bill2

Noooooo.....shhhhhhhh.....don't even say that channels name... It's evil pure evil, sucks in unsuspecting skydivers. Go to my boyfriends at what is on TV....Discovery Wings....Get home from a day of jumping....Discovery Wings....He is doing rigging work, and guess what is on TV....Yup...Discovery Wings.....What is worse is his Roommate watches it too...Only time it isn't on is when movies for guys who like movies is on. ____________________________________ Sounds like your significant other has good taste in TV

Born Oakland, CA Now living in Fremont, CA First jump and all jumps so far at Bay Area Skydiving in Byron

If you and your wife get jobs, I say move out here. Sometimes the People's Republic of CA gets too PC, but there are loads of things to do here, if you want you can scuba dive in the morning and be up in the Sierras to ski that same day (assuming you don't mind driving that much in a day). I don't know if you ride motorcycles, but CA has some of the best roads in the world for that. Housing in Sac is definitely cheaper there than in the bay area. And as has been mentioned before, lots of drop zones to choose from.

"One of the worst culprits" You haven't been in the plane with Bill Rafferty....his ass goes off like clock work at 8,000 ft. Leaves a green stench hanging in the air....... "I got some beers....Let's Drink em!!!" Clay _____________________________________ This is one of the replies in this thread that had me laughing my ass off. I've got people coming by my office looking at me and wondering what the hell is going on.

The real problem with sort of incident is all the publicity it's going to get. The media will trot out all the usual talking heads who are supposed to be "experts" (who have their head up their asses) in their fields. They will make the usual pronouncements about a particular factor that was at the root cause of all this, or that this particular list of characteristics will identify the next killer. Or the usual bullshit call for banning something, music with certain lyrics/small planes/ guns, etc. The reality is that some kids just screw up, others screw up when they've supposedly had the best life possible, others will do fine no matter they come up against. As others in this thread have pointed out, raising kids is a crap shoot. I hope this doesn't lead a call for banning or strictly limiting general aviation, which could hurt skydiving. And I'm trying really hard not to jump in on the gun control issue, I'm a gun owner.. I better stop right now.

If you're in No Cal, try Gold Hills Winery up in the Sierra foothills east of Sacramento, they started making beer a couple of years ago and it's really good. they've got a stout, an amber, and a pale ale. All good. As for the other selections, there's no accounting for tasted. When I passed AFF, the owner said he wanted Coor light. I got Sierra Nevada (my main instructor liked it) and Heinekin.

How about verticalzone, or verticalstonezone?

1) Get my A & b licenses 2) Lose some fat 3) Go to at least one boogie somewhere in the US 4) Take more overnight motorcycle trips 5) Try free flying

Welcome to reality. That's the way most employers are when the economy is bad. they can be very picky, just like employees can be when the economy is going well and people get hired at positions they don't even remotely qualify for. Can anyone say dot com? Try doing as your friend did and get a temp gig at some company. Remember it takes a lot of working at A job(s) to get THE job you really want. It's called paying your dues. You have to remember that you are not only going up against the company's hiring requirements, but the qualifications of the people who are applying for the same job. Don't lie on your resume but also don't be modest. If you did something relevant, anything, put it down there. And use the appropriate buzz words, since so many resumes are scanned in and the software picks up on certain words for certain types of jobs. Good luck.

I passed AFF in October, and had the same problem with spinning in L4 and again in L7. As Pammi, I think it was her, mentioned about people telling her about toe taps until she was blue in the face, that doesn't always help while you're in the air. The biggest thing for me, toe taps eventually helped a little, was relaxing. And this didn't happen until my JM flew in close and started blowing kisses at me. I started laughing at him, the first time in AFF that I had laughed in free fall. From then on, I thought of that when I was getting nervous. Just like in any sport, tensing up screws up your performance. Also, as some people have mentioned, one leg sticking out at an odd angle can cause you to turn. If you can relax, try the toe tapping - it just might help.

I jump at Bay Area Skydiving in Byron, and they do AFF only. The jumpmasters generally encourage a tandem first just so the student has an idea what is going on. I completed level 8 of AFF 1 - 8 in October, so I'm not sure what people mean by some DZ's not having the same level 7. I was under the impression that all students had to demonstrate the same skills at the same levels. Am I wrong? Do DZ's do their own program? I personally would not want to do the static line program. My first jump came off fine, but it was very reassuring to have 2 jumpmasters holding on to me, since it was definitely a sensory overload, and I would not want to handle the free fall by myself. I was potato chipping all over the place. I thought the canopy flying was the easiest part of the jump.

