NWFlyer

Bring your own roommate. "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

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=218890344808456 though you'll have to figure out which women are already BYOR. "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

If you look at the link posted above, I think you'll see that the other guy is not a guy, it's Amy Chmelecki. "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

Or perfect breasts. "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, we Americans are ridiculous about that. At my current company, I got 21 days paid vacation to start, 26 days after a year, and will go up to 31 days after 4 years, and max out at 36 days at 9 years. That's pretty unusual for a U.S. based company. But, as a not-for-profit, we can't reward people with stock options or the like, so a generous vacation policy is a way to attract people. I should also add that for all of those numbers above, four days are "floating holidays," and the rest are classified as Paid Time Off, which covers both vacation, personal time, and sick time. We do have an extended sick leave bank that we can tap into for more serious medical situations (e.g., surgery, sick >5 days, hospital admission, etc.), but the way the PTO is set up is that you have X amount of days to do with as you see fit. It is great for people like me who are very rarely sick (and when I do have a minor cold or flu, I can just work from home and be productive, but still get extra rest if I need it, and NOT infect my coworkers). It takes away the incentive to use up sick days just because you have them (even if you are not sick), but it can create the incentive to go to work when you are sick just to avoid using up a day. "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

Work/life balance. I've made choices about the types of jobs I take and the types of organizations I work in that set me up for good work/life balance. I also set and maintain my own boundaries as best I can, with limited exceptions. In other words, on an average weekend, I don't check my work email or carry my BlackBerry with me. Same goes for the average evening. Now, if we're doing a big release or have a big upcoming deadline, I might agree to be accessible on a limited basis, or if we're working on a big deliverable with a tight deadline, I'll work later into the day or even (rarely) on the weekend. But I am careful to set the expectation that it's out of the norm. Part of how I do that is by NOT responding to routine stuff on the weekends; once I start doing that, people who do choose to work on the weekends come to expect that. And, even though I might have more fun working for a small company, I've chosen to work for a very large not-for-profit organization, in a job that comes with fantastic benefits. I get great vacation time for now, which allows me to do most of the things I enjoy. I get frustrated from time to time, but I've committed to figuring out a long-term career path here because it benefits me both in the short- and long-term, in that it allows me to build up my short- and long-term investment and retirement portfolio. I could be having more fun in the short term but end up having to work until I'm quite a bit older; instead, I'm sticking with a more stable (but less inspiring) job that helps me build for my future. I haven't always made those kinds of choices, but I'm trying to take the long view, while not hating life in short view. "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 could probably define it as any of those, but as a practical matter, it's mostly estimation. Some people log with the "old school" method of 10 seconds for the first 1,000 feet, 5 seconds for each 1,000 thereafter; others rely on their logging altimeters for freefall time. The altitude my Protrack and Altitrack tend to show as "deployment altitude" is usually about when I'm "saddled out," so maybe a bit between #2 & #3, as I imagine it registers a hair before full deployment. I use those numbers to track my freefall 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

If any guy can work a pink rig, I would think the organizer of the Rainbow Boogie could! I would guess it depends on the parts that need replacing. If it's just something like handles & a pop top you can just order those (not sure if you bought the rig I saw listed recently where those pieces were the only pink parts) and have your rigger install them at the repacks. As for other panels, would probably have to send the whole thing back. "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

Open and advanced have been posted on Omniskore: http://www.omniskore.com/comp/2011/usnats/index.asp "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

Intermediate (stolen from Remi's FB post): 9-22 19-1 2-k-h B-j-d-13 15-8 11-20 C-a-7 G-e-4 14-f-6 L-21-p I haven't seen Advanced or Open posted. "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

Last year both 4-way and 8-way did between 8-10 jumps in a day. First day of 4-way was mostly weathered out, so most teams did 2 or 3 on Day 1 and 7 or 8 on Day 2. 8-way was expecting lousy weather on Day 2, so they tried to get as many through on Day 1 as they could. Some finished, others only got 9; a couple teams took the option offered by the meet director to stop at 8. (Turned out the weather on Day 2 was perfect, so rushing wasn't necessary after all!). (So for me, doing both 4- and 8-way, my jump numbers went like this for four days straight: 2, 8, 9, 1) "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've seen pictures. It was epic. One for the ages. Indeed. "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 see "Freefly Int" and "Freefly Open" on the menu bar on the left. http://www.omniskore.com/comp/2011/usnats/index.asp Schedule, as others have said, on the SDAZ site Freefly is lumped under AE. http://www.skydiveaz.com/events/11_uspa_nationals.aspx "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

So that whole sobering up thing is going well, then. "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 waited till I had about 400 jumps before I used a full-face. No real reason other than it took me that long to find one that fit my ginormous noggin and that I felt comfortable in. I first tried the Bonehead Mamba, which is a great helmet and fit me well, but it just didn't feel comfortable with the shape of my face (the lens sits too close to the mouth and though I could breathe fine it just felt claustrophobic). My first full-face was the FreeZR2, which I really like; and I just recently bought a Cookie G2. Fit-wise, they're relatively similar - both have nice peripheral vision, and people can see my face really well with them, so eye contact works well. But then again, I mostly do the fun "kind of skydiving where getting kicked in the face is a very frequent thing." As for handles, I'm still able to see my handles well enough with a full-face helmet (well, as well as I can with those mammary glands in the way, anyway). "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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect "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 that manifest isn't already great, but adding Mr. Mitchell as a cabana boy would make it even more special! John - you'll need to see if you can fit a blender, a big box of paper umbrellas, and massage oil in your luggage so the girls will be well taken care of. "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 true....I didn't see those. Nor did I list those, davelepka did, so if you're going to "quote" someone, quote the right person. "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

