nigel99

Those were targets. It really highlighted the gun culture in the US to me. I grew up with specialist gun shops (not in the UK and guns were common). There was something surreal about it. You should of seen the look on the couple of brits faces though Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

A friend of mine has a pic on facebook of him doing CRW (if you can call it that) with a round and a square. He is on top on a "modern" round could be a paracommander, but I am not that familiar with anything other than a C9/T-10. How common were these kind of games, and any interesting stories to tell? Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Didn't watch any of it. But for some reason it really created community spirit, something that you don't see much of nowadays. We had a big neighborhood BBQ. A couple of the women watched "highlights" such as the dress and kiss. I love the Union Jack and seeing it out in force was really nice. PS Skyrad, don't give RSA the credit for Chelsea, my homeland is short enough of hot chicks without you donating them Southwards Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I will never forget my first visit to Walmart. It had guns on one side of the aisle and Barbie dolls on the other (literally). Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

It is fascinating. My dad has spent the past 40 years pondering the human mind and belief systems. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Jeez and you call yourself and Englishman? That food sounds too good, you must have been corrupted by the Europeans. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Depending on the weather http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/vegetable_curry_46832 Otherwise if it is hot then I like Salads. Lastly my wife makes amazing steak pies (sorry don't have a recipe) Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

http://articles.cnn.com/2004-02-02/us/superbowl.jackson_1_halftime-show-mtv-damita-jo?_s=PM:US Sounds like a similar response to this. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Thats a good advert for staying large. Any reason for the upsizing from 170 to 210? Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

T-10 C9 Manta 280 Unit (220?) Wildfire 170 -- Stupid 260 Student gear - re-currency 230 - Rental gear Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

There is no proof that God exists, but that doesn't mean that people can put their hope into the fact that one day proof will be found. You and I might disagree but we are no more right or wrong than they are. I think that some people are nitpicking over word definitions, but ignoring the general concept. For anything that is not 100% proven to be factual and beyond dispute, an element of "belief" is required. A lot of blue sky research is carried out on the belief that something of value will be found, for example the research at CERN. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I thought you liked soccer moms? No strings attached sex and the husband gets to deal with all the excess baggage Sounds like you could still meet someone Honestly though - happiness is internal and is pretty much a choice that we make. I get the feeling that you don't want to hear that though. Unfortunately to some extent I am talking from experience. Try having young kids (including twins) and see your life disappear before your eyes. Some people find it very easy to enjoy family life, I struggled with resenting the pressures. I simply will not accept that there is no opportunity for you to be happy. Perhaps like people say in other areas of life you should get advice from a professional? Don't get me wrong, I am not saying it is always easy. But in other areas of life you appear to have self discipline (fitness and education), so start applying that to your emotional and mental wellbeing. If you want an interesting book try 'The Road Less Traveled' by Scott Peck. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

There really isn't any such thing as a beginner rig. You can save money by buying used gear. Just make sure it's checked out by an FAA Rigger and make sure that the canopy choice is appropriate for your skill level. Check with your instructors before making any purchase. On this subject be very careful on what people call a "beginner rig". Here on dz.com there are a number of ads for 150 square foot gear that is being sold as "ideal first/beginner rig". It is a good idea to get advice at your own dropzone on when and what to purchase though. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Atheism is a faith-based belief system. You have faith that there is nothing there based on a perceived lack of any evidence pointing in any direction. No decision is a decision in and of itself. I think that is pretty well stated. Faith may not be the correct word to avoid controversy. I think this says it in a slightly different way and removes the F word "You have a theory that there is nothing there based on the lack of evidence pointing towards a God". Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

If you get a late stage cancer diagnosis, you do have a choice to make. You can choose to undergo aggressive treatment with chemo or radiation, and pretty much put yourself in bed for the remainder of your life with some chance of recovery. Or you can choose not to, and enjoy a certain period of time without too much detriment, and then deteriorate (or perhaps end your life on your own terms then). If the probability for success is less than 50%, I think it becomes pretty difficult. Perhaps it's easier for those with faith, as they can also believe that God will ensure they're part of that survival group. I'd be a bit reluctant to give up my outdoor, physical life for low odds. Well said and on a similar note, I really struggle with terminal illness and having the option to self terminate. I am starting to believe that people should be given the option of avoiding a long and lingering death. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

My advice - send your wife and kid on the flight before you The blowing in the ears makes alot of sense. I hadn't heard of it before. I wonder why the air-crew don't suggest it to parents? Twardo - love the oreo description! Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

With the importance of landing correctly, I must admit that I am surprised that modern training has done away with practicing PLF's to the extent that it has. Our training was carried out over more than 1 day and involved falling off of bales of hay for about 8 hours. Admittedly they were rounds and so for many people it was critical to avoid injury. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Try 5 leafed vegetables I find the outdoors really lifts my spirits. Getting out into the countryside and walking till you are exhausted can be very therapeutic. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Andy, Wendy and Rush good and interesting replies.

It's well meaning, but it's stupid. Here's the thing though, what are you going to do? Are you going to call him out on the pastor's FB wall? You can't. People do NOT know what to say in common settings let alone when tragedies strike. And you while you -might- consider calling out somebody for saying something stupid in a common setting, doing it during a tragedy only makes you "the bad guy." I know, it was a rhetorical post as no way in hell I am saying anything on the wall. I take my advice from these guys http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_B23QGCEmA Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Most of my relatives are religious and many are involved in the church on a full time basis. A cousin is a full time pastor and has just been diagnosed with bowel cancer. Firstly he has stated that after much prayer he has decided to seek medical treatment. Why he would not consider medical treatment is beyond me. But worse someone wrote on his FB wall "when we pray healing ALWAYS comes". Why do people say stupid crap like that? We have a friend who is in the final stages of cancer his wife and my wife have prayed till they are blue in the face. I respect peoples views and I am really happy that prayer gives them inner peace. I am also happy for them, if they see their life ending early, as something that they can reconcile with their beliefs. Just don't tell people that it "always" works out. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

So a husband and wife pair shouldn't qualify as "expert travelers", just because they're flying together? Sorry if i pissed in your cornflakes, but waiting for soccer mom to fish through her purse for everyone's boarding pass and arguing about the Costco barrel of lotion in hr carry on does mean they are not expert travelers and shouldn't be in my way...ok , and I don't really care about your cornflakes, it just seemed to be the polite thing to say Has Shah hijacked your account? Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I think it is worth it (again note that I am not an instructor/experienced). Most of us will progress through the sport to having higher wingloadings and thus parachutes that are more likely to malfunction, secondly modern parachutes open more slowly (as a general rule). I wonder how many people who have been low have actually dumped their reserve... Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I think I get where you are coming from. Correct me if I am wrong in my summary. Below your hard-deck you should go straight to reserve. Having experienced being below your hard-deck, instinct took over and you went to main. You now mentally prepare for a repeat scenario (i.e. practice your EP's) but are concerned that it will take longer to run through the mental process than to simply pitch your main. My highly unqualified take on it is that as you are now prepared mentally, you will go to reserve quickly and it will not carry a time penalty. By the way at around jump 40, I had recently swapped from an altimeter in meters to feet. I had a brain fart and lost altitude awareness/waited till 1000 to deploy my main. When I realised that I was well into the red zone on the altimeter, I deployed my main which was a C9 so not a problem. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.