zen_mtn_climber

I agree with Nataly that most likely the employers are using a personal question to guage how you'd fit within the organization. I've been on a number of interview panels myself at a couple of different organizations and I've specifically asked questions that try to do just this. Regardless of whether you bring up skydiving or some other hobby, be sure to follow John Rich's advice and immediately talk about the positives it brings in a business sense. You can answer a hobby question in a couple of different ways . . (1) "Well I like to skydive . ." and then stare at the interviewers. In this case you are allowing them to come to their own conculsion about you. or something like (2) "Well I love to skydive. One of things that I really love about it is that it's taught me how important it is to stay cool, collected and make decisive decisions in stressful situations. Group formation skydives has also really taught me the value of making a plan in advance and that each person's role within the team is equally valuable" Here you're taking the initiative to shape their impression of you. That's really what interviews are all about . . quickly giving interviewers a strong sense of your skills, personality, talents and how those will fit into the team they are building. This is your chance to sell yourself so do so when you can. Just my $0.02 ZMC "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

Authenticism of emotion and embracing the direct experience of the present are some of the hallmarks of zen But who cares . . we're all here b/c we each had that first jump where our brains lit up like a light bulb and our world has never been quite the same since

Maybe this sounds kinda funny but after my 2nd jump. Started right away with AFF and was kinda on sensory overload after that first jump. It went ok but so was very different than I expected. Was pretty nervous for my 2nd AFF jump but it went great and didn't have nearly the overload as jump 1. When I got down from that one I was like, "f-yeah, this rocks" Started looking after getting my A. Wanted to wait until I'd reached a point where I thought I'd be jumping the same size canopy for quite awhile. Got my first (and still only) rig about 40 jumps. ZMC "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

+1 Heal fast John! In my not so expert opinion, some warm Nicaraguan sand and water should greatly enhance your recovery

Exactly, except that its a fine line between 'feeling safe enough' so that you improve vs. feeling so safe that you try something stupid without the proper skill set. My comment was that its not ridiculous at all to question whether risk homeostasis applies here. For many people, the "safety" gear, be it a helmet or AAD or padding (depending on the sport) gives some people a false sense of security or confidence and they attempt to do things in the sport that they really aren't prepared yet to do. Here in Tahoe saw it all the time with my kid and his friends skiing. They slap on a helmet and now think they're safe to try any number of spins off a jump or back flip or huck off a huge cliff b/c their helmet will protect them. Can't count the number of kids I've known (son not included knock on wood) who've gotten concussions wearing helmets. Would they have tried the same things without a helmet . . maybe, maybe not. So smart to use safety gear . . yep, totally agree with you. Ridiculous to question whether said gear might embolden someone to take risk they otherwise might not . . don't think its ridiculous at all. And I too would bet a bunch of money that a nasty concussion would change the OP's tone, helmet or no helmet. In the end, it really should be a building the required skills. Cheers, ZMC PS: How ironic that your sig line is a play on the famous G.N.A.R quote, which is a whole crowd devoted to pushing the risk envelope "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

Not ridiculous at all . . google 'risk homeostasis' or read this article from here on DZ.com http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/safety/detail_page.cgi?ID=663 "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

Sad, sad news. I never met her in person either but she seemed to be a genuine, energetic, passionate, caring spirit. Yeah her posts were huge . . her first couple of posts made my eyes cramp . . but I came to look forward to reading them and getting her perspective, even if I needed to block out 15 minutes to read through She's going to be missed. I hope in some way her family can capture the essence of who she was for her son's sake. When he's older and ready to learn more about his mom, I'm sure they have quite a lovely story to tell. My deepest condolences to her family and friends. "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

+1 Life is too short to be drinking shitty beer . . ZMC "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

I don't think this is ballsy or picky at all . . Good sex is an important part of a good relationship IMO zmc "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

Was I more picky . . absolutely yes! I preferred to think of it though as learning from my past mistakes, both in who I chose to marry and how the relationship proceeded. I was committed to not repeating my mistakes and that made me much more picky. That said, I think its important to take time to own your actions that contributed to the divorce so that again you don't make the same mistakes. It takes two to tango . . . I also (inadvertently but in hindsight wisely) dated very little for quite awhile after my divorce. Allowed me to become my own person again and have my shit much more together so that when the right person came along, I was ready. It also put me in a mindset where I was content to be single so I wasn't desperate for a relationship. I got into my current relationship b/c I wanted to be in one rather than felt like I 'ought to' or 'needed to' My current longterm gf is wonderful and the relationship is strong. Would I have been ready for that right after the divorce? No way. Would I have been single and connected with her if I had been 'less picky' ? Prob not . . Just my $0.02 ZMC "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

