AndyMan

Scott: In the monthes of July and August, I'm going to be billing roughly $8000 to BCBS. So far my out of pocket expense has been roughly $30. If I had your insurance, as far as I can tell I'd be out $3000, at least. I'd strongly recomend you look into the differences between what you've got and a comprehensive policy, especially considering how easy it is to hurt yourself in this sport. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Pammi: Remember Cobra. Cobra can be done retroactively for up to one year after your old job. Meaning right now, you could sign up for your cobra benefits, and it'd be as if you never lost your insurance in the first place. Then, you could get a 'certificate of coverage' from the old insurance company. Basically this certificate says that if your kid's pre-existing condition gets billed to the OLD insurance company, not the new one. As I understand it, for this to work you need to show 12 monthes of concurrent converage... which is why I mentioned the cobra thing. Anyways, I have a REALLY, REALLY, REALLY good independent BCBS rep, that I'm sure would love to talk to you. He's been wonderfull in helping everyone in our company get really good coverage. PM me if you want his name. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

This is a little bit of a misconception. Some geeks got togeather and did some tests. They hooked up a voltmeter to a cypres and played with it. They measured the voltage draw during the recalibrations during the day, during altitude changes, during the power down. If I remember correctly... If you're going to be driving home, you should definately turn it off. As your car goes up and down hills the unit will be measuring altitude, and this is a significant draw. The battery draw of the unit sitting on the ground is insignificant. The battery draw of turning the unit off is insiginifant. The battery draw of turning the unit on, however, is quite large - as the unit goes through the assorted self tests. The concensus was that if you're driving home, turn it off. If you're done for the day but not driving home, you might as well leave it on, on the slim chance to that you change your mind and make one last jump... maybe a night jump? Not only are will you draw more power by turning it off, then on... but you might forget to turn it on that one time you need it. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Moodyskydiver! Another lap around the ole block for Amber.... _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Nope. Version 2 and 3 of the forums are available, but not version 1. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

0:0:0 I spent the weekend on my rooftop, getting a sunburn attempting to let my ankles heal. (yes, the work ankle was plural.) D'Oh! Just me, a cumfy chair, a cooler, and a good book. I discovered an ENTIRELY new side to Ann Rice. I'll never think of Sleeping Beauty the same way. Oi. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Here's the pic from saturday night Danhole, iskidiveto, rhino, skybytch, jessica, and phreezone and jceman in the back row. I'm taking the picture. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I understand quite the opposite. Tandem video is usually paid work, which to me puts it into the category of "for hire". When video work is done "for hire", the copyright is owned by the client, being michele, and she can do with it as she chooses. As I understand it, the videographers have as much right to the flim as the NBC cameraman who shoots the superbowl, being nil. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

More pictures of da' Bytch in chicago. http://bombshelter.ca/~andy/photos/LisaInChicago/ __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

-1:45 WOOHOO! _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Tell me if you're still complaining, sitting on the deck of a 44 foot Sea Ray cruiser, plowing the waters of lake michigan, beer in hand tomorow night. Here's my checklist, so far. 14 t-shirts 13 pairs of underwear (why are these called pairs???) 12 pairs of socks 4 pair of shorts 1 pair of shoes 1 bathing suit 2 towels bathroom stuff 1 rig 1 digital camera 208 MB of digital "film" for camera 1 video camera 3 blank tapes 2 helmets 2 jumpsuits 2 audible altimeters 1 alti-3 2 pair of goggles 2 spare closing loops countless pull-up cords 3 kinds of pain killers 3 different ankle supports 1 4-man tent 1 queen sized air mattress 1 air mattress pump 1 sleeping bag 1 cooler 1 cell phone (and charger) 1 AA battery charger 1 laptop computer Hmm.... what am I forgetting, I wonder....? 7:15 until you take off.... 13:01 until you land. The stopover sucks, but YOU'RE the one who insisted on Ontario instead of LAX. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I did my first camera jump on saturday. I filmed a three-way RW jump. We were jumping a caravan without a camera step. I missed the exit because I couldn't see the count. The film sucked, as I expected. I was WAY high, even despite this they were out of frame for a good half of the skydive. With the nervousness of gear... I forgot my altimeter. Which wasn't too bad, because i had two audibles. I dumped at 5, which was the stated break off. My second camera jump was a 4-way. I got lower, and the framing was somewhat better but I was still too high, and the framing was still an issue. I do not have a wide angle lense, simply had the pc-120 zoomed all the way wide. I saw the count, and got the exit shot, but left early. Again, I dumped at 5, as previously stated. My pc120 is attached to my velocity with the velocity swivel side-mount. I haven't decided if I want a chin-cup, or not. I have SO much to learn. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Not necesarily. I toggle-turned myself into line twists at 900 feet a few weeks ago. I nearly chopped, but could feel the canopy planing out. I was flying straight by 700 feet. I landed 8 feet from taget center. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

cellphone charger. What am I forgetting? Everything. I haven't even started packing yet. I've got 8 hours more then you. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

because, for the most part, they're not in pretty much most of the industrialized world. Except, the ones that get illegally imported from the US, that is... _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

