Zennie

I'm an ex-lawyer-turned-programmer. I've been coding in C++ and Java for about the past 5 years. Primarily client/server and database stuff (ODBC/JDBC primarily). Does that count? ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I used to bowhunt a lot and that pretty much requires a tree stand. I also did some rifle hunting down in south Texas. I'll tell you what, I personally think skydiving is a heckuva lot safer. It'd be interesting to see statistics of how many people die in hunting accidents annually per 1000 as opposed to skydivers. I am 100% convinced this is a safe sport if you just use your head and know your limitations. Today I sat out most of the day because I didn't feel comfortable with the wind & cloud conditions. Then later in the afternoon it cleared up enough for me to do a jump. Jump went great. Patience pays off. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

My wife does that a little to me. "You're going to leave me a widow one of these days" and "Get it out of your system now before we have kids". She's getting more adjusted to me jumping and I think she understands how much it means to me. She also knows I'm very safety-conscious. I think the crux of the problem is that whuffos just have this perception that we're a bunch of daredevils strictly from this gut reaction to the dramatic act of jumping out of an airplane. They really don't understand the technology of parachutes and how reliable they really are. The best way to help people undestand is to educate. Point out that we don't jump with one parachute, we jump with two. My wife has watched safety videos with me (like Breakaway). I've talked to her about how accidents happen (i.e. 99% pilot error) and how I guard against that happening to me. I personally don't plan on stopping anytime soon. There are lots of skydivers with kids, many of who are now multi-generation skydivers, and I don't see any reason why I can't maybe pass my love for this sport on if we have kids someday. It's just a great sport with great people. Take your spouse out to the DZ. Have him go for a ride on the plane as an observer. Talk to him about safety. The more he learns the more comfortable he'll get. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I'll listen to just about anything that isn't hillbilly, disco or pre-packaged boy/girl band crap. Most of the music I listen to is kinda dark & moody. I've lately been on a huge Offspring kick -- particularly Americana (see you in Walla-Walla!). I also listen to a lot of Powerman 5000, KoRn, Alice In Chains, Nirvana, Pixies, Metallica (up to the Black Album), Megadeth, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath. I also like classical, primarily Mozart & Bach. Re: Def Leppard & 80s stuff. Def were good up through Pyromania. The rest of their stuff was power ballad stuff. Ugh. I grew up on a lot of this. Motley Crue, Iron Maiden (they were the real deal), ACDC (especially the old Bon Scott stuff), Judas Priest. Cinderlla was about as glam as I got. Yeah they were a bunch of pretty boys, but their music actually rocked. Crue started kinda glam and then turned away from the Dark Side. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Since there seems to be a fair amount of interest in the Vegas Blitz, lets take a formal poll. If we get enough numbers, we might be able to convince FlyAway, GravityZone, AJ Hackett, casinos, to give us a group discount. The Blitz is tentatively slated for mid-June. Will You Do The Vegas Blitz? Hell yeah! I'm so there! I would, but the timing is bad. I dunno. Let me think about it. Prolly not. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I posted this in the Talk Back thread as well... I did FlyAway in Vegas right before I did my first "no hold" AFP jump. I went there with a serious potato-chipping problem. I did 5 flights with coaching and another 5 flights without coaching. When I came back my instructor was absolutely amazed at my improvement & I sailed through through the remaining levels. I've done several solo jumps since then trying all sorts of wild stuff and I've never felt like I wasn't in complete control. Several times I'd screw up and wind up in a flat spin, but I came right out of it. Tunnel time will dramatically improve your flying skills. BTW. It's especially good for RW folks because you really need to have touch to stay centered over the column. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I did FlyAway in Vegas right before I did my first "no hold" AFP jump. I went there with a serious potato-chipping problem. I did 5 flights with coaching and another 5 flights without coaching. When I came back my instructor was absolutely amazed at my improvement & I sailed through through the remaining levels. I've done several solo jumps since then trying all sorts of wild stuff and I've never felt like I wasn't in complete control. Several times I'd screw up and wind up in a flat spin, but I came right out of it. Tunnel time will dramatically improve your flying skills. BTW. It's especially good for RW folks because you really need to have touch to stay centered over the column. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

The FAQ has instructions for using HTML. It's just text between a pair of quote brackets (you have to copy & paste what you're quoting). [ quote ]Blah Blah Blah [ /quote ] If you take the spaces out, the quote bars will work and you will see "Blah Blah Blah" between them. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Next time someone says that just point out that suicide is when you engage in a course of action where it is your intent to die. With one or two choice exceptions that wind up in the incident reports, I don't think any of us go out the door with the intent of dying. Heck, if I wanted to die, why would I jump out of a plane wearing a device whose job is to save my life? And another thing... Why is it that when there's a plane accident people are happy that they use parachutes to eject or bail out, but get all bent out of shape when we use them for fun? Just wondering.... ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

The roller coaster at the top of the Stratosphere is actually kinda boring. The fun thing there is the reverse-bungee thing (I think it's called the Sky Shot). You sit in this chair and it shoots you like 150 up in the air. Pretty weird feeling being up that high and suddenly seeing the ground going *away* from you. You feel like your going to shoot off the top. Lots of fun. My bro & I rode it over & over. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I've heard that Skydive Las Vegas is not friendly to the regular skydivers. Check rec.skydiving for discussion about their operations and form your own opinions, but I'm not too keen on them. I like the FlyAway folks and the Gravity Zone is the DZ affiliated with them. I've heard very good things about the GZ. As far as using organization's names without their consent, I agree that we need their permission first. That's why I mentioned Sangiro earlier. As far as any other organizations go, we would contact them before saying they were sponsoring anything. We just thought the wind tunnel made sense as far as an activity for us to engage in. If they can give us some sort of group discount, great! I'll give fair warning that the weekend we're looking at may be bad for me. Turns out there's a family wedding in Wisconsin that there's no way I'm going to be able to get out of. As another thought, do we want to schedule this at a time of the year when people up north can't normaly skydive? We're still in the idea-generating stage so this is just a thought. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie Edited by Zennie on 3/15/01 04:45 PM.

