niolosoiale

I'm not really focusing on specifics related to gear since obviously I know almost nothing about the dynamics. Really I've just been browsing manufacturer websites and reading reviews, playing with color design blah blah. Nothing serious, just passing time more than anything. More than anything, it's just something I do to keep my goals in mind Plus when you're on dial-up at home... there isn't much else better you can do on the computer

I've been transitioning into working longer days. I work from about 7:45 - 6 with an hour lunch, and I work 4 hours on saturday. So it ends up being about 14 hours of overtime per week. Comes out to around $280 per month extra. Even if the overtime goes away, by that point, I'll have received my raise...and things will be even better.

Doh.... I heard nothing mentioned about gear! What's your thoughts on that? ... and I'm not going to go anywhere near the 'why go into debt for training when you'll have more than enough opportunities to go into debt later for gear, boogies, camps, & beer'. I didn't want to bring up the gear deal though I have been thinking about it. I plan on paying this "vacation" off in one year and in between then I'll be staying current and making it through the phase II jumps. After the loan is paid off, I'll probably take out another one to get started with gear. Who knows I may fall into some money and be able to get gear sooner. (I am anticipating a stout raise by the end of this year) Gear is definitely on my mind. Spent a lot of time recently designing "dream gear"

Ok I was sending this to a couple of people I spoke with in PM but I figured I ought as well throw this out in a thread. Direct copy paste of what I sent them. -------------------------------------------- Ok so... I'm thinking for the future and how it pertains to going through AFF. I have a couple ways of doing it and I'm trying to weight out which would be best. Regardless of the path chosen, I want to go through AFF in a week which I will take off of work. So here are the ways I'm looking at doing this, in no particular order. #1 - Do AFF either at OSC or Airtight. Spend no money on tunnel time, have increased chances of retakes. #2 - Take a 1-2 day trip to Skyventure CO or the tunnel in TN. Do AFF either at OSC or Airtight. #3 - Take a full out trip to a place like Deland, FL and take their AFF package which includes 20 minutes of tunnel training. Option 3 is $2k minimum with no retakes when you factor in travel, (600ish according to hotwire) Option 2 is the cost of AFF at either OK DZ ($1,200/1,300) plus cost of travel to tunnel and tunnel time. So I estimate again, around $2000. Option 1 is the cost of AFF at either DZ, and additional to whatever I spend in retakes. Florida has year round better weather than Oklahoma. Keeping it in oklahoma would allow me to build repertoire with the respective DZ and regulars. I'm planning on taking out up to a $3,000 loan. What do you think? -------------------------------------------

WOW That's what I said.

Marry me please!!!! This is what you'd get. Plus I'm not gay. After I posted I saw your name was matt!! offer withdrawn but it is a great pic I quess it goes to show you can never trust what people post!! who knows what is real or not! True that. Ran across that picture a few days ago. This one ain't bad either. There is a series as well. But you don't really get to see anything more than this. Note: not the same girl.

Marry me please!!!! This is what you'd get. Plus I'm not gay.

Man that's hawt. You got pictures of of the ones with red feet?

Here's my contribution.

Do not mistake weird for superior!

Exactly More turn with less distance traveled.

Do you play the game in highway traffic jams where you keep enough distance between you and the next guy so you never need to stop? I know I do. Many people end up staying behind me even though I appear to be going SO MUCH SLOWER than the other lanes of traffic simply because they don't have to worry about me slamming on my brakes. It would seem they like it.

Come on. Inherently you have better vision in front of you. It's certainly easier to see what you're doing going into the space. And backing out, you have a lot more latitude to be off, short of running over something. Anyone that has 'precision' issues driving forward into a perpendicular or angled parking space needs to be given a moped. I should clarify. When backing a car up, you can more easily fine tune the direction you are putting your car in. This is what I meant by precision. This point is arguable only by personal preference.

