Zennie

It takes a lot of courage to do what you've done. You didn't let fear take control of your life. You stuck it out and overcame it. You should be proud of yourself! Keep up the good work & soon you'll be fun jumping with everyone else.

I generally present myself as a Libertarian, but when you get right down to it, I don't think I'd fit in under their umbrella because of some fundamental disagreements I have in certain areas. Come to think of it, I hold views which would get me kicked out of the Republican, Democratic and Libertarian parties. Color me an Independent I guess. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

One thing you may want to look into, but they are a little expensive, is a router/switch with built-in firewalling. Some DSL modems (i.e. Alcatel) have gaping security holes, and if you online a lot it makes a lot of sense. It just bought a Linksys EtherFast 3-Port router for around $120. So I can plug up to 3 boxes onto my DSL connection. In fact I curretly have both my work laptop and home machine using my DSL connection as we speak. I did a ShieldsUp! scan of machine on the router and they gave it the higest security rating there is. Even if you don't get a router, you may still want to visit the site to see what security issues you may have. It's very good and free. Click on the Test My Shields! button, and, if you're feeling frisky, the Probe My Ports button to have your machine analyzed. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

What I was told to do with respect to spins, and it appears to work, is push back with the arm in the direction that you'r spinning. So if you're spinning to the right (clockwise), push back with your right arm. It doesn't take much. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I am... I am.... I AM THE PATTY MELT! I AM THE PATTY MELT!!!! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! *pant* *pant* Oh. Uh. Scuse me. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Congrats! You have a blast! One word of advice. Always --- I mean always --- be nice to your packers. Talk too much smack and they just might "forget" to roll that nose nice & tight. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

This is true. But usually those deaths are caused by domestic disputes rather than accidental discharges. Which I suppose you could argue is all the more reason to have gun control since many "non-criminals" wind up doing the killing. In any event, I don't have kids right now and it sits in my dresser drawer. If we do have kids, I'll certainly have to re-evaluate whether the risks outweigh the benefits (especially given the neighborhood I live in -- not a very high crime rate). ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Hrm. They still seem to be dying. A guy in Japan went bonkers and knifed, what?, like 8 kids to death. No guns involved there. A woman here in Houston just went equally bonkers and drowned all 5 of her kids in the bathtub. No guns involved there. Are we going to have to have "knife control" and "bathtub control" since they are used to kill people? If people want to kill, they will, regardless of the instrument used. People are innovative (in a sick sort of way) that way. Do I favor gun control? To a degree. I think background checks, waiting periods, and even licensing are perfectly legitimate measures to try and decrease (note I said "decrease", not eliminate, because you never will) gun violence. That said, you can't put the genie back into the bottle. There are already way too many guns out there. They aren't going away. Certainly the criminals won't give them up. Why should they? It's what gives them an advantage. If we were to totally ban guns today, do you seriously think violent criminals would go "OK. Here ya go. I'll try something else?" Of course not. I have a right not to be a statistic. I have a right to protect myself and my family from any person who tries to break into my home (no I don't carry a gun around town). So if owning a gun to protect my family in our home would make me a criminal, color me guilty. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I sewed mine onto the leg of my RW suit. before that I had it on my chest strap, which was kind of annying because it would flip up into my face from time to time. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I do give them credit, they do have very good customer service. I've heard this before. On point #1, I'm not sure I completely agree here. Practically every modern container geared toward freefliers (Voodoo, Mirage, Wings, Vector III) have upward pointing flaps. My rigger favors the upward flaps not only because they seem to be more secure in freefall, but because they also offer better protection on the plane when you're shuffling around. On point #2, the velcro at the mouth of the BOC pouch is a very good feature. Any extra securing of the bridle (within reason) is a Good Thing (tm). On point #3, tuck tabs for the riser covers is also a Good Thing (tm). One of our packers had a really horrifying horseshoe/two-out situation when his velcro riser cover came free and created a horsehoe situation for him (he is a freeflier). If your choice is between the Wings and Dolphin containers, I'd prolly go with the Wings. Again because I like upward-pointing main pin flaps and because I beleive the Wings does not use velcro anywhere. Just my $0.02 ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

