AndyMan

On PD Canopies, does the pilot chute attach to the ring, or the fabric taping that makes up the pilot chute attachment point. On Aerodyne, you just attach to the ring. On the PD, it looks like I'm suposed to attach to the fabric taping. Is this correct? _Am

Fuck, I knew they cheated me! 8 cells! :P Nah, sorry. Correction: blk, tur, tur, pur, pur, purl, tur, tur, blk. It's bootiful. Now i Just gotta figure out how to hook the damn thing up. _Am

IT JUST SHOWED UP! MY NEW BABY! IT'S HERE. IT'S BEAUTIFUL! One, new Stiletto 150. Blk, Blk, Tur, Pur, pur tur, blk, blk I can jump again WooHoo!

It depends who you ask. Many people jumping "fixed" Crossfires report hard openings and very high front riser preasure, two of the things that made the crossfires such good canopies in the first place. I think the much bigger problem with the Crossfire is Icarus themselves, how they've handled this issue just sucks. They should've issued full recalls from day one. _Am

The fact is rhino, we don't know what you mean. PD recomends the Sabre 2 up to a 1.6 wingloading. Considering that Aerodyne doesn't recomend the Diblo above 1.4, you're going to be a whole lot closer then you are now. The characteristics you're seeking exist in the Sabre 2. At a high wingloading, the Sabre 2 is a fun canopy that opens nicely and puts out a nice surf. At least give it a test jump, I think you'll be surprised. If, after jumping it you think it's too tame, then try the stiletto. I can't imagine any scenario that somebody like you should (or rather, should WANT to ) jump a Vengeance. You're just wasting your money because you're not going to use it effectively. _Am

I can't wait to do the first pack job on my new Stiletto. _Am

Check your browser settings. If you're using IE, go to the Tools menu, choose Internet Options. Under Temporary Internet Files, click Settings. Verify that the "Every visit to the page" radio button is checked. Under Netscape, go to the Edit menu, select preferences. Expand the Advanted section, click Cache. Under "Document in cache is compared to document on network" - ensure "Every time" is selected. _Am

I didn't think she was asking for presentation tips... Just the present itself. Since she was asking here, I figured she was looking for skydiving stuff. Of course a cool presentation is... well... cool. _Am

Skydiving jewlery. Very cool for both sexes, obviously thoughtful because you KNOW he's into this, and yes, it's not that pricey. http://www.picturetrail.com/skydivechick Email Pamela Loveland @ skydivenchick@hotmail.com {Hi Pammi!}

See, I'm a geek. More then that, I'm a geek with some business sense. I made a killing in the IPO RedHat, Amazon, and others. I think I've got enough business sense to tell the difference between companies that makes sense, and companies, that don't. MLife, to me, just doesn't make sense. They're going nuts on brand building. People've tried that before, and most of them are what I like to call the dead indians at lieing at the side of the information superhighway. Forgive the Native American reference, it's in reference to the Wild West attitude of many .com's. I play the stock market. One of the indicators that's worked really well for me over the last few years is that I've shorted all the companies that bought ads during the superbowl. I also short all companies that buy naming rights to stadiums. For the most part, it works pretty well. I'm not shorting this years superbowl companies. I think the super bowl ad era is closing. Ad rates are approaching reasonable levels. In addition, most of the companies are not flash in the pan .com's, they're respectable American enterprises like Amheuser Busch. I'd love to short MLife, but I can't. I'd have to short AT&T. Despite MLife, AT&T is a pretty respectful company. I don't buy the mysteriousness of simple brand building. If anybody is actually going to go to the efforts of going online and finding out what the hell MLife is, it'd be geeks like me. Guess what? I haven't. Not out of spite, not to prove a point. I'm just too lazy. Even now that I'm online, got a browser open, I'm don't give a rats ass what this company is all about. If they're not even going to bother to tell me, then why should I care? The tactic of simply building a brand died with the .com's. AT&T should learn the pure play .com's are dead, and build a business model on something that works. AT&T should know better, they've certainly had the opportunity to learn. _Am

Nah, I graduated College. Cut out the wings and beer, you'd be surprised what happens... _Am

Re: The game. How can you complain with an endine like THAT? Sure, New England controlled thorughout the whole Game, but St. Louis had a comback in action, only to be shut down by a field goal with less then 10 second left. Beautiful! As for the ads, I love the Bud ad with the satin sheets almost as much as the Bud ad spoofing Robot wars, the fridge whacking the BRF5000 with the hammer. Priceless! I was disapointed E-trade was the only .com. Surely there's other succesfull .com's out there? _Am