Sorry I have to call bullshit. That is the biggest bunch of stereotypical crap. Women have issues with it because they over the generations have been told over and over that men were superior and women just cant do things as well. I can take and either back in park or for that matter parrellel park anything you put me behind the wheel of (with the exception of a semi, as I havent tried that with a trailer, but I think after a couple trys I could do it). I used to parrellel park my GMC Yukon down in the city of chicago with no problems one try with about a foot in front and a foot in back...and that was a good sized spot. Can do the same with my aunts full size pick up truck, with out blinking. So do not give me this line of shit that women because they are women cannot back up. It is because they choose to let that stereotype be the guide they follow. [/rant] It's stereotypical, but it's based in reality (note I allowed room for exceptions by using the clause "it's statistically likely". If you drop hundreds of dollar bills on a group of guys, then do the same on a group of girls... the men will catch more money on average than the women. Driving, like this experiment, is all about processing large amounts of information and extrapolation. The ways male and female brains process information are very different. This isn't to say one is better than the other, but they each have things they are more predisposed to doing well in compared to the other. Simple. Biological. Facts. Admittedly, I did add that in because it's good bait. Primarily because it's true.

Everything about backing in to park is superior, except of course, the problems it causes the people behind them. Inherently, being steered by the front wheels, cars can be parked with more precision while backing up. Being able to see better when pulling out of a parking spot is invaluable considering most of the times, if you are backing out and someone hits you, you are at fault. Of course, if you're a woman, statistically, for biological reasons you will likely have trouble with backing up, so you may see things differently. Seriously. Either way, I do it based on situation. If the parking is diagonally oriented and each row is a one way, that's about the only time it's never worthwhile to back in.

Kind morbid, but you would think they wouldn't care so much about the deaths. Regardless, I have med ins through work and I'm trying to find my paperwork to review the stipulations on skydiving. Seems like I may be in luck, and even then, the monthly premiums on hazardous activity insurance aren't all that bad... relatively.

Likelihood of this kid stealing again.... almost 0. It took me several whacks/soaped mouths to stop lying. Just saying.

Religious bigotry rarely solves more problems than it creates. Sometimes different people have different ways of looking at things and different ways of taking care of their lives. You should be more open-minded. You might even learn something from someone you don't agree with. Pot, meet kettle... and so on. You are preaching to the choir here.

Religious bigotry rarely solves more problems than it creates.

I was not as pleased with that result as I wanted to be. I've been trying to find the perfect fruit mix for vodka. I'm still thinking a lemon/lime variation will be best. EDIT: I can't stand that thought of washing vodka as opposed to straight gulp.

When was the last time he ever did/said anything that didn't get everyone pissed at him?

So I guess another good question would be... Say you sustain a spinal injury that essentially requires immediate hospitilization. What steps would YOU take to make the issue of skydiving not come up?

Do you want 55 uninformed opinions? Your question also didn't give enough detail for anyone to give a very good answer. apparently some insurance policies, in some states, can exclude by activity. Company plans can do so, or used to, unti the AMA (motorcycling association) drove a bill in DC to ban such practices. However, I'm not sure it survived the rule making process. non standard treatment can also be excluded. Few medical plans cover hyperbaric chambers, a key treatment for scuba injuries. I don't think this sort of problem would apply to injuries from a hard opening. I was just throwing out a random scenario. Rough landing resulting in broken bones and such. I just wondered if there was ever an incident where someone's insurance didn't pay because the injury occurred while skydiving.

Well... I would say I'm not very different. My communication is better online because I have time to fabricate a point and limit my tendency to go on tangents. I still end up making far too much effort (in many people's opinions) to make sure I am understood and a lot of times it just ends up being awkward . I recognize the times when I should stop talking, but I usually don't... but it's not because I'm saying something I shouldn't, I'm just saying things and adding details/contextual information that, more often than not, no one cares about. I'm sure I receive just as many "wtf"-"are you still talking?"-"i don't really care" looks online as I do in person Online - weird In person - weird Online - nice, less reserved In person - nice, more reserved Really I think the answer is I'm pretty much the same person... at least on this forum.