Zennie

Oh man that's cold. I like it! Congrats Tiger! Don't just sit there, go jump her! Um, er, you know what I mean. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I generally use Skygod in the derogatory sense. Like you said, someone who thinks their s@#$* don't stink. While it usually applies to those who dramatically overestimate their talent & experience, I would also apply it to truly talented peole who have a big head. There are a couple of people at my DZ who I would apply that term to, but thankfully they are very few. The vast majority are very nice. The ones who are talented have nothing to prove. Their abilities speak for themselves. There are exceptions, but I've found that the really good ones are generally humble and willing to help. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I'm seriously gonna take a look at some of the skiing helmets that are out there. They're Snell rated (unlike any of the skydiving helmets) and my guess is that they're pretty lightweight. You can get 'em for as low as $50. Here's an example of what I'm talking about. Leedom also makes a series that's a little more expensive (around $120-140). And before y'all laugh too much, remember that Gath helmets were originally designed for surfers. Plus these look fairly aerodynamic. I'll keep ya posted. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie Edited by Zennie on 5/17/01 05:55 AM.

Short answer... yes. It's all a matter of how strong your relationship is. My wife's a whuffo, but she knows how much I love the sport and doesn't give me a whole lot of grief. If a relationship breaks up because of skydiving or anything else, that's just a sign that there wasn't a very strong relationship to begin with. My wife and I communicate all the time. And even though she's a whuffo, she's fairly well versed in safety issues because I talk to her about them all the time. When a fatality is reported, I explain what happened and what measures you can take to avoid it. It's all about communication. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Was she naked? Were there hot dogs? ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Whee! That was good! Frank, you got talent! But I was a little disturned when I played it backwards and distinctly heard "the hot dog ad turns you on, the hot dog ad turns you on...". ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

This turned into an all-out flame war in wreck (and the letters section of the magazine itself), but I'll throw in my $0.02 here. Honestly, I don't have a moral problem with it. You wanna post nudie pics, fine. But as a marketing tool? Now maybe the intent is to spark exactly the reaction that people are having, but my reaction to both the hot dog ad as well as Tom Sander's "Come Get Some" ads (which also changed in the latest edition of Skydiving) is simply "Huh?" I mean I look at the hot dog ad and see a naked chick in a bathtub full of hot dogs (a bathtub which is badly in need of a Tilex treatment, I might add) and go "WTF?" I mean, what connection does this have to skydiving? Is it supposed to give me a woodie? If so, why would giving me a woodie make me any more inclined to buy your product. "Yeah, your prices are higher, but you gave me a woodie, so here ya go." I seriously don't get it. What's even more pathetic is that Tom Sanders for some reason feels the need to resort to nudie ads to promote his product (Aerial Focus). I mean, what's the point of "Come Get Some"? Is it supposed to convince me that Tom's sexy? Am I gonna "get some" as some sort of bonus for using his videography services? Is he a pimp on the side? Why exactly would "Come Get Some" make me more likely to use his services as opposed to someone like, oh, JJ? I just don't get it. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I'm pretty new (about 45 jumps) and I'm starting to feel the "tug" from both "camps". I'm pretty fortunate because our DZ has a good set of really good RW and FF people. The beauty of skydiving is that it's so multi-faceted that I can't imagine ever getting bored (unlike just about any other hobby I've taken up). I personally would like to be proficient enough at RW & FF that a group of either would feel comfortable having me along. I've always been one that doesn't mind doing solos. I'll bet about half my jumps are solo. So lately when I'm doing a solo I'm trying my hand (or butt, I suppose) at sitflying. Otherwise, I'll practice my RW skills with some friends of about the same experience level. Every now & then more experienced ppl will ask me if I want to jump. I always jump at the opportunity because it gives me a chance to get some feedback. And don't be self-conscious, because it presents a challenge to the experienced folks as well. Hey. It's all good! ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

So do Scottish jumpers wear underwear beneath their RW/Freefly suits? Just wondering..... ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

First off, way to go bossman! Great interview!

