karenmeal

I hear there is controversy surrounding the use of the DIBELS. Any comments? Is this a valid and reliable indicator of the skills that it purports to test? If not, blame Bush? -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Tell them the truth! I wouldn't sugarcoat it too much- definitely teach them the concept that in this sport, we try to learn from other's mistakes. The manifestors at the DZ that I worked at for a while routinely lied about this question to first jump students. Used to drive me nuts! I wish they would have said, "We've had one fatality under the current ownership and he was an experienced jumper who made a canopy piloting error. We have not had any serious injuries (beyond a broken ankle) for any of our students." "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Snowboarding Saturday was HEAVENLY!!!!!!!!! Perfect way to end the season: fluffy, fresh powder and a broken lift which dissuaded the masses but left the rest of the mountain (and the functioning lifts) wide open to those willing to hike a short distance.

2001: I was still in HIGHSCHOOL! Ha! I must have had about 50 jumps at this point. I had plans of going to a good college, I ended up going to college for several weeks and dropped out to be a skydiving bum and live in a tent for a while. Everything in my life revolved around skydiving. Now: Finishing up my master's degree in speech language pathology. Just celebrated my six year anniversary with my boyfriend. Not skydiving much right now due to the rigors of grad school. Also still dealing with the aftermath of the plane crash that killed a lot of my friends. As soon as I graduate and am making money and have free time (and as soon as my head gets screwed on straight again) I will be back with a vengeance. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

So the crash was on October 7th actually.. and Casey's family and a number of his friends have already seen that video. The woman obviously knew nothing of Casey or anyone else on board the plane and it is absolutely absurd that she tried to pretend that she did. Frankly, I think Casey would have been somewhat amused with all of the attention and would have laughed at it (while shaking his head at her obvious ignorance..) "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Sweet Potatoes with Warm Black Bean Salad 4 medium sweet potatoes 15 oz can black beans 2 medium tomatoes - diced 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 tspn ground cumin 1 tspon ground coriander 3/4 tspn salt 1/4 cup fat free sour cream 1/4 cup chopped cilantro 1. Nuke sweet potatoes 12-15 minutes (until fork tender). 2. Combine next 6 ingredients in a bowl. Nuke 2-3 minutes. 3. Split open sweet potatoes and put filling inside. Top with sour cream and cilantro. It's yummy.. and when served up with a salad makes a nice, light meal. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

You're assuming that someone who knows him (Or Tom himself) should be able to respond between 8:30 pm and 5:00 am? "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Sweet sweet snow-boarding on Sunday. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Snowboarding, backpacking, fly fishing, hiking, hope to get into kayaking once I graduate from school and start earning money! And studying.. is that a sport? Paper writing? "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Hmm.. I've got Vista and a little sticker on my computer says atheros wireless. Maybe that is my wireless card? "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Doofus Acomicus? "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Jonah (the dog) made a new friend this morning. But what the heck kind of bird is this? "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Yeah.. I've just worked at those stores before and I know that most of those folks don't know what they're talking about. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I'm just finishing up a big tile mosaic that I inset into the middle portion of an old door. I'm going to stick some legs on this thing and make it a desk. Originally I was planning on putting a piece of glass down over the tile portion to level it up with the rest of the door.. but I don't have enough room for a piece of glass with the thickness of the tile and the adhesive I used. Is there some substance I can pour over the top of everything (I'm thinking of the bar at Lost Prairie) that will level it all out (doesn't have to be perfect) to make a better writing surface? And also, is this substance safe with grout? "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I've had to cut back on the swearing recently since I'm working with kids now. It sucks. Now I say things like crud and fudge. For fuck's sake. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I'm soooo jealous! I LOVE SNOW! "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

That's a strange list.. I can't say I agree with a single thing. Who came up with all of these arbitrary rules? Tequila shots not sexy? What!! "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

We have a kitchen aid coffee grinder that is magic! You just pour in the beans and push on the top for a few seconds and voila! "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Hmm.. I'll take the first definition: Karen is the perfect woman. She has no flaw. She's funny, sweet, smart as hell, and above all, she is extremely gorgeous. She doesn't let anyone push her around and she has a great personality. She has some awesome goals set and always wins my heart. Has great taste in guys. Don't listen to what the other jack-off put. Everybody loves Karen. If you were to look up the word "amazing" in the dictionary, there would be a picture of Karen. But not so much the next two: 1.a person who deserves to be punched in the liver and pushed into a water fountain. 2. A BITCH. "Omg she is being such a Karen today" a douchebag aka a bag of douche "Karen is ALWAYS a douchebag. Karen is always a bag of douche." Thanks Dane Cook.. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

We've got a picture of Josh right next to our front door that I see every morning as I head out. We've even got a skydiver blonde sitting there toasting him. It's hard to believe that it's been 3 years since we've seen him. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Hmm.. since it's not worth much money, better keep the board and go shred some powder this weekend. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Yeah.. I've done it maybe 4 or 5 times. Dropped out of school and packed up my car and moved across country without real plans (or a place to live besides the hangar). When my boyfriend broke up with me, within half an hour I had decided to move to Australia for the winter. That sort of thing. Now I've been in the same area for almost 5 years and am getting SOOOOO antsy to move again!! "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I went snowboarding. Waaaay better than sitting and watching other people do stuff. Plus.. because of the superbowl the slopes were empty! -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Stir-fry dishes are cheap. Buy rice in bulk, big costco bags of frozen veggies, chicken, eggs, soy sauce.. A whole lot of soup and crockpot recipes would be good too. Baked potato soup, chicken and corn soup, bean/split pea and ham soups. You can get bulk bags of fish filets (tilapia is inexpensive and low calories), then blacken them using jar of seasoning or just sprinkle with spices that you have on idea, saute in pan, saute a bag of frozen veggies, serve with some potatoes or rice. Lots of casserole dishes.. I'm thinking of a tex-mex casserole I make. Take some pre-fab turkey chili, mix with some black beans, diced tomato, corn, onion, sprinkle with some cheese and pour some pre-fab cornbread mix on top Chicken baked in soup with some rice and veggies on the side. Do an omelet bar - eggs are cheap, and the veggies/fillings can be cheap. Home-made pizzas - making dough is cheap and easy - ingredients can be really cheap. If you want a healthy twist, add chicken, onion, garlic, kidney beans, brocoli and low-fat cheese. Hot dog-macaroni casserole. This is something my dad made up, cook some hot dogs and chop into bite-sized pieces, saute some onion, add some spaghetti sauce to the mix and serve with macaroni. I always loved this stuff as a kid. Quiche - sounds expensive - but if you make your own crust and use frozen veggies, this can be cheap! For desert - jello with canned fruit, tapioca pudding... This is how we ate growing up. I always thought we had good eating. All of these dishes can be prepared light. My mom lowered the cost of these dishes further by making some stuff from scratch (rolls, biscuits..) and always using frozen vegetables. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

In regards to your daughter... I think that dropping out of college in my first semester and taking several years off was just about the best decision of my life. It was actually my parents idea that I do this - surprisingly enough they both have their PhD's and are college professors. They've seen so many kids go to college not ready for the responsibilities, not motivated, and with no work ethic. They'd also seen a number of people return to college and perform phenomenally and with much more insight as to why they were there. I did go back to school after my hiatus, much more prepared to buckle down, work hard and focus. I had a specific reason to get a degree and therefore all the work that I did was actually meaningful to me. I got almost straight A's and was accepted into all of the top graduate programs in my field. So your daughter wanting to pursue something else may very well be a good choice for her. In my several years off, I was considering working towards opening my own rigging loft. So not that different than your daughter. Back to the original topic.. I finished my bachelors in June and will complete my masters in a little over a year. For my career, a masters is the entry level position. Because of that, it has a lot of value to me because I couldn't be in the field of speech-language pathology without those degrees. I also love learning, so it is worth it to me as far as the self-improvement aspect as well. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham