NWFlyer

Quite a few of those teams are sponsored by Cookie. Pish posh. I'm sure they just coincidentally held their helmets with the logo prominently displayed. "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

Bumping because this one is some fun reading and it's been a while since the last updates. I haven't contributed anything in a while. Truth be told it's been a (relatively) stupid-free few years (mostly because the more time I spend in this sport, the more conservative I get in a lot of ways!), though I definitely have a couple to share. Late 2008, I had about 400ish jumps and was invited to go on a friend's 500th jump, a 16-way sunset jump at a dropzone that shall remain nameless. He paid for extra altitude for the jump as well. While we were waiting to load I remember thinking "wow, it's pretty dark already - I'd be really surprised if we get extra altitude." Well, we did. That turned out to be my first night jump. Fortunately, the skydive itself was an excellent one, with the exit chunk coming off nicely and the formation building clean with no one out or low. The DZ did turn on lights in the landing area, but the whole canopy ride was super-sketchy. September 2013, Jump 1200ish, at Nationals during the 10-way competition. I'd been jumping at SDC all week (10-way was my third event) so I'd gotten pretty comfortable with the landing area and patterns. I'd already had a couple of uneventful off landings during the event (still on the airport, but in the grass strips near the corn fields at either end of the runway). That day, winds were high (within the competition wind limits, but on the high side) but steady all day, landing to the south. Winds picked up out of the west so I when I turned onto my base leg I realized I'd gone too far east and couldn't get back to the main landing area, so I picked a grassy strip near the road and turned south. Unfortunately that meant the winds were coming over a corn field and tree and when I flared, the tree stole all my air and dropped me straight down. I'm lucky that I wasn't hurt worse - I knocked my head a bit (fortunately no concussion - just a headache for a bit) and had a minor whiplash injury to my neck. Got myself in a bad spot, and didn't even think about the impact of the turbulence off of the tree/corn. "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

Also, this one will keep you entertained for hours: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=1130378 "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'd recommend giving a call before then - I say this only because if there is something that needs to be fixed on the rig you jumped, they should pull it out of service till they do that. If no one at the DZ knows to take a closer look at it, could happen to someone else. (There may very well be nothing wrong with it, but it'd be prudent to take a closer look). "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

Hopefully you not only talked to some friends but also to some instructors/riggers at the dropzone. They can give you a full explanation/demonstration about what might have happened, and can also see if there's anything that needs to be adjusted/fixed on the 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

Words of wisdom: If you can't make the right decision in that case maybe you shouldn't be jumping a camera with that setup. Or go with the Bolas special - a disposable film camera gaffers taped onto a Protec. "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 how it could go: DZ: You can't jump that camera setup here. MadSkillz: Why? DZ: It's against our posted rules because [whatever the reason is]. MadSkillz: Fuck you I'm going to jump it anyway. DZ: No, actually, you're not. You can either hand it over to me and jump something that meets our rules, or you can choose not to jump at all here. MadSkillz: You can't confiscate my gear - it's my personal property! DZ: Then, like I said, you're welcome not to jump at all. But you're not jumping here with that setup. Our DZ, our rules. Where's the lawsuit, exactly? What law did the DZ break? The law keeping MadSkillz down? "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

Me neither, unless you count a bag of roasted peanuts at the racetrack (yep, we had a beautiful day to go watch the horsies).

No drama here, either. Just a nice day with my boyfriend and my (visiting) parents. Ran down to Whole Foods early morning to pick up a box that contained all of the fixings, just heat & eat. Went to a matinee of Philomena around noon (good flick, and Dame Judi rocks as always). Chilled out for a bit then heated up the ham & sauce, sweet potato mash, broccoli/cheddar gratin, and dinner rolls. Easy prep, easy cleanup. Let dinner settle then cooked up a frozen apple pie, and also had the amazing pumpkin pie that came with the dinner (I'm not usually a huge pumpkin pie fan, but I gotta give Whole Foods props for the best one I've ever had... so good that I've already negotiated a trade with my mom of my remaining share of the apple pie for another slice of the pumpkin ) "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

My parents are visiting me this week; I'm very fortunate that they're both still able to travel and still enjoy it. Both of my 'rents are pretty great and always did the absolute best they could. So of course, not perfect, but there was always a lot of love. My dad coached a lot of my sports teams growing up, and it's only now that I realize how hard he had to work to make that happen with work schedules and all that. He was even coaching my teams while working full time and going to school at night. At least one parent (usually both) made it to almost every sports game, band concert, etc. as we were growing up. I also appreciate how our relationship transformed as my brother and I moved from childhood to adulthood. There's still love and support but they raised us to be productive independent adults, and they've absolutely honored that independence, not hovering or meddling or anything like that. As for funny/weird stuff, one springs to mind. My last year of college was the first time I was of legal age for beach week at the end of the year. We used to go the week between the end of exams and graduation. Not that I'd had any trouble drinking in the previous years, but I was excited to finally be 21! Unfortunately, sometime in the weeks before beach week, I'd gone home to my parents' house (probably starting to move stuff back home) and left a jacket at home with my ID in my pocket. I didn't have time to make the two hour drive back home with exams and all, and for some reason (might have been that it was a weekend, might have been that it took a few weeks to get a replacement in those days) I couldn't get a replacement. My dad actually made the round trip drive JUST to bring me my ID! Definitely above and beyond (and I'm guessing he had to override my mother on that one because mom would have had more of a "let her suck it up" attitude ). "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 one pretty much eliminates the need to ever make any more. Brilliant! (NSFW in the sense that it really should be played LOUD so if you do play it in the office make sure you have your headphones on ... or your coworkers appreciate great music ) https://soundcloud.com/mixessss3/astie-boys-vs-black-sabbath "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

