bwilling

Sure, who hasn't? I was running around one morning with my daughter, and we happened to pass by the local Mickey D's... daughter tells me she's hungry, so we decide to drive thru said MD's for some quick breakfast... upon arrival at the order window (face to face service!), we're informed that they've stopped serving breakfast, and had started switching over to the lunch menu service, 5 minutes max and they'd be ready, so we decide to wait, and we order her a burger and fries. Get to the pay window (the seperate oder window/pay window thing speeds up service, at least in theory ;-)), pay for our food... and wait... and wait... and wait... finally, we're asked to pull around to the front, and wait some more. I don't recall what she ordered, but I swear it wasn't even a special order... After waiting around front for another 10 minutes, I exit the car and go inside. I bypass the line, work my up to the counter, and gain the attention of one of the kids behind the counter. He turns to me and says "what do you want?" Me being already less than happy, I glare harshly, and ask him rather loudly if he doesn't mean "May I help you, sir"... By now, I have all of their attentions... the first kid stammers back "uh yeah, may I help you sir"... I inform him that we've now been waiting a total of 20 minutes, both in line, and out front, for our food. About that time, the original order taker shows up, with both my food, and my money back, apologizes profusely, and hands me both... hoping I'll leave quietly, I'm sure! So much for "fast" food! "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

I've had one of those openings too... massive amounts of line twist, below the slider, and there at line stretch... the canopy finally did inflate all the way, forcing the slider down, further bunching up the twists... the canopy was initially flying straight, but in my efforts to kick out of the twists (it was my first jump in this canopy and I had opened high), I managed to get the thing spinning, so I ended up chopping it... I talked to a lot of people afterwards about what could have caused this, and it was the general consensus that a corner of the bag had likely snagged on the container during deployment, making it spin while the lines stretched out and the canopy came out of the bag... I was told at the time that the only packing factor that greatly influenced that type of thing, was how much 'free' line is not stowed on the d-bag and placed in the bottom of the pack tray before the bag is put in... you need enough free line to allow the bag to be pulled clear of the container before lines start being stripped out of stow bands... so... it may not have been packing related at all... it may have been body position (when I had mine I was pretty sure my body position was 'normal' when I deployed), or it may have been one of those sh*t happens things... congrats on handling it well! "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

Hey girl, 97 minute phone calls suck, but as much as you don't want to take it apart and take it to a service center, this is not really bad advice... it's infinitely easier to trouble shoot PC problems when you have the machine in front of you, and can look at it directly... Too bad you live so far away, because it's common knowledge that I will work for food or beer. I pretty much won't try to trouble shoot PC problems long distance anymore (it's too hard), but I tell friends and co-workers that if they bring me the offending machine and a nice 6 pack of beer (no Coors light!), it'll probably get fixed! :-) "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

Looks nice, unless you try to view it in a non-MS browser! MS products generate the nastiest, most convoluted, non-W3 compliant HTML known to man!!! I always validate my production html, and test it with a variety of browsers, so as not to alienate my non-MS audience... "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

I bought a used Sabre that has a pocketed slider on it... I've attached a not so good picture of it that I just happened to have handy... It's quite effective at slowing down the openings... this thing snivels a long time before it opens, so long in fact, that I had a video guy on a 4 way jump once tell me that he was sure that he was going to see a cutaway from the air watching my opening! "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

Damn, you guys have me wanting to try my hand at brewing now... I've had a love affair with beer longer than most of you are old, but I've never tried to brew any! I did a quick search on google, and there's lots of kits available with most of the stuff you need to home brew, is that the route you guys took when you started? Looks like I could just buy a kit, and (pardon the pun) dive right in! and I love Porter and Stout! "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

www.proflowers.com These guys will save your ass if you've waited until the last minute (second?)... and they really do ship nice flowers!!! Hell, they're so good, you could prolly wait until tomorrow and order, and they'd still deliver your flowers on V-day (it will cost you extra though, I'm a cheap SOB, so I'm letting them deliver the ones I ordered on Thursday, 'cause it was cheaper! Don't tell my g/f!) "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

