HeatherB

I did not know Mariann well, but can attest to her friendliness and energy....I did my first bunch of jumps at Dallas with her back in January and she made me feel incredibly welcome. She seemed genuinely excited about jumping with me even though we'd just met. Since then, it seemed like she was always smiling whenever I saw her, even when she was packing in the summer heat. Hugs to everyone at the DZ who knew her well. --Heather

Cool! Congratulations and best wishes for many more years of happiness.

I just looked at it for the hell of it. Did you take into consideration that their exit didn't take place until 10 seconds into the video? Looks like 24 points in 35 seconds to me.

I knew you'd say something about it being "middlin' to decent!" Awesome that your teammate with less than 400 jumps is doing that well. And you guys don't even have a tunnel close by. I'm on an 8-way team this year. The TSL is the only league that has 8-way competitions. The scores do not get posted on skyleague. I'm tail....It's fun, lots of big moves and cool pictures on exit. We have about 70 jumps together so far (weather issues have slowed us down). We aren't going to Nationals though, bummer. I did a pick-up 4-way team at the last 4-way meet and we did alright considering the zero training. We were very serious about it...I mean our team name was "bend it over, make it real."

Congrats on your recent 10.5 in AAA!

You're fine. There are idiots out there who worship one brand and constantly talk badly about the others. (often with unwarranted claims) One potential problem to look out for (not just on a Jav but with others too): If you notice that the pop-top seems to be creeping outwards, forming a gap between the flaps and the pop-top, show it to a rigger. Just make sure your pop-top is always nice and flush with the rig. A gap is a potential snag point. (but easily fixed by a rigger). Causes for this can include a closing loop that is too long, or the pilot chute not being seated exactly right. And while the rig may look perfectly fine right after a repack, the pop-top can start "creeping" over time. If a rigger wants to chime in, feel free. I'm just going off of my stint in the industry and what I've seen.

Hey Z-hills peeps! My dad emailed me an article from the Tampa Trib about the event. A few photos. Cute little write-up. The file is too large to attach. I'll try again when I'm not about to fall over. --Bucky

Stick in the mud! I think the female class should go away. Women have proven that they can perform just as well as the guys. Besides perhaps strength for blocks, what "advantages" in 4-way do guys have over women? I'm honestly curious if people think women are at a disadvantage physically/mentally/whatever. Can of worms? Maybe, but I can't see a justification for a female class. The "to get more women to compete" reason seems lame to me.

I'm not a rigger, but I popped a reserve once and found a toggle unattached to the brake line. It just slipped off in my hand. Not so good. Edit to add: the owner of the rig was his own rigger

I hear ya! We still don't have an 8th for our 8-way team. It may have to remain a rotating slot. We've had some great fillers but it'd be nice to have a permanent 8th. It's hard enough to get 4 people together...getting 8 together is nearly impossible. What's wrong with people? Training is fun!

awww...I miss the muff brother chants! Not a whole lotta muff bros action going on here in Dallas. No singin' in the plane. hrmmm...maybe I should try it next time around. They might think I'm drunk though. I also miss the "even if you get as good as {insert name} you'll still suck!" song.

My family, boyfriend and I were there last May -- We rented a big house in Waves. We had 6 adults and 2 kids. The house had a pool, hot tub, pool table, just a few steps from the ocean. Here's where we rented from: http://www.surforsound.com We had fun. Went up to Kill Devil Hills, the Wright Bros museum, tried hang gliding, checked out the light houses, etc. Pretty place. It was a little chilly in May but the rates were a lot cheaper than in the summer.

1:19:0 1 beautiful weekend at Skydive Dallas! 19 jumps 0 beer owed

I give it a thumbs up. Quiet (even inside...I lost an earplug and it didn't bother me.) Smooth air (and very little sudden "dropping") Nice temperatures! (pretty damn cool that they can control the temperature in there. In between sessions, the staff would ask us whether we wanted it cooler or warmer. Sweet!) Friendly, accomodating staff. I was not freeflying, so I can't really comment on how "fast" the tunnel can get. It was plenty fast for us belly flyers of course. Nice facilities, nice area...a lot of restaurants and things to do in that part of town. The Asian place next door was very yummy. (Thanks for the tip, Derek!) We'll be back there again this weekend.

A little birdie told me Rick Ream hit his 500th jump this weekend. Congratulations, Rick! "Him, Him!" Long live the Bomb Squad.

Some photos from Dealey Plaza when we visted a little while ago: The first photo is from the book depository -- the window just to the right of the one where Oswald was. (The have the corner by that window blocked off with plexi-glass.) The second photo is from the steps on the grassy knoll. The blue X marks in the road mark where he was hit.

I got a new Sony Cybershot (DSC-S600) about a month or two ago. I got it on sale at Circuit City. 6 megapixels, it'll take videos, has a timer, all that jazz. Cool, Circuit City has them for $189 right now: http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Sony-Cyber-shot-DSC-S600-Digital-Camera/sem/rpsm/oid/142192/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

Thanks, I completely forgot about RSL's. I have not had one in a long time. Surely he would have one on his student jumps!

Maybe my little story will help you understand how things don't always go as planned. My first IAD was not "golden." My pilot chute bridle wrapped itself firmly around my arm and I was in freefall with nothing else out. (I can laugh about it now. Good times! ) In my case, I figured out what was happening and I unwrapped the damn thing from my arm and the main deployed fine. On the other side of the coin, a few months later the same thing happened to another IAD student there but she had no idea what was happening and then her FXC fired. She was definitely an AAD save. (I'm pretty sure she never jumped again). So even on an IAD you're not necessarily "golden." And as someone else mentioned, many AAD saves are people who have lost altitude awareness. There are far fewer saves involving people getting knocked out. I have a Cypres in case I completely screw up and am low with nothing out. I'm not delusional enough to think I'm immune to making mistakes. I'm not cocky enough to say "I only have it in case someone knocks me out." --Heather

My tunnel is better than your tunnel! Nanny-nanny-poo-poo! Um, anyhow, I look forward to checking out Colorado. My 8-way teammates and I have booked a TON of time for the last weekend of April and the first weekend of May.

Sorry, I mixed up my words. I meant lowering your credit limits can be good for you in general. Not that it is considered with your fico scores, unless it's a balance/credit limit proportion problem. I don't think they penalize someone just for having a high limit. Once somebody has paid off cards with high limits they may want to have their limits lowered so they aren't tempted to overspend again. But if they still have a high balance in relation to their limit, they don't want to have their limits lowered because their fico score will suffer (the balance/limit proportion will be worse). Bad payment histories and high revolving balances do the most damage.

Another option is to have your credit limits lowered. It won't hurt your credit, unlike closing a bunch of cards can. It should actually help your credit, since you won't have so much credit available to you. That ratio of used vs open credit is important. And then, most importantly, you won't be able to overspend so easily! (I used to work for a credit card company) Certain companies raise credit limits on revolving accounts like they're going out of style....because they know people will keep spending and they'll be more likely to default. Defaulting = higher APRs = more $ for the cc companies in the end.

Cool. I did not know that! I will edit my post...

Since everyone else is just fartin' around: You can find pictures of 4-way and 8-way formations here: http://www.fai.org/parachuting/documents/sportingcode2006 (scroll down to "formation skydiving" and you can download pdf files with the diagrams) And you can find some 4-way videos here: http://www.skyleague.com/indexX.php (click on "NSL TV" for videos) You can make up moves (called "points") for any size group of skydivers, but for serious competitions the points are chosen from the official dive pools and you have to complete those points in order as many times as your team can. You usually have either 30 seconds or 50 seconds to do so. The judges look at video of your jump, count your points, look for any mistakes, and give you a score. We don't have 3-way competition at the national level of formation skydiving it's just 4-way, 8-way, 10-way, and 16-way with their related dive pools, but at some fun local meets you may find 3-way competitions. (oops, see bob.dino's link below. Other countries may have 3-way at the national level, I was just thinking about the U.S.) Make some sense? --Heather

I've noticed that too. We watched some of 8 '99 today though, it is really helpful. (no jumping this weekend...tons of rain here!) I need to drill the divepool into my head this week. If anyone has any crazy mnemonic devices or tricks, pipe up. They work really well for me for some reason. Like: O: "Oh my god, compressed accordians." D: Dopeless Diamond (works for me somehow) P: Well, think naughty. Venus...P.... J: Jumping Springbok 7: Buy 7 nuts. (lame, but sorta works) The blocks are harder to create tricks for... Of course it doesn't help to know the names, letters and numbers if I don't know what the formations look like...I am working on all these things. And then eventually I shouldn't need the tricks. Good luck with your team! --Heather