Luna

Start by finding out if you even qualify. If you are getting new prescriptions every year as you say, you may not. One requirement for Lasik is a stable prescription for X number of years (stable meaning only very small corrections year to year are allowed). My husband's eyes finally settled out after years of getting steadily worse, and he decided to have it done. Just so you know, when you read the list of things that can go wrong, and you say to yourself, sure, but those always happen to other people...well, he said the same thing. In the long run, it turned out fine, but he had one eye that they cut the flap for and couldn't do the laser on because the flap was too small. It was their screw up. He still had to go through all the drops in it because it had been cut, and he had to get fitted for a contact for that eye until it healed. The weekend before getting the contact, and the week before his second surgery where you cannot wear contacts were a nightmare. Try seeing 20/15 out of one eye and 20/400 out of the other. Not much fun. Anyway, like I said, in the long run, he's much happier without glasses and glad he had it done, but just keep in mind that the horror stories that you hear about (his problem was one of the best case scenarios for having a problem), they really could happen to you, and like in skydiving, you just have to be willing to accept the risk. As many other people have stated, he also has had some dryness problems, and more problems with starbursting at night than he used to have, but it's nothing that is really bothersome. Good luck! I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

Ain't that the truth! Tried getting some time in early Feb. The only times available I'd have to extend my time there to get. And I'd be happy to take midnight to 7am times if they were available while I am going to be there! I'll save my vacation time and go back when I can do another camp. I'm pretty bummed, though. I know I should have reserved it earlier, but I only found out yesterday that I will be going for sure. I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

Well, if you are coming down the East coast, and if you like to do RW a lot, a stop at Skydive the Point in West Point, VA is a good plan. There you will be able to do a jump with Carol Clay, the women's world record holder for most amount of freefall time, I think we added it up to something over 2 weeks of freefall time, and she has now over 14,200 jumps. She is almost always there, on almost every load, and loves to organize RW folks. I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

Hey Tom, you'll do fine, so try not to worry about it! Everyone has given great advice so far. Just relax, that is the most important key to skydiving well, but the hardest to do. I won't be there tomorrow, but I'll be thinking about you. Take care and have fun!

Congratulation J.E.! That is the most wonderful news. Have a very Merry Christmas enjoying that new little one!

I like to give a Super Certificate from www.giftcertificates.com. They get to pick where to use it. It's like a little shopping spree. My mom loves it. I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

Says who? Anyone can by tunnel time, and run a camp if they want. Sorry, you're right. I do know of other camps not done through tunnelcamp. I think most or all of the ones he mentioned were through them, though. So, is there one place to find all scheduled camps at the tunnel? I haven't seen a schedule like that anywhere, just for the ones through tunnelcamp. Seems like something SkyVenture should have on their web site. I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

To start, www.tunnelcamp.com sponsors all of the camps that happen in the Orlando tunnel, so a good place to start is their site. It gives a brief overview of all the different camps, as well as the cost. Some of the camps are freefly camps, which it sounds like you don't want, so that narrows it down a bit. You can check out the site for the particulars, but basically the camps run anywhere from 1 day to 6 days and run the gamut from the tunnel coaches to guys like Arizona Airspeed. When the different camps are at the tunnel, no other camp is going on, but there are plenty of whuffos and teams going in when you aren't in. I went to the Airspeed 3-day camp with about 27 jumps under my belt. You don't hold anyone up! You coach works with you to your level. I got behind everyone on day one because I had trouble just staying stable. Then on day 3, I got a different coach and he took me back to body position again, so I got behind again. You can make up some time in the evenings (highly recommended that you do evening time), but I ended up not getting to do a couple of the drills. Big deal. I got what I needed. My coach had 2 other people, another one who was pretty behind, and one who had something like 5 hours in the tunnel already so she was a whiz. He worked with each of us at our level, so nobody gets held back. That said, I'd personally rather work with Airspeed any day. They're not only world champions, they are great coaches, and they are not skygods at all. They are a joy to work with. But like you said, it's very subjective, and also up to what you can afford. Good luck!! I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

Hey Tom, we were wondering what happened to you on Sunday! Don't worry, you without a doubt did the right thing, and there will be plenty more days to jump! You're a great dad! Take care, and have a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year...I'll see you in '04! I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

Oh, Robert, I'm sorry to hear that! Our thoughts will be with her and with you and Deb. I'm sure everything will turn out fine, it's just going to get rough for a while! I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

There was an article about it here: http://www.news-observer.com/front/story/3135283p-2836666c.html I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

