wildfan75

Awhile back I posted something about "With this RIG, I thee wed" is better than "With this RING, I thee wed". Todd remembered that and when I ordered my new container back the end of November, he decided that when my new container came it would be the day he would ask. We had already talked about the future and we picked the ring out together, so I knew he had the ring but the surprise was going to be when he asked. I was so focused on my rig that the thought of it being this weekend never crossed my mind. He put the ring in the baggie of extras for my new container. I was so pumped about my rig that he had to keep telling me that I should check out all the stuff that came with it. At one point I even picked up the bag once, put it on the back counter and told him that I'll look at it later. My house needs to sell, I need to move to Chippewa Falls and get a job, have us get settled and then we'll start to discuss dates and plans. He did it on Friday, Leap Day. The joke was that he only had to remember the anniversary of the occasion every four years. We then started to joke that maybe we should wait to get married until 2/29/12 and then he would only have to remember our wedding anniversary every four years. So right now the date is 2/29/12. So there's the story.

My new Wings arrived on Tuesday, I got to put it on on Friday, and jumped it on Saturday. Holy crap do I love my new rig!!!

RevJim, Wissota is forecasted for a sunny and a high of 31F on Saturday. We're having our Safety Day (and annual club meeting). Sounds like its going to be a good crowd. One of our planes is getting a new engine but we still have two and will probably be doing some 8 way formation loads. Feel free to come on over! If you want to stay the night, the clubhouse is open for guests. My new rig came in this week and its all set up. I'll be the one with the spanking new rig and the huge grin on my face! Sunday looks like crap though.

Sorry. I was too busy doing jag bombs and dancing on the bar at the clubhouse.

Did you get up? We got 22 loads on Saturday and I think only about 8-10 on Sunday (everyone was pretty tired on Sunday from a long day of jumping and a long night of partying on Saturday, and we got shut down for about an hour with a very think layer of haze at 1500') . It was gorgeous! I managed to get in 8 over the weekend.

Great weather all weekend long at Wissota (finally)!!!

I did my helicopter jump last January. The ground temp was about -2F. Riding with the doors off wasn't so much fun. Keeping the core warm isn't the hard part. Its keep the hands and fingers "warm". My finger tips were pretty numb on that helicopter jump, and have been on a few regular winter jumps. And I'd also add, when jumping in sub-freezing temperatures, if you're wearing a full face, make sure you're breathing through your mouth out the mouth hole (helps prevent fogging and icing on the shield). And also make sure you have a plan on what to do if you fog or ice up. I used to jump with a Factory Diver and landed with it propt on my head a few times. Now I jump an Oxygn A3and can put up my face shield if needed. But careful if your fingers are numb and you're putting up your face shield on an Oxygn. I did it one jump and little did I know until I got back in the clubhouse and took my gloves off but I bent my thumbnail back about half way down putting the face shield up. It really hurt once I started getting feeling back in my fingers. And yes, I'm blonde.

We just got the email today... My new Wings shipped today!!!! This will hopefully be my last weekend on my Vector2. Damn that rig has been good to me but damn...my first new container is in the mail!!!!!! Beer soon!!!!

Ok, now that I'm done laughing, this couldn't have been made that far north. Its too cold here for the show to stick together. Although the forecast for the weekend is: Sat: High of 27F and clear Sun: High of 31F and party cloudy I can't be more happy for the weekend to come. If the weather report is remotely right, its going to be a damn good weekend of skydiving!!!!!!!

I wouldn't mind some rain right about now. Low clouds...bring it on! That would mean that the temperature wasn't -11F with a windchill of -30F. But I can't complain too much. Attached is the current conditions for Thief River Falls, MN. They have it way worse right now.

According to the dz.com dz locator, no.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The url stayed http://maps.google.com and nothing else.

Can someone help me figure out what the longitude and latitude of an address is? I'm trying to update our dz.com dz listing (I got the map to actually show someplace in Wisconsin (update from showing a remote mountainous area in China) but its still about a hundred miles from where it actually is. I have done web searches galore for a nice simple website that I can enter the address in, click a button and have the info but it seems that there is none (or they don't recognize the dz's address). So long for taking a nice relaxing break from dealing with the beef recall. Address is 6482 County Hwy K, Chippewa Falls, WI 54729.

Here's the link to the offical USDA recall release. http://www.fsis.usda.gov/PDF/Recall_005-2008_Release.pdf All of the cattle that were slaughtered received a ante-mortem inspection that cleared them for slaughter. It was after their ante-mortem inspection that these cattle became "downers". Some times cattle that are slaughter are former dairy cows. These cows could have severe ligament and/or joint damage that prevent them from standing for long periods of time, and no matter how much you "poke" them, they aren't going to get up. The fact that these cattle passed the ante-mortem inspection suggest that the reason they are "downers" are for physical reasons, not phyisological (hope that makes sense...because their bodies are f'd up, not their nervous system). They are recalling beef all the way back from February 1, 2006. There have been no reported illnesses or food born disease linked to this beef. That's two years and no one has reportedly gotten sick. And to clarify RckyMtHgh's post about Mad Cow being found in Atlanta Schools. No, they did not find Mad Cow in beef in Atlanta Schools. They had beef products made from beef from Westlands. There is no indication that Mad Cow is any more a factor in this situation as my pencil at work breaking caused it to snow last night. The article does not state that they found Mad Cow disease like MckyMtHgh clearly claims in her post anyhow. Its not going to cause me to stop eating meat. I do think the video shows inhumane treatment and the employees need to be disciplined as such, but mainly because its making my life at work a bitch right now!!! I'm more worried the millions of people in the world that are killed every year because of their religious beliefs and the millions more that don't live in a world that affords them simple, basic human rights.

Same old, same old. We drank, there was debauchery, Chad has bruises, breakfast at the Golden Eagle.

You should have drove to Wissota this weekend. Saturday was BEAUTIFUL! 23F and sunny. We got about 15-16 loads up including 3 awesome 8 way formation loads. One of those days where you can't pack fast enough. Not everyone is as crazy as us Wisconsinites! Consider transfering to UW-Eau Claire now????

We don't charge for coaching or instruction at our dz still. We pay our own lift ticket, we pack our own main. So the old school skydiving way of life that you so kindly had a part of is still being paid forward and backwards for a few of us. Thanks for making it that way!!! Truely....THANK YOU!!!!

Then you would have an expert Cypres in your rig. Our student transition gear at my dz has expert Cypres's. The point is still the same. I used the student Cypres parameters to demonstrate how much time one would have to pull before a fire. Using expert Cypres parameters would only validate my point further that if someone can't do a HNP without a Cypres fire, they shouldn't be skydiving. Or at the very least, would need an extremely serious discussion of pull priorities.

You're a coach and you don't know the parameter's of student AAD's??? For Cypres's, if a student exits at 3500', they have approximately 20 seconds of FF before they hit 1250' when it fires. If someone goes up for a HNP and ends up taking a 20 second delay, maybe the Cypres fire will be enough to wake them up to the fact that they shouldn't be skydiving. S/L'ers usually don't have a problem with pulling in time as its the same as their last three jumps but with a real rip cord. Aff'ers get to do a practice HNP from 5500' before they go to 3500'. If they can't do it within reason on the 5500' I would hope that their instructor or coach doesn't clear them for the 3500'. So the chances of a AAD fire because they go too low is slim.

I just went through (and completed) the coach rating course. For eval dives we did cat. G2 and cat. H. I concur with belly flying skills for this. If you worry and concentrate less on what you're doing, you'll find it easier to watch the student and remember what they did. There is an open book coach test in the IRM. I'm sure the director will have you complete that before taking the course (or have it done when you arrive to go over as a group). Look at the mini lessons that you will have to do (different exits, forward & dock, tracking with awareness, two (I think its labeled) general portions of the FJC, etc) and begin to write lesson plans. Don't put too much work into this as part of the course is learning the whole, part, whole and preparation, presentation, application and evaluation teaching/learning method, which you'll apply to doing the mini lessons. If you have an opportunity to talk to some of the instructors at your dz before you do it, ask them how they teach forward & dock, tracking with awareness, etc. Good luck.

I did S/L so my 1st HNP was pretty much nothing different than my last three jumps (PRCPs). As a S/L'er I think its...interesting...to hear AFF students getting so worked up about doing a HNP from 3500'. Congrats on nailing it the second time!

I would have voted "other" if there was an option. We start students out on chest mounts. They changed me to wrist mount on FF #6 after my instructor noticed I was having difficulty looking at my chest mount over my boobs in FF (totally had to de-arch). The container I have now (bought it used) is made for someone a little taller and if I wore a chest mount, I'd get a nice little smack in the chin or throat on every opening. I have a new container that is expected to ship in 17 days