I've been there, and it sucks. The reality though, is that there are some dropzones that have very few 'outs'. These are drozpones have small landing areas, lots of trees and obsticles. Frequently at these DZ's, if you land out you're hosed. These dropzones tend to have very high standards for their jumpers, standards that exceed the BSR's. I've also been at the flipside, DZ's that get waivers for the BSR's because the landing area is HUGE, there are no obsticles, etc. Choose your dropzone wisely. _Am

I lost eighty (80!) pounds. If that does give you a 'Carpe Diem' attitude, I don't know what does. _Am

Simple really, Have a good live, with a good family, bringing hapiness to all. Yeah, I know it sounds cheezy. So far I've got number 1. A good life. Skydiving is a big part of this. At some point in my life, I want to have a good family. This means a wife that I love, and a two kids that aren't screw-ups. As for the third point, I've brought happiness to myself. Again, skydiving is part of this. I'd like to bring hapiness to the people around me. I'm still working on this... _Am

Damn! Nice ass, Paula! [posting while drunk, -5 points. Bad cop, no donut] _Am

I don't think the point is the interaction of two distinct groups, rather skydivers being good at all aspects of flight, in whatever position the situation calls for. People who currently only belly fly should learn freeflying. People who only freefly should learn the rest of the sport. This is what I'm going for: To be fully qualified in any position. _Am

BZZZT! Posting while drunk, 10 points! _Am

I'm pretty sure Chicago'll be taking it in the Summer. _Am

I loved it when my coworkers went to NewfieLand. They'd always smuggle back Black Horse. Ummm. Black Horse. _Am

I suspect you would have to be 19. One of the perks of working for Molson was a free lunch in the cafeteria. The cafeteria had a bar attached, that we all hit after lunch. If you weren't 19, you weren't allowed into the cafeteria for lunch. All this at their offices in downtown Toronto, not even at a plant. I won't go into the free beer they gave us every week. That would make you cry. _Am

When should you start? It depends who you ask. Skydive Chicago won't let you get your 'A' licence until you've demonstrated a sit. There's people with 50 jumps working on head down. I say that you should wait until you're proficient on your belly. Start with your sit, it's the easiest. People will argue this, but I'd suggest you start with a shirt with real baggy sleaves and shorts, if you can. Once you've got the sit stable, take off the baggy sweatshirt and figure out how do to turns (it's instinctual), then figure out how to do forward movement (not so instinctual). Once you've got that to a comforatble place, figure out how to do stand. You use stand to go seriously down. Try flying on your back, you use this to go seriously up. Try finding the varying degrees between stand and back flying, so that you can vary your fallrate to your partner. Once you've figure out all of this, we can talk about head down. _Am

Was anybody else expecting to see Smurfette on a Safari? That's some wierd shit. Myself, my condo is covered with Mattisse. _Am

I think you just hit the nail on the head. See, I am a geek. Or at least I play one at work. I've been in e-commerce for years. I've worked on www.molson.com, www.littletikes.com, www.rubbermaid.com - and bunch of killer e-commerce stars that I'm under contract not to name. I know Java, C++, Perl, PHP and .Net inside out. I could write a book on any of these. In fact, I've had offers to write a book on these. When I hang out in bars, I don't talk computer shop. I do get laid. The same is true here. I'm a skydiver, I'm the best skydiver I can be right now, and I'm constantly working on getting better. At some point I hope I'll have a reputation that I do in the IT industry. Despite this, I guarantee you'll never see me making fun of whuffos. My ex was a whuffo actually, and the fact that she didn't jump had nothing to do with us breaking up. Not only that, but despite the fact that I've been a skydiver for three years now, I'm just as close if not closer with my non-jumping friends. I'm proud of being a skydiver, my friends enjoy seeing my latest videos. I encourage them to give it a try, but I'm certainly not going to redicule them for refusing. They do their own cool things. Far too often people dismiss negative comments by saying "aw, I was just joking". I'm a firm believer that jokes are really just a excuse for people to show their true colors. I know this is true when my father tells sexist jokes, of my brother tells racist jokes. I suspect that those who're making the most fun of whuffos here actually BELIEVE that skydiving makes them better then the whuffos. Skydving makes you different, not better. Making fun of whuffos is no different then the geek who makes fun of the technophile. Guess what? Being a Skygod won't get you laid either. _Am

Hey Mark Good to see you. Do you remember arguing with my of my not recomending Static Line as an instructional program? See ya around... _Am