Zennie

That's the stupid part... he didn't even have a camera on! He is just practicing flying the camera slot for the time being. "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

I wound up pulling around 3000 (in the saddle @ 2500). I would have pulled higher except our lurking friend, who is trying to learn how to fly camera (sans camera right now), didn't pull like a camera flier is supposed to pull (and how I had asked him on the ride up) -- right when we turn & track. I'm at the end of my track & do my quick look above and see him still flying over me (quite a ways up, but over me nonetheless). So I continued tracking, took it down to 3000 and waved like mad hoping he'd get the idea. "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

Gang, Paula is a master at pie selection & application. She managed to get an entire pie on my face with practically no collateral pie spillage. Very impressive! That must be the correllary to the "everybody is ugly in freefall" rule... everybody is ugly, but tasty, with pie on their face. "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

This seemed like Brain Fart (tm) weekend for me. Most were minor, like tripping over another jumper's lines in the packing area (felt like a total moron) and losing my cell phone. But one really scared the heck out of me. My pulls have been getting lazier & lazier. On my second jump today I casually pulled & felt my pilot chute hit my foot. My immediate thought was "Oh great... now I'll probably wind up with a pilot chute in tow" but it opened fine. Once I got under canopy I realized how much worse it could have been.... the bridle could have easily wrapped around my foot creating a nasty horsehoe-ish situation at low altitude. Needless to say I chucked the next one with much more authority, but it still scared the bejesus out of me. "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

First off, congrats on graduating! The grad jump was a blast, but I'll defer to you to tell everyone the story! Now as far as this pie matter goes, all I gotta say is "Mmmmmmmm.... lemon merengue..." I knew something was up when everyone is going "No, no you can't go, Paula needs to talk to you." Hmmm. Might it be related to the fact that I was just discussing pie the day before with Ann & Paula? Could that pie in manifest really be for everyone to share? BZZZT!!! But hey, whoever bought it at least bought a tasty one. "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

I'm pretty sure hte re-issue a membership card with your most current license rating each time you "upgrade". I'ce received new carda with my "A" and "C" numbers after sending in the respective materials. "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

I'm cross-posting this from the S&T forum because I really would like to hear some thoughts on this and many of you hang here primarily.... --------- I've kind of reached a point where I've decided that I like RW & freefly both too much to give either one up, so I'm pretty much committed to both. I've resigned myself to the fact that I'll progress slower in both than others with similar jump numbers who devote most of their time to one or the other discipline. I'm OK with that. Here's my dilemma. Does anyone have any suggestions for the optimal way to "cross-train"? By that I mean, say I do between 4-6 jumps in a weekend. Would it be better to devote all of my jumps in one weekend to one style and alternate weekends (i.e. one wekend is "RW weekend" and the next is "freefly weekend")? Or would it be more productive to split my jumps 1/2 and 1/2 each weekend? I'm sure other "cross train" sports, such as track & field, have worked out strategies for scheduling your training to optimize improvement across disciplines. Thoughts? "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

My guess is that fruce will make a special exception to the rules in your case. Maybe a "most creative sticker use" award is in order? "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

I don't know if this is what you were referring to, but now that I thikn about it, in light of current events it has a morbid quality to it that wasn't initially intended. So I picked another couple stanzas form the same album that I also like. It has some obvious relevance to what's going on right now but I like it just in terms of relationships in general (which the first quote was also about). And like the last quote, I got to liking it before any of this happened. ---------- Zennie "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

I've kind of reached a point where I've decided that I like RW & freefly both too much to give either one up, so I'm pretty much committed to both. I've resigned myself to the fact that I'll progress slower in both than others with similar jump numbers who devote most of their time to one or the other discipline. I'm OK with that. Here's my dilemma. Does anyone have any suggestions for the optimal way to "cross-train"? By that I mean, say I do between 4-6 jumps in a weekend. Would it be better to devote all of my jumps in one weekend to one style and alternate weekends (i.e. one wekend is "RW weekend" and the next is "freefly weekend")? Or would it be more productive to split my jumps 1/2 and 1/2 each weekend? I'm sure other "cross train" sports, such as track & field, have worked out strategies for scheduling your training to optimize improvement across disciplines. Thoughts? -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Re: So, how does it feel BITCH??? [re: freeflir29] Reply Funny. I was wondering the same thing myself. Especially since I was the initial target. You're scared to look at em? Try being a guy and seeing that! No sharp objects near my equipment thank you very much! -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

