Donna

Hey Dove - I sure hope we've reached our quotas, too! My knee is doing ok. I am walking fine and can run a bit but still have to be very careful of any impact stuff. They reconstructed my ACL with a graft from my hamstring and it takes up to 2 years to get set or whatever. I have 2 surgeons. One said I had to wait until November (a whole year). He is on the conservative side. My other one said 6-9 months so I kind of decided to plan on 7 months (july). At my last appt. that doctor thought July looked good. With this good weather we've recently had I've been really tempted to just try now anyway. Thing is walking on uneven ground or any twisting or turning motion still hurts and my graft is still pretty vulnerable at this point. I guess the graft they put in dies and your body makes a new one. This usually happens around 3-4 months that's why all doctors like you to wait at least 6 months for any sports. I'm sure people have jumped sooner but with my luck I know I'll screw it up somehow and I don't want to have to start all over again. I'm working hard strengthening my quads and hamstrings and hoping my leg will be strong enough by July to jump my butt off for the rest of the summer and fall. How are things going for you? When can you jump again? Blue Skies, D

Congrats on passing your level 2, Gale, but sorry to hear about your ankle. That sucks. I can relate to the frustration of having to wait because of injuries. On my second jump I broke my tailbone. That wasn't too bad... only 3-4 week wait. Then on my 20th jump (Oct. '00) I fell out of the tree I landed in and wrecked my back. Just when I went to start again (April '01) after that I fell while painting at the DZ and tore some ligaments in my knee. That was another 2 month wait. I jumped the rest of the summer and then had surgery on that knee last November and now I'm waiting for July to get here so I can get back in the sky. Hang in there. The sky will still be there. You should have plenty of good jumping weather days left this summer after you heal. It's a good idea to still hang out at the DZ though. Learn how to pack, watch and listen to others and keep touching base. I find it helps during injury lay offs. Good luck! Blue Skies, D

ICQ - 912153 (Sky Ty) Blue Skies, D

Thanks! I'll try it! Blue Skies, D

How did you get it to work? I'm getting the same error message. Blue Skies, D

Nah. They didn't do that over on wreck. Blue Skies, D

Remster - No one did say it here, at least not in this thread. I was just pointing out an example (agreeing with Bill) of where an RSL could have helped in a spinning malfunction situation. I added the AAD part because it's something I've heard at my DZ and from a gear manufacturer that has never set well with me. Sorry for the confusion. Very true and the important words there are "topic forums". I love the 'safety and training' and 'gear and rigging' and the 'skydiving disciplines' forums on here. Lately some very experienced people have joined in and it's been great. (Initially that wasn't always true) Skydiving talkback has a lot of static. That isn't always a bad thing. Static can be fun too.... for those involved... and it's fun to talk about non-skydiving stuff sometimes. Unfortunately rec isn't segregated into different forums but if you know who to put in kill files or just skip or when to just mark a thread as read you can cut down on a lot of the noise. Also I've found when I ask a serious question I get a lot of helpful advice... thing is it often comes as a private e-mail which is too bad sometimes because then that info isn't being shared. Blue Skies, D

I know an experienced skydiver who had a spinning malfunction last summer and had an extremely hard time cutting away. I _think_ he may have had the cut away pad with velcro on both sides and that may have added to it. Anyway he finally did eventually cutaway and went spinning off..... and never deployed his reserve, whether it was due to waiting to get stable or whatever. Luckily for him his CYPRES eventually fired and his reserve had just enough time to fully open before he touched down hard. Quite a few people had told me that you don't need an rsl (when I was thinking of getting a racer and was questioning the double sided rsl) as long as you have an AAD. While that ended up working out in this case I know a few people gave the rsl a little more thought afterwards. I agree there are pros and cons and everyone needs to see which scenario is more likely in their own individual case. In some cases you definitely shouldn't use one but I still cringe when I hear the new jumper told they don't need one if they have a CYPRES though. Blue Skies, D

And what about the other RSL post here that had 2 monitors threatening to lock the thread? I don't see why you guys feel the need to knock rec all the time. Skydivers are skydivers. Blue Skies, D

Cool! Congratulations! I just got a 2002 Blazer. She's dark green and I named her Sydney. Now I don't have to worry about getting up my driveway in the snow. Have fun with your Explorer! Blue Skies, D

A 501 ass is definitely better than a Wrangler ass but that may be because I'm from the Northeast and wranglers aren't in here. I'd take it as a compliment Paul and go get yourself a pair of 501s.