Cost, for one. There is a fee to process the initial license application ($30 as of this writing). No, it's not much in the grand scheme of skydiving costs, but it'll cover a jump ticket and then some. But you do make a good point about loss of paperwork; once the license is issued, it's a lot easier to ask for a replacement card than it is to recreate a logbook or A license card. Personally, I like having a D. It means that when I show up at a new DZ, there's a presumption that I know what the fuck I'm doing. If I showed up with just an A license (not that there's anything inherently wrong with that), even with 1200+ jumps, many DZs will want to know if I've jumped in the last 30 days. With a D, I'm generally given the benefit of the doubt on that six month currency requirement. It also means that , I'm no longer going to be told that I can't do something because dropzone policy says I have to have X license to do Y. "Nope, sorry, that's a D license only landing area." "Nope, sorry, only D license holders can do this special jump." I can make my own decisions about whether I want to do that something, but the license isn't going to be the deciding factor. "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 can apply directly for the C license, but you will need to document that you've met all the requirements for the previous licenses as well if you've never applied for them. I did B and C at the same time so I documented it all on a single application, took both tests at the same time, and only applied/paid for the C. "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 of the more important life-(and limb-) saving skills you can develop is canopy control, and The Parachute & Its Pilot is a great source to dig deep into the theoretical (and practical) knowledge. Some good content on the USPA site, too. And there's always the USPA SIM (assuming you are trying to get a USPA license). http://www.uspa.org/BecomeaSkydiver/tabid/54/Default.aspx http://www.uspa.org/SIM.aspx "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

It's kinda hard to measure a negative. In the US anyway, I don't know too many people (at least these days) who don't bother to get at least an A license, since it's required to jump at pretty much all USPA dropzones. Living in the vicinity of a non-USPA DZ, though, I do hear of folks that don't bother with the paperwork, at least not until they decide they want to visit other dropzones. As for higher licenses, yeah, I know of people who never bothered with advanced licenses at all, or skipped over certain ones (I personally skipped B because I was near the C numbers by the time I got water training done, and it didn't seem worth it). It depends on what your goals are, really, to decide whether higher licenses are worthwhile (either in and of themselves as a measure of achievement or because they allow you to do other things). "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 what you're saying is that Mr. Chris Schindler has a list of safety information? No, I think he's saying he's got a whole website. "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

And since Marcel didn't come back here and say thanks to the dizzy.commers himself, I'll share that he got his OFFICIAL golden ticket to beer camp! I'm looking forward to drinking some of whatever he makes at camp. Hope you get lots to take home! "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

Both my brother and I have Turkey week birthdays. On the one hand it's nice because it means we often spend our birthdays with family, on the other hand if/when we had parties, they often ended up being well away from our actual birthdays because of the holidays. But, y'know, firstworldproblems. "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

Well yeah, but it's cool that the grownups can play nice enough to give the kids a chance to hang with all their sibs. "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 sounds just perfect. Family, birthday, movies, only heating dinner and no shopping on Black Friday!! You're lucky!! Well, I can't arrange a Turkey-week birthday for everyone, and family time may not work out for all, but the rest is possible for anyone. Especially the "no shopping" thing.

11/23/63... 7 years and 2 days away from entering the world. 1/28/86... it was a school day (would have been sophomore year of high school) but for some reason I was home (can't recall if it was because I was sick or if school was closed for some reason). I was upstairs on my parents' bed watching TV when the news broke in. 9/11/01 ... I was at home in Seattle. I wasn't working at the time, so I followed my usual routine of getting up and puttering about before turning on the Today show. Sat there for about 3 hours straight before I finally couldn't watch the same footage over and over again and needed to do something "normal," so I went to the grocery store. "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

'Rents come into town tomorrow and stay for a week. Monday's my b'day so we'll do a nice dinner out. Thursday we'll probably do the tradition of a matinee movie, and late afternoon dinner. (This year I'm feeling lazy so I've got a complete dinner on order from Whole Foods ... no cooking, just heating! ). On Black Friday we might go watch horsies if the weather's cooperative. Absolutely no shopping.

I'd be most worried about the massive wedgie. "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

Gotcha. I'm glad that you're driving those conversations. I know there are lots of folks out there who are doing the same. So far I've chosen not to use a camera at all myself, so don't consider myself an expert in the setup/cutaway options, but I do know who to send people to to have a discussion about the pros & cons. I need to make a point of doing that more often, especially as I'm starting to organize regularly.

Hah, reminds me of a certain "bandit brewery jump" at Lost Prairie a few years ago with a longtime organizer. Load was spotted for the brewery instead of the dropzone... LO didn't notice. "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