Actually, now that I think about it, it won't be the first time that I upsized! When I was jumping before, I went from a standard size Strata Cloud (230 sf) to the 'XL' Cloud (270sf)... so I won't owe beer! "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

wow, this thread hits really close to home for me, because I recently went round and round with myself over whether or not I was going to quit completely, just because I know that I don't have the time or financial resources to be as current and regular as I'd like to be... I made about 550 jumps from 1978-1983, then quit, got married, had a family, you know, all that stuff. But I got divorced a couple of years ago, and decided to start skydiving again... I made about 70 jumps that first year back, then had another layoff due to a shoulder injury (ice hockey related, not skydiving!) that combined with several other things, led to another long (over a year now!) layoff... So I decided to just quit, and sell my gear. But I couldn't. I'm just not done jumping yet. There's too many things I haven't done yet... I mean, I''ve never made a ballon jump, or been to a WFFC, or flown head down with someone with blue (or orange, or purple) hair! And my oldest son will be 18 soon, and how cool would it be if I got to accompany him on a tandem skydive!?! So I decided to make yet another comeback, but to take a conservative approach. I'm currently trying to upsize my canopies (will I be the first to have ever done this, and thus owe beer?) I plan to (even though we can potentially jump year round here in TX) take a more 'seasonal' approach, and skip the more sporadic winter months, concentrating my jumping (which will be limited to maybe 80 jumps a year) to the more predictable, better weather months, and to make more jumps on fewer weekends (instead of 2-3 jumps a weekend, I'll make 4-6 jumps every other weekend, which is better for me anyway, because I have joint custody of the kids)... I'm thinking this approach will allow me to continue jumping in a safe manner, and allow me to jump often enough to feel comfortable in the air, and enjoy it. "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

I own a Dolphin 2000, purchased new a couple of years ago (I'm 6' 3" and about 230lbs, I bought new only because I couldn't find anything used that fit me at the time)... If I had it to do over again, I would pay the extra money to get the Wings (kicks self in ass again ), which is definitely the more freefly friendly of the two containers, other quality issues aside (and I've had no quality or customer service issues with my Dolphin). But as far as resale value goes, I paid so little for my Dolphin, that even if I gave it away, I don't think I'd be taking a bigger financial hit than the people that bought new optioned out Javelins or Mirages that they subsequently sold as used... "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

dude! with the RIAA going after individuals these days www.isp-planet.com/news/2002/riaa_020823.html, I'm not sure I'd be posting that in a public forum!!! "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

I like your attitude in the second pic!!! "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

Well, I don't feel so bad jumping my Dolphin now... "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

Great looking rig, I love the tie-dye! "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

Yeah, what Lisa said! You should download the video TVMajikRussiaTraining from ftp.skydivingmovies.com (in uploads currently)... it's a video of two of the Deland Majik guys, well, playing. They start out belly flying, and it looks like a training dive (and damn those guys are good), but about halfway into the dive, they start 'knee' flying, not sit, not belly, they're one their knees! and they look like they're having the best time, flying around and geeking the camera guy! "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

Hey Rob, I hope you don't think I was advocating pencil packing by stating the above, because I was not! I was just confirming that it's the inspection part of the 'Inspect and Repack' cycle that's the critical part... I'm certainly not suggesting that someone should jump out of date gear, and for the record, I never jumped that rig while it was out of date (like they would even let me, at my DZ. I missed a day of jumping once when my reserve showed up a couple of days out of date, and I refused to pencil pack it! I waited for one of the staff riggers to get to it, and well you know, actually inspect and repack it, before I jumped it.) "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

Yeah, what he said... I've had a loonnngggg layoff (again!), and my rig sat in the closet (packed) for over a year. I opened the reserve recently to send the Cypres in for a 4 year check (yep, getting ready for yet another comeback, long story), and it would have opened just fine, even after a year of being packed... "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

"Don't be dismayed at good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends." - Bach "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

Yeah, it can always get worse... or better... but remember, it's never quite as bad, or good, as it seems in the moment. "Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you're alive, it isn't." - Bach, Illusions "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

I guess I could have been more specific... I think most of us would want to change the world for the better, but the question was, do you think we can change the world we live in, so if you're inclined to change it for the worse, I guess the question's still valid... but I did mean better. "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

Too simplistic? Maybe... who knows, but I don't think so... Do you believe that we can, thru our actions, and everyday interactions with people around us, change the world that we live in? "Every person, all the events of your life, are there because you have drawn them there. What you choose to do with them is up to you." Richard Bach - Illusions - The adventures of a reluctant Messiah. "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

I jump a... Dolphin 2000 D-4, XL Harness Sabre 210 main, loaded at 1.23:1 PD193R reserve Cypres AAD I know the Dolphin's not 'cool', but it's a safe and functional rig for belly flying, which is most of what I do... althought right now, I think the Wings is the best H&C for the money! If I decide to come over to the dark side, that's probably what I'll buy... "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

Awesome video! Thanks for posting Bill! "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

I bought a harness and container from Para-Service after several conversations regarding other used gear I was looking for... Roy was very helpful, and the actual purchase I made from him was fine, easy and on time... I had the same experience with Kate at Square1 too, on a Cypres that I purchased, very helpful, and very good service... I highly recommend either of these places... "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

hehehe... the sizzle of the hot fork!!! Thanks for tip LouDiamond, but I'd have to buy two and have them sewn together to hold my canopy, so it's not such a good deal for me! "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."