Cashmanimal

I pointed out last night that I had been wearing the same earring for almost a year and had never once removed it. This morning when I was getting ready, I noticed it had fallen out, and I can't find it. Also, my roommate pointed out this weekend how he loved his ipod, which is a second generation ipod if I am not mistaken. it is really "old." Well, I should have said 'was,' because he dropped and broke it this morning. Anybody else have an amusing jinx story? (this got us thinking how this kinda crap happens to us all the time) It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

details?........ I am a bit out of the aviation scene it seems. I don't really stand in any position to say what a "real" air race is. All I know is I like to watch small planes haul ass through a neat course, whether it be 10 feet off the ground or a 10,000. Although I prefer 10 so I could see it. Th RBAR meets MY criteria for some cool shit to watch.... but if there is something as close as Reno, and it is "better"..... that could be an option as well. It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

yeah, that raises the next question.... do I really need to buy tickets? I mean... can you charge to watch the planes fly, or what do I gain by buying a ticket? I just planned on sitting on a pier or something.... It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

My roommate and I were thinking about driving down from the bay area to San Diego to watch the race in a few weeks. I think they look really sick. I love watching them on TV. Anybody seen one in person? Is it gonna be worth the hassle for a college student to drive down and watch the races? I have a few friends at Occidental I could stay with.... bit far away, but still, I wanna see it. I wanted to catch it in SF.... but, not for a while I guess. So anyway, anybody seen 'em, think they are a worthy cause? It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

I have been following this possible reunion for some time. It has been on, off and maybe about 100 times now. It's apparent to me that if they do reunite they aren't going to come to the US. I really, really really wish they would, and i would happily pay a retardedly large amount of money to see them. Any opportunity to see Jimmy and Robert hit the stage together can't be passed up. JPJ is still gonna be a great presence and Bonham's son would kick ass. The only real downside is JB is the one who help the band together towards the end.... but hey, no real complaints here if they reunite! I saw Robert Plant play last summer, and even that was mind blowing. He of course played the given songs... Black Dog, Whole Lotta Love, etc. which was a slight bother to me (play something we can't hear on the radio!) but it was still very awesome and well worth the trip. Being a HUGE Zep fan, I of course have a favorite musical moment with them! (to touch on the subject). It was just after moving to Northern California. I had just taken a shower and went and laid on my bed. It was cloudy outside and raining ever so softly, almost a mist. As I settled into the bed to just watch the rain for a bit (I'm from the desert, I was loving it) I noticed playing quietly was none other than the Rain Song. I grabbed the remote and turned it up, then just laid there watching the rain and absorbing the moment. The bonus is for those few awesome moments, no planes flew over my apartment which lies right on the final approach to San Jose International. I don't think 30 seconds goes by without some big ass plane tearing up the sky, but for some reason not a single plane passed for about 10 minutes. It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

"When you jump into a plane, everything else disappears." Usually doesn't happen to me until I jump OUT of the plane... but whatever floats your boat, I guess It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

Haha! I think the shotty photoshop job is the best part. I honestly don't think it would be funny if it were done well! It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

I made about 50 or so altimeter-less jumps a few years back while doing tandem videos. I figured I had the tandem master right there as a pretty good altimeter. All was well until a jump when I flipped onto my belly after filming the opening to realize I was about to enter a cloud. I now had no idea how high I was, and no way of finding out. I was pretty sure the cloud base was above 2 grand, but what to do? I waited until I exited the cloud and pitched. I was low, but not crazy low. I stopped jumping without an altimeter after that. And if you really only have 200 jumps you shouldn't be filming Cat A's with lurkers, altimeter or not. Just my two cents. - Dan G Clouds turn the entire process into something completely different... that IS terrifying! As for my profile and what it reflects as well as our decisions, I was entering this thread to give my input on a subject I have had experience with. I feel that given the circumstance I made a much safer decision than many make everyday on their sport jumps. A cameraman filming tandems with no altimeter? Yes, the TM was there, but how many what if's can we pull from that? I had three people on the jump who I jump with on a VERY regular basis and trust all of them, know their skill level and had faith in their judgement. IN addition, the belly-mount altimeter is a very handy tool on the student, being that the student is the one I am focusing on therefore presenting myself with many opportunities to check the altitude if I felt we were bringing it in a bit low. The lurker on our jump was a very experience AFFI who wanted to fly second outside video. He filmed the jump from a reasonable distance behind the student. And lastly, if I have jumped with and been cleared by those instructors I jump with to do video for them, I don't see what the heavy concern on everybody's part is past my own personal situation. I am not coming to your DZ with my 220 jumps and telling you I want to do your AFF video or your tandem video. I am smarter than that and have more respect for the sport than that. Instead, I jump with those who taught me, coached me, have monitored my progress and now specifically request my video work, despite the presence of multiple camera flyers with double or more my jump number. We are all comfortable with eachother. I fly within what I as well as many other much more experienced people consider to be my limits. There is no substitute for experience. That's the bottom line. I am not going to make excuses or try to refute that. Nothing to date has taught me that better than the week I spent doing the video for Jay Stoke's AFFI rating course. Edited to add: I appreciate everybody's concern for my safety and the safety of those around me. I don't want to sound like I am pushing everybody back who expresses concern. That's what keeps the sport safe. It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

I watched that one a while back on skydivingmovies.com... if I recall correctly, he said he simply "forgot to pull," after getting distracted by the other jumper. Wow. Got away with that one. It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

Don't think it's a basejumper in this one... but this one always gets me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GufHPcYE8-s and this one as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoX7ytjpCxk. I vote this as a pretty valid "OMFG Low Pull":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21mgVmP7WCo It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

I have owned two XBOX 360's totalling about... eh, maybe 50 hours of actually owning them. THey worked great. I just returned both of them because I couldn't justify spending $500 for a game console to play 1-2 games. Granted, HALO 3 will help in their favor, but i still won't buy another one. You need too much to play! If you wanna save your games, you need the hard drive, if you ever plan on playing with a friend you need another $40 controller, batteries for the controllers, games are way overpriced, online play subscriptions... bought my first one from Costco for the bunbdle price (including a lot of shit i didn't need, turned out) and my second one from CompUSA on sale, returned that as well. I was told I was playing the wrong games. Gears of War was fun... but I am NOT going to pay $500 to play one game a few times a week. It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

I was filming an AFF Cat A when the wristband on my altitrack broke rendering it useless (This was on the way up). It was at this moment that I also realized I had not put my Optima back in my helmet after a friend had borrowed it. I chose to still make the jump because I had the two instructors, the student, as well as one person lurking the dive just for fun. It was interesting to see my altitude perception (I listened to the student's debrief to see how close I was when he performed certain tasks... I was pretty close,

I actually do use it in MF most of the time, but since the gaffers tape fell off I had to jump it in AF. In MF, that screw-on attachment is so friggin heavy that any motion of my head, even just turning it, causes it to change the focal length on that lens, making every single picture blurry. and I just realized I am still talking about the kit cannon lens. The reason the AF is so slow on the other lens, is, well, it just is, haha! It's a lens I use for work, so it is no big deal with the camera sitting on a tripod focusing on