Slut - I'll give your technique a try. It's the S-folds that are killing me. No matter what I do, and I tried a lot of different things last night with 0 success, the first fold either shoots out underneath or squirts out sideways the minute I start folding. Light knee pressure, knee bracing the pack job, Wolmari method, Brent Finley's method, none of them worked. God it was frustrating. I sat there looking at the thing just trying to think up something, anything, that'll work. I tried hybrids of all the methods, no dice. Hell I can't even get a psycho pack inthe bag 'cuz it's too damn wide. And that's folding each side completely over to the other side. AAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH! Can ya tell I'm frustrated? ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Or "I can stand my girlfriend on my head." ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Seems to me there are two "types" of camera flying: 1) Those that just have it attached to their helmet to get a video record of their skydive (like the Bonehead mounts). 2) Those that film for other people (tandems, RW). Seems like lower numbner jumpers could probably do the first type, since you're not really concentrating on keeping something "in frame" like you would if you were doing it professionally. Plus you're not wearing quite as much gear, so there's less to snag. Still, we've had two fatalities in a row this year involving camera equipment, so it's definitely something to be concerned about. And, yes, you have to be absolutely willing to dump the camera and helmet *fast* in the event of a main entaglement. I'd like to do it someday, but I've got so many other things to work on first. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Did you have any trouble getting your arms up to the handles? ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

ramon - I may have you give me some psycho-packing tips next time I'm at the DZ. I'm getting really frustrated propacking. I'm practcing a lot and still get about a 1/5 success rate getting the stupid thing bagged. The S-fold/bagging sequence hoses me every time. Fugget it. I'm sick of wasting an hour & a half between jumps repacking. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I like to think so. I just like to play up the potato/potahto thing every now and then. Funny you should mention this. It just so happens that Spaceland is going to be hosting the Texas state record attempt (going for 120) June 8-10. I'm not gonna try that, but they're having a CASA boogie simultaneously. Come on down, enjoy some of Scotty Carbone's brisket and jump out of a CASA or three. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

That's not all that unusual. I know of two tandem instructors that absolutely hate climbing ladders. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

In one week's time, our DZ has had two people (one of whom was myself) have a dive loop break on them in a front riser turn. I was doing mine up high, so it was no big deal, but the other person was doing a carve in and it almost ruined his day. :-o After inspecting my rig, my rigger said that we both had the same problem -- whoever sewed the loops on didn't do it right. In the other person's case, this would have been the factory as his container was brand new. In my case my rig was used, so it could have been the factory, or it could have been a rigger who added them later. The problem is this... the person sewed the loops on right at the end of the fabric and only with a single stitch. That is, it was sewn just above the frayed part where the fabric was cut. So both of us basically pulled the loops right out of the stitching. The solution is to stich the loop higher up and do a double-stitch to reinforce it. Y'all might want to take a quick look at your loops to make sure they're sewn correctly, since a broken loop at the wrong time could be really bad news. Safe swoops! ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Actually a friend of mine emailed this to me. I'll poke around and see if I can find more. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

airmen, airmen have you heard? we're gonna jump from a silver bird, C-130 on the taxiway airborne men gonna jump today stand up, buckle up shuffle to the door jump out, curl up, count to four and if my 'chute don't open wide I got another one by my side and if that 'chute should fail me too, move yo' butt I'm comin' through! ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big Java fan, but you won't see too many commercial-quality games being written in Java. And trust me, if game coders could go to one code base rather than one for multiple platforms, I'm sure they would. Languages are tools. I pick the right tool for the job. Most of the time that's Java, actually, lately, all the time it's Java, but I can see situations where it prolly wouldn't be right. Actually, I personally wouldn't use Perl, but it does have a lot of modules now to do most anything you want. So I'll modify my statement slightly by noting that it's not only the tool, but the skill of the person weilding it. Some guys wield Perl really well, others Java, others C++. As long as you get the job done. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

ramon - So what you're saying is that we have some bad front riser loop mojo going down at the DZ. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

You're scaring me Tiger. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

It broke right above the stitching. The stitching itself is still intact on the riser webbing. The loops are made of thinner material than the riser webbing. Maybe even thinner than the steering toggles. The webbing appears to have just given out. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

So I'm out doing a couple of mid-week jumps to get my fix in. Last jump of the day I decide to play with front riser turns up high. So I reach up, grab the right loop, start pulling down and **SNAP**, the thing breaks. WTF? So I do a left riser turn instead. I got down, trash packed and took the rig home so I could repack and examine the riser & loop. The loop broke right above the stitching. It doesn't appear to have damaged the riser itself (though I'm gonna have a rigger look at it before I jump it). Has anyone else had a front riser loop break on them like this? Anything I can have my rigger do to prevent this from happening again? Seems like if that happened at the wrong time it could seriously ruin your day. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie