mattyblast

Greetings and welcome to you, from one cheesehead to another! Enjoy the summer up there, and if you ever find yourself in the Milwaukee area, come on out to East Troy and jump with us at Sky Knights. :) "DOOR!!!"

Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10th of a calorie. I don't know about you, but that's the main reason I pay my bills online. Haven't seen any measurable results yet. "DOOR!!!"

I have an altimaster Galaxy, and although it's supposed to be a wrist mount, I move the dial down toward my thumb/forefinger pocket and strap it on that way. It's very comfortable, easy to see, and I've never had a problem with the needle sticking or anything like that. In other words, I've kind of split the difference between hand mount & wrist mount. "DOOR!!!"

*does the happy dance* The frustration over not finding the right used rig was such that I was *this* close to caving in and getting new gear. Every argument that the experienced hot-shots gave for staying away from new gear, I had an answer for... "You'll downsize in a couple hundred jumps anyway." Then I'll make sure to buy a container that can safely fit the next size smaller canopy. "You'll be paranoid about scuffing it, and you will scuff it 'cause you're still inexperienced." Eh, who cares. I'll get a black one so it looks less dirty than it is! "You'll lose a lot of money when you re-sell it." But the kind of canopy I want is so popular that it sells for just a few hundred less than new! "You're better off spending the extra money on jumps and tunnel time!" But the money I'm saving on gear rental will go toward more jumps! But then the ad stared me straight in the face. A container sized for my dimensions, equipped with the exact same make & model of canopy that I'd been using for the majority of my coach jumps. It was pricey, but thousands less than a new package. Heck, I even liked the colors. And it has a Cypres with many years of use left. And an RSL (of course). And the timing was perfect...got the much-anticipated "A" stamp the weekend before last. So now the temptation to buy new gear is completely gone, and replaced by the temptation to buy lots of jumps. And of course, beer! The moral of the story is: if you're looking for a first rig and are frustrated about not finding the right used one, hang in there.

Uh-oh! The mark of the "Beast"! Is there a number 666 hidden within that "A"? "DOOR!!!"

Lisa took the words right outta my mouth. You only do your first skydive once, so I highly recommend getting it videotaped! "DOOR!!!"

Thanks Scott. Here's a link to the USB interface I was referring to. Anyone familiar with this apparatus? "DOOR!!!"

What's up, video hot-shots? A few questions for you (these don't relate to skydiving, but I consider you a good resource): 1. Electronics stores such as Best Buy are now selling USB audio/video cards. They have three RCA inputs on one side, and a USB jack on the other. Have any of you used this apparatus, and is it any good? 2. Can any of you recommend a good long A/V cable? 3. Do they make a wall plate (similar to what is used to allow cable TV viewers to route coax through the wall) that has female RCA jacks on both sides? The reason I ask these questions is that I'm interested in loading some TV programs from my DVR and VCR to my computer. TIA! "DOOR!!!"

I'm having trouble visualizing this step. If you're kneeling on the canopy and the d-bag, how is it possible to stuff it into the d-bag? Are you quickly swapping your knees for the hand that is doing the stuffing? "DOOR!!!"

How about magenta on the outside of the cells, with black ribs? That would look sweet, imo. "DOOR!!!"

I'm wondering if the Sabre2, especially in the 190-210 size range, is an exception to this general rule. That's the canopy I will be looking at getting once I'm licensed, but I'm sure many folks have noticed that used Sabre2 190s & 210s sell like wildfire. On most given days, the "wanted" ads for such canopies outnumber the very few such canopies that are for sale. And the ones that are out there are part of a whole rig which the seller is unwilling to part out. They're in high demand, hence a relatively high resale value, or so I've observed. The gear-rental $$$ saved on just one month's worth of jumps could more than compensate for the (smaller) hit taken when selling it. Thoughts? "DOOR!!!"

*does a search* *comes up empty* I know that a special skydiving event/party is called a "Boogie" by definition, but are there certain things that have to happen there in order for it to be called a "Boogie"? "DOOR!!!"

"I get knocked down...but I get up again! You're never gonna keep me down!..." "DOOR!!!"