*golfclap* "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

"They" charge so much because the market is teeny tiny. As I hope you're learning in that MBA program of yours, prices come down when you can spread your fixed cost of production over a larger number of units. Pro-tecs are $25-30. Why? Because they're used across all kinds of sports & activities. And a lot of skydivers buy them. So buy one of those, or go design your own helmet and figure out a way to sell it for a lower price.

This reminded me that in my sophomore year honors English class in my public high school, we read the Bible (Old Testament) as literature. I think that we had to get our parents to sign a form saying they were okay with it (and we could have opted out if they weren't), but it was very much not religious teaching, but more the Bible as a written work and a cultural tome. This was back in 1985; such a classroom exercise today would probably be much more difficult; I feel like we've just become too polarized on the topic of religion to really explore it in an academic way (at least pre-college), which is a shame, because it really is an interesting and important part of history, literature, art, social sciences, etc. "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

Setting aside aircraft maintenance (though I personally don't anymore, but you're an adult and can make your own call), if you do choose to jump there, be aware that no one's going to hold your hand, so you should be proactive. If you want a dropzone briefing (landing area, loading process, where to camp/pack/etc), you're likely going to have to ask for one. It's not "part of the check-in process" like it is at some other DZs. There's a reasonably sized landing area and lots of good outs but then there are some particularly bad outs, so it's a good thing to make sure you're aware of them. The landing area is right next to a freeway. It's a non-issue if you set your pattern right, but it can be freaky if you've never jumped that close to a major road. And then just be aware that there are unspoken rules that, if violated, might get you fired. "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, there is foundation for that stereotyping. We have some really good examples right here in DZ.com. I find the thread title to be a leading one. Will there be a similar thread titled, "Agnostics, why don't you choose to believe?" Yes, because everyone knows that the presence of outspoken zealots (of any stripe) on an online forum necessarily proves that everyone who shares their beliefs also shares their behavior. As for the thread title, I thought just the opposite. The presence of the parentheses around dis semed to me to imply both questions (e.g., "why don't you believe" AND "why don't you disbelieve") were included. As neutral as you can make it, IMHO. "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

Slow, gradual process. I was raised in a mostly non-religious household. We'd go to church from time to time but it was mostly a social thing - major holidays, or because a family friend or extended family member wanted us to go. I mostly felt awkward and uncomfortable because the church setting was unfamiliar to me and as a pretty shy & awkward kid, I was always worried about inadvertently doing something wrong that would call attention to myself. So I was mostly quiet and polite and tried to stay invisible. I grew to be pretty cynical about organized religion, but hadn't rejected the concept of a god. In my 20s I actually decided to give church a try - kind of thinking "I shouldn't reject out of hand something I haven't given a fair shake," and a friend and I went to a couple different Presbyterian churches fairly regularly (couple times a month, anyway) for a year or so. Throughout that whole time, I thought that it was a nice experience; a chance to sit quietly and reflect in a pretty setting, hear a (sometimes) good speaker talk about a particular moral issue, and listen to some nice music. Other than that, though, I didn't get anything out of it. I didn't suddenly believe. I didn't feel the presence of god. I mostly thought "these seem like nice people but I don't get what they're getting out of this." So I stopped going to church, with the rare exception of weddings & funerals, or an occasional service with my parents when I visit them, or touring churches as architectural/historical sites when I'm traveling. I guess I trucked along as your basic agnostic after that, till I started to really think about it and challenge myself to understand why I might still doubt. I read a lot and asked myself some key questions. And somewhere along the line, I was able to admit to myself that I truly didn't believe in god. Now, as I said in the other thread, I'm about as apathetic an atheist as there is. I don't try to convince anyone to see it my way, and I'm all about mutual tolerance; please don't try to convince me to believe what you believe, because I'm not going to try to convince you to believe what I (don't) believe. I will attend religious services like weddings and funerals with respect because it's not about me and my (non) belief, it's about the person or people being celebrated. I dig the heck out of gospel music and some other music with religious themes. I appreciate a lot of the art and architecture that's been created in the name of religion. Doesn't mean I'm not still varying between skeptical, cynical, and angry about some of the crap that is perpetuated by organized religion and believers, but I can appreciate the good stuff it's brought, too. I resent any implication that because I don't believe in a god, that I am also amoral. Far from it; I've got a strong moral compass that guides me day-to-day in evaluating right and wrong. It's got no origins in religious teaching, nor is it managed through religious teaching. As for "how it was received" ... as I mentioned I'm pretty passive so it's not like I went to my family and said "Mom, Dad, I've got something to tell you - I'm an atheist." Not that I think my parents would care one way or another, the topic just hasn't come up. I've got extended family that's pretty deeply religious, but I'm not super-close to them, so it's easiest to just keep the topic of religion out of the few conversations we do 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