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I LOVE my Blackberry. I split yesterday afternoon and still was able to answer all my email and no one knew I was gone.

your wife sure was good to me last night

Yes.. I remember now. I interviewed you a few months ago. Sorry you didn't get the job... I recall when you left I thought the only job you were qualified for was knob polisher....

Chris Rock.... Bigger and Blacker is one funny DVD! "I got a cousin that has a kid that got left back in the first grade. First Fucking Grade! Do you know how dumb you got to be to get left back in the first grade? What's 4+4? Jello" It does not do any kind of justice here, but the entire thing had me rolling!

Duanesburg is my home DZ. It is about as small as small can be! We have 1 182 that runs on the weekends and will run on the weekdays if tandems or students are there... otherwise it sits idle unless there are 4 jumpers to fill the slots. It is a great place with great people, just not many of us. Call the DZ before you go out to see if anyone is going up... I have not been over to the valley but some folks jump between both. I have heard nothing but good things about the folks at the Valley.. the only possible drawback is there are very few outs (again that is second hand!) If you do head out drop me a PM and I will see who else can go on Thursday

I have interviewed hundreds of people… there are keys that I look for. 1) look them in the eye… but not with some crazy I wanna stab ya look. 2) Don’t hesitate in your answers, but take a second to form your thoughts 3) Speak intelligently, but not pompously. 4) Know what your talking about and don’t try to bullshit. I have sent more people out the door because they tried to answer a question that they were clueless on. 5) Shut off your cell phone, pager, and blackberry. Automatic disqualification if your cell rings while I am interviewing you…. 6) Pay attention to your settings and comment if appropriate. I got one job because I noticed a picture of Mt. Saint Helens behind the guy and it ended up taking the interview into much more of a shoot the breeze session than anything else. 7) Dress appropriately. 8) Carry in a copy of your CV. 9) Say thank you when it is over and follow up with a thank you note in the mail. An email is not as effective when doing this. It gets lost in the blur but something actually through the US mail says I am taking the time to right. Good luck.

Agreed. I think what my life would have been like, what paths would have been walked differently had I made my first jump at 17 instead of 37. Would I still be sitting here in NY doing what I am doing (not referring to blowing off work to cruise DZ.com either). Probably not. If there is a plus, being "established" I do not meet with the financial constraints some of the teens and 20-somethings seem to run in to

37 years old last year. My wife swears it is some mid life crisis thing... but she says that every time I spend any money!! The cool thing is there are guys that are in their 60's at the DZ... so me being almost 40 is no big deal!

And as Bill Gates said... "Be nice to the geeks, you will all be working for them one day".

Hawkins gave a very similar outlook and possibility last year. Fascinating ideas and scary possibilities. One wonders what computer system we actually would end up with…some crazy HAL “I’m sorry Dave, I cannot open the pod door“ or a little nicer Star Trek Halodeck skydiving scenario!

While this is true, I must call your attention to figure A, where we examine awesomitude as a function of badosity. Region A (the linear region) is where most common movies operate, bad is bad, good is good, and everything is simple. As you get into Region B, the "bad movie effect" results in an inflection point, and the movie gets more enjoyable. In fact, if the director plays his cards just right, you can end up a higher awesomitude than with a badosity of zero. Region C is the saturation region where things start to collapse. The mind reels, sense cannot be made of what's going on, and it is wise to stop the film before you have a coronary. ----------------------------------------------------------- It appears these numbers may be skewed slightly to the left. The liner equation of the bell curve purports a distinct, subtle paradigm shift while leaving basic functions to task. The difference here is in the mean versus the medium. Without a justifiable clause, or P99 ratio, to balance the shift we will be left with only the undeniable fact that the ratios must be skewed. It is the same reason the space shuttle blew up

This disturbs me to even think about…. The Exorcist. The little girl. The cross. Plunging it into her nether regions while screaming “Fuck me Jesus”. The hair stood on the back of my neck typing this.

Best movie- I would have to go with Reservoir Dogs… Tarrantino rocks!

It could be that I am blocked (work does get in the way some times!). Will try again tonight from home.

Done.. but could not register for the site... hope this helps fix that!

the birthing process must have really been something to see.. do you have video?

Anything with J-lo in it should be burned. Gigli thing was simply awful and must get at least a mention here. Also Gods and Generals... I put that on when I cant sleep, better than sleeping pills.

The exact same gig here as well and it seems that we are almost at the same spot in jumps. My last jump was for nothing but fall rate control. A friend jumped with me and varied his fall rate (he had to sitfly to catch me at first) and then tucked and made me fall harder to catch him then he spread and he made me float back up to him. I know what it "feels" like now to try to vary the fall rate, and having someone coach me was the only way to really see it in action. He didnt even make me pick up his ticket.. but I did offer! and it was a WAY cool jump.

So I completed my last dive to have my JM and S+TA sign me off student status, very cool and very exciting, but what a huge difference my next jump was. Well maybe not the jump but the ride up. Every jump up until here had been very professional with everyone in the 182 (all 4 of us) quite except for the JM as he talked to me about what to do, did his third gear check on my rig, talked to me to keep the nerves down and away we went. The other two in the plane often wouldn’t talk to me for fear of talking over my JM. The last jump was, I think, my first real ride to altitude. The other three jabbed at each other, joked the entire way up, had feet touching where they ought not to be touching and laughed and smiled the entire time. They even spoke to me about what I wanted to learn and discipline I wanted to try to become proficient at… none of that had ever happened before. It made the ride go so quickly that before I knew it they were yelling “DOOR” and getting ready to go. I couldn’t have had a better time. What an awesome sport this is.

Excellent replies and I thank everyone. Billvon, creeper and the couch (working on legs) we perfect. I have made three jumps since the spin and seem to be able to keep in under control now. The JM took me out after the spinner and video taped my jump. Three JM's and the DZO all gave me feedback, and all said it was in my feet! The two following jumps went excellent and I should complete student status with one more jump!. Need to track better but awareness and stability has been great! Thanks everyone that replied.

I will discuss it with anyone that will listen to what happened

I made my 17th jump on Sunday and I got into a wicked spin. I was jumping to practice turns before I went up with a JM for sign off. I had a nice exit at 9k and was belly to earth quickly. I did a slow 360 to the right and a slow 360 to the left. at about 6k I started one last turn for a 4k pull... and when I started the turn didnt stop. Everything I did only made me turn harder and faster. I clicked my heals and the turn slowed and I pulled about 3k, down safe and sound. I imagine I made about 40 turns in those moments of uncontrolled decent, but it may have been less. My question to all you skygods is two fold.. I am now a little freaked out from the spin... what could I/should I have done different? How or what is the best way to stop a spin in FF? I have talked to the JM's at the DZ and will continue to until I get back in the plane, but the more people you talk to the better the breadth in information and depth of responses you can get, so I look for more clues to this fine art... Thanks.