0:4:0 for me. And yes I'm married but it's that time of the.... Oh, nevermind. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Well, I'm pretty much a pacifist by nature. I generally believe retributive killing (usually in the form of warfare) simply perpetucates the cycle of hate and violence rather than solves the world's problems. This whole incident has created a lot of mixed emotions for me, and I'm still trying to sort through them. I'll start by say bombing the crap out of Kabul, Baghdad or any other place is simply going to kill more innocent people. People such as those in New York who are simply trying to live their daily lives. Loss of innocent life is tragic no matter where it takes place. That said. I also don't think in this particular case that sitting idly by is going to solve the problem either. I really don't think these people are terribly interested in working out a diplomatic solution to their grievances. So if we just do nothing, as a true pacifist would advocate, I think we're only inviting more senseless bloodshed. I'm glad to see that our government so far has refrained from engaging wholesale retaliatory bombing. I'm hoping that the powers that be recognize the delicate balance that must be struck between defending ourselves against future attacks and engaging in behavior which makes us no better than those whom we are "at war" with. I'm also hoping that our military & intelligence communities can eliminate our security threats with a minimal amount of bloodshed. I'm not holding my breath, and I'm following all of this with a great deal of concern, but you never know. In the meantime I think we should all keep those men and women in our military (and those of our allies) who are being sent to far away lands, some of whom will never return, in our thoughts and prayers. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Yeah Slap, I woke up to the sound of thunder and just thought to myself "You gotta be f@$^%ing kidding me!". Interestingly, the forecasts for Rosharon don't look terribly bad. So I'm gonna head out and hope for a few holes in the clouds. If not, I'll do what sunshine sez and just hang & bitch about the weather. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

I dunno Ann. He's one of the few people on my shit list. I mean, shutting down a fine Texas institution like the Chicken Ranch? How could you? BASTARD! -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Cyber - OMFG that's one of the funniest things I've seen in a while! (No offense Slap!) -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Mine's simple: "Will code for food." -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

They are Belkin 325VA Regulator Pros. They're nice. It has 8 outlets, 4 surge/outage protected, 4 surge protected. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Yep. That one has been making the rounds. Seen it in windows, on cars, etc. Anyone know where it comes from? -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Heh. Road trip to Beaumont if we ain't flying next weekend? -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

OK this is totally not skydiving-related, but I learned some interesting things while grounded & I thought I'd share them. Since I've moved into my house I've had sensitive electronic components act totally wacky. Hard drive crashes, computer monitor blips, an electronic keyboard that was possessed and two dead DVD players. Weird, weird stuff. At first I thought putting things onto surge protectors would help. It didn't. Finally, after watching my monitor blip and my Linksys router croak, I decided to call an electrician. He said he could spend an eternity trying to find the exact source of the problem. But he noted that home power supplies weren't really designed with sensitive electronic devices like computers (or DVD players, I suppose) in mind. So you get lots of highs & lows when the A/C kicks in, or you turn on your dryer, etc. etc. He recommended that before I spend a fortune troublshooting the house's electric system that I try a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply). So I bought a couple and hooked my computer and home entertainment system into them. What a difference! My monitor is rock solid and my 'puter seems smoother & more stable. But here's the kicker. My 'puter has 512M of RAM and a GeForce3 card. So this thing should scream right? Wrong. It scored only 1260 3DMarks. After I put it on UPS I re-ran the test and scored 3889 3DMarks. I never would have thought "dirty" power could have that dramatic of a performance impact. But it looks like it does. Any electronics expert out there want to comment? Are my observations correct or are these just coincidences? -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

I jump out of Skydive Spaceland in Houston. Other dz.com regulars out there are Slappie, Jumperpaula, Ramon and AirAnn. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Yeah I read that and it pretty much made me sick (again). -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Wow Ann! That's an awful lot to take in at once! I was trying to explain this to my Dad. That the dualities that we create (and which often lead to conflict & suffering).... good/evil, hot/cold, up/down, us/them are subjective and exist only in our minds. I think the point was lost on him, as it is on most people. I've reached a point where I understand that this isn't something that can be communicated to someone... you have to feel & understand it on your own. Heh. You haven't been around me enough. I've said both. On several occasions... Ann, you don't have to hide the fact that I'm you're friend from anyone. I certainly don't. Wow! I have no idea what to say except "thanks!". But cut the "I'm not worthy" crap. Puh-leaze! "Worthiness" is yet another of those things I really don't care about. Nope. Just try to treat everyone with kindness. Even those who supposedly don't "deserve" it. If we can change just one person's attitude, maybe they'll pass it on. You're post has already brought a smile to my face. Thanks! You're a sweetie!

Good point. I was (and would be) comfortable doing a 3-way sit. My primary mistake was going into an orientation that I was just beginning to learn, and which limited my ability to look out for other fliers on a jump with similarly inexperienced fliers. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool