Casch

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Posts posted by Casch

  1. Hey all, it's been a pretty long time since I've posted here. I haven't jumped since summer of '04 when I made a poor judgment call on a new canopy and crossed the runway on landing taking a good-sized portion of skin off my leg in the process. After that I decided not to jump again until I could afford to jump at least a few times every month.

    A year after my last jump I was in a head-on collision with a dump truck on the back roads. I crushed the right-half of my face on the steering wheel which left me with one eye (but no other handicaps thankfully).

    During the three years following my accident, I gained a significant amount of weight (went from 220 to 350). In October of this year I decided to take control of my life and I have lost 55 lbs on Nutrisystem. My goal is to drop another 100 lbs this year, but be no heavier than 250 by the summer (this was my weight when I first started jumping).

    I'd really like to start jumping again in July, and I'm curious whether I will be approaching it as a first time jumper, or if I can ease back into it with a few coached dives?

    Also, are there any other one-eyed divers here? What are some of the issues you run into?

  5. I just had my performance review and found out I'm getting a 24% raise as of July 1st B|

    Technically I'll still be underpaid for my job in my area, but I also get my communication bills (cell/internet) reimbursed, and they are going to pay for any training/certifications I want which will increase my worth when the next salary evaluation comes around ;)

  8. I absolutely love the Pacific NW and will likely never live anywhere else (by choice). The Portland area is great, you've got skydiving, hiking and bike paths in great parks. You can ski and surf in the same day. The weather is mild all year round with the hottest temperatures in August at around 104. Average temperature is probably low 90's in July/August. The summer season seems to stretch from mid-May to October. There are are a lot of rainy days over the course of a year, but not actually that much rain. There's no risk of hurricane or tornado, and low risk of major flooding. Cost of living isn't high but it isn't necessarily low either. The west coast seems to be a good environment for .com's too.

  9. Ugh, you ass! I'm working for $18k less than I should be!! Well, the good news is my 1-year is coming up, I've far exceeded all of their expectations (21yo techy from craigslist without a degree or much experience) and the company is pretty generous.

    It's pretty incredible how much it says I should be making even without an "education"

  10. Are there any one-eyed jumpers here in Oregon? I've been out of the sky since the summer of '04, and lost my right eye in '05. Lately I've been really craving the sport and I think I'm going to try to get back into it this summer after I shed some pounds (currently 280 or so). I sadly don't know anyone in the sport anymore

  11. So I'm sitting in the support office minding my own business when our administrative assistant walks down the hallway to the printer room while on the phone with the wife of the president of the company.

    All I heard was "...and you know, if he just takes the penis ring off it will be fine."

    When she saw the support team looking at her, she turned beet red with her hand over her mouth and left as quickly as possible...

  12. I just got home from a trip to Denmark and was sorely disappointed... The only free jugs to be seen are on late night television. Yep, we have "Late Night with Conan O'Brian", they have Sexskulen (sex school) and Debbie Does Dallas ;)

  13. Firefox seems to have fewer security holes, and better (less annoying) popup blocking IMO. It's also more customizable with hundreds of different skins and plugins of all sorts. (mouse gestures, tabbed browsing, winamp widgets, and a hell of a lot more). It also tends to be nicer from a web development viewpoint. It's more standards compliant than IE, and things tend to behave more consistantly.

    That said, a lot of sites are still built "for" IE, using ActiveX components, or HTML/Javascript specific to IE. Microsofts browser is a lot better than it used to be, but it can still be a pain in the ass from time to time.

  14. Quote

    There is a good trail that goes around Hagg lake. It can be kinda tricky, but its a good one. There are books on Oregon Mt biking. I have one and its great.



    Hey Heather, long time no hear :) But I loved riding around the lake, that last downhill stretch when you head toward the entrance gate is so relaxing


    Quote

    The summers I spent at Mt Hood I used to do some Mt biking and there are some really nice trails that aren’t that hard. It is mostly down hill so you will need to park a car at the bottom or you'll have a hell of a ride back up. I learned to mountain bike on them and I didn‘t think they were hard..



    Ahh, yeah I'm gonna have to head up there sometime soon (when it's not so hot out). I'm not sure where the bike trails are though; it's a big mountain :)

  15. I just picked up a couple mountain bikes. One is a new-to-me Trek 800 which is built mostly for street/city trails. The other is a Kona Blast for cross-country and trail riding. I bought the bikes to help myself get into shape again so I can eventually get back into the sport comfortably. I ride with my dad, but we both just started riding and neither of us know of any good trails.

    I know there're a lot of places to ride in the Tillamook St. Forest up at Browns camp and such. Then there're good trails out around Hagg lake. I just don't know where everything is specifically, and I'd be awesome to start riding with another skydiver. I don't have a whole lot of friends in the area that actually DO anything [:/]

  19. Quote

    Are you sexy?


    Definitely not
    Quote

    Is that a word that someone would use to describe you?


    I wouldn't think so, but I've heard it before. Apparently I get points for the whole one-eyed pirate thing. And there's the whole "chicks dig scars" thing too. I get a lot of points for my ear-to-ear scar B|

  22. I was out to SDO once a few years ago, but didn't jump because of the weather. I actually haven't been in the air in 2 years I think. I'm trying to lose a few pounds so I can feel comfortable in a cessna again and maybe actually start jumping before the end of the season this year :)
    I've been thinking about going out to SDO on the weekends to get to know people and take a few pictures (amateur photographer)

  24. There's Timberline lodge, and Mt. Hood Ski Bowl. I'm 99% sure the ski bowl is closed for skiing, they have other activities though. I think Palmer run at Timberline is still operating, but from the last webcam shot I saw, I wouldn't want to be skiing on it at my level. There doesn't appear to be much snow left up there.