ebusto

Everyone makes mistakes, otherwise there would be no injuries or fatalities. In those situations, I applaud your decision to talk to people and point out those potentially harmful mistakes. However, I sure hope you are joking about pulling their reserve handle. Anyone who touches my gear without my permission better have a cup handy.

I got my EMT-B a year ago partly because, like J, I want to get into firefighting, and partly because I wanted to have some basic skills in case things went bad either at the DZ, or on a BASE jump. The national registry exam sure is.. odd. Thankfully I haven't had to use it, but it gives me the warm fuzzies knowing that I can administer CPR, or pull traction, if need be.

I'm quite sore, and can no longer see straight:0:0 The weather sucked in the Bay Area on Saturday, and I had my second flying lesson on Sunday.

A BASE stash bag is exactly what I used when I flew down to Eloy a few months ago. It is just barely large enough to fit my rig. Worked great.

If you bring copies to Byron, I bet us Byron kids who went will buy them. I will, for sure.

Considering there was no DZ close to the potato bridge until very recently, I would be surprised if any other FJC done there incorporated skydives into the program.

You can take any BASE canopy on a skydive, as it should really be no different than a terminal BASE jump. I jumped my Troll for a day at the dropzone before taking it on any BASE jumps. You just need to have a container large enough to hold the canopy, pack it slider up, using direct and indirect control, and you should be good. At least, it didn't kill me.

When I took the course from Miles, he and I talked a bit about skydiving a BASE canopy. He called up a rigger buddy and asked him if he had a student container that could hold such a large canopy. I bet this is the end result of that idea. I don't believe Snake River Skydiving was open at the time.

I took a FJC from Miles late last year. While some people deride him for taking on students who don't have the experience necessary to safely learn to BASE jump, my impression of Miles is that he looks at each student individually, rather than applying raw numbers as a requirement. Miles is a very sharp guy, and very safety conscious. I learned a ton from him, and feel confident in my pack job, body position, and whatnot, after his course of instruction. Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions about his course from the point of view of one of his students.

trouble walking today:0:0 I'm on-call for work, so no skydiving, but did catch up on a few movies I have been meaning to see while at home waiting for the pager to go off.

2:5:0 Did my 300th and lurked my friend Carol's tandem. Sat around and studied on Sunday, with more sitting around and less studying than should have been the case.

zip:13:0 Got in 13 jumps in Eloy, 30 minutes of tunnel time, and spent a great weekend with my friend Nina. My next jump will be number 300.

:10+1:0 A mix of belly and freefly at Byron. Awesome weather!

Same here.

I'm surprised that most people voted that doing a barrel roll is a bad idea. When tracking away on your belly, you can only see below you and to the side. Unless you can turn your head like an owl, you still have a blind spot above you. In that blind spot may be someone who has spaced out and wouldn't notice if you wave. You can either take that chance, or you can take the half of a second to do a barrel roll and check your blind spot. When on your back, your field of vision is much larger than in each individual glance over your shoulders. Ideally you have looked far enough ahead and behind you while on your belly to know who you may overtake or who may overtake you when you briefly switch to your back, although presumably you won't stop tracking when on your back.

I just got a phone call from Max. Since I never followed through with disputing the charges, instead giving him the benefit of the doubt, he is going to overnight my lens, given that he still has my money. I suspect that if you have a pending order with Max, he will be contacting you in the next few days to get things squared away. It sucks when people or businesses make the wrong decision, but I'm always glad to see them try to make up for it. Restores my faith in humanity.

I would love to make this.

I agree. Some people are absolute dicks when giving advice, either from lack of people skills, or they simply don't care. The advice is often warranted, but perhaps people don't realize that the recipient will be more inclined to listen if the giver of the advice puts a little effort into being nice about it. If only there was a book available to help people learn these basic social skills. Oh wait, there is.

!:0,1:0 Watched it rain in Byron on Saturday. Got to jump some new gear for the first time Saturday night. Debated heading out somewhere on Sunday, but cleaned the apartment and read instead.

One of the hottest things ever is when a woman is wrinkling her nose in an attempt to push her glasses up. Unfortunately, most people eschew glasses in favor of contacts. I wear my glasses as a badge of geek pride!

Correct, the HC96 has the "block" battery.

You can only use the lower capacity battery. I bought the higher capacity battery hoping that it would fit, but no such luck.

I have a HC96 sidemounted in a cookie helmet and box, and it is fine. Why isn't it smart?

I'll probably bring my significant other, so people++.

You are losing your touch. Ego, bring the hats.