There were a lot of other factors that went into my decision not to go RSL, spinning mals, broken risers, too many "special circumstances" to disconnect. But that was essentially the bottom line, because that's the real purpose of an RSL -- will you pull silver? If no, maybe you need one, if yes, let's look at the pros and cons. Certainly true. Maybe a better statement would not be "will you" but "do you have confidence that you will"? My answer is still yes. Now a lot of it may depend on your cutaway procedure. If you do the look red, reach red, look silver, pull red, reach silver, pull silver sequence, an RSL may not be such a bad idea because there is the possibility that you may not get your hands on the silver handle in time after the cutaway and subsequent harness shift. I certainly wouldn't want to lose precious time and altitude trying to get my hands on the silver handle. However, I use the two-handed approach. So when I cut away, I'm already holding my reserve handle. All I gotta do is pull it. If I have the presence of mind to cut away my main, I think I'll have the presence of mind to follow up with the reserve pull. Of course I can't guarantee it, but I feel pretty confident about it. Definitely true. What I would like to know in that respect is what sort of reserve/cutaway system they were trained on. If you look at the Cypres saves reports, a lot of the cutaway/no-pulls were by people who were trained on SOS systems and then wound up jumping the dual system. Now FWIW, my instructor doesn't like RSLs either, so we pretty much were in agreement on the whole thing. But I agree, RSLs are a matter of personal choice. I don't think they're bad necessarily, I just don't think they're right for me. Oh, and if this rambles, sorry. I'm half drunk on margaritas right now. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I was over at the BASE Board and reading some discussion about equipment. One of which is the Line Release Mod. If I understand this correctly, the mod routes brake lines outside the slider and routing rings. This allows the person to simply toss the brakes in the event of a lineover. One question that came to mind is how are these things stowed if they're not in routing rings? The other question was whether this type of mod can be applied to a skydiving rig? If so what would be the advantages/disadvantages? One obvious disadvantage would be if you lost the toggle for whatever reason it's rear-riser time. The other mod was a tailgate, which I wasn't really sure about. So for those of you familiar with BASE equipment, can you offer some insights here? If you don't feel comfortable posting publicly for whatever reason, you can send me a private message. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Nortel huh? If you're a techie I wouldn't worry too much. We live in a society run by computers. You're always gonna need someone who can talk to 'em. The job market's still pretty good. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I don't think Dolphins have a tuck-tab or upward flap option (I could be wrong). I think they use velcro to keep the costs down. That's the thing about Dolphins and Racers for me. I know a lot of people use them and like them, but if you plan on doing anything freefly-ish having a rig with velcro just gives me the heebie-jeebies. You really ought to look into finding a good used Vector 3 (not 2 or lower), Mirage or Voodoo. Javelins are obviously very popular, but I like the upward-pointing flaps. I've heard mixed reviews on the Wings (though that may be a good lower-cost choice). I personally jump a used Vector 3 that I found for less thanthe cost of a new Dolphin and absolutely love it. It's rock solid and ain't gonna open till I tell it to. On the canopy side, I have a friend that's planning on trading in his Sabre for a Hornet, so that seems to be a good choice. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Two words: Mr. Bill "Oh Noooooooooo........!!!!!!!" Go to www.blincmagazine.com, they have a lot of good articles on training for BASE. The biggest thing is learning canopy control. Both during deployment & landing. And ya don't use those little kleenex tissues for parachutes. They gotta be big for maneuverability & stability. So practicing on a 200+ square foot canopy would be wise. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Welcome back! Gawd I love this sport!

I also wrote the reporter a thank you note. Here is what I sent... ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Last time I was lamenting bad reporting with respect to incidents in our sport. Well, I also give credit where credit is due. Here is an example of excellent reporting. This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about... The link to the article is here. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Have a good one! Followed by a cold one! ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

If the new Sabre flares like a "regular" Sabre, flies a little snappier and they eliminate the slammer problem, I'd seriously consider demoing one. BTW. Do the manufactureers ever sell their demo canopies? ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I dunno. You sound perfectly normal to me. On the BASE thing, my wife has said the same thing. LOL. So not only will I have to avoid the cops, I'm gonna have to outmaneuver my wife. Quite frankly given a choice between the two, I'd rather get caught by the cops. I'm thinking I'm gonna have to keep my BASE stash (when I get it) at the DZ. I'm seriously plotting this. 'Course I also wanna take up skysurfing, wingsuit flying, etc etc so I have absolutely no idea where I'm gonna find the time and money for all this. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Glad ya made it for a little while. PT or I can prolly help ya with the IRC program setup if ya need it in the future. Being dorks & all. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

K. I finally got around to reading this thread. And all I got to say is.... BOOBIES! Scored 18 on the real/fake test by the way. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Check Omri's post about alternative happy hour for details! ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I'm in there with Omri. Come join us! ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie