VTmotoMike08

If it is so obvious, then surely you can provide at least one bit of proof, right? That statement is too broad to be meaningful. In any event, we know that we can produce a multitude of feelings and reactions just by stimulating the brain with the right chemicals in the right area. You can even recreate the feeling that many claim as being "surrounded by the holy spirit". I'll spare you the task above and go ahead and say that all evidence so far has shown that we are indeed, a collection of biological parts. And when you die, you rot in the ground. End of story.

Where do you find all this stuff? I believe you because it sounds reasonable, you are generally pretty fact oriented and I am too lazy to look it up, but if I tried to find that info on the web, it would take days and I probably still wouldn't have it. If you learned it in school, how do you possibly remember it from so long ago? Really, I'm impressed.

Please prove that there is a "spirit".

So anything good to say about the place that you call home???

Sounds like a decent enough area with plenty of entertainment within reasonable driving distances, but its highly unlikely I could find a job (that I like) out there. I have the other condition that I refuse to live more than 30 minutes from where I work. After seeing my father struggle with a 90- 120+ minute commute for a decade, and seeing how unhappy that made him, I simply will not live that far from where I work. But thanks for the info

Thanks to those few who responded so far! Please keep it coming. I can look up facts like weather data, crime rates, and demographics on the web but any comments about general quality of living are much appreciated!

I swear I could not make this up. Got this in a PM today after I made the earlier post asking about where to move to. Anyone else get these? Or maybe be ridiculously good looking avatar gets all the ladies Really, who is dumb enough to fall for these?

Good point. If you go with the mac, you will need to plan on spending about $150 for the MS Office bundle. (But I got it for free because of the software agreement that my school has with apple

+1 I just bought my first apple computer, a 13" macbook, and I love it! I don't think I will ever own another PC. Everything just WORKS with minimal screwing around and headaches. Its so pleasant to use

So, here I sit, looking for jobs and browsing dropzone when that gets boring. In about 7 months, I will graduate college (I'll be 23). My degree is broad enough that I can find a job in any city in the country if I look hard enough, even in this economy. I have enough money to get setup anywhere, and I have no obligations, personal or otherwise, that tie me to a particular area. This is truly an exciting time in my life! My family moved while I was in college, so I have no strong sense of "returning home". There is no company or job that I would follow anywhere, I will pick where I want to live and find a job there. So where should I move to? Here's your chance to tell me why your city is awesome. The ideal place for me would have: -Good weather: I want warm temperatures, and will only move somewhere that is cold if there is good winter sports to make up for it. -Young people: I don't want to move somewhere that is primarily married families and older people, I want to live near people in my mid twenties demographic. An abundance of young women would be nice too. -Good dropzones nearby: enough said, right? I really want to be a TI when I get 500 jumps. -Other activities: particularly outdoor activities, I want to have varied interests. Beaches and good nightlife would be nice. -Affordable cost of living: probably conflicts with everything else above. So, can anyone who lives in Southern California tell me how living out there is? That seems to be the area that has everything that I want, except affordable cost of living. I had a great time when I visited NYC, but its too cold there in the winter. However, NYC does have a much more favorable ratio of women to men than SoCal. I am open minded to small towns too, but not if they conflict with my requirement for living near young people. I am also considering Denver, and I have family there. Skydiving is very seasonal there, but I think I could get into the winter sports and outdoor activities too. So how about it, anyone want to give me some info on where you live and why you love it (or hate it)?

Haven't been to the American south recently, have you?

Meh, since this post has gotten completely off topic... I will add that a step thru is not an automatic cutaway. I have landed two of them, and never chopped one. Do a good control check, and determine if you can take it down. First one, I somehow switched my stuff around when taking my risers off the container to clean some mud off (yes.. that was stupid and I should have put a heavy object on the risers to keep them in place) Second one, I saw this old guy who always did his locking stows then took the bag down to the container to do the rest of the stows since it was faster than walking it down. He has 2800 jumps of doing this without a mal. I thought that I could do this too if I was careful enough... and I wasn't so I flipped the bag thru the lines. In both of my step thru's the twists came all the way down to the risers and effectively put them in a candy cane shape. Not really hard at all to land normally in this configuration. Your results may vary

Said truly like someone who has yet to pack his first malfunction Pack long enough, and you will pack a mal too. Maybe it will be for yourself, maybe it will be for someone else. We will see if you still feel the same way after that. Try to find a packer who will sign a contract saying he will replace your stuff if you chop it. You will be packing for yourself forever (not a bad thing)

What are you defining as TIGHT? I have seen several students that want to cinch down the straps to almost the point of cutting off circulation (I was one). This is simply not needed. They should be firm but comfortable. It's totally OK if you can get a couple fingers under them. Your hard opening could have been caused by loose straps, but it is much more likely that it was caused by poor packing, or the shit-happens-because-parachutes-are-unpredictable factor.

You don't have to be in college for too long before you figure out that when they tell you not to use wiki as a source, all you have to do is scroll down to the bottom of the page and find the original source page and use that. Most of the time, it is legit.

So one day it was bring and sunny and I hadn't jumped in over a month but I was scheduled to work. I didn't really feel like going to work, so I went skydiving instead. And wouldn't ya know it, those bastards had the nerve to fire me Good thing I didn't want to work at the damn pizza shop anymore. Really, it was just a side job I picked up for spare cash over the winter anyway.

Why my grandparents are voting for McCain: 1. He's white. 2. His middle name is not Hussein.

Most likely there would be little to no need. Prevalence of peanut allergies is extremely rare outside of developed nations. VR/Marg Very interesting. So I am forced to ask, what are we in developing nations doing to make kids allergic to peanuts and how can we not spread this to other people? Or, we could find a way make everyone that we go to war with get peanut allergies and drop a Jiff bomb

Cool. Just wondering, do you ever have a problem with the slider coming up over the rear risers? I see that you can only have those stops on the fronts becaue of the hard housings on the rears. Just curious.

That really is the solution. In high school, my friend had a brother who was allergic to perfume and just about every other cosmetic product. He had a multitude of unbearable symptoms, ranging from annoyance to difficulty breathing. Some days were better than others, and he has been generally able to hold a steady job that involves working outside. He (and his parents) did not go demanding that no one at the school wore perfume, they pulled him out and home schooled him. And when it was time for him to take the SAT, well, he got a big goofy filtration mask and a medical waiver to wear it during the test, went in and took it. Yes, people made fun of him. Life is tough. Get a helmet.

Most are afraid that the next 500 jump wonder with a tandem rating will step into the shoe's they were just booted out of, thats why. It's a sad fact these days. ***Not an instructor here*** In the real world, fair hiring and firing laws can be enforced with lawsuits. If you work a given number of hours a day, your employer is required to provide you with a break. Its the law. They cannot legally fire you (or take any disciplinary action against you) for taking a break if you are working the required hours! The number of hours varies by state (I think its 6 in Virginia), although I am not sure how this applies to "outside contractors" which is how a lot of DZ staff operates. And DZOs generally know that it is a pretty slim chance that an instructor would actually sue them, which I think is good. Of course, try reminding the DZO that he is required by law to provide a break for you and he will probably find another excuse to fire you if he really wants to. Edit: I know this because of a family member whose boss wanted them to work a 10 hour shift without even a 15 min break. Looked up her rights, presented them to the boss and she got her 45 min lunch, per law.

Ya like I said, I think you should get some extra pay for things like that, paid for by the dumbass who did it, not my tax dollars. Opps, no SC here... Playing in powerlines is far beyond the normal scope of duty and I think it deserves hazard pay.

Interesting, you're right I didn't think of that. I'm gonna say (in my totally non-expert opinion) that its just about zero chance because I am sure that a reserve PC provides >100 lbs of force and a magnet of the size we are talking about provides at best a couple pounds of force. And the PC is launched away at ??? ft per second. The ??? would be your freefall speed plus the speed from the spring. But you are right, stranger things have happened...

Didn't know that, thanks. Although I still don't see it on their website. Guess I will call.

Why the ambiguity? I too have seen the skysystems magnetic slider retainer that slips onto the reserve flap and I have been waiting for it to come out on the mainstream market. Everyone who I know that already has one "knows somebody" who got it for them. It is very cool looking and highly functional. It looks a little more sturdy and has wider straps than the one that [mark] posted. And a skysytems logo on it.