Yep, here is an article about it. There were 3 people from my DZ in the freefall portion of it. http://www.news-observer.com/front/story/3135283p-2836666c.html If I find any pics of the formations I'll post them. There is another thread going here with some great stories about it. I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

Without a doubt! I hated that movie! Also, Punch Drunk Love was pretty awful, but I have to say Kill Bill was about as bad as Mr. Ripley, if not worse. That movie was the biggest waste, but worse because it's only Volume 1 or whatever, so there will be more. I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

Well, I've seen some really good ones, like Eagles and Billy Joel (not with Elton, seen him on his own too though), but my favorite must be Matchbox 20 playing in a standing room only place that holds maybe 2000 people tops. Very intimate, and just an amazing show. I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

Not to be the voice of dissent, but we had a guy recently who jumped his own first pack job to get it signed off, and sure enough, chopped it. I don't even remember what the mal was right now...maybe a step-through? Anyway, to answer your question, NO! It did NOT get signed off on! He had to try again, and was successful the second time. This is so rare, though, I'm sure you will do fine. I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

On the ISP training program, which you are on, you go to one jumpmaster at level C2, which is your 4th level (A, B, C1, C2, etc.). You should either get a copy of the SIM to read, or go to http://www.uspa.org/publications/SIM/2004SIM/SIM.htm to view it online. It has the entire ISP in it so that you will know what you will be doing on each next jump. It will also answer a lot of other question for you, as well as provide you the answers that you will need to the quizzes that you will be given at each level. I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

I love your answer! I feel exactly the same way. I feel good about myself when I pass an exam, learn or do something that is difficult, etc. Me too! Me too! Several years ago I had less than zero self-esteem, and this is exactly how I've boosted it up to a very healthy level. I'm constantly challenging myself to not take the easy way, and to try things that I thought I couldn't do. Not only do I get a huge boost in self-esteem, I have a lot of fun now, too! I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

Well, I was sitting in my car at a light in Hampton and it felt like the wind was shaking my car, but there was no wind. Kinda freaked me out, then my husband called from work in Richmond and told me it was an earthquake. I heard they felt it all the way down to NC and up to Norva. Pretty freakin' wild! I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

If you can get into a warehouse club, like Sam's, BJ's, or Costco, they will probably have exactly what you are looking for in exactly the right quantity. I bought a bunch at a Sam's several years ago. I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

Oh, glad you got it taken care of. I jump at West Point. I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

Where in VA and what kind of favor? I'm in Williamsburg. I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

My favorite is called "The Chimney Song" It's basically about how they start smelling something bad, and "There's something stuck up in the chimney" and of course it's Santa. It's sick and very funny. I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

What do you consider "reasonable" for commuting? Personally, I'm partial to the Maryland side. We lived there in 3 different cities and I liked it a lot. Taxes are much lower on that side than Virginia. I'm living in southern Virginia now and hating the taxes. Maryland has some places that you might be able to find larger lots, like out towards Bowie/Annapolis, and Virginia probably has some as well, but it's going to depend on how far you want to commute. Keep in mind that you probably aren't going to be able to really get something "in the country" without making huge sacrifice on your commute. Also keep in mind that miles don't equal time very well if you will be driving into the city, because the traffic is horrific. I'd recommend riding the Metro if you can, but that has its own set of problems. There are some web sites that you can go to that will compare areas for you, and I'd probably talk to a real estate agent in the area. If I moved back up there, I'd go to Maryland, but that's just my opinion. As for DZ's, you will have plenty to choose from, again depending on how far you want to drive. My DZ gets people driving down from Northern Virginia, and they say that we are only about 20 minutes more than Skydivive Orange or Skydive Virginia, then you have Delmarva in Delaware. Good luck finding what you are looking for! I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

Actually, our club does still elect a Safety Officer, although I don't think that they have any real authority like the S&TA's do. I think their primary function is to plan Safety Day. I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

Nope. It could be coming from anybody who has you in their address book, even if the two of you have never corresponded via email. The good news is that it is probably already over. If not, it will probably stop in the next few days. Good luck. I had to shut down an e-mail account because of this. My take is that spammers take your e-mail address, from wherever they get them from, and then use it to send their spam from, sort of a spoof, but using real e-mail addresses. I was literally being overrun with bounced messages for spam that I never sent. It was one of my unimportant e-mail addresses anyway, so I just closed the account. It did not stop in a few days, by the way, it went on for weeks and just kept getting worse. I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!