rnicks

I guess at this point I have to admit defeat and realize nobody is going to agree with me. I guess I'm just nicer than all you meanies

I understand how that type of conversation would get old and frusterating. However I don't believe being nice is just reserved for art class. I apply this concept to all aspects of my life. Though at 300 jumps I am not qualified to give out advice on jumping, my 30 years as a human qualifies me to speak on human nature! And you really do attract more bees with honey. In my line of work, I deal with some VERY MAD ANGRY people. Even though some may be mean and very rude to me, at the end of the day almost all of them thank me at the end of my shift because of the way I have treated them. I haven't taken away their diagnosis and they aren't any less mad, but hearing a very quiet mumbled "thank you", I know that it is possible to change somebody's attitude with kindness. Maybe not everybody has the time, patience or even the desire to be nice when giving advice. My reply to that would be, no problem. Just refrain from giving advice. Leave that for the ones that want to. Take Dave Lepka for example. Over lurking here for a few years, I have read hundereds of post by him to many different people all saying the same thing. And he is always very pleasent. (most of the time). I would go mad saying those words over and over!!!! I can only assume he genueinly cares about the well being of jumpers he doesn't know. Otherwise, why take the time to repeat whats been said a zillion times. I understand the stakes are high in skydiving. But that doesn't mean you have to be mean to get a point across. Jumping is not unique to danger. Many other sports are just as and more so dangerous. But for some reason in skydiving, the experienced want to eat their young. (A popular saying from nursing school) Just be nice! Most will listen.

Understand However, I believe the delivery of the message is just as important as the content. People respond negatively to negatism. (go figure!) However when the message is conveyed in a positive aspect, the content is much more likely to be fully absorbed. This in turn helps lead to the desired outcome. And wasn't that the original goal in the first place? To become safer skydivers? Just because one may have the experiences to offer up the advice to younger jumpers doesn't mean they have the people skills to do it.

If you need to be gently and softly talked into believing a message that is intended to save you from a violent a horrible death, maybe you're in the wrong sport.*** Disagree. I DO expect people to talk nicely to me and I'm doing just fine in the sport. Nobody has ever given me advice harshly, but if they had, I would be probably would be pissed and feelings hurt. People respond much better to positive reinforcemnet. If the "ass chewing" is given in a friendly but direct mannor, the content is more likely to be received and carried out.

I'm not even back to work yet and the entertainment starts!!

Did you not see that is is girl's weekend?? If it's a good party we should be sleeping well past noon sunday morning But of course I'm sure the pac will be flyin early. Tandams and all....See you then!

Edit to say: just see a doctor

Chrissy, you're missing girls weekend??? LAME!!

I'll be there. If you promise to land in the right direction, I'll even jump with you!!

With respect to your dzo and his rules, I think that's crap. If the winds are light enough to change that quickly, then they are light enough for you to take a downwinder easily. You should have a plan a stick to it. Especially students.

Good lord, whatever you do, don't listen to ridestong. Landing off is perfectly acceptable answer to ANY landing situation in which you are not comfortable. And yes, even if it is to avoid one person. As you gain experience, you may find you can handle the same situation differently. But for now you thought that was the right decision for you. And you were ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! Good for you.

Although I understand your beef from a safety standpoint, unless said jumper was there when you were outing him (probably the interpretation the DSO was given) you were in the wrong. Sounds like it was gossip.

Hey Scootz, Any chance you have room for one more on that float trip? I would love to do that. You and your friends seem fun. I'm sure we'll get along great!

No, no, no! They are definitely NOT telling me I screwed up their jump!! I should have worded that different. I tend to be very hard on myself. They actually have very positive things to say about my flying and are very encouraging. When they do give me constructive criticism, I keep my mouth shut and listen to every word with smile on my face!! I only meant that I FEEL that way. These people have hundreds to thousands of jumps. Compare that to my measely 200. Of course its going to be me messing it up!

Hmmm, This is quite an interesting observation. I was just talking to somebody about that. In my experience so far, it seems not that people hate RW, its just that nobody wants to do it. At my dz (and certainly from my observations on dropzone.com) many of the new jumpers only want to freefly. I would LOVE to join a 4-way team however people at my experience level have no interest in RW. I'm usually jumping with people with many more jumps than me and always feel I am screwing up their dive. It's unfortunate that you feel hated on for RW. To me it seems many new jumpers want to be part of the "cool crowd" so in essence want to go straight to freeflying. To each his own I guess, but I think they're missing out. Most of my friends are freefliers as well, but I LOVE RW! They never "give me crap". Do what YOU want to do and if people have a problem with it, its just that: THEIR PROBLEM.

It should probably be fine, but ask the instructors there. I'm assuming you have the port for chemo? As I'm sure you would, make sure your counts are good before going. Good luck and have fun!

Why should he? He is recovering from an injury and giving his body the appropriate amount of time to heal, which IS A GOOD THING! Besides, I find his posts entertaining.

Which one is you?

And another thing to ponder: There is a whole group of people responsible for this, not just the OB. Somehow it was missed by ultrasound that the fetus still had a heartbeat after the MIP. Likely the doctor knew the baby was alive at birth (how could you not). Normal procedure after that would be the doctor would leave after the delivery and let the nurse take care of the dying infant and console the parents. The doctor should have came back and actually declared but in reality that rarely happens. It was likely the nurse that disposed of the infant. Remember that nurses do not work FOR doctors. They are independent and have their own license. They are just as responsible as the doctor (if the above scenario played out like described).

This procedure was done after finding out the fetus had medical issues probably from a routine ultrasound at 20 weeks. Therefore the procedure was not actually an abortion but an MIP (medical interrupted pregnancy). The result is the same but the actual procedure is severely different. Also, a 22 week infant is NOT viable so they wouldn't have intubated anyway (see my previous post) so the doctor did not preform infantacide. He should receive some kind of reprimand from the hospital for negligence but not charged with murder. ETA: After thinking about it, I'm not quite sure if negligence is the right word. Possibly incompetence, but only hearing the media side of it (think how wrong they get it in skydiving) I'm not quite sure. A mix of incompetence and negligence maybe. These things are not always black and white. I have seen some VERY strange things in the 6 years I worked labor and delivery.

While this is a terrible story, its also very interesting. In the US, a fetus is not considered viable until 23 weeks. If a baby is born prematurely at 22 weeks, nothing will be done even if the parents had wanted medical intervention. 23 1/7 weeks is the cutoff for calling the NICU team for deliveries. It terrible when they don't die immediately, but it does happen. So its very interesting they tried to revive it in the first place.

I have a friend who wears gators and has never lost a contact. I, on the other hand, loose contacts constantly despite trying every kind of sunglasses and goggles there are. I guess it going to depend on you.

ooooh, is poker really played??? How can i get in on this?!?

Wow, that pic is great! I'm sure I'll have a great time as everyone seems to be welcoming already. Thanks! Look forward to meeting you!

Thanks for the encouragement guys! It was a hard decision between LP and summerfest, but now I'm really looking forward to it!