Hahahaha! I thought I was the only one that did that. I was playing around with which finger spreads gave me the most resistance for tracking just yesterday. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Just took a look at their website and it looks like their rates are $75.00 per night. That is cheap. If it's between Circus Circus & New York New York, then it's basically in the middle of the strip strip. Which I think is correct because, now that I see the picture, I think that place is right next to Bally's (or really close by). That's a pretty long hoof to Flyaway & AJ Hackett. But we can all pile into taxis if we need to. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

FYI. I just did a Travelocity check on airline tix. Round trip per person between Houston & LV is $306 (Continental). That was for both June 7-10 (Thurs-Sun) and June 8-12 (Fri-Tues). ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Of course! Everyone's invited! As far as accomodations go, I'm cool with arranging whatever works for most people. I forget I'm a little spoiled when it comes to LV casinos. Is the Imperial Palace close to FlyAway? I can't place it. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I suppose one thing we should get squared away initially is whether our Head Honcho is cool with doing this under the auspices of Dropzone.com? If not, that's cool, we can still do it, but it'd be nice to have an "umbrella" sponsor. I've been to Vegas a few times (including some serious time at FlyAway) so I can contact Flyaway & GZ as well as a few casinos and see what I get. As far as casinos go, there are lots to choose from. They range from fairly inexpensive to, well, the Bellagio. For those of you familiar with the strip, FlyAway is right next to the Riviera. Circus Circus, which is where the bungy platform is, is right across the street. So either the Riviera or Circus,Circus would be convenient location-wise, but the accomodations and facilities are nothing like a little further down the strip (i.e. the Mirage, Treasure Island, Venetian, Caesar's). So I guess I'll throw this out for discussion. Would most people be on a budget? If so, the Riviera or Circus,Circus would probably be best because they're so close to everything. If you want something a little nicer, but a little further away, I can contact the Mirage, etc. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

That's an excellent idea. Vegas is the perfect place to go. Especially since there's lots to do for the whuffos in your life. If it catches one it might even become like an annual boogie type thing. The "Annual DZ.com Vegas Blitz" or something. As far as dropzones go, the Las Vegas Gravity Zone is run by the same people who run FlyAway. Really nice people. We might be able to get them to provide discount rates, or at least host something, if we get enough interest. This may be something we should spawn off into another thread. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Yeah, they go "You want a water touch?". I said "Sure". They've got it down to a science. I went in about up to my elbows before I started the trip back up. Bungee gives "ground rush" a whole new meaning. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

You know you're a skydiver when... * Right before you open a door for someone, you call out "Door!". * You refer to family engagements as that "other" relative work. * Aircraft of any sort is no longer seen as transportation, but a ride to altitude. * You no longer break up with someone. You "cutaway" from the relationship. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Yep. They have one here in Houston. Dunno how high it is, but they're fun. Also bungee jumped from the AJ Hackett platform in Vegas. That was probably the scariest thing I've ever done. I looked down and my knees literally buckled. The only thing that might top bungee on the "absolute terror" meter for me would be BASE. Gotta do Bridge Day one of these days. As far as roller coasters go, I love 'em! Especially the old rickety wooden ones. They throw you around all over the place. Only thing that sucks about coasters is that you have to wait 2 hours for a 60 second ride. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

But don't do it if it doesn't feel right or you very well might die. Sure we all get jittery, but if it really doesn't feel right don't jump! You present a danger to yourself and your JM if you are scared out of your wits. You can't think clearly and that is an absolute must in this sport. Try some relaxation exercises. Of course, meditiation works for me. Try this next time you go up. First, focus on your breaths. Feel the air flowing across your nostrils as you breath in & out. Don't force the breaths, just let them come naturally. That should help calm you down a bit. Then, visualize the entire skydive in your mind. Visualize a good, stable exit and a good, relaxed arch. Now visualize yourself successfully doing all the maneuvers required for your jump. If you can't concentrate, go back to the breathing exercise until you relax again. Then try the visualization again. You may need to ride up and down a few times before you feel good enough about things to jump, but please don't force it! Once you relax, things will be fine. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Right on. Quite frankly, I think skydiving is the ultimate, but that's not to say I didn't do some scary/fun things before I jumped. I've seen some double-black ski runs that just made me go "no f@#$%in way". And that was after I started jumping. How 'bout rock climbing? Some guys/gals do it without lines & harnesses. And they don't have a backup like we do. You slip, you're dead. Heck, I'm still not too keen on cave diving. Rocks over your head in cramped quarters with a limited air supply... scary stuff. Panic down there and you're dead. So yeah, skydiving is the bomb. Yeah a lot of people are missing out on a really great thing. But we aren't the only ones doing dangerous stuff. If anything, I've gained more respect for people doing some of the other things after I started skydiving. They're doing what they love and that's what counts. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Make sure you do the Flyaway wind tunnel while you're there. And if you do go there, tell Ray that Zennie says "Hi" and that I got off student status *much* quicker thanks to him. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

24 hours ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Om Om Om ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie