livendive

Pop quiz: 1 - How many USPA staffers are tasked with serving as the organization's government relations interface? Hint: What's his name? 2 - How often do you think he meets face to face with congressmen/senators/bureaucrats? Hint: A LOT of governmental communication is done by e-mail or other written media 3 - When our representative does meet face-to-face with government types, what percentage of the time is it at 'our' place as opposed to 'theirs'? Hint: They don't care where his office is, they care where their office is FYI - USPA is NOT "primarily a lobbying entity." Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Who's seen this one before? In a 1991 speech when he was the Secretary of Defense, Dick Cheney said the following with regard to Bush I's excursion in Iraq... Source Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Forget waterskiing squirrels, talking birds, and poo-flinging monkeys...This is one cool dog! Watch the video's. Hmmm...I might need a new line of credit to afford the number of treats it'll take to teach my bulldog, Gracie, this one.

As others have said, you don't have to beat the static line. Just follow the count your instructor has taught you. You may want try yelling the count, which might help you keep up with it (in addition to proving to your JM that you ARE doing the count) . Then remember to stick with what you are doing while the parachute is opening. The opening shock may shake your arms a bit while you're reaching, but stick with it. Waiting for everything to settle down again before reaching in to pull will likely result in failing the jump. That said, understand that different dropzones have different counts, different handle locations, different static line lengths, and possibly even different expectations, so remember to run any advice you receive here (or anywhere else) past your instructor before using it. More than likely we'll get really close, but there's always a chance that your DZ does things slightly differently than ours do. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

I've got a fair number of jumps with no visual altimeter and my Pro-Track in my pants/shorts pocket just to log the jump. Once during a mal I glanced at my wristwatch to find out that my main had assumed an unlandable configuration at exactly 3:10 in the afternoon, but otherwise I've never looked over at my wrist on those jumps. What purpose would the altimeter serve on jumps where I simply don't look at it? Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

ROFL! I cruised around that site for a little while and found this. Too funny. http://www.alamoministries.com/Gospel_Messages/English/tobacco.html Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

I got laid off in November. I don't know if you're getting any severance, but if so, combining it with unemployment can result in a pretty cool situation. For me, it worked out like this... - I didn't have to go to work for two months - I got sixteen weeks salary (total from various sources) to spend in those two months - I got a new job doing more interesting work, closer to home, for 35 percent more than I was previously earning Suffice it to say getting laid off was one of the best things that's happened to me in my career. I hope it turns out similarly well for you. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Ahh...I remember that post by Dan on rec.skydiving some years ago. It's particularly relevant to this thread, so I'll paste the rest of it. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

On my first camera jump I found myself sit-flying through a grand. I flipped on my belly, waved off at my film-ee (who had noticed our predicament about a second and a half earlier), and dumped my main at ~800 feet. Note - this was back when I had a CYPRES. Proving it's better to be lucky than good, I reached over my shoulder and caught my reserve bridle just as I was settling in under my main at ~400 feet. That was an interesting 15-second canopy ride...I pulled my reserve up by its lines, stuck it between my knees, looked at the parking lot coming up and picked which two light poles to go between, unstowed my brakes, turned 30 degrees, and flared. But I swear, those two were the only dumb things I've ever done while skydiving! OK, maybe not... Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

At about 160 jumps, some friends and I were at an unfamiliar dropzone taking our BIC. We showed up early Saturday to get a hop & pop in before class, and my friend asked to borrow my Triathlon-175 rig because he hadn't brought his and the only rigs the DZO had to loan out had substantially smaller canopies in them (120 and 108 ellipticals). I said OK. Given the cloud cover, this describes my jump... First jump at a new DZ. First jump on an elliptical. First jump on anything smaller than 175 sq.ft. (the 120, which I was loading at ~2:1) First jump on a pullout. New emergency handle locations (they were above the chest strap). A fairly low exit due to clouds...2100'. ...all of this while supposedly there to demonstrate that I had the judgement skills necessary to be a good instructor. I didn't get hurt...actually I had fun, but in retrospect that was a pretty stupid jump. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Cats don't have owners, they have servants.

I scored in the top 0.2% on the Mensa test (and let my membership lapse after one year because it was seriously boring.) I once went for a 20-minute swim in the middle of a small Siberian bay...at night...in November...just for something to do. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Ditto as far as cool experiences go. I was out at sea when my marriage fell apart 15 years ago. Emotionally, I was a wreck, and at my lowest points, I would go out on deck and stare at the ocean. It never failed in those times that either porpuises or dolphins would show up to play on the bow and cheer me up. Fast forward 6 months and I was at Black's Beach, swimming nude in the surf with a girlfriend and another couple. For some reason, I swam out much further than the others, only to have my heart jump into my throat when my girlfriend screamed "shark!" I saw a dorsal fin approaching me and started swimming as smoothly as I could toward shore. A few seconds later I glanced over my shoulder and saw that it was MUCH closer. Forget smooth, I started racing toward shore. My next glance revealed 3 dorsal fins rather than 1 and I realized sharks don't swim like that. I stopped and watched just in time to see a blowhole open, then let them approach. They were lazily "bodysurfing" the waves sideways, making their way up the beach, and I swam back out to them, then with them. For a solid 3-4 minutes I swam my ass off to hang out within just a few feet of them. They made a couple chirps and squeaks and I remember thinking this is like something out of "Flipper". In the meantime my friends are walking up the beach, keeping parallel with me and screaming how crazy I am, which seemed odd by comparison to how relaxing and peaceful that felt. Eventually I tired and couldn't keep up, I made my way to the shore and we camped there on the beach that night. To this day, that afternoon remains one of the best moments of my life. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

I'm by no means a fan of itsy-bitsy dogs, but Charlie and Nelson ROCK! I like the droopy jowls/lips of bull mastiffs...my girls (boxer/bulldog pictured above) have 'em too.

Pembroke Welsh Corgi Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Here are my contributions: ally-curious.jpg - Ally at 7 weeks gracie1cropped.jpg - Gracie at 5 weeks ally&gracie.jpg - The day they met (in Ally's bed) da_girls2.jpg - Both of them, late last summer Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

As a TM, don't you get that falling sensation during the trapdoor? I certainly do (except on the occasional jumps in which there is no noticeable trapdoor, thanks to Insta-Canopy). Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

That's the funny thing about statistics. How long does the average marriage last? Should one sacrifice a (theoretically) life long passion for skydiving over something (marriage) that typically lasts 5 years? Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

who thinks Richard Simmons being charged with assault is hilarious? LOL - Just imagine how this went down... http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/03/25/simmons.cite.ap/index.html Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

My snowboarding fell WAY off. I went from 20+ days a year to 1-2. I also quit riding my mountain bike as a "real" mountain bike (though I still occasionally ride on roads and simple terrain), and I never hang out at bars till closing anymore. I no longer spend nearly as much time with my non-skydiving friends, but I didn't completely ditch 'em. I just spend more time with different friends now. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

I had to crop and reduce the size and "quality" of this screenshot to meet the 60k limit, but I didn't change the score. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Jump number 33. 26' LoPo landings SUCK! Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

..:7: 7 jumps, helped drink a case of beer a S/L student of mine brought out for his first freefall. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Or at least part of the way!...or not.

LOL - I can imagine! I've got Cinci staying alive long enough to beat Duke. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)