunity you're having a tough time turning down will look a lot better than saying "hey these guys are going to pay me a lot more." See if it's possible that company X can match that; once you've discussed that, then you could discuss how an additional level of responsibility might need to come with an additional salary. Being honest and up front and mature at this point in your career can pay dividends down the road. Not showing up or just saying "I'm not taking the job" will just make you look unreliable and irresponsible. "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

July-September will be fairly consistently good - no guarantees, but all three months are fairly reliable. Sunny, long days, warm temps, low humidity. The two DZs that aphid posted about are the two closest to Seattle that for sure will be operating this summer; two others are probable (Northwest Skydivers in Mt. Vernon and Jet City Skydivers in Bremerton) but there's still some uncertainty about what those DZs will look like this year. If you come in early August (8-10th) you can come to the Leap for Lupus Boogie at Kapowsin, but there's plenty going on throughout the summer as well. IIRC summer hours both DZs are usually closed Monday and Tuesday. "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'll take missing the point for $600, Alex. "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 interesting thing about these forums (and skydiving in general, and hell, life in general) is that I've found that if you open yourself up to be taught, you will get much less bashing and a lot more teaching. Just under two years ago, I screwed up pretty badly and lived to tell about it. And I did, in great detail, here on the forums. I outlined what I did wrong, what I did right, and what I learned, and where I knew I got incredibly lucky. I talked about what I was going to do to reinforce my education on what I should have done better. That thread was remarkable in that there wasn't a lot of bashing. Sure, there was some, and it stung, and there were a couple of times where I had to step away from the keyboard before I responded. The difference, I think? Humility. Willingness to admit mistakes. Willingness to listen to opinions other than the ones I started with when I first posted the thread. And a history of posting that way (at least in the topical forums ). The people who whine the most about getting beat up are the ones who come out swinging and keep defending their opinions despite a lot of well-reasoned information that says maybe, just maybe, they ought to reconsider. "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 ask for an opinion on here, be prepared to get one (or more) that you don't agree with. He asked for one. Look at the very first post. Many times, I agree, there are people on here who do not ask for opinions on their choices who are provided with them anyway. However, Marko came on here and explicitly asked for one in an open forum. He has no one to blame but himself for any "fire" that has been created. He then went and posted the video of his cutaway on Skydivingmovies.com, which is frequented by many users of this site. He used essentially the same name he uses on Dropzone.com, he didn't try to hide who he was. People are going to make the connection and offer their additional opinion on this thread. Sorry, not really feeling too sorry for the shitstorm that he brought upon himself. If he really wanted to have a thoughtful discussion of his choices he would have had it with trusted advisors at the DZ and maybe made a different choice. Instead, he bought the canopy (perhaps against the advice of trusted advisors?) then came on here hoping to find someone who would back up his decision so he could go to those advisors and say "See, you're wrong." Either that or he just likes to stir up shit and get attention. Either way, I'm not really feeling the "poor Marko, all this negative attention" vibe right now. "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

For those of you who want to get involved in other ways, I can also suggest crew or volunteering for this event. I've done both and it's a great way to support the walkers and the event. Crew is the bigger commitment, but you also get to see and experience the event in a much more robust way. You're there all three days (plus the day before), you'll camp with the walkers, and you will ensure that the entire support infrastructure need to run an event of this scale happens. There's a huge range of roles that you can play on the crew. Volunteers generally get involved before the event, and during closing and opening ceremonies. At closing ceremonies, some of the volunteers will take over from the crew members so that crew members will be able to attend the closing ceremonies with everyone else who's been part of the full event. Just another way to be a part of this great event.

Yep, what he said. I can type on a laptop and on an ergo keyboard. Put me on a standard keyboard and I don't know what to do with myself. "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

Why did I just think of this? Daisy was puking for a bit, but she seems to have settled down, and even when she did she usually hit the floor (not so good for the finish, but at least easy to clean up). Her puke tended not to be too toxic smelling, either. I feed my cats Serengeti, which is what Daisy's foster family started her on when she was having diarrhea problems. But it's good stuff so I'm happy to keep feeding it to them and they both like 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