Zennie

The scam-artists are coming out in droves with Ebay. Anymore if I'm buying/selling a high-ticket item (over $100), I use an escrow service, such as Escrow.com. It costs a little extra, but at least you have peace-of-mind. And Clay, that's Escrow service, not escort service. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

UUUUmmmmm... actually, it still is. Sorry Clay, that was too easy a setup. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

No way. Boobies are boobies. There are no bad boobies. Well, except for the pair in that "other" thread. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Oh the fool part I'll definitely own up to. Yup. Unless all Hell breaks loose at work like last week. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

As a matter of fact, I think that is what I'm thinking of. Yes I like that design as well. Applying that to a cutaway handle wouldn't be a big deal I wouldn't think. I wonder if a rigger could reverse one for you. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Heh. I really have to restrain myself with that. What's stupid is that my bro/sis-in-laws can talk about Ultimate Frisbee until they're blue in the face and expect me to listen. But the minute I bring up a cool jump I did, they get this impatient look on their face of "Oh gawd, just finish the story so we can get back to talking about Ultimate." But for whuffos that know nothing about the sport, I like to break out the freefly Nationals tape and show a couple brief routines to show them that skydiving is more than just throwing yourself at the earth for an adrenaline high. Every time I've gotten very positive reaction... "Wow. That's really cool, I didn't know there was so much to it. How hard is that?" (as they watch Rook & Mike spin a vertical compressed) " Extremely hard. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

I haven't gone the soft pillow route mainly because I'm afrid of losing my grip on a reserve pillow at the worst possible time (maybe irrational, but that's my fear). I hook my thumb through the silver handle and I don't want to lose that because I feel it gives me a solid grip. I have seen sort of a combo soft loop/pillow that I would consider using. It seems like a good compromise. Forget who makes them. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Yep, I'm spoiled. But like most folks here, I'll jump anything that'll take me to altitude. I do think everyone should do a C-182 jump to altitude every once in a while to appreciate the turbines. Just to give you an idea of how spoiled we S-landers are, we just got another Otter. Since the second one is a "regular" Otter, people were commenting on how slow it was. It is a noticeable difference from our Super Otter, but heck, whatever's available to take me up is good by me. Plus the straddle seats on the "slow" one are more comfy than the benches.

Good! Now get your butt down here so we can do some FF together! "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

And it really ain't all that slow.

With Apologies to any project managers out there... A tourist walked into a pet shop and was looking at the animals on display. While he was there, another customer walked in and said to the shopkeeper, "I'll have an AutoCAD monkey please." The shopkeeper nodded, went over to a cage at the side of the shop and took out a monkey. He fit a collar and leash, handed it to the customer, saying, "That'll be $5000." The customer paid and walked out with his monkey. Startled, the tourist went over to the shopkeeper and said, "That was a very expensive monkey. Most of them are only a few hundred dollars. Why did it cost so much?" The shopkeeper answered, "Ah, that monkey can draw in AutoCAD, - very fast, clear layout, no mistakes, well worth the money." The tourist looked at the monkey in another cage. "That one's even more expensive. $10,000 -- what does it do?" Oh, that one's a Design monkey; it can design systems, layout projects, mark-up drawings, write specifications, even some calculations. All the really useful stuff," said the shopkeeper. The tourist looked around for a little longer and saw a third monkey in a cage of its own. The price tag around its neck read $50,000. He gasped to the shopkeeper, "That one costs more than all the other put together! What on earth does it do?" The shopkeeper replied, "Well, I haven't actually seen it do anything, but it says it's a project manager. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

For the first time in a long while, I'm totally speechless... "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

I'll vouch for cloudseeker on this. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

2:5:0

It's not just the 100-ish jumpers. I'll share another story (sorry, I'm feeling talkative today). A friend of mine wanted to borrow my jedei 136 to do some CRW because his main, a Crossfire 109 was too hot. So I lent it out to him. But I was planning on doing a fun jump with some friends the next load and so I needed to find a rig. He said, "Just jump mine." I said, "I dunno. That's 2 downsizes." He said "Aw, you won't have any problems with it." I almost took him up on it. I was really on the fence, and I talked to some friends and they all basically confirmed my gut feeling "Don't do it." So I didn't. I know the other jumper was being nice offering me his rig, and yeah I probably could have landed the thing, but shit happens and....what if? He was actually surprised when I said "Thanks but I think I'll find a bigger canopy." I'm still a skydiving toddler at 280-odd jumps, but I was still very tempted to do something stupid. So the risk of doing something dumb doesn't end at 150 jumps. We're always tempted to go a little smaller, go a little faster. Listening to my instincts and talking to other skydivers might have saved me from an ambulance ride. Listen to your instincts! Listen to your friends! They'll tell you what you need to hear when sometimes your own ego won't let you hear it. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

