ciordia9

I finished building a photography/video montage and wrote a spiel for my blog. It's entertaining if nothing else. 2008 Skyfest and Rodiguez Boogie Video & Hilites -andy it's my island "Life is all about strategy, mathematics and psychological perceptiveness."

Sometimes you have to invest in things you like.. radical thought ;) I love flickr; the API, the way I can store, the groups, the tag structure, the sets of sets, it's all been falling together for years now. I want to know my data is taken care of. Most of the other services are tied to retailers that are pushing purchasing. Image bucket was a free one stop slop shop for url chucking but I wouldn't call it professional grade. It costs like .08c a day. You can't get better storage costs out of Amazon S3 service. If you care about your photography and want to be able to access is in some formidable ways choose it. http://flickr.com/photos/ciordia/ -a it's my island "Life is all about strategy, mathematics and psychological perceptiveness."

I saw a lot of camera's in play over the weekend, maybe someone with more shots than I will post some of the mayhem. When the evening came my camera disappeared and was replaced by strange concoctions. Flickr Set http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/sets/72157600335920011/ All things being said we had blue skies all weekend which made for some excellent jumping. The tequila ran throughout the evening and surprising enough many survived to jump again the next day. I am proud to call myself initiated. Mi llamo es Pelargo! it's my island "Life is all about strategy, mathematics and psychological perceptiveness."

Ooh man.. We were just talking bikes the week before last when he was at SDC. Maaaan. Damn cagers! Jason you will be _so_ missed!

Surprised more Skydive Carolina folks haven't chimed in. We got to watch these guys practice at the SDC DZ Saturday a few times. They sure have their skills down. I'd love to see the original live feed but we were too late coming home on Sunday to catch it. There were a lot of local photographers taking pictures as well, some of you guys (you know who you are!) post them up or to flickr or somewhere. Some nice swoops. -a it's my island "Life is all about strategy, mathematics and psychological perceptiveness."

Gotta board Gotta board! it's my island "Life is all about strategy, mathematics and psychological perceptiveness."

I thought I'd write some final thoughts to what I did, and what I've learned. My initial thoughts as I came into final here was to get some prices, and then talk to my local shop into seeing what they did. Like in contracting I took a few bids and talked to a local contractor. After a lot of midnight oil burnings I finally squared out everything I wanted, every option, every thing.. which to a newbie took a helluva lot of searches on Dropzone.com. (Thanks for a detailed history to search from too!) I got a bunch of numbers and packages and then took that with me Saturday to my local dropzone Skydive Carolina, also home of Rigging Solutions. I talked to the instructors I had during AFF, and Gus asking for refined advice, and to clarify these "deals" I had interpreted. I found out that one was a special case, and one wasn't as special as I thought. Really what I found is you need to ask people directly what the deal was, because when other people tell you it becomes 'the fish was how big?' story. With that as an aside, and a few quotes for gear, Gus and I got to work on what I was getting buying local and the comparisons. What I found was going local had the same cost variation as a few of the online places I had found. Meaning the playing field is really pretty even. Local I have found someone who will back the product, and take responsibility of something if it was to go wrong, or come in wrong. Like I said in one of my posts a deal is only merited by what comes behind it. I enjoy having someone stand by their business, customer, and to be there on my home field, zing! So yesterday I committed (man what a scary feeling) to a Wings container w/ good options, a PD Saber2 230 and a PD Reserve 218. (See attached for color choices) I'm going to make this baby last a while. I'd like again to thank those that helped with direction, simple advice, and recommendations. I'm frugal, pragmatic, and a researching fool, so it all went to good use in the battle I waged in my head. Now if I am lucky it'll all get here before my canopy class in May. -a it's my island "Life is all about strategy, mathematics and psychological perceptiveness."

Yea, what I'm looking for I've seen flit through there but you're right, you gotta be quick! For the masses of averages classifieds are working great, for some serious specificity of a heavy tall jumper the odds are much lower. Not that you can't, not that it doesn't happen, but my reaction time seems slower than others. As well some of the savings isn't as much as you'd always expect and when the margin closes within 15% of a new rig, (before shipping it to your rigger for inspection..and then what if its the wrong match? another 60 to send it back? woo) the new rig wins. I've committed to buying a new rig and am just working on finding the best overall deal for them. And to see what extended relationships with these dealers quantifies into. -a it's my island "Life is all about strategy, mathematics and psychological perceptiveness."

I gotcha. It just felt like a lot of good deals were going on around me that I was missing out on. Since I am shopping I thought I'd send a flare up to get a better view. I appreciate everyone's input both on, private, and offline. it's my island "Life is all about strategy, mathematics and psychological perceptiveness."

After talking to many at the DZ it seems deals from manufacturers to dealers seem to come and go on a monthly basis. In computers I keep my eye on services like Techdeals & Techbargains for purchasing thoughts/timely deals. Does anyone have a clue as to how to stay ahead of the curve or where to check to see what deals are playing where? I seem to be odd man out a bunch recently for a 40% discount that's now gone, or a package discount deeply reduced..thats now gone.. meanwhile I'm still renting while some nice new rigs are being toted around. ;-) I need a full package and I'm willing to wait, I just need to know where to watch. it's my island "Life is all about strategy, mathematics and psychological perceptiveness."

So I've been lurking a while and think I can decloak now. Still in my early student status but getting my wings one jump at a time. Training at Skydive Carolina, some wonderful folks there and I really cherish my time that I am on the DZ. This really is an amazing sport and the lessons you take away from it are applicable all around. I've written up my AFF1, AFF2, and a myriad of photos. I'll get around today or tomorrow documenting my AFF3, least to say it was a great time. Glad to be here, hope to be able to contribute more now that I have some altitude I've burned through; as well I look forward to continued learning from the collective. -a it's my island "Life is all about strategy, mathematics and psychological perceptiveness."