dex

I'm in New England too (up in Maine) I know about the cold.... however we are jumping tomorrow 25 F or not.... hehhehe sorry about being at work and all that crap... get 20$ call a bunch of friends willing to jump in cold call dz and arrange a load or two....

Sure! how can someone say no to a sentance that starts off with "Hey we're drunk and..." of course skygal3 has decided I'm young enough for her to be my mother so someone better tuck me in early before bedtime....

Harsh,,, Perhaps madly screaming would have been a better phrase... Computer science professional hehehe that sounds like a title out of a college course.. I've been running "mission critical" services for a hospital for awhile and I enjoy a good keyboard yelling fest... generally it's safer then yelling at your users...

*Dex closes his eyes and imagines a bunch of drunk kate's and a few others all screaming madly at their keyboards/monitors while posting on dz.com......

1. Would prolly panic and throw main out... hopefully I'd be aware enough to get ready for a cutaway real quick if needed.... 2. Depends on dz rules and size... and how many skydivers behind me.... and what the winds have been doing all day... generally shifty all day I would land north, not play chase the sock; the people on the load should be ready for shifty winds... no winds all day land to the south... assuming traffic allows.. 3. Half of me says if I'm close put a hand on the dbag till video guy gets out of the way and dump for the guy.... other half of me says wave off (warning video guy) then pointing out to the jumper that has the mal... Waving off before notifying jumper so he does not panic and pull in vidmans face.. I'm more worried about the video guy taking a bad hit then the horse-shoe on the jumper... the video guy didn't choose to jump the gear the jumper is jumping.. 4. 4 way? Track normally pull a bit low splitting the diff losing 250 feet won't phase me... 5. I'd yell STOP 6. Also yell STOP 7. On opening release (unstow) other toggle, rear riser controllability check, 1500 let go of other one controllability; 1000 same...I'd cutaway if I *REALLY* didn't like the quick check results. Imagine I'd stick with canopy having a sabre2 150 with no brake line seems better then starting your reserve deployment at a grand and getting under 20-15 (?) seconds to land your reserve.... 500 ft.. let go other toggle rear riser adjustment/flair to land... not really considering a cutaway/deploy at this altitude. 8. "Hey TM can you give me a gear check before you finish hooking up" (In a normal sort of voice pretending like I ask TM's for gear checks all the time...) Not let the TM get by until he gives you your gear a look over and then hooks up his passenger hehehe ;) 9. Be a big wimp leave door closed demand lots of beer on landing from guy with premature... 10. Flat turn right STAT; ready to PLF in if need be.

If anyone has done enough jumps to forget the first one of the year in the last 7 days they should be beaten..... no jumps for me yet... will be in florida in 2 weeks so I'll get to play then at least

If you don't have the desire to jump don't jump. Having passed aff you know what it is like to jump.... There is no point to skydiving if it doesn't fill a need for you.. Just like driving skydiving involves risk... if ya don't need to go anywhere don't drive... and if you don't want to jump don't... Skydiving will be there for you if you change your mind.

Generally security (TSA or whatever) defers the parachute question to the airline... that's where people normally run into problems.... Airlines can't always speak for what the TSA will allow onboard but they can promise to not tell the TSA not to disallow parachutes....

The best way I heard "glowsticking" described was by a friend calling a drugged out raver a "flight attendant on crack" laughed my ass off....

When I was a computer programming intern at a local hospital the same thing happened to me... I was a wee little lad of 17 and now I was expected to wear a tie and a fancy shirt and dressy panys... The dress shirts I had were a size too big... I'm a small guy anyways so they looked foolish on me... I grew up in the sticks so my normal clothes were jeans and a teeshirt... I was in another world. I'm was the type of kid who would skip a prom because it meant dressin fancy like... After awhile I figured out that people would describe me as " the kid who looks like he is dressed in his father's clothes." Since my interning days I've started buying clothes that fit and I get harassed a little less ;) Socializing with people who were 20 years older then me at work was odd at first but generally everyone's the same old or not once ya get to know em.

Perhaps he needs a mature woman to straighten him out.... some of those ladies over 50 might be just what he needs... neutering seems a little harsh...

I think this has been discussed before but generally the "I'm a lesbian" line doesn't get rid of many men.... Try explaining your new found passion for the convent to him. Find another attractive woman in your office and tell him that you suspect she has the hots for him... You're not gonna get rid of his sex drive but you might get it to take a detour....

I built an athlon box (2200) with a nifty ati raedon 9700 pro, a gig of ram..., and a nifty optical mouse, it makes me happy no more cleaning the gunk out.... My rig still costs more then my comp and my car put together... so I'm not that geeky... right? Does gate chasing CRC circuits with an oscope count? How many remember when binary subtraction wasn't done with one's complement and a negative number would ruin your day... but just by a little...