I'm gonna share a little something in light of this and the other things that have happened this year. I've been working on swooping for a while now. I've been doing it gradually, and had started to get the 180 snap hook dialed in. Then Chris had his accident. This bothered me a lot. I enjoy swooping a lot, but I can't bear the thought of leaving Liz, my family and friends behind to deal with me in the hospital or worse because I botched a hook turn. So this weekend I started experimenting with less dramatic carving dives. It'll take a while to dial in, but I can tell they leave you a lot more wiggle room to make adjustments. So I'm landing yesterday, and it was a little less windy than it has been lately, so my flares were a bit "stabbier" than normal. On two consecutive landings I had people say "Dude. Be Careful." or "Man, you're scaring me." I'm thinking, huh? I was well out of the dive part and pretty much doing my normal flare. I wasn't digging out of a dive or anything, so what was spooking people? So I sat down and talked to Trey (hookit) a bit. We reviewed the video of my last landing and talked about my flare technique. My "normal" flare is pretty much to wait until I'm at about 5-6 feet and then I hit the first half kinda hard to level it out and then I surf the rest. We figure since the winds were a litlle lower I had to stab at it harder to get it to plane out, and it probably looked jerky & panicked to the bystander. In any event, I didn't think much of it, I've dragged my feet along the grass several times, but when you have several people saying something, it really is a good idea to listen. So Try & I talked some more about flare technique and I decided to try a "smoother" flare where I start the first half a little higher and really concentrate on geting a smooth stroke. After that my landings were a lot more controlled and looked a lot nicer. And nobody said anything so I must have been doingit right. What I'm trying to get at is if people say something, don't get defensive (though this may be our initial reaction). They're saying these things because they care and don't want to see you get hurt. Try to figure out what exactly is the problem and see if there are ways to do it better. Have people watch you and evaluate technique. In my case I just needed to smooth out the flare a tad. But who knows, if I had continued my "normal" method and eventally downsized, I might have gotten seriously injured coming in hot and mis-timing the flare. So I consider it a good thing. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Oh man, I'm so sorry. I hope he can fight it out. My condolences. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Congrats dove! How long did the docs give you before you can jump again? "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Heh. I was thinking the same thing. We'll have to get a crew of freefliers together! I figure a couple hours in the tunnel will fix whatever ails ya! Plus it'll be good on days when we're socked in.

Man I hope the Texas one is coming to Houston! "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

It is my understanding that this is Mike Swanson's take as well. The whole idea is that you should have the necessary skills to pass the test *before* you take it. Practicing sort of defeats the idea. That said, I personally would like to practice with the ball to help improve my proximity skills without worrying about bashing into someone. Sure it doesn't eliminate the need to jump with different people with different fall rates and flying styles, but it seems like it would be a good learning aid. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Ya know what's kind of funny? I like a lot of non-PD canopies. I liked the Cobalt a lot and was going to buy one until I ran into an "offer I couldn't refuse" on a Jedei. Now I'm sold on Brian Germain canopies. Absolutely nothing against Cobalts. I still recommend them to folks. The fact is, people need to be less brand-conscious and more in tune with quality, as you mention, and how the canopy flies. Different people like different things. Different things are "better" for different people. Expand your horizons. I jump other people's canopies every chance I get so I can get a feel for the nuances in performance. It's been said before and I'll say it again. Before you buy, demo, demo, demo! "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Sorry if I'm a little late on this. Michelle's has always been one of the more touching stories I've seen. Mine is a little more boring in comparison. I basically started skydiving because it was something I always wanted to do. I've SCUBA dived, bungee jumped, driven fast cars & motorcycles, and skydiving was another item on "the list". When I started researching it an reading about it, as I do with about anything I take up, I sort of realized before I made my first jump that I would be in it for the long haul. I love the people. I love the fact that I'm truly flying. I love the freedom. It's a very liberating and expressive experience. And unfortunately, no amount of video can impart that on a whuffo. You have to do it to understand. So for me this is just an extension of who I am and always have been. My dad races cars. I fly my body. So yeah it's probably genetic. It's kinda funny, I finally got him to do a tandem. Rode up in the Cessna with him. Jumped out first with a "See ya on the ground!" He got down and said "I see why you like it so much." That was a very wonderful day in my life, sharing something special with someone who has shaped me so much, and one I will always treasure. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Pretty much the same. I call a "hook" a dive really. It can either be a front riser snap or a toggle dive. The idea being that you swing out and dive. A carve I consider more of a gradual, controlled descent. So in a hook you basically crank it and go into a dive pretty much over the spot that you started the hook over. In a carve its going to be a wide descending arc where you gradually build up speed. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Heh. I haven't seen any messages since that first one I got. Either they were experimenting with software or have it set at a given threshold. I've throttled the activity back quite a bit and haven't heard anything from my supervisor (who is way cool) so I think I'm OK. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."