Jumpah

I had to laugh at your pictures...so much real estate to land in! At skydive new england the one time I've done an XC we exited pretty much over the DZ as two of use were inexperienced. Outside the landing zone itself, the northwest fields (a small patch of grass ~1 mile from DZ) and the landfill (smaller patch of grass with poles ~2 miles from DZ) there isn't much that is nice/safe to land in (i.e. bull field and farmer McNasty). Just forest, roads, powerlines, and front yards Definitely keep your legs moving. You may not notice how numb your legs are until you land, which is a lousy time to have that brought to your attention!

But your instructor won't help you land it safely... I'm making basically the same transition...a Nav 260 to a Saber 210 or 190. One other thing to consider is the percentages of the situat9ion. A Saber 190 is roughly 68% the "size" of a Nav 280. Thats a canopy that is 1/3 smaller than you are used to jumping. Its also got different flight characteristics, flare, stall point (can you stall the Nav? Most of the time they rig student canopies so they can't, but be sure you'll stall the Saber). Take your time...I flew a 260 until 60 jumps. I'm on a Saber 230 now until I can get to a 210. Follow Bill the Duck's guide. Its real sensible advice. Hit those peas over and over again. I promise you you'll have more fun over the rest of this summer under a nice school bus canopy than with an injury!

If you can find Hanne check out her suits. She was working out of Skydive New England in 2004, but not this year. Excellent quality and fit. I paid around $300 (may have been $320) and it took only a week.

I've resisted posting this...but its appropriate here in the S&T forum: Jump 45: Landed in a forest about 60 feet off the ground on a rather comfy branch. I came into the top of the tree onto one of the topmost branches and grabbed the trunk with my left arm and disconected my main with my right (RSL was disconected at 500 feet). I didn't check the spot from the plane (the guy ahead of me did, and while it was appropriate for HIM (many thousands of jumps and a HP canopy) it wasn't for me. The winds were at 10-15 on the ground but rising...so much so that under canopy at 500 feet I was going backwards. I was downwind of the DZ under canopy despite tracking back to the DZ for most of the 15 secs of freefall (6,500 H&P). Many on that load landed off and one other in a tree. Lessons learned: 1) Check your own damn spot. If you don't like, step back 2) if a friend on the ground says "good luck in these winds", consider stepping off the load 3) a keg goes a long way to obtain complete forgiveness from the 20+ people who helped belay your sorry ass out of the tree (or who just hung around cracking jokes and making fun of said ass) 4) Don't fear landing out...this was a mental hang-up...I kind of couldn't believe this would be my first out-landing so I was busting my ass to get back while using up precious altitude. I have since gone for walks around two of the outs to get a feel for what the land is. 5) What is right for others is not necessarily right for you. No injuries...very lucky!

Your English is excellent. Welcome!

Gradual reduction did not work with me or my friends. Cold turkey with an aid for the first few weeks worked best for us: 1) Start with a firm resolution to never smoke again. Not at a bar, or your wedding night, a bachelor party, or anything. Never. You have to agree that there are no celebrations so great as to allow you to top it off with a cigarette. I think this is the biggest hurdle to quitting...that you can never smoke again. I miss smoking outside in the winter. With this commitment the tempation isn't there to allow yourself a break. 2) Do not have a cig at the end of the night as a reward being smoke-free all day. You can't reward yourself with the object you are quitting. 3) Exercise and lots of water. Walk, run, stair master, something. Feel your lungs hurt. For me it was more emotional...I was horrified that I couldn't run 1/2 mile without being in mortal pain. Hire a trainer for a few sessions to get you started, or ask a gym-going friend to go with you the first few times. 4) Stoned wheat crackers as a snack...there is something gummy and chewy and dry about them that helps soak up that horrible clenching dry mouth feeling in your mouth when you are jonesing. 5) Get your friends and family to agree to help you, not isolate or make it harder. This may mean that they don't smoke in your house or car (or even THEIR car if you are riding with them...a true friend will do that for you), or that you can't go to the bar for a month until you are more under control. 6) Let your coworkers know. It'll help with any emotional symptoms you exibit, and it'll definitely keep you honest. For me and most of my friends a nicotine patch for the first two weeks worked well. I smoked 1.5 packs a day so I used one patch for the first week and a patch that was half that strength for the next week. 7.5 years for me...good luck to you!

The DZ should be able to tell you the exact amount over the phone without needing to think about it or use a calculator. Have fun!

LOL Would have been great if they were holding their shoes, too...

For a temporary setup, if your receiver can broadcast through radio frequency, just plug your receiver in, run the antenna out between a door and stick it on the roof (magnet antenna), and tune to 87.7 or 87.1 (or whatever your receiver says). This will take you 10 minutes until you get a more permanent installation done. Congrats...I've had sirius for almost a year and can't imagine life without it =)

When I was a kid I had a sudden fear about dying. I was 7. I was crying under my sheets one night and my dad came into my bedroom and asked "what are you crying about?" I said "I'm afraid I'm going to die!". He said "How old am I?" "I don't know!" He said "I'm 30...and I'm not dead yet...so you'll live at least until 30". Since that was a zillion years from where I was at that point, it cheered me right up. I'm 32 now, past that marker but I'm not worried. Some people fear death because they will miss the life they have here on earth...the friends, children, etc. I don't think it works that way...whatever it is across that boundry, I do not believe its sadness. I would not do this sport if I knew it would kill me. Nope, nope, nope. I'm a chicken in that respect. I know skydiving can kill me if I don't do enough things exactly right each jump. So I am fastidious about gear and pin checks, EPs, jump as safely as we know, and I try my best to be humble and attentive when someone has comments about what I'm doing. Thats the best I can do. My sincere condolences to all of you who are hurting. Heal fast and well.

I used to worry about my exits and it came down to that I wasn't confident I could get stable if I had a bad exit. So I did a jump with nothing but barrel rolls, back and front loops, and that fixed me up good....I know I can get stable. Poised exits can be a blast...inside the plane, facing the front, you side step out to face the relative wind then track away from the plane. For a moment you are flying in formation with the jump plane. This past weekend I tried a rear floating exit where I just closed my eyes and let go of the outside grips...relaxed my body and did a deep inhale/exhale, opened my eyes, flipped onto my belly and continued on with the jump. Was a good moment.

haha, hey I was in that class too...had a good time jumping with you ("we gotta go THAT way!"). I was minding my own business here at dz.com and found this post. See you next time...thanks for bringing that damn fine Canadian beer!

Squint

Hey Twardo...how about another Kaptain K story? The story about him and the anal DZO was killer =)

I do the same thing. It's not what they drive, but how its maintained and cared for. If the back seats are filled with empty cig packs and fast food bags, then thats an indication they could do that in their home, too. Its not a rule, tho...I keep my car clean, but my bedroom's a disaster. So I also gauge personality, cleanliness, hygiene, and credit. I personally wouldn't rent a non-smoking apartment to a smoker. Smokers aren't evil...its just too much of an expense to repaint every time someone moves out to get the stench out. And since I include heat, a cracked window to vent a smoky room costs me $$. I also give my tenants the same courtesy...lawn gets mowed regularily, plowing is as prompt as possible, repairs are made immediately, etc.

Great post!

I don't think they make a cessation patch for that...good luck

My vehicle requires premium...any idea if that makes a difference?

With 30k registered users, I'd think you could generate some amount of advertising revenue to break even on the site. Don't know what you've tried, but some thoughts: - Remove content that has low ratings from the users after x number of days/weeks. - Have a section dedicated to promotional videos from industry manufacturers that they pay a small fee to have up there. With 30k registered users, the manufacturers can be reasonably sure their content is going in front of people who are interested in it. How many downloads has the skyhook demo had, for example? That video (along with dz.com threads) has me looking to get one, so its a powerful marketing tool. - Mirror content to spread out bandwidth...people use your main site to search for content, but can download from a remote location, saving you the bandwidth. - Make a donation page and make it obvious. I donated because of what I saw on dz.com, not anything I saw on the movie site.

Silver quarters

2-0-0 Did my first relatively successful two-way...5 points turned, despite an exit that was really messy

On my tandem the TI wore one, so I think you'll find them around, here and there. Congrats!

Yeah...I own a beemer

Tell her what you think...at least give her encouragement. She might be wondering why the hell she's doing it... This guy is an inspiration relative to weightloss and achiving goals: http://www.waswayfat.com/