Maggotry

That's weird man. When we rent 'um for a boogie we have to do 25 lifts and we're good, money wise. The AN-28 is extremely durable (hey, it's Russian ), fast to altitude and has the sweetest resonating sound to its engines. Gotta side with jerry though. There are some sharp edges on 'em that can bust you up pretty bad. Still got a scar to prove it .

I dunno dude. To me it's pretty simple. You have a friend/girlfriend/lover do some stuff you disagree with vehemently. You ask that person to stop doing it. If he/she doesn't, you ask why. If the explanation isn't satisfactory (as in MAJOR importance) and he/she still will continue doing it, knowing how much it grates/annoys/hurts you, that person is valuing the act of doing whatever it is she/he is doingg more than he/she values you. What you do with that info is up to you though. if it's something very important to me, I let the other person go. No hard words or anything - but I can't be around people who hurt me just by ebing themselves/doing what they feel they must do. You got a tough choice Rhino. If she knows how you feel about it and refuses to stop, think about it. It's a minor fucking thing, stop signing emails with 'love ya', Sure, there's the whole principle of 'you don't own me' behind it, but if you put it as a simple request, a sign of respect for your well being and still she said no, I'd say you're in for some tough weather if you stay in the relationship. Your call, and a tough one. I hope the two of you work it out - and if you can't, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Well said!

I'm wondering what the international hand signal is for "something's up with your gear dude, get on your belly". One coach I know flip people the finger, essentially saying "you're f*cked". This approach is effective if your buddies are told about it AND aren't freefliers. If they're freefliers they'll just return the service with a big FU back. I use the two upper fingers (like forming a gun) and moving my thumb when in close or a salute+waveoff if I'm far away but then again, I jump with the same people most of the time. So I gotta know what the de facto standard is on this :)

I'm curious about what you told your boss?

Heh, at our last swoop-meet, we tried to utilize our newly built swoop pond. After hacking away at the ice for two hours and removing the biggest pieces of ice, there *still* wasn't anyone that'd risk their legs/bodies swooping it. Cool pic :)

Nurses are cuter too. At least the female ones

My sis did it. Think she averaged 200 jumps a year, but she started skydiving after a couple of years in med school and could work as well as study. Now that she's done, she's averaging around 500 a year.

Don't lie. You might get invited to do stuff you're not ready for - and you'll have no easy way of declining, without revealing your deception. You'll put not only yourself but also others into danger. Besides being a dangerous thing to do, it's unethical as well. Sooner or later you'll be found out, and then you'll feel the full condemnation of those around you, and you'll have a very hard time shaking the 'that dude is unreliable and untrustworthy' label off your back. It's not about jump numbers at any rate. I've got a pal - he has around 230 jumps. Jumped with him since he had 40 jumps, and he routinely does sit-docks, kneestands and totems with me. Generally speaking, he's better in the air than people with twice his jumps. It's about what you can do in freefall, how you handle yourself under canopy and how you handle yourself on the ground. Jump numbers do not determine how people perceive you - they basically are an indicator of experience, but not proof of skill. High jump numbers tell ya that this person has a lot of jumps and have yet to make a big enough error to get himself/herself killed