"No capes!" -- Edna Mode "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

Buying your own rig- priceless! top Actually, not priceless. I ran some numbers in an excel spreadsheet years ago. I put in the new and used (depreciated) value of all the components, maintenance of the AAD, rigging services, linesets, etc. I came to roughly $5 a jump, assuming the skydiver is active and jumping a lot. Granted, there are so many variables this could be $3 or $70 a jump depending on how often the user jumps. But $5 seemed like a sweetspot. So, zhills being $23 means the average joe can save $18 a jump owning. Not quite priceless, but definitely worth it if you plan on jumping a lot. I bought my first rig a bit more than a year ago. Beyond the cost benefits, you also get to jump the same rig all the time. So you can really concentrate on how to fly and land your canopy rather than potentially having a different canopy each time you rent. If you are licensed and you plan to jump any reasonable amount, it seems to me that buying a used rig is the smart thing to do for lots of reasons. ZMC "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

Hopefully for V and yourself, you end up with the best raffle prize of all . . a cure

Fridge Art and cool cards . . all I did was include a short little good luck note . . I guess next year I'll have to step it up a bit "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

Hmmm . . sounds like someone I dated once . . all but the from Georgia part . . But hey it was fun for awhile . . and if you're thinking you need to forgive, maybe you're just being too judgemental

So Shah, dude, in case you missed it in the first IT thread, there are lots of IT folk here. We're good people . . smart people . . really. This is not the place to be ranting about your shop's IT staff. Maybe they set the policy, maybe they don't and just implement policy. Either way, you're looking for love in the wrong spot dude. In a big IT shop, the IT guys are often way overworked and pressured to do things in the expedient way rather than the 'right' way. It sucks but sometimes is the nature of the beast. Especially if management doesn't understand the difference between the quick and dirty appears to be working way and the technically correct way. Give your IT guys a little understanding and talk with them as people a bit rather than company tools and you might get a bit further with your problems. Just saying . . ZMC "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

Or since they know emailing him a clue won't help, they just ignore $ cat rant | grep -e shah > /dev/null "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

What nwflyer said . . There are a fair number of folk from Carson, Reno and Tahoe that regularly head down to skydance in davis. And myk christian tried to get a dz going in silver springs. Bad timing and luck seem to have scuttled that effort though as best I can tell "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

Went down there once with my kid a few years back. Had a great time . . learned a lot quick. Wish it was easier for me to get to . . its a long drive from Tahoe . . bit much for a day trip Some tunnel time with a good coach can make a big difference in your flying skills No tunnel in the NJ/NY area? zmc "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

Kirk vs Picard is supposed to go into a shit storm . . who better to start it?

+1 Cypres AADs depreciate basically linearly. If you can't lay out $1500 for a brand new AAD, take your time and buy a used AAD. Check the classified here regularly. They pop up from time to time. In the Cypres case, one thing to watch for is that they require 4yr and 8yr maintenance. I'm fine with the maintenance windows and I'm happy with my current Cypres1. The maintenace caution is just that if you were buying a 4yr old Cypres, either make sure the maintenance has been done already or, if not, make sure the price is adjusted accordingly since you'd be paying to have the maintenance performed. My Cypres1 expires next summer. Saving now so I could buy new if I had to but over the winter I'll be looking for a used Cypres2. zmc "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

I'm not exactly firing on all cylinders this morning but you got me hook, line and sinker on that one . . very nice! "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

+1 to Man on Wire Spellbound is one of my favs . . amazing movie . . about 5 kids going to the National Spelling Bee "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

Work on Sat, maybe a quick road bike ride . . skiing at Kirkwood on Sun

Saw Keith that afternoon at the DZ and heard about it. . we couldn't believe it . . Bummer! Hopefully your Sharks will get their act together and push the series to 7 so you can watch some hockey while your laid up. On a side note, you should see the bruises my gf got on Sat from curling . . who knew this ice stuff was so sketch ZMC "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo