NWFlyer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZIlAExvneo&feature=youtu.be&t=6s Now you just sound judgmental, envious, and entitled. Sorry, you don't get to decide what other people choose to do or not do with their money and time that they spend in the sport. There are many people who participate in this sport who are fortunate enough, and who have worked hard, to have well-paying jobs that they can use to fund their skydiving activities. Some people probably inherited a bunch of money and have never had to work hard at all and have a lot of money. Some people pay for their skydiving by working their asses off at one or more lower-paying jobs, living in a tent, and eating cheap food all the time. Point is there are a lot of different ways people live their dream. And a lot of people don't ever get to live their dream for a whole variety of reasons. Life's not fair that way. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

I guess I'm old fashioned but I find this type of fundraising really distasteful. Don't get me wrong, I'm willing to help out people who are just getting into the sport, but it's not going to be from just throwing cash at an online fundraising site. It might be by talking to them about what they're looking for in gear and giving them a heads up when I see a good deal advertised on the classifieds, or hear about another friend who's selling exactly what the newbie needs. It might be in doing a coach jump with someone for free. If I win something I can't use in a raffle, I'll look for someone who needs that thing or that discount and give it to them. I'm willing to do that because I'm building a relationship with the person and I've gotten to know their circumstances, and because of that budding relationship, I want to help them out. Not because they said "please give me money because I really want to do this." "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Like Billy, I'm fully functional without it, but will get a headache by mid-morning from the caffeine withdrawals. And really, you drinking Mountain Dew or Mello Yello and saying "Blech" to coffee? Yes, it's so much less gross to start your day with a big cup of carbonated water, high-fructose corn syrup, concentrated orange juice, citric acid, natural flavors, sodium benzoate, caffeine, sodium citrate, erythorbic acid, gum arabic, calcium disodium EDTA, brominated vegetable oil, and yellow 5. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

So that means the answer to your other question would be "now"? Congrats! "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Not just from the instructors, but also from the dropzone itself. This would be something you'd absolutely have to clear with the DZO and/or head of the instructional program, and there's a decent possibility the answer would be "no." "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Yes! You reminded me of one thing I meant to add, which is that canopy courses shouldn't be a "one and done" thing. There's advanced training, sure, but also the majority of us can benefit from regular refreshing of the basic course as well. Each time you take a class you can take in new nuances and new information and re-apply what you're learning to your current state (which might be very different from the last time you took the class - new canopy/canopies, new dropzone, new understanding, new limitations, etc.). "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Almost any DZ. There are a few out there that, because of their landing area conditions, restrict to higher license jumpers. But they're fairly rare. Then of course there's the tandem-only places but that's a whole 'nother discussion. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Yes, I've seen classes that have had pre-A students participating. You will most likely need to be cleared to solo status, and it would probably make sense that you've done at least once (if not both) of your hop & pops with an instructor or coach, since you'll need to exit the plane that way for your canopy course. However, I think most instructors would welcome someone who is still working on their A license. Of course, you'll want to confirm before you sign up as there might be reasons to limit the course to licensed jumpers. There are two primary reasons that the course gets recommended for post-A students. 1) There's a lot of skills (including canopy skills) that a student needs to demonstrate prior to the A license. As such, with a lot of information packed into those jumps, there's a general idea that working more on canopy skills is the next level of your education. 2) In recent years, completing a canopy course has become a requirement for a USPA B license, so many people make that one of their next learning activities after finishing their A license. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Here's one freefall incident that was shared on here a few years back: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2227575 We've got hawks at Skydance that like to attack canopies ... if our pattern is to the south people are doing their base leg over or very close to a stand of trees where they live. They get pretty protective. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Looks like it could work if it doesn't try to take itself too seriously. And it looks like it might not. And Colin Firth as the badass... me likey! "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Please make sure to keep your GoPro (you *do* have aGoPro already, of course?) on through the landing pattern so we can all see your "confidence" in action. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

I'm not sure that's a fair comparison. Circumcising / not circumcising doesn't generally become a public health issue (though I haven't researched it independently, there is the reference above to circumcision rates being correlated to HIV infection rates, so there may indeed be cases in which it could become part of a public health issue.) The success of vaccination in eradicating disease, however, relies on herd immunity. Therefore, individual decisions can (when they impact the collective immunity) have a higher chance of becoming a public health issue. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

You need a better brokerage. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Yep, it is fun, but none of us should be kidding ourselves that it's anything other than gambling. Just like when I go to Vegas; I figure out how much money I'm willing to play with on that weekend... maybe I finish up, maybe I finish even, but my "down" limit is that pre-set amount, and it's an amount that's well within my "play money" budget, not something that I might need for rent or food or skydives the next month. Same goes for my stock market fun money. It's not my "go to hell" fund. It's not my retirement fund. It's not my monthly budget money. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Looks like Derek might've found his shit-stirring spoon somewhere in storage. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

I might visit Elsinore sometime in 2015 too. Any idea on the cost of renting a car vs. taxi/Uber to and from Elsinore? Similar question for Perris and Eloy too. Those are the DZs I visit the most. Here's been my experience: For Perris/Elsinore, I've found car rentals at Ontario are generally quite cheap (I typically use Costco Travel for my rentals, YMMV through other sources). The distance from Ontario to the DZs is far enough that a taxi or Uber would probably be quite high and depending on the length of your stay you're generally better off with a car rental. There might be a Super Shuttle / shared ride type of service that would be lower cost to get you to the DZs. You could probably get rides into the grocery store or restaurants fairly easily by asking around the DZ, but you'd be stranded otherwise without your own car. As for Eloy, Avatar Shuttle service runs from Phoenix to the DZ. Rental cars at PHX tend to be higher than Ontario but depending on the time of year you can sometimes get good deals. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

One challenge with setting yourself up to only complete AFF "in a few days" is that you may find yourself back home in NJ with a long layoff ahead of you before you can start to jump again to complete your A license. (I am assuming that ultimately earning your license is a goal of yours; if your only goal is to finish AFF then disregard). Just finishing AFF is a milestone, but ultimately it's not one that means much unless you follow it up with completion of your license. If you finish AFF "somewhere else" then have a layoff before the NJ season starts, you will have to do at least one if not more recurrency jumps once the season starts in order to start jumping again. A quick glance at your posting history shows that you've stopped and started skydiving several times; if your goal is to eventually be licensed, and you want to do it in the most financially advantageous way possible, you may wish to wait until you have the time, money, and weather to keep jumping regularly enough to get the whole A license program done. If all you want to do is complete AFF, you've had some good suggestions for places to travel to do so. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Like I said... https://hbr.org/2015/01/investors-fawning-over-uber-should-recall-aols-stumbles "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

This intrigues me ... tell me more! How do you even get started in something like this? I feel like getting into RW is tough bc it seems everyone who does it has been doing it forever - not a whole lot of room for beginners (we mess up a lot!) Find your local NSL league! They'll put on meets, skills camps, tunnel events. Great way to get connected and learn 4-way. http://ww1.skyleague.com/ "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Ask around in your industry - find out which programs have a good / bad reputation among the people who matter (those who would hire you - either as an employee or contractor / consultant). You accomplish two things there - you gather information, and you network, which is a good thing. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

GG has been focusing on renovating the store over the past couple of weeks, which may explain the disconnected phone (or you might have a very old number). I'm sure Bonnie & her crew will take care of you once you're able to connect. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Yep. I should add that the overwhelming majority of my portfolio is in funds. Individual stocks are fun, but I'm not banking my retirement fund on them, that's for sure. Also, any non-retirement investing I'm doing is with money over and above my emergency fund, which is low-risk and highly liquid, of course). I'm not playing with stocks to make sure I've got enough money to cover rent if I lose my job. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

I think asking for investing advice on a skydiving forum is bound to get you a high percentage of janky info, actually. That said, when I started dabbling in individual stock investing, I followed the WWWBD strategy. Seriously. I looked at the companies that Warren Buffett was actively investing in (Google can tell you that), and I reviewed them against my own personal interests and values, and picked a few of those same stocks to invest in (plus I invest in Berkshire Hathaway itself). Conceptually I try to pick the same way Buffett picks his own investments (though I totally lack his financial prowess!). But I at least take to heart his idea that I shouldn't invest in something I don't understand. So, I invest in companies for which 1) I have a clear (at least high level) understanding of their business model and how they make money now and how they'll make money in the future and 2) The business they're in isn't something I find fundamentally distasteful. In most cases, they're also companies of which I'm a regular customer (which helps with that "understanding the company" part). So far, that's actually worked out really well for me. Granted, my investing in individual stocks has mostly been over the past 3 years or so and the market itself is also going gangbusters, but my individual stocks are outperforming my index funds pretty handily. I have no interest in investing in companies and industries I don't understand. I'm a "buy and hold" investor, not a "time the market" investor. I'm under no illusions that I have any kind of special expertise that's going to allow me to play market timing in some cool way to work it to my advantage (nor do I have the patience or interest in learning). Even though I live a stones' throw from Silicon Valley, you'll almost never find me investing in tech and that's because I don't have a freaking clue how the market values many tech companies (and frankly, I'm not sure the market has much clue, either ). I've got a couple shares of Google stock and a few shares of a tech company I used to work for (which have grown at a wonderfully surprising rate), but it amounts to such a tiny proportion of my portfolio that if both of those stocks dropped to zero I wouldn't miss it. I have an automatic investment plan set up with an online brokerage that costs me $12/month for up to 12 transactions. Each month it takes money out of my savings account and allocates it across 12 different investments as I've specified. It's very hands-off, and though I'll occasionally look at my portfolio and consider whether to increase my monthly investment or reallocate my monthly share differently, I'm otherwise super passive. I'm basically doing dollar cost averaging investing through this strategy. Motley Fool is a pretty decent site for starting to learn the basics. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

This is true. I've often said "I can grow a human child faster than they can build me a rig." "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

That's on my personal list* of "not-very-good reasons to downsize" but you're not the first person to use it and you certainly won't be the last.