BikerBabe

IT'S HERE!!!!!!!!!! That's right, my brand spankin' new Infinity is here, came yesterday, and I jumped it today, because one of our riggers was nice enough to put it together at the last minute for me. I love it...it's so beyoooooteeful! It fits great, too....Check out that kick-ass logo on the mudflap, too. Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

Yes...according to the Joint Staff (the folks in the pentagon who work for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), the war is considered over. Funny, why are my friends and compatriots still dying over there? Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

Infinity. I ordered one, and I made several changes after I sent in the inital order. Every time I called and said my name, they knew immediately who I was and were able to give me answers about my order on the spot. Plus it's less expensive than many others, just as good quality, and the folks are friendly. Mine will be at my house on Wednesday! Woohoo! Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

Yeah, they talked to everyone at the airport that morning...they even called me as I was waiting in the security line in ABQ to ask how I always "got away with it"! I even offered to talk to the TSA guys as someone who had flown thru there the WEEKEND BEFORE, and they would have no part of it. I didn't think to have them call Southwest...that's a really good idea to have in my back pocket. Actually, that's what I do, I carry my little printout from Southwest that says Cypres's are OK with all the time (even when I'm not flying SWA...shhhh). Of course what was really funny is talking to the TSA hotline girl hearing her say that NO sporting equipment could be carried on except baseball gloves....as I'm standing at the gate with my gear bag swung over my shoulder! Maybe I'm just lucky, but I haven't had any problems, yet... I try to dress comfortably and conservatively, smile, do whatever they tell me, and not act nervous in any way. If they ask me to take off my shoes, do a jig, and sing happy birthday standing on one foot, I'll do it, as long as it will get me through without them doing strange things to my rig. Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

Dude, if you ever get to Skydive Suffolk in Virginia, ask the DZO (Larry Pennington) if he remembers "swamp girl". Yep, that's me. 2nd jump ever at this DZ (just a visitor), and I land out in an honest-to-god swamp. I couldn't get out because the underbrush was so thick, and they sent their Cessna looking for me. When they did find me (after a couple of hours), turns out I was maybe 100 yards from someone's yard. At least they were nice enough to look for me... Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

Tried...they don't keep them. I think asking around is the best way, probably. On a separate but related note...would anyone here be interested in doing a meet that consisted of ONLY old blocks and randoms? Like if we could dig up a bunch of old dive pools and make sure the draw consisted of mostly (if not all) the old stuff? Just wondering...I think it might be pretty cool. Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

I think this may be the only way, since it is a document that the people at the security checkpoints as well as the airline ticket agents have access to. Right now, it's completely arbitrary. My teammates flew out of Phoenix (PHOENIX! mind you) last week, and TSA told them they couldn't carry on their rigs. OK...so they went back to the counter to check their rigs, and Northwest wouldn't let them check in their rigs, either! At this point they had already missed their plane. Phoenix! Where they probably see a parachute once a week, if not more! Finally someone with some sense decided to listen to them, but for some reason the TSA has it stuck in their head that parachutes have these "CO2 cartridges" that can explode in an airplane. If a Cypres could explode, why the hell would we wear it on our backs? Though that would be a good incentive to prevent low pulls, I guess. The people at PHX told my teammates that the last time a skydiver tried to fly through PHX was SIX YEARS AGO. Ha! It just proves their ignorance, seeing as how I personally flew out of PHX the weekend before... I think you just have to be lucky, since I haven't been hassled about it in a long time, and I fly with my rig at least once a month. Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

I would also be interested in this...if anyone has any, please let me know, as well. Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

The standard going rate in New Mexico is $35. OK, so that's one good thing about jumping here... Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

Another disadvantage to not having benches is one I noticed this week while jumping at a DZ with no benches in their otters: I can't see my teammates! Seriously, when we're not visualizing, we're usually joking around a little and generally getting the "team vibe" going on the way up (in our usual plane with benches). With no benches, it's very hard to do this, since no one is looking at each other. OK so it's kind of esoteric, but it's still a reason. And when I can talk to my teammates on the way up without straining something, I usually find myself in a better head space for the jump... Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

Hmmm...How about I try to put it back on subject, as a real live American who has been to Pamplona, seen the running of the bulls as well as one of the corridas during the Fiesta de San Fermin? First, a disclaimer: I love Spain. I have always been fascinated by the culture there, and after spending 3 weeks there after college, my love only deepened. One of the things I most looked forward to was seeing a bullfight. Mainly I was curious, but I also knew a little bit about the corrida from previous reading (Death in the Afternoon by Hemingway is a good one). First, San Fermines didn't become the huge drunken party that it is today until after Papa Hemingway published The Sun Also Rises. The Iruña Cafe is still there, where Hemingway hung out while researching and writing the book. By the way, "Iruña" is the Basque name for Pamplona. OK, I'll start with a brief overview of how San Fermines (commonly called the "running of the bulls") goes. Noon on July 8th - Mayor fires rocket from town hall balcony signaling the start of the Fiesta. The town square in front of the town hall is jamed with probably 100,000 people throwing flour, eggs, sugar, champagne and who knows what else. I had a cake on my shoes...and almost got trampled. afternoon-evening-night of 8 July: partying commences, bars are jammed, streets are packed. Imagine Mardi Gras. Now imagine it for 8 days straight. Party goes until 8 am... 8 am on 9 July and on each subsequent morning: The running of the bulls along a mile-long course through the streets of Pamplona, from the pens to the bullring. Everyone who runs in front of the bulls ends up in the bullring with them and thus commences a giant free-for-all with the bulls and people in the ring...this is NOT the bullfight. The bulls (and cows) that run are not the 6 that will be used later in the corrida. ~9 am until 5pm each day: sleeping. I slept in one of the parks. Hotel rooms are impossible to come by and too expensive, anyway. 5 pm: time for the Corrida. Three matadors participate. Each corrida is actually 6 separate bullfights, with each matador taking 2 bulls. You can read elsewhere how a bullfight goes. The parade, the picadores, the bandilereros, and the matador with the muleta and sword. The purpose of the picador and the bandilleras is to weaken the bull's neck muscles so the matador will have an easier time making the kill quickly. And the bulls ARE eaten after the corrida, sometimes as soon as that very night. Now, for my feelings about the corrida. Call me a cruel callous bitch if you want, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was lucky to attend a good corrida, with one of the matadors receiving an ear on both of his fights, and the others doing reasonably well, also. Only one missed the kill on his first try, in one of his fights. There is definiteiy an artistry to it that will never be appreciated by most, since they judge without ever having seen a corrida, and would be biased if they ever did. If anyone cares, I have a bunch of pictrues from the Fiesta, the running, and the corrida, and I can try to dig them out and scan them if you want. Andi Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

yep. If you like historical fiction, go read "The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara. One of the best novels I've ever read (they based the movie "Gettysburg" on it). Very interesting and hard to put down once you start. Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

Go Fast and Bacardi O. Yummy. Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

I'm leaving today I'm gonna be a part of it New York New York! Well, actually, I'm leaving early tomorrow morning for a week in NYC and training at the Ranch...look out New York, Audacity is coming to take you by storm! Woohoo! no work and NO INLAWS for a whole week! yay! Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

yep, me too. Gotta love those 4-day weekends! Thursday is a quick trip out to Gallup to pick up our team T-shirts, then Friday I fly to New York for 6 days of fun at the Ranch (yeah babay!), then on to Monterey to watch my hubby race at Laguna Seca! Vacation, here I come!!!! Watch out, NYC, Audacity is coming to take you over! Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

My in-laws just arrived for a 3-week "visit". just pray for me. pray hard. Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

I've had contacts since seventh grade... 1. I would get used to the contacts completely before you try to jump with them. It may take you a week or two to fuly adjust to them, but after that you won't even be able to tell you have them in. 2. I've never had a problem with my contacts while jumping. I've worn both goggles and a full face, and while I prefer a full face, goggles work, too. 3. Some people are more sensitive to the wind in their eyes than others. I am one of those people, so for me to say it hasn't bothered me is pretty good. 4. I have jumped with my glasses, but I've found that my glasses give me slightly different depth perception than my contacts do, so landing with my glasses was...humorous, to say the least! Good luck! Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

For me, at this point, the only times I get "nervous" are when I'm doing something completely new. Which is extremely rare. I can imagine myself being nervous if I were to, say, try a Birdman jump for the first time. However, with what I'm doing, sometimes I get "nervous" not about the situation, but about my own performance. I'm on a 4-way team, and there are times where we'll be doing something that I'm not as good at or a complex dive with a slot-switcher, etc. Then I might feel some anxiety in the plane, but part of being a competitor, at least for me, is learning how to control that anxiety, put it out of my mind, and calm down. As for being nervous about the FACT of jumping out of a plane? Not anymore. That went away somewhere between 50-100 jumps. Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

Pretty much anything I want to ride would have to be lowered. I love love love my Suzuki SV650.If you want a sportier-looking version, go with the SV-650S. It's a nice light bike with enough power and torque to do anything you need or want to do on the street or on the twisty roads. That being said, my first bike was a 1989 Honda CB-1, a little 400cc sport standard that they only sold for 2 years here in the states. It's for sale, if anyone wants one! Also, please, make every attempt to take the MSF course...it is totally worth the time. For all you sportbike nuts out there: Try to get out on a track sometime! most smaller road courses have track days...check at your local dealers they might have some info. I wish more people would do track days rather than kill themselves trying to ride too fast down the windy mountain roads. Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

We have people from Amarillo come to Skydive New Mexico quite often. Not sure why, since it's farther than the one in OK, but it's probably the second closest in terms of distance. Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

heh heh...yeah, they can be damaged! By the idiot TSA agent who doesn't know what a parachute is pulling on things he shouldn't be pulling on!!! "please check parachutes closely before using..." because Agent Dumbass pulled the square metal handle and now there's pastel-colored parachute material everywhere. Oh, that's your reserve chute? How do I put it back together? Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

Leaving for Eloy 4-way scrambles this weekend Gonna be a blast. Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

You Can Count On Me Great little movie that got rave reviews, but no one saw. I got to see it at the AFI film festival in LA, and the director and actors were all there. Laura Linney gave an incredible performance in this film! It also won the Sundance film festival when it came out. Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

Well, all I know is that seeing the invasion of Normandy on the big screen taken with WWII era cameras completely blew me away. Saving Private Ryan wins for me, hands down. The most realistic and horrifying war movie sequence ever. I remember reading that that opening actually cause some WWII vets to have flashbacks. Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

Bring Me to Life - Evanescence Hella Good - No Doubt Sandstorm - Darude Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!