It won't be long before I reach the point where I won't to have a coach be there to check over my gear and make sure I didn't miss anything when doing my gear check. I'm curious to know if anyone has any little memory tricks that they use for doing their gear checks to make sure they've covered everything. Silly acronyms? Sayings? Poems? The nuttier, the better. I'm studying the SIM, the materials from Safety Day, the checklist on this site, etc., of course, but thought I'd ask how other folks make sure they don't leave anything out. "DOOR!!!"

That's great work, Spatch. And I humbly agree with you: don't ditch the RSL, but don't rely on it either. Is it possible that the RSL was somehow routed improperly? "DOOR!!!"

That's nothing--I'm not impressed. Let's get a nekked lady on there taking a dump while falling at 130mph. That would change the hand signals a little, though: Thumbs up = Good lean-forward Thumbs down = Lean forward more Three fingers = Three practice flushes Thumb & pinky pointing outward = Check arms (elbows should be on knees, w/ chin resting on hands) Thumb & forefinger tapping = Close the lid when you're done. Index finger pointing = Wave off (the odor), then flush (and pull, of course!) "DOOR!!!"

Congratulations! Nice arch, btw. "DOOR!!!"

A question for those of you who did go ahead and take the plunge and get new goodies: you had had the chance to jump enough canopies to pretty much know that what you were choosing was the best for you, right? What I mean is, did you get to borrow somebody's Sabre 210 (for example) and jump it a handful of times, then discuss with other jumpers, coaches, etc., how it felt, then reach a conclusion that it was a good choice for you for the long haul? I expect to face this decision later on this summer, so I'm enjoying what everyone has said in the thread so far. "DOOR!!!"

Me too. "DOOR!!!"

Do "Best of" or "Greatest Hits" albums count, or is that cheating? "DOOR!!!"

May your firstborn son become the goaltender for a nudist hockey. team. "DOOR!!!"

It's all your fault. Now admit it, find a new woman, and move on. You'll be a much better person for doing so. "DOOR!!!"

Skyflyingbecca, I wish you the best as Cingular fixes this mistake, and I hope you are treated fairly in the future. I also want to compliment Lindercles, Misskriss, cyanide41, boinky, jshatzkin, McDuck, Snowwhite, Jumpwally, Turtlespeed, Rainbo, Bolas, and Lummy for offering their helpful advice, kind comments, and good-natured humor. I'm sure that it all helped to make Skyflyingbecca feel better about the situation. Mean, insensitive people may have been tempted to post pointless immature replies like "You were completely wrong," "That was dumb," and "Get over it," without adding any constructive advice--thankfully folks were much kinder.

I got a response from the seller, and he's on top of it. Since he's been a season ticket holder since the Bucks became the Bucks, he can contact the office and put re-printed tickets on Will Call. So it looks like it's all good. "DOOR!!!"

Last weekend I got lucky and won (on eBay) a pair of front row tickets to the Bucks/Raptors game in Milwaukee for Sunday afternoon. The seller tells me he shipped them on Monday or Tuesday, and since he's only 20 minutes north of here (yeah, I know, I should have picked the damn things up), I should have received them on Tuesday or Wednesday. It's Friday, and still no tickets. The game is Sunday afternoon, so if they don't come tomorrow, I'm screwed. The seller told me that he sent it with a signature required on delivery, and I'm not home during the day. In cases like that, the post office drops a card in your mailbox saying that something has come for you that needs a signature, and that they'll either redeliver or you can come pick it up at your post office branch. Many of you have probably seen this peach-colored card. I've looked up the tracking info on USPS.com, and all it tells me is that the shipping label was created. But that's all it ever says for anything they ever send--their tracking system is useless. I've sent a fax (since they don't publish their #@$%* phone number) to the post office branch where the tickets should have arrived. I included the tracking number and asked them to check the status of this item and get back to me immediately. No response yet. I've also told the seller to contact his post office branch to see what they can do. I informed him that if I don't get the tickets by noon tomorrow (which is when the post offices close), then I will be giving him negative feedback and expecting a full refund. He'll probably get pi$$ed when he reads that, but it's his friggin' responsibility to deliver the items I've won. I'm sure as hell not going to eat this one up, 'cause it's either the post office's or his fault, NOT MINE. The seller looks legitimate, 'cause he's got plenty of history of authentic transactions, and and an almost-100% positive feedback rating. Any suggestions? This sucks!!! "DOOR!!!"