Zennie

Vector 3, Sabre 150, PD Reserve 160, Cypres ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Nope. To try & keep it simple, it's because I am much more likely to remember to pull my silver handle than remember all the exceptional situations when I'll need to unhook it. I just gotta remember one thing: if I pull red, pull silver. And an RSL wouldn't beat me by much if I had to pull 'em fast (I grip a handle in each hand). ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Hey Michele, you're smilin! It's all good! ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I'm dead sexy... ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

GET IN MY BELLY!!! I want my babybackbabybackbabybackbabybackbabybackbabybackbabyback... ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Congrats & steal away! Ain't RW a blast when things go right?

I've scoured everywhere trying to find this clip. It shows a guy dealing with a main mail, I want to say it's a lineover or broken line. You see him waving (and saying) "bye bye" to his main. He cuts away and deploys his reserve.... into a lineover! So he's working the thing and you hearing going "c'mon baby, c'mon!" and he finally gets it cleared like 5 seconds before he needs to flare. He takes off his helmet, turns it on himself and goes "Holy..... fucking...... shit! I'm done for the day!" End of video. It simultaneously hilarious and terrifying. Anyone know what I'm talking about and where I can find it? ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Not that this will make you feel any better, but remember that BASE jumping and skydiving are totally different animals. About the only similarity is that you're wearing a parachute. BASE is way more dangerous because there's no backup, and off-heading openings are very often killers. Life has a 100% mortality rate. I don't worry about dying skydiving because I could just as easily drop dead from a heart attack, get cancer or get creamed by someone at an intersection. You really never know. I just hope that when my time comes, whenever and however that may be, that it's quick & painless. Preferably I won't even know it's coming. Really distracts from living in the moment, ya know? There's a Zen story about a guy being chased by a tiger. He gets to a cliff and jumps off because he has no other option. He manages to grab a branch and hangs on for a bit. He looks up and sees the tiger waiting for him above and looks down only to see more tigers waiting for him below. As the branch starts to break, he notices a big strawberry growing on a bush right next to him. He reaches out, grabs it and right as the branch breaks he pops it into his mouth and savors it's wonderful taste. Sorry for the morbidity, but that's kind of what I think life is about. If we spend our time worrying about something as inevitable as death, we miss so many wonderful things that are right in front of our eyes. Fear is basically an aversion to the unknown. We're afraid of hypotheticals which exist only in our minds. If we don't concern ourselves with the unknown there's nothing to fear. Gassho! (Buddhist bow of respect and saltuation that you and I are one). ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Om, om... Get better soon! And congrats to Michele!

BEER! Hey mikey & paula, I'll bet we could gather up enough Houston DZ.com-ers to bust that record pretty easily (hey ramon, wanna come over briefly from the Dark Side for a good cause?). Sorry I messed the thread. What were the guidelines for being a legal dz.com "member" for purposes of the formation? ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Meaning it's still prone to slammers? ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I don't know if it was due to this latest incident or not, but on the ride up this morning I watched one of our video guys giving a long hard look at his ringsight. Bet he looked it over for about 30 seconds or so. I started thinking to myself that that thing was a prime candidate for a heavy dose of gaffer's tape. Be careful you video guys! ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

First off, my condolences to John's family and friends. The scary thing is that it isn't that unusual... that's the third fatality we've seen this year due to camera gear entanglement. Blue skies forever John! ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

What's the source of this info? Is it reliable? I'm surprised someone would have this kind of thing up before even PD themselves. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Interesting. I would have thought they'd want to release it as close as possible to the Sabre2 to avoid being one-upped. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Yeah mine does that too. I don't think it's a defect or anything. Mine's worked fine. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Dude, if you've never been to Hawaii, spend 2 days on Oahu and then head straight to Maui (or the Big Island, or Kawai, or Lanai). The snorkeling off our beachfront was out of this world. The scuba diving was good, but not as good as Grand Cayman (duh). Make sure you do one of the Atalntis submarine rides while you're there. A lot of fun. Every now & then they'll go by a scuba diver who will geek for you (sound familiar? ). ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

