skyjumpsteve

I just finished my benefits election for next year and the "penalty" for not being in a federally legally recognized marriage (although being legally married in MA) is about $2,500 to $3,000. This includes paying the "imputed" tax on health care benefits for my other half and not being able to put aside pre-tax dollars into an FSA account for him....and if I die no Social Security benefits go to him and property is not transferred tax free nor is other jointly owned assets. So....if all marriage "rights", especially at the Federal level, get applied to civil unions then I guess the legalization of gay marriage would be less of a big deal. To me it doesn't matter what it is called....as long as the law treats them the same. For those that think current civil union laws provide the same benefits of marriage are sadly mistaken. $3,000 would be about 120 jumps

It is repulsive to think about. We don't want our children or grandchildren thinking it is OK. YOU are repulsive to think about. You think gay people are "repulsive" sex addicted "stupid" fornicators with a "killer" lifestyle that are gay because of temptation. Is that right? And then you say emotion has "overidden intellect"......yeah...a lot of intellect going on with your bible thumping posts. Repulsive is right......

Increíble. Felicidades!

Fun event! Glad I decided to come. Thanks for organizing Jenn. See you next year.

Here is the refund policy of my home DZ. "...and don't get to jump due to weather, do not want a rain check, and cannot reschedule we will happily refund your money". http://www.skyjump.com/Art/RefundPolicy.gif ...so it sounds like a ton of DZ's have customer friendly refund policies.

To find the vid simply go to the Nationals website and click "live". http://www.uspanationals.com/live.htm ...on the right hand side click Oct 16. when that comes up click the first video (it says "8way/16 Way/Freeflying judging feed - Fri Oct 16) and go to 6:05 mark.....you can fast forward right to it.

sweet....sweet.....sweet. Just ordered! Yo Matt, is the book available for immediate shipment? Do you know if I order 1 day shipping would it be shipped tomorrow?

Seems very high. I have bought suits from MW at least 2 or 3 times and the alterations were never more than $20 or $30 per suit. If I remember correctly they charged "per alteration" so if the waist needed to be taken in and the pants hemmed it would be two separate charges of $10 to $15 each. On one occasion because of a sale I got them free. The alterations (at least at this store) are good for life so additional alterations are free if you ever need them. But....$150 does seem awfully high.

Every single "discipline" forum now has a thread "Missing Discipline". If he was posting to one forum that would be one thing but to read through that incomprehensible drivel in thread after thread and forum after forum is really too much. This is beyond ludicrous. Posting privileges should be banned indefinitely. A week or two is probably not going to cut it. How about until at least 2010? Seriously.....

Would love to amigo but can't make it this year. Have a great time if you go.

Me too....on time.

I had a bunch of gear stolen out of my car a few years ago and other than the deductible insurance covered everything. It was all my gear minus the rig. 3 or 4 suits, altimiter, audible, goggles, camera helmet, etc....got the insurance check within a week after I collected all the receipts. A friend recently "lost" a canopy, camera helmet and video camera after a cut-away and he too was fully covered. Sucks to have our shit jacked but insurance should cover it assuming you have no exclusions.

It aint cheap but the Grand Wailea hotel was awesome. They have the most amazing pool..... http://www.grandwailea.com/

Hey Jen, are the jumps just on Friday and Saturday or on Sunday as well? I will wait until I get the e-mail from Al but I wanted to poke around and figure out what flights made sense. Thanks, Steve

From the Boston Globe: Vatican specialists say the fact that church officials responded at all is not surprising - the Vatican, like the White House, has a correspondence desk and attempts to answer all letters. “There’s a whole section of the Secretariat of State devoted to handling the pope’s correspondence,’’ said John L. Allen Jr., a senior correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter. “For most people, a form letter is sent back thanking them for corresponding and assuring them of the pope’s prayers.’’ Given the prominence of Kennedy, and the fact that his appeal was hand-delivered to the pope by President Obama, it is almost certain that the pope read the letter and the response, although the pope, as is customary, did not sign it himself, according to several Vatican specialists.

Bonus link - Right beneath the pic of the poor bovine a link for "Antelope fakes its own death to avoid being eaten by a cheetah" caught my attention. Check it out....pretty cool. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1209754/Antelope-fakes-death-avoid-eaten-cheetah.html

yes it speaks....here is a little clip that shows it: http://iphone.tomtom.com/en-us/index.html A friend has it and loves it....am probably going to download it soon as I hate the built in Pioneer GPS I have in my car.

That is the number for the U.S. Department of State....we all know which Hillary works there!

I would check out the Lost Prairie Boogie in Montana: http://www.skydivelostprairie.com/ Amazing scenery and an absolute blast. Very memorable.

Safety first is absolutely right. Andreea, I too have issues and I just wear a T-shirt underneath. Think I just need to have the arm width adjusted a little bit. I don't think Jarno was complaining....just trying to find out if there was a new modification to the sleeve system.

No issues on a Macbook pro or iMac with Firefox or Safari. Also used a macbook Air a few times 2 days ago w/o any issues.

I had Lasik and was jumping a few weeks later. Asked the doctor specifically about skydiving and he said "no" risk....not "little" risk nut NO risk. I would not worry about it in the least. You should just be worrying about enjoying your jump. Blues Skies

Definitely go for the Phantom if those are your two choices. If the Prodigy is available to you anytime then there is really no reason to buy one...it will be there if you want to do some more jumps on it. Phantom and Phantom II is a great suit which will suit you well for many jumps to come. It will be good for back-flying, flocking, solos, and pretty much any type of WS'ing you want to do.

For someone who has no knowledge? Sure...here is a great book: http://tiny.cc/CwQK4

Umm....are there plans for additional lift capacity? Can't imagine going again next year if the waits are 3 hours + with the last loads of the day needing to be manifested by 1:00 P.M. Please post any info you find out about the fleet they are planning to have.