I was 19.. Heard an ad on the radio; signed up for an aff course... that night... 2 weeks later I showed up at the dz bought my aff package and went for my first plane ride /jump the next day... Got on a sunset load. Had never considered skydiving before I heard that ad, glad I was listening to the radio that day... Erik

I know exactly what you mean about the disconnect feeling for me it wasn't about my handles it was about the fact that I was jumping out of a plane. My first jump I just did, the second went pretty much the same way... on my third jump I had the willies; I was finally connected to the fact that if I jumped out and nothing opened my chute I would go splat... logically I knew it all the time but it connected on the third jump. I think I rushed my waveoff/pull on that one ;) Congrats on your anniversary! May you have many more!

I'm not sure I'm more experienced but here is my take; Pulling at a high altitude at a busy boogie can be dangerous but it's not as dangerous as not pulling, AFF students (at least I was) are all taught that if they are unsure of their altitude (and can't figure it out) to pull. Esp when you only have a couple freefalls under your belt it's more important to pull then to worry if someone will freefall through your canopy for the rest of your life. The fact is all skydivers should know their altitude.... and if they don't they should pull. The rules are in order of importance 1 PULL 2 Pull at safe altitude 3 Pull stable.. If I'm ever in freefall and blind from being kicked in the head, or losing glasses/contacts I'm gonna give a *GOOD* wave and pull. Sure it's possible I'll pull at 8 grand, better 8 grand then 800 feet and a main/reserve entanglement.... If I have awareness I'll wait until I think I am a grand above my normal altitude.. I won't wait for my cypres. As for failing AFF4.. people aren't born with altitude awareness it has to be learned, you've prolly only left an airplane a half dozen or so times learn from the jump and move on! :)

I hate it when people say itch when they mean scratch.... I'm itching my arm.... can you itch this for me.... wtf go shoot yourself

I'd go back a couple weeks and buy the winning powerball number.. I'd enjoy living as a spoiled trust fund jumper for awhile... a long while.. help some friends.. Buy a supa otter or maybe a larger plane turn it into a small portable apartment... fly from dz to dz doing some bandit jumps from time to time... throw 20 mil or so to a trust fund to make sure everyone who wants a cypres has one and can devote more cash to jumpin... buy a case of beer for every uspa member just for fun... I'd be the coolest rich trust fund jumper ever ;)

154.. did my first jump in april this year.. not a bad first year... some highlights involve 69 airplane rides without ever landing in any aircraft... (had to land with plane when the fabric pop top on the reserve came off... sure it would have been fine but better safe then sorry...) Off field landing for my first night jump... careful what campfire looking thing you fly your canopy too.... ended up landing in a field was glad it was not a pond... was at 2k or so trying desperately to remember if there was a body of water that was square where on that side of the dz.. heheh luckily just a field lots and lots of other good jumps :)

so the moral of the story is.. avoid jumping in shitty weather or you could end up in a world of shit... sry couldn't resist... Glad you are ok and posted the story hopefully you saved someone else from a similar fate..

AFF.... the perfect way to end my first plane ride....

Just finished that one myself. (Good Omens) I bought a whole collection of Terry Pratchett books to read through.. Good Omens was the first I picked up funny as hell another good recomendation.

2 hours 15 mins from home, hour and 45 mins from work....

If you haven't read Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker series then you should do yourself a favor and place a bookmark in all your other inferior reading material and grab a copy of the best reading material in the galaxy. You can get the whole series in a hardcover form bn for 15$ "The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide" ISBN: 0517149257

I'd wear gloves that let you still FEEL the handles.. Personally I would *not* jump without gloves in that cold... If you are doing the rubber glove under the neoprene glove idea DON'T put on the rubbers until you are close to jump run... as an aside when flying in an otter at those temps I can't help but feel like I am in a big meat freezer... With my fullface and my extra clothes under my jumpsuit the cold doesn't bother me during the plane ride or during freefall. After I am under canopy and my body starts to realize it was just in 44 below of windchill... and my fingers start telling me what a meathead I just was to jump in the cold. The thing that I really hate about cold jumps is warming up to pack it takes forever for me to warm up... Bring chapstick... and maybe a gear bag to stuff your gear in so ya don't have to pack until you get to a warm place... I didn't notice any different canopy performance from the cold but then again it did get colder gradually as I was jumping ;) Jumping over snow can freak with your depth perception... be careful picking up your canopy and packing it after it lands in snow... easy to trap moisture by scooping snow into end cells that you might not remove for half a season..... have fun