wildfan75

English Springer Spaniel Not too big, but big enough to be considered a dog. I had one growing up and I have one now. Lucy has never really spent much time with small kids but she's great when she's around them. I've had kids tackle her, pull her ears, try to grab her docked tail and she's taken it like a champ. And my growin' up Springer was the same way. The only issue that Lucy has with small children is kisses. She knows the shorter they are, the more likely they are going to have food left on their face. That and I foolishly taught her that kisses go on the face. I'll post a picture of her tonight. I will caution that Springer Spaniels need exercise. If you have small kids and don't have time to go for a walk at least a couple of times a week, or a large enough back yard for them to run around, I'd look for a breed that's a little more docile.

That's awesome! I'm so glad to hear is continuing to work for your. Let us know when you get your A!

At least you got Dell to ship you a computer. More than I could get them to do for me! http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2597818;#2597818

You guys have to stop posting that jump pilots get paid. We do not want to give any of our pilots any ideas that people actually get paid for more than just their free flying time!!! Good luck JT!!

In over 200 jumps, I've only had to arch twice. The first one was about jump #110 and I was high. As I arched, I thought to myself, "Oh, this is what they were talking about in the first jump course". I have no problem speeding up but I can't for the life of me hug that damn beach ball (which you'll learn about later) to slow down and get up. I feel like I'm flying pretty flat but if you look at my videos, I have an incredible natural arch. I guess I have been told I am pretty bendy. I have the worst body for skydiving. I am short and fat. I carry all my weight in my hips and belly (well, and a little in my boobs). I am currently in the process of ordering a new suit from Skimmer Suits. It's designed for people with "healthy fall rates". I'm hoping it will give me more range. If you continue to have a "healthy fall rate", just make sure you get the right suit. There's been two suits that have been ordered for my dz for fast fallers from a very well known reputable company and they have failed to make suits with enough fabric to be effective. And if you get a suit and it's not right, its so much easier to send it back right away than to wait a few months and then have to make a decision about being without a suit right before a competition. And it could very well be that once you start to get a little more relaxed in the air, you'll flatten out. But how awesome will it be for you to know that you'll have that range!!! Just think of the opposite problem. We had a girl that when she started out, her average fall rate was 96mph. Its has to be easier for instructors to put on weight and have to arch a little bit to stay with you than it was for our instructors to find big enough clothing to add drag but not cover emergency handles.

Shhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!! Don't give him any ideas.

When planning my last food show I told our school specialist that we need to dirt dive the show to make sure we remembered all the blocks.

What kind of warnings are on the cup? Maybe you could sue. How much did that person from McDonald's get?

Wow...you go get 'em! You can also try a type of skydiving they used to do way back in the 70's when everyone was jumping rounds. I think it was called belly flying. Good luck and Have Fun!! And be sure to keep us updated on your progress on the ground and in the sky. And remember, if its not on video, it didn't happen--so be sure to get video!!!

Who cares? If you care, don't buy it. If you don't, then buy it. Your opinion is the only one that should matter. Sure you're going to get razzed about it, but at least you're jumping. More than a lot of people on here can say. And you save some money by going used so you can jump more, GO FOR IT!!!

You'll learn a good reverse PLF the next couple of weeks as you're literally rolling out of bed. It took me about three weeks for me to get back to somewhat normal when I hit mine (obviously not as hard as some), but I was back in the air the weekend after it happened. I did get razzed a little on how long it took me to get in the C182. The phrase, "What's the matter? Your ASS hurt?" got a little over used that weekend.

QuoteDo any drop zones have any kind of accuracy contests for different ranges of experience like say up to 100 jumps, 101-300 jumps, 301-500 jumps, 501 to 1000 jumps, etc (just for example). That would be cool for fun. Might promote accuracy skills. This would be an awesome event for any boogie, event and especially safety day. GOOD IDEA!!! I will definitely be bringing it up at my dz this weekend.

Ah, Bob Stumm. He, along with many others at Wissota,...I just can't think of the words to express my full gratitude. There have been many times when I've totally screwed up the entire dive for everyone and never once has anyone been mad that I wasted their money. In fact quite the opposite, they all laugh and say "That was a fun jump!!". I did a 2 way with a guy that had about 30 jumps a couple of weeks ago. I was nervous because I was the "experienced one". We only got together and got like two points but it was so fun watching Brad tumble out of the airplane, go on his back, get on his belly and come forward to me (I made him come to me). I can't wait to be "the experience one" more often. Thank you Stratostar for the wonderful post. You can bet the Jeremy and I will be doing everything possible to have it go back to how it once was. And that's for posting the pictures. I'll make sure that Bob sees them.

I'll take plan A because I think I would have to file for bankrupcy if I had jumpable weather all 12 months of the year. Its nice to have the three weeks off in February when its too far below zero to get the planes started to save up for the summer. Seriously, you should plan a trip up sometime this winter. Offer goes for anyone. Fly into Minneapolis (cheaper than Eau Claire) on a Friday afternoon. I'll pick you up at the airport and we'll head to Chippewa. Jump all weekend and I'll get you back to the airport Sunday night. You can stay at the clubhouse so no need to waste money on a hotel and the fridge is always fully stocked with beer! Being that I work for a food broker, I always bring food to the dz. Pot roast, prime rib, french dips...whatever is laying around. We'll get 'er done Wissota style!

My only problem is that most/some/a few (take your pick) dzo's are going to think, "What's that going to cost me and our instructors? How much mark up can I make on top of that?" This stuff used to get taught for free, and now most people even need to pay to learn how to pack. Luckily I come from a dz that with the exception of cheap gear rental (the rental is cheap, not the gear) and cheap lift tickets, everything else is free. You pay if forward. I was doing four ways by ff #17 and I guarentee that they would not have let me do it if I couldn't track and wasn't aware enough and knew how to react with other canopies in the area. It's not at what jump can you do or should you do x/y/z. It's when are your skills good enough to do x/y/z, and when AFF grads get left by alone by the wayside unless they're willing to dish out good money, we're going to have problems. I wish everyone had what I have "at home". As for the carnival ride comment: I think it's a reflection of our society. Kids these days need to be entertained 24/7. When I was a kid and took long car rides we entertained ourselves by playing red car/blue car. Now kids have DVD players and iPods and GameBoys. We had cartoons Saturday and Sunday mornings. Now they have 100 stations that run nothing but cartoons every second of the day, every day of the week. How does it translate into skydiving? They want full altitude now. They want to do 4 ways now. They want to do head down now. They want to jump with a camera helmet now. Just my worthless newbie $0.02...

"Take that shampoo bottle...."

Oh, wait. Its just Elliot Yamin. Glad to see he got his teeth fixed.

I was looking for that too. I would think that it would be #1!

AWESOME!!! Congrats! I'm glad that you found somewhere and a way to get back in the air. Keep us posted on how it's going!

What are solo CRW jumps? Every FAA legal skydiving container comes with two canopies for personal CRW :-) Wow, that can get expensive. Probably cheaper to buy an AAD than it is to have to pay a rigger to repack your reserve after every jump.

What are solo CRW jumps?