kris2extreme

so true, so true... I wasn't able to get on a load sunday due to the cloud cover we had most of the day, and shortage of instructors... so I instead went up right-seat as an observer to get a better understanding of how everything goes on the plane ride... Getting out the door is MUCH better than staying in the plane... I was *FREEZING* in the plane getting back down to the ground with the door still open! It was an interesting and different experience... but I think i'll bring a rig and instructor with me next time and get back to the ground the quick way

i have to go to court thursday for arraignment to request deferred ajudication for a 68 in a 45 mph zone ticket... does that explain anything?

congrats! I know how you feel. I did my level 6 yesterday after sitting around the dropzone for 8.5 hours waiting for the south winds to die down enough for me to jump. Flips are fun

no piggy bank needed. Just get one of those vacuum-operated containers (like the banks have in drive-through) installed between you and the dropzone.

I know, I know! And living 15 minutes from the dropzone doesn't help either! It can be a crappy weather day and I look out the window and see a spec of blue sky and I'm out the door! Right now i'm still living with the parentals while I finish up school... so i've cut out all the nonessential expenditures and have been focusing on getting the $2000+ worth of licensing jumps out of the way while i'm still living on their dime There have been TONS of items around the house getting the eyeball though... "do i REALLY need this?" The big-ticket performance parts off the car (my previous hobby) are the ones mostly getting sold off right now... few thousand dollars worth of parts just lying around in the shop My financial position has changed a little bit since a month ago when I started AFF, I got into a paid internship the following week so now I actually have a little bit of income to play with again.

I went into AFF intending to only do 1 jump per month because that was all I could really afford... Then I actually did my Level 1 jump, and all that 1 jump per month BS went out the window... I came back the next day and did my 2nd jump... the next weekend was a long one, so I came back on saturday and monday and did 3 more jumps, then last weekend I was at the DZ as soon as I was able to get out of work and got in another one. All together i've made 6 jumps in less than a month... and with this weekend rounding out the month I hope to get in jumps 7 and 8

it's anywhere from 2.03 to 2.20 for 87-octane around the house here. My car requires premium 93-octane though... so i'm still paying 2.35-2.40/gal... Definately better than the $3.50/gal it was not that long ago.

I had 3-4 line twists on my AFF level 1 jump. Was a little interesting but they were low in the lines so it was an easy mal to remedy. I was able to just grab the risers and pull them apart and give one swift kick in the twist direction and out they went. It was very strange on my first jump to go to look at the canopy and the risers being twisted across and preventing me from rolling my head back.

Taste of Texas for steak. I know there is one in Houston... but I think there is one in Austin as well... SUPER nice restuarant.

I know how you feel... i'm doing my damnest to graduate this semester. I took 18 hours in the spring semester, 12 over the summer, and this fall semester i'm enrolled in 21 hours, then throw in a 20hr/week internship AND a bunch of career fairs/job interviews throughout the semester in an attempt to secure a job for after december graduation. AND... I also decided to start my AFF just shortly after the semester started... so i'm also trying to get off student status by the end of the year. *exhausted* Stick it out... it's worth it in the end.

0:1:0 It was my weekend to work... so I only got to make 1 jump (AFF Level 5) saturday afternoon after work... then the winds picked up beyond what I felt comfortable jumping in.

I've made it through the first 4 levels of AFF so far this year (5 jumps)... I hope to at least get my A-license by the end of the year... hopefully the weather will play nice.

ouch. That's pricey. Where I jump it's $179 for the tandem + 69 for the video/stills. Other area DZ's are comparable in price for the tandem+video/still package. For AFF, it's about $2500 for the 25 jumps including coaches/gear/etc... not accounting for any repeat jumps. Different dropzones have different programs so it's hard to compare 100%... but they are all in the same ballpark area from about 2000-2500 to finish off the licensing provided you don't have to repeat any levels.

once you're up to exit altitude... "so how about that raise..."

I can see money as an issue for not getting licensed... I personally put it off for 2 years after doing my tandem because I already had other [expensive] hobbies and didn't feel I was in the financial position to take up another one with the large initial investment such as skydiving. Eventually I said screw it and started AFF anyways and now i'm kicking myself in the ass every day for not starting it 2 years ago because I could've saved myself tens of thousands of dollars that I sunk into my previous hobby over the course of the last 2 years. As far as just trying out the sport by doing a tandem... not having money is usually just a cop-out for people who really can't nut up to do it. They squawk at spending $170 bucks on a tandem... but they buy a new $400 cell phone every 2 months.

8 days... it's aching to not be able to go jump... i'm trying to get off student status ASAP before the weather decides to bring in the unpredictable winds and clouds... Hopefully the weather will be more suited to jumping this weekend and I can get a couple in.

weekends definately get cleared out quick. People think i'm nuts when they invite me to do something on the weekend (like a party this saturday night for example)... and I tell them i'll be there if the weather is crappy.

I can relate. I just started working again this week after taking 6 months off for school... and *whew* is it a culture shock again! Keep looking and all will go well

i've bought/sold lots of stuff on ebay... I usually check my auctions pretty often to make sure everything is still going good on them and make sure they haven't already ended. (I've had two auctions in the past that somebody bid on and won... and I didn't find out until a couple of days later because i didn't receive an email from Ebay about it) I recently sold a laptop on ebay... I was EXTREMELY compulsive about that one since the proceeds from it went to pay for my FJC.

I've also heard the same old "i'd love to go skydiving" bit over and over. When they say something I will give them the suggestion of where to go and how much fun it was for me... but other than that they are on their own for setting it up. Most people are very wishy-washy when it comes to it, and I don't have the time to mess with them about it.

I don't know what the x:x:x is... but I did 3 dives this weekend, first 2 on saturday were AFF level 3, and then today did AFF level 4. 2 of 3 were standup landings... so i was quite pleased with the weekend.

I've only got 4 AFF jumps in so far, i flared too high on #1, stabbed #2, ran out #3, and sat down for #4. Everybody i've talked to in training, at the DZ, etc has said it is not abnormal at all to take a little while to get to be able to stand up all your landings. It takes some people longer than others to catch the hang of it. Even some of the experienced guys can be seen routinely scraping the grass in the landing area. ESPECIALLY on no wind days.

my parents bought me a gift certificate for a tandem for christmas one year... now i'm in the process of AFF. I guess they're both pretty supportive of it... my dad would like to do it as well, but in his line of business, he can't really afford to take the chance of getting hurt.

congrats! I've stood up half my jumps so far. We had no wind yesterday so I ran the first one out on my feet, and then softly landed the other one on my backside.

I've been hit and miss on this site for a litte while, reading and learning lots... but now that i'm actually progressing, I figured it was time to get involved. I did a tandem way back in December '04, but was more interested in Drag Racing at that time to take up skydiving (read: drag racing consumed all of my money and then some more that I didn't have) I finally ditched the drag racing thing as my next level of progression in that sport was FAR outside of my financial abilities (I simply do not have the 30-40 thousand dollars to operate the car each year ) Fast forward to 2 weekends ago, I went out with a buddy of mine to skydive spaceland to watch him make his first jump on his first personal rig... and the bug bit me again. The following thursday I was at Skydive Houston taking my FJC and on Saturday jumped and passed AFF Level 1, and jumped and passed AFF Level 2 on Sunday. Now all I can do is kick and scream waiting for this weekend to come so I can get some more jumps in and (hopefully) pass level 3 and more.