20:04.... WooHoo! _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Chicago has three turbine DZ's, and they're all different. One of them, Skydive Illinois in Morris has been having some issues lately. I'm usually at Chicagoland Skydiving (hinckley) because it's the shortest drive. There you'll find that the facilities aren't nearly as plush as skydive chicago, but I find the people generally a lot friendlier - largely because it's smaller. They've got all the facilities you'll need, it' just that the seating at the bar is a picnic table instead of imported leather sofas. Know what I mean? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I won't bullshit you, 135 is an extreemely fast fallrate for RW. The best RW teams turning dozens of points rarely get that fast. I did a rw jump with a friend a few monthes ago, and we did 138 TAS... I was practically curled up into a ball to keep up with him, it made turning points very dificult. An average RW jump (around here) is about 118... I'm a big guy too, so I have to fly pretty big to be at that speed. I've had a lot of fallrate issues, too. There's two answers to a fast fallrate, the first it seems that you've got, which is a good baggy jumpsuit. The second is a lot of training and practice at falling slowly. I RARELY arch. Practicing flying big has given me the ability to control myself at the slower speeds. So, I'd recomend coaching. Lots and lots of coaching. If you're near a wind tunnel, spending some time there would be very worthwhile. Now what this does mean, is you'll make a SCREAMING base in big ways. This is a good thing. It also mean you could easily do some interesting hybrid jumps... you'd be able to be on your belly with people that are in a sit. This is a good thing, too. I also wonder about the suit.... since I haven't seen it. "real baggy" is relative. A good suit manufacturer can make you a REAL baggy suit that will slow you down even more... _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

40 hours, 45 minutes. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

DeHavailland was first bought by Boeing, years ago. It was sold to Bombarier (famous for the ski-doo, but now a diversified transporation conglomerate) shortly afterwards. http://www.bombardier.com/ If you call Bombardier, I understand you can order the manual directly. You can also buy them off the internet, if you strike out with Bombardier. See here: http://ourworld.cs.com/aconsultation/id24.htm?f=fs and here: http://www.sicuroengineering.com/O_manual/manual/dehavilland/TwinOtter.htm _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

There's a very short list of reasons to not wear an RSL. 1) if you're jumping video gear, you might not want one. This is debatable. 2) if you're jumping a highly loaded canopy prone to visceous spins, you might not want one. This is again, debatable. If you don't fit into either 1) or 2), then the argument becomes really quite simple. Unless your going to be loading your canopy at a high wingloading (and I don't think you are), cutting away from a spining mal should be relatively striaght forward, as the spin probably isn't going that fast. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

516.7(miles driven):4:1 I packed up the car and drove from Chicago down to Archway for the weekend, and as usual had a great time. Notable first was for my 1st camera jump. I attempted filming a 3-way rw jump. I think they were in frame for a grand total of about 8 seconds. D'oh! However my last jump was better, I even got the exit shot - from a caravan with no camera step. WooHoo! 24 Moosehead purchased. Other notables include me jumping my stileto again, and standing up my landings (I'd been butt-sliding intentionally.) These MIGHT be considered "firsts", because they were both "first in 5 weeks". I'm psyched because this means I'll be in true form for Rantoul. This also means I'll need a new profile pic. Damn. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

The colors and stylings look disturbingly like the website I did for Little Tikes - http://www.littletikes.com Otherwise, ditch the font... and you have too much "whitespace". but good. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Gnome when I can, but usually on XP. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

And that's really pretty disapointing, but I am not surprised. Skydivers ARE just cool. The little DZ where I started was a pretty cool place. Bikers, blacks, tatoo-covered freaks, and everyone else hung out around a bonfire, and not only got along - but were really close friends. I can't think of any other activity that I've taken part in, where so many different people from so many different backgrounds, get togeather, and don't just tolerate each other, but actually accept each other as one of our own. It's not about tollerance, it's not about "yeah, you can do your own thing, but don't let me know about it". It's about valueing people for WHO THEY ARE, because we're such a tight community. I said this in private a few days ago, I think it's awesome that these guys had the courage to tell us about themselves. They risked a lot by doing it, and I for one, applaud their courage. Narc: it seems like you got your wish. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.