DING! It's in my all-time favorite list as well. Everyone in that flick was great. I especially like the scene where he's watching TV and Barney Rubble asks him if he can go out with his ex. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

FUCK HER! I wouldn't be a good SCR holder if I didn't answer the call. Seriously though, a pissed-off cyber is something you don't see every day. Sorry to hear the news dude. Major bummage. But hey, now you're free to date skydiver chicks! So cheer up little buckaroo (name that film), it's bound to get better! ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Congrats bytch & DB! Man, here I am 36 and just getting started. By the time I'll get my 20 year certificate I'll be... lessee, 37, 38, 39... real damn old! You 21 year olds don't realize how good you have it! Why, when I was your age we didn't have airplanes! We jumped out of trees with bedsheets. And we were grateful! ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

This is exactly the kind of stuff i'm looking for! Thanks and keep the info coming. And thanks bossman for offering to host the "site"! It may be a couple of weeks since I'm in crunch mode at work, but I think this will be a good resource for readers. BTW, HH, has anyone been able to help you with the mySQL stuff? My offer is still on the table by my time is kinda limited right now. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Congratulations! Great feeling isn't it. It took me forty-odd jumps of doing RW before I finally got it. Of course, finally getting together with 3 other jumpers who were experienced at 4-way RW helped (and made it a lot more fun!). ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I've loked all over the Net for a web site devoted to obtaining medical/life insurance for "high-risk" activities such as skydiving. I haven't found anything very useful so I decided it was high time someone do something about it, and that someone is me. What I'd like to set up is a page that lists companies that offer policies to skydivers, the costs of the policies, the benefits offered, etc. I might even have a list of skydiver-unfriendly companies to stay away from. I dunno. This is till in the planning stage. Heck, maybe even bossman could host it as part of dz.zom! In any event I need your help. If you know of any companies or websites with useful information I'd appreciate the references. I'd really like to get this to a point where it will be easier for us to find insurance. I know there are companies out there, it's just really difficult to find. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Like I said, I wasn't dissing packers, but most of the people I know who have gone hundreds of jumps without cutting away seem to be folks who pack their own. BTW. I'm packing my own now. Not out of dissatisfaction with my packers, but just because I've gotten to a point where I have a system and I like how my pack jobs open. But man do my shoulders hurt the next day! Maybe some day I'll get to where I can do it in less than 30 minutes. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

A lot of good responses her, but I'll throw in my $0.02 since I am married and my wife doesn't skydive, doesn't want to skydive and doesn't want to hang at the DZ. It's funny, because just yesterday another married skydiver with a wife who doesn't jump and I were talking about our lot. Our experience seems very similar. Initially my jumping was a source of tension. The most we've ever had, because up to that point we pretty much agreed on things. It got down to some really nasty arguments at times. First it was the danger, then the cost, now it's the time. Now it's settling down, but she still doesn't like the fact that I'm gone most of the day on Saturdays. She's always welcome to come, but she doesn't like the jet fumes (Mmmmmmm.... burning Jet A.....) and she can't relate to most of the conversations. I normally don't stay late & party, so that's never been an issue. So we made a compromise. She loves to dance. I hate dancing. I've agreed to do some dancing lessons with her. Actually, before I even started jumping my wife went out dancing with a friend of ours. Never had a problem with it. So I encourage her to do what makes her life meaningful. I just ask to be given the same courtesy. Of course it doesn't help that I'm a very independent person by nature and she's more dependent. I think that's the true source of friction. In any event, try to think back and see if you had any problems, or wanring signs, before he started skydiving. If so, the skydiving is probably just bringing some longestanding issues to the surface. If not, it may be what other people are mentioning... he just wants some time to himself. But personally I find it a little odd that he doesn't want you at the DZ. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie