BikerBabe

LOL...mine just came in the mail yesterday, and I can't stop playing with it! We have a coach, but he won't be there all the time, and it seems like this will be really nice to help us engineer skydives when we have to coach ourselves. I think it will help even if we don't follow their continuity plan, since it is a good tool to use to show the technicalities of the exits and how to perform the blocks, even if the slots are different. Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

Argh! That pisses me off. As far as I'm concerned, if your kids can't tell the difference between what's right and wrong, or between what's real and make-believe, then you need to take a serious look at your parenting skills. Shelter them till they're 18! Yeah! That's a good way to raise your kids, because god forbid they have to deal with bad things in their lives. What's going to happen to those kids when they get out into the real world? Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

I stick with my PC...much more versatile. Besides, until I have kids, I can't seem to justify the expense of a game console. Not that I wouldn't use it, mind you...I'd just be a little bit embarrassed... My husband thinks video/computer games are the biggest waste of time ever...it drives him crazy that I can play Morrowind or the Sims for hours... Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

My last Bev Suit had the zipper booties, and that is the one thing I'll change. They are super-hard for me to get off and on, which led me to walk around a lot with my booties on, which led to them wearing out faster than normal, even with shoe-goo. We're ordering team suits next month from Bev, and I'll probably not get the zipper booties. Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

LOL...4-way provides ample fodder for pet names: Meeker Photon Yuan Zipper Piver (or Viper, I suppose) Snowflake Opal Murphy Bunyip Zig Zag Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

Ron, I generally agree with you, as someone who plans on competing in the advanced class next year with my weekend team. However, I must correct a misconception that I hear a lot of... ACK! No! Wrong! As far as I know, the Knights don't train 4-way on top of (and secondary to) putting 1000 students per year through a 25-hour ground school/5-jump course. On top of 21-hr course loads, mandatory intramural athletics, and various military duties... When I was on the team (I did the Demo team, not the competition team), I think the Senior 4-way team got maybe 30 4-way training jumps a month on Air Force Academy time. Look at any of their logbooks...a majority of their "free" jumps at the AFA will be from 4,000 ft. The only exception was on our spring break training camp. If you look at previous nationals results, the top AF cadet team only started attending USPA nationals a couple of years ago, and until this year, they were averaging in the 7-8 range. This year's team decided to go out to Calhan on the weekends, go to the tunnel, and train using their own $ for jumps...and it shows. None of the previous years teams has done nearly as much training on their personal time (or dime). At the AFA, competiton, while a cool aspect of the Wings of Blue, is really not the number 1 priority...As a matter of fact, if I had to rank them when I was there, it would be teaching AM-490 (the basic first jump course), demos, then competition in order of priority. Things may have changed since then, but I doubt it. It's much easier to recruit applicants to the AFA from an air show audience of 200,000... Sorry for harping...it just gets to me when I hear that the AFA teams have it easy...

I'm a Leo. I don't know how much I believe this stuff, but the personality descriptions of Leos that I've seen are pretty dead-on for me. RRRROWWWWRRRRR! Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

I'd much rather train back to back, but I can't afford another rig right now Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

Obviously it's 4,000 ft...time to track away! Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

LOL...spiders is one. Crowds is a big one. I'm only 5'1", and I am deathly afraid of being boxed in by people and not being able to see anything because they are all taller than me. When I went to the Fiesta de San Fermin in Pamplona, I was mashed into a square the size of a very small city block full of probably 200,000 people, and I nearly blacked out, I was so nervous. But my biggest phobia is slipping and falling while walking on ice. I don't mean an ice rink, just when the sidewalk has ice on it. I end up taking little tiny baby steps out to the middle of the patch, then stopping and hyperventilating and freaking out. I don't think they have a name for this phobia. But it's a phobia, enough to induce panic attacks in me, just the same. I don't know where this came from, but I'm just terrified of slipping and cracking my head open. I think the most insane people in the world are those guys who find a patch of ice, run at it at full speed, then slide on their shoes across it. OMG! Nuts! Insane! Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

Kebe is an AWESOME coach...and a really nice guy. He coached my first ever freefly jumps since all of the freeflyers were competing at the money meet... If you go to the Eloy holiday boogie, you might want to check out his school. He has a structured progression and this past week I saw several "baby" skysurfers at Eloy...so maybe it's catching on again. Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

Actually, they just re-did the bunkhouse over the summer...it's not too bad now. You may want to check it out. Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

hubby and I will be there th 12th-15th. I'll be team training the 14th and 15th, but otherwise free. Look for the camper in the lot with the brown and tan trim... Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

5 (days spent in Eloy): 37 (holy hell!): 1 Spent 5 days at Eloy, 4 of which were in the Airspeed skills camp knocking out 8 jumps a day...then spent Monday attempting to freefly . 37 jumps total. That makes just over 300 since Jan. 1st. The beer is for my first time breaking 30 points on a 4-way (33 to be exact). It really helps to be jumping with Craig Girard and Kirk Verner, though. What a rush! I was buzzing the whole way home! Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

Yes, gordo, thank you for rubbing it in. Why don't you tell them about the 5-way we did on Saturday? Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

We have a single 182, but it's a widebody, with 3 ft wingtip extensions and the 520 engine in it. Consequently, we can climb to 10,500 AGL in about 23 minutes...and our DZ is located at 5,000 ft above sea level! It's really a great plane. I'm sort of a split personality on this. I had almost 300 jumps before I moved to NM and made my first ever Cessna jump. I was turbine-spoiled, but I'll tell you, I still love my little home DZ. The people there are just great, there aren't really any cliques to speak of (there aren't enough of us!), and even on shitty days, we'll be down there doing something. Now, don't get me wrong, I train at a big DZ, and I love it. I just got 33 skydives over 4 days this past week, and I couldn't be happier. But a part of me wished that all my buddies from the little DZ could be there, too. As for the student issue, we try to balance the loads as much as possible. Usually every 2 or 3 loads is an experienced load...it also gives the JM's and TM's time to reset and recharge for the next round. It seems to work well. I'd say give it a shot, especially for the social aspect. Hell, I don't really like to jump too much in the cold, anyway...it's the camraderie that counts! Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

How did this get lost? I'm in. Who else? Come on...I can't tell you how cool it is to be a floater on the trailing plane and look over to see another plane RIGHT THERE! Just do it! Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

Mark, if you take that quote of mine in context, you'll see that I DON'T think it's a bad thing. Like wendy said, I'd rather see some checks in the system. Would I want every democratic agenda item to pass if both houses and the pres. were Democratic? NO. Just like I don't want every republican agenda item to pass. Yes, personally, I'm liberal and I fear what the next 2 years might bring. But I'd be just as leery if we went the opposite way. We'll see. If the Republican's can't fix things, then what is going to happen? Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

GAH! Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

This is exactly the way I feel. My non-skydiving husband lawyas asks how my day or weekend went, and patiently listens when I ramble on and on about his or that thing that happened at the DZ. He'll even watch my tapes! It's to the point now that he shows my tapes to visiting family (he doesn't like to admit that, though). Anyway, it sounds like there are some trust issues going on here. Bringing him to the DZ might be a big first step. Why don't you get some decent video of YOU doing what you love...heck, you could even splice in bits of what happens on the ground...and show him sometime? If the issue is trust, maybe you could compromise by you saying, OK, how about I only stay for one beer, then I come home? If the issue is that he's worried about your safety, definitely show him a video, sit down with him and show him the SIM/BSRs, whatever. Either way, it sounds like you're heading for a blow-up, and something should be done soon. Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

Ooooh, I forgot about that! It's really cool! You can try it out at www.gravitypilot.com They have a little demo up on that site. It's a little expensive, but really really worth it. Especially since you'll be "coaching" yourself, so to speak. Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

I don't think it's a good thing at all. Not because of my personal political views, but because a split Congress/Executive branch ensures much more care will be taken when deciding issues that the American people care about. Yes, we bitch and moan about how Congress is deadlocked and can't get anything done, but there's the other extreme of going TOO far with any one agenda. So...I bet if all the congresspeople out there took a poll of their constituents on an issue...let's say drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, they might find the majority of people are opposed to it. But hey, we're a Republican Congress, let's do it anyway! Where's the check on that? Especially if it's not something the majority of people want? These are our REPRESENTATIVES...I always get so mad when someone accuses a politician of being "a slave to the polls"...um...shouldn't they be? If 75% of the people in your district believe that we should leave ANWR alone...should you vote for drilling? Probably not. Will you? Probably so, since oil money got you elected. (This is happening here in NM) I think it's going to be a scary 2 years, personally. And I don't think GWB has very good advisors, either. I see them as living for the short term, rather than looking toward changing for the future. Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

Here are some of mine. DON'T LAUGH! They work! C is for Corn Flake...MURPHY FLAKE D-Doggy-style, as in: "YUAN it Doggy style?" LOL E- MEEEEEEEEEker Gee, it's a CATACCORD! (please don't ask me why that works, but I've never forgotten it!) J- Jelly DONUT K- HooKKKKKKK L- Ladder-ADDER! M- Married With Children, Al BUNDY N-CraNNNNNk O-Orbit-SATELLITE Seriously though, learning the dive pool is the easy part. There are so many facets to visualization...What I would suggest for you since you don't have a team yet is to choose 3 other people that you have jumped with before and put them into your visualization. Also, you might want to try out different slots in your visualizations, since you may not know that yet, either. The following is what seems to work the best for ME...and of course, every person is different when it comes to this type of thing. What works for me may not work for you. I only get to train two weekends a month. Between those camps, I take about 10 minutes a day to really sit and visualize a skydive. Which skydive I pick depends on the goals I had for the previous training camp and my goals for the next one. Sometimes it will be the best skydive of the previous traiining weekend. Sometimes it will be a dive from a previous meet's draw. When I visualize, I like to get the sequence of the dive down pat first, and I sort of do a little chant to myself of the names of the formations in order. i.e. say I want to visualize myself (and my team) doing round one of the 4-way open from Nationals: B-12-2. First I'll say to myself, "stairstep, zipper, star, sidebody donut, sideflake donut." over and over, like I'm just walking the skydive, in my head. After I have the sequence, I'll visualize the angles. What that means is I visualize the transitions from one formation to the next 3 times each. How will it feel? What do I need to do to get where I need to be? What part do I play in turning that block? After I've done the angles, I'll visualize the skydive from the perspective of the cameraperson, all the way through, 3-5 pages. Then I'll take a break, come back, and visualize 3-5 pages but this time from my perspective, as if I were in the skydive this time. FINALLY, I'll visualize the exit, and where I need to be when we come out of the plane. Also, if you have web access while you're over there, take some time to check out the Airspeed articles that are here on this site. There is a ton of good info in those, since my long-winded post here has only scratched the surface. I wuld pay special attention to the visualization one and the one that describes the slots. Good luck! Andi Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

I think it got to 55 in the city today, but since Ilive up in the mountains, it was still only 36 when I got home. I'll still make a jump or two, in the afternoons. But ski season is upon us! Taos, here I come! Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

If I'm not training, I can afford to make 3-6 per weekend. Of course, that's about as many as I can possibly make, since we only have one 182...3 a day is a good day at home. The average training weekend with my team costs me about $600, including travel to Phoenix. Luckily, we get $15 training jumps at Eloy, which helps a bit. We're going to start training twice a month, so I'll probably have to cut back on my jumps at home...maybe to 1 or 2 a weekend. off topic note: It's snowing like mad here right now! Holy shit! Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!