CIA USING MARIAH CAREY FILM IN AL QAEDA INTERROGATIONS Tactic 'Borders on Torture,' Human Rights Organization Howls In a controversial interrogation tactic that one prominent human rights organization says "borders on torture," CIA operatives in Afghanistan have been showing al Qaeda prisoners the Mariah Carey film "Glitter." The film, which has been put on the "condemned" list by many human rights groups, usually induces prisoners to talk after ten or twelve minutes. "They usually crack during the scenes in which Mariah Carey plays herself as a teenager," said one source familiar with the CIA interrogations. A spokesman for Amnesty International, the human rights group, blasted the CIA for using the excruciating film on captured al Qaeda fighters. "If a nation condones the institutionalized use of Mariah Carey films during interrogations, it comes perilously close to condoning torture," the spokesman said. In Washington, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld acknowledged that the CIA had been using "Glitter" on al Qaeda prisoners, but offered no apology for this controversial practice. "There are things one does in times of war that one would not do in times of peace," Rumsfeld said. "Making people watch a movie with Mariah Carey in it is one of those things." For her part, Ms. Carey could not be reached for comment about the CIA's use of "Glitter," but released a statement indicating that she was happy that the film had finally found an audience.

My wife doesn't skydive, but she did buy me a tandem jump last year, which got me hooked. Now I jump, she respects the fact that I love doing it, and we get along fine. She has her other interests that she pursues while I'm at the DZ. Ultimately though, each relationship is different and each non jumping significant other has to be approached differently. I don't have any rules of thumb except to pay lots of attention to her when you're not jumping. good luck.

I'm going to see it tonight with some friends. I've been reading the books since the 60's. I've heard the movie is great, can't wait.

and how old you are, at least for the guys.

I think you're overreacting. I don't expect commercials to be accurate, or truthful; they are trying to sell something. The same goes for motorcycles - you only see big nasty bikers on Harleys even though that is just a small part of the motorcycling world. In the future, don't set your standards so high for commercials, you'll always end up disappointed.

I started skydiving this year so that automatically makes it a great year. I don't think I've even been in anything that has scared me so much but given me so much joy. I finished AFF, just bought a used rig. All of my jumps so far (14) have been at 14 - 15 K. Next year I hope to get over a hundred. Love the sport.

What's a float bar?

Who's going to be the moderator? Freaksis? What's she going to wear?

You're so right on this one. I forgot to add it to my list. It was not scary at all, and I was rooting the entire film for that witch to kill those three idiots.

NEW EMPLOYEE ORIENTATION Five cannibals get appointed as engineers in a high-tech company. During the welcoming ceremony, the boss says, "You're all part of our team now. You can earn good money here, and you can go to the cafeteria for something to eat. So don't trouble any of the other employees." The cannibals promised not to trouble the other employees. Four weeks later, the boss returns and says, "You're all working very hard, and I'm very satisfied with all of you; however, one of our janitors has disappeared. Do any of you know what happened to him?" The cannibals disavow all knowledge of the missing janitor. After the boss has left, the leader of the cannibals says to the others, "Which of you idiots ate the janitor?" A hand raises hesitantly, to which the leader of the cannibals says, "You fool! For four weeks we've been eating Team Leaders and Project Managers so no one would notice anything, and you have to go and eat the darn janitor!"

Read this article. I'm sure many guys have done some sinning but didn't react like this. http://channel.netscape.com/mynsnews/story.tmpl?table=n&cat=50900&id=200112071122000291161

I loved it, and sent it onto some friends at work.

I had been thinking about it for years, never had the time and money to do it. My wife got me a tandem in Sept 2000, and I started AFF in May of this year. I was pretty dam scared the first jump, but each one has gotten better (14 now).

Now that everyone has weighed in on the best movies, how about the worst? I vote for Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (so bad it's good) and Vampire Hookers (yes there is a movie with that title. I rented it and for some reason my girlfriend at the time got on my case for it. I can't imagine why). Also, almost anything by Sylvester Stallone after the original Rocky.