Sorry to hear all you are going through, Michele! You'll be in my thoughts and I'm sending good vibes your way. Hang in there. You have a fighting spirit and I hope things work out well. Hugs!!!! Blue Skies, D

I'm incredibly allergic to most perfumes. I get instant headaches. I hate when you get all settled in the movie theater and some woman comes in loaded with perfume and plops near you and you have to move. I do like when someone has recently showered and has that clean shampoo smell. There are a couple of very light "fruity" sprays that aren't too bad. Like if a minute or so after someone walks by and you get a faint whiff that's cool but when you can smell them coming.... YUCK! It drives me crazy when I go to the gym and these women all decked out and reeking of perfume come in and climb on the elliptical trainer next to me and you're breathing heavy and dying for oxygen and you take in a big breath and start choking from the stench. As for make up I wear a little blush and some mascara and maybe eyeliner on special nights but keep me away from the pancake mask and lip stick etc. It's just not me. If others want to wear it that's fine because unlike perfume it doesn't physically bother me. Dressing up for me is wearing my jeans without holes and my black sneakers. I like men in jeans, T's and sneakers, clean smelling with naturally messy hair. Hair combed to perfection and/or with gel and dressy clothes and shoes and colognes and I look right past them attraction wise. Blue Skies, D

I have an autographed copy of Stephen King's "IT". My husband and I both started reading a paperback copy of it around the same time. On night we both wanted to read it and were arguing. I was quite a bit further ahead so we ripped the book in half at that point and both got to read. Months later I wrote to King to ask him if he had experienced a child dying because it comes up in his books and when I saw him on a talk show and he was asked what was the scariest thing he could think of he replied that it was the death of a child. It turns out he hadn't experienced it but he thought it was funny about what happened to the book so he sent a signed hard cover copy of "IT" for us. "IT" was good but not as good as "The Stand" especially the uncut version. Sometimes I think his books end a little weak but I love his character developments. Blue Skies, D

I love to read and I have so many favorites it's hard to name them. Stephen King is my favorite and I just got his latest release, a book of short stories called "Everything's Eventual", yesterday and I'm already buried in it. I've read all his previous books except The Dark Tower Series. The short story "The Long Walk" was one of my favorites of his. Moving beyong King, "The Bridges of Madison County" was one of my most favorites. I love Mauve Binchy books... and Nicholas Sparks... and Sandra Brown... and John Grisham.... and Barbara Delinsky... The Harry Potter Books. Yah. I know. Deep reader here. I also love true medical drama and adventure stories. And "Where The Red Fern Grows" was my all time favorite as a kid and I read it to my kids when they were younger and they loved it, too. And of course I love Skydiving books. The Endless Fall, Skydivers with their Pants on Fire, The Skydiver's Handbook, Double Malfunction, Skydiving in Eight Days. Let us know how Sky Blues is Lisa and The skydiver's Survival Guide, Skip. I also plan on getting "Mental Training for Skydiving and Life" soon. Well off to read! Great idea for a thread, Lisa! I have a $50 certificate for B&N and now I have new ideas to look for! Blue Skies, D

I agree with Andrea. I never thought it was a choice. Blue Skies, D

Look how one of my cats sleep. I think he's double jointed.... or one of his ancestros had sex with a rabbit. Blue Skies, D

Congratulations!! Welcome to the sky. Good luck with AFF. Remember to smile! Blue Skies, D

For accuracy landings at our DZ, even though we have a big red X we are encouraged to place something (a blanket or a frisbee etc) on the ground before we get in the plane and then aim for that. If you always keep aiming for the same spot it gets more predictable and you aren't learning as much. Just a thought. Blue Skies, D

Sorry to hear about your torn PCL. I recently had ACL reconstruction so I can empathize with knee problems. Here is a link to a good knee site if you're interested. http://www.cincinnatisportsmed.com/pkneeb.htm Good luck! Blue Skies, D

Married 20 years this June. More in love now than ever. He made a few jumps back in college and after I did a tandem a few years ago we went through AFF together. Life is good. Blue Skies, D

Elevate it and use ice, not heat. I tore 2 of my ligaments (ACL and MCL) last April. I jumped again in July and made it through the summer though my knee kept giving out unexpectedly so I finally had surgery on it in November. It's a long recovery time because the graft they use to replace the ACL has to get established and that can take a year or two. Most doctors won't release you for sports for at least 6 months. I slid a lot of my landings in last summer because I figured I had nothing to lose since my knee was already wrecked but I'm not rushing back this time because I do NOT want to go through this again if I screw up. I'm hoping to get back up in the air by July. Knee injuries suck. Good luck! Blue Skies, D

I don't smoke. Never did. I'm a PIA about that, too. I hate being around cigarette smoke. And when a non-smoker kisses a smoker.... yuck! Oh... and to a different post. I hate all onions. I don't touch anything with onions in them. Blue Skies, D

Oh man! I hate pickles and their juice that runs into everything else on your plate! I always get my chicken sandwich plain at BK. And they often screw it up. And there is NO way you can wipe mayo off! My oldest son is even fussier than I am and I didn't think that would be possible. When he was a little kid around 3 we went away on a vacation. He flipped out the first night at supper because his hamburger roll had sesame seeds. We tried to scrape them off but that didn't change his mind. Then I thought of getting 2 bottoms since the sesame seeds were on top. Well he found ONE seed on the bottom roll and refused to touch it. Of course there was nothing else on the menu that he liked. The next night we carefully checked before ordering (or even deciding to eat there!) to make sure this place didn't have sesame seeds on their buns. Nope. We thought it was all good. Well the hamburger ended up being square instead of round and he wouldn't touch it. He still hates square ones to this day (just turned 16). He says the corners are always burnt. Blue Skies, D

Oh I do like croutons and bacon bits (real ones!). I don't suppose you can have a salad with just those and no lettuce or anything........ can you? Blue Skies, D