Dumpster

Just like the Monkey said - I think a 12 or 13mm wrench helps hold those little nuts on the inside. There's a spring in there, too, so beware. Just a quarter turn, don't force it, and it'll all be good. I put a new face-plate on mine once a year, takes about ten minutes start to finish. Z-1s Rock. Easy Does It

Come check out Florida with me in March!!!

Yes, yes I am! Easy Does It

Pull wings off of flies?....:-) Easy Does It

Hot dogs! Brats!

My daughter (Sarah) is packing to pay for her tunnel time and AFF. She asks that the slider be unstowed and the brakes set. For me, this is what I do upon landing anyway, particularly the brakes to help reduce line twist. She doesn't insist on the excess line being stowed, but appreciates it. I don't stow my excess line in the field, either. When you bring your rig to her, lay the canopy down and walk backwards a few steps before doffing the rest of your rig, just like you would do if packing for yourself. Cocking the pilot chute and changing broken bands she will take care of, but will let you know if she had to change them. Do I take good care of my packer? Of course I do! She can pack as fast as I do, and that gives me time to dirt dive and make the next load. I do the same things for my packer as I would do for myself. As an aside, she has worked so hard for her "clientele" that she has saved enough to pay for her share of two hours' tunnel time, and her plane ticket to Orlando. Also, two of the instructors' she packs for are going to take her through AFF and waive thier fees! I am VERY proud of her!!

As posted earlier, it could very well be the thin air doing it, too. I know it's not always an issue for me, just a little annoying. Hopefully with the healthier lifestyle I'm getting into it won't be much of a problem at all.

I never even thought of that - I was thinking maybe a crash off the andrenaline or lack of water. No O2 on the plane here, unfortunately. But I have given up the cancer sticks and am doing a bit of cardio work at the gym each week, hopefully that may help this old body process oxygen a little better, you think?

Man- Like many folks I sleep like a rock after a day at the DZ. (Drives the wife nuts because I come home and zonk out in front of the TV in minutes-) I also get a mild headache that is easily releived by a couple aspirin. Now, the night before jumping I would be up all night from excitement, but even that has subsided a little.

I don't own a Neptune but I think I've heard many more problem stories than not. One of our gear dealers at the DZ has several on-hand, but I think I'd rather go with a Pro-Track and a Digi, at least until I hear many people extolling the virtures of the Neptune with complaints and concerns being few and far between.

First car was a '74 Mazda RX-4 wagon. I totally destroyed it, running it on back roads and through farm fields. It was one of the early production rotary-engined cars.

I don't beleive some who has never jumped can understand it. They may comprehend what we describe to them as far as the wind, etc. goes, but communicating the emotion and physiological effects is in vain. Trying to describe it would be like trying to describe an orgasm to some one who has never had one. On the same note - Does some one with one skydive, perhaps a tandem, have the same understanding as one with ten jumps? A hundred? A thousand? Do I think I have the same understanding of the sport and the skydive itself as some one with 10,000 jumps? In some perspectives, yes, and in others, definitely not. I feel as we progress and learn more, and we gravitate towards our disciplines of choice, our understanding changes and evolves accordingly. Take two race car drivers, for instance. One drives dirt ovals and the other drag races. Both race, but very differently.

Not so much money for me as other committments. I'm building all new cabinets for the kitchen and my stepson is going to tile the floor and the countertops. After that, I've got about a thousand bucks worth of work to do to the Sportster, then off to the Tunnel (Orlando - ) in March. Easy Does It

I made about 135 jums this year - the majority being 4-way, with a few multi-way and a handful of attempted sit flies-. I also had one jump over Midnight of the new year - So does that count for '03 or '04? My jump# goal for '04 is 200. So far I have 199 to go - Easy Does It

I have known for years that the insurance industry is full of major ripoffs, and now it appears the drug industry is too. Damn shame the almighty dollar comes before the value of human life. I heard a guy - a "conspiracy theory" type, who is convinced the AIDS epidemic could be quickly eradicated, but the drug companies are making too much money on the treatment drugs. A liittle far out there, but almost conceivable?

I'll be happy to retro-fit those in my truck - And I think I may add rear-impact protection on the Harley, too? Easy Does It

I have to concur with Yardhippie - If you buy a car and it dies on you, it's could possibly cost you some very tall cash to get it repaired. You'd also have to mess with registration, insurance, possibly a safety inspection, etc. With a rental, none of that is an issue, and you can get some sweet rides from some of the rental companies and travel in good style. May I suggest as cheap pay-as-you go cell phone during your visit? It will be easier to call some of us DZ.commers to hook up with on your tour!

If I were able to, I'd move to Florida also - (I feel I should wait until I'm 100% vested in my 401(k) and until my daughter graduates HS-) - WX is decent, you have many kickass DZs all over the place, many gear manufacturers in the area, and BEACHES! (read- eye candy!) I understand the income base in Florida isn't as high as in other parts of the country, but cost of living is quite lower, too. I would also consider the Carolinas, and Texas. I spent the best three years of my early adult life in Austin. Kickass town. Easy Does It

I spent a winter in Keflavik, Iceland - I saw temps go well below -60F. (I can't recall how much colder, -90 maybe? - and at that point it didn't matter). At the time the winds were kicking up past 90 mph. I can't even guess what the windchill was at that point. Going outdoors was suicidal. Exposed skin would have frozen instantly. We were stuck indoors for three days that way. Easy Does It

I guess I am kind of harsh in that statement, I really don't have a problem with spirituality or religion, except when people let thier "faith" do thier thinking for them. These people can't manage thier day-to-day lives without thier "faith" dictating (or "guiding") thier actions. Easy Does It

I've said it before in these forums, and I will say it again - - Religion is for the weak-minded! Easy Does It

Up here it's five bones for sport and student rigs, and ten for tandems - Plus tips. My daughter packs for me and I put the money towards tunnel time for her or on her account, so she can use it to pay for her AFF in the spring, etc. You get five bucks off rental of student gear if you re-pack it yourself. Otherwise the club pays one of the regular packers. Most packers are paid cash or the $$ goes onto account, the only time taxes are taken out is if you pull money off your account instead of jumping it off. Easy Does It

I supervise the maintenance department for plastics company. To support my habit I sell the scrap metals (copper, brass, stainless steel, etc) left over from various projects around the plant, and I work lots of overtime. Every day at work for me is like a day in Shop class in high school.

I wonder what it would take to conduct a broad-range study of this and physiological parameters of the skydiving community? Perhaps of new students and one-time tandem passengers all the way to veterans with thousands of jumps, and everyone in between. What kind of group, organization or company would conduct this? Maybe couple it with a psychological (sp?) profile? What REALLY makes us tick, (physically and mentally) and separates us from the rest of the "extreme" (how I loathe that word) sports community, and the rest of the world, for that matter?

I've had one cutaway, and I'm proud to say I packed it all by myself. I got home from work Friday night, and had a couple beers, and a nice buzz going. I had been to the DZ earlier that week, and had "trunk packed" in my haste to get home. So my rig was in the family room. So I went ahead and packed it up. When I went to put the D-bag in the tray, I dropped it, it made a little tumble, and I just picked it up and threw it in and closed it up. No biggie, right? WRONG! First jump of the day on a beautiful Saturday, I dumped and looked up to see one line group wrapped around the other three. My first thought was "How the hell did I pack that crap?" Second thought was "Well, can't fly it, time to go to Plan B". (Note these thoughts passed through my brain in about 1/100th of a second-) I was under a nice yellow PD160R by 2000'. Plenty of room to set up a nice stand-up landing in the regualr landing area. I like the way my reserve handles, too! Nice flare! Main came down near the main landing area, freebag/pilot chute landed between the runway and taxiway. Lesson learned - Never pack while drunk. (Or even nicely buzzed.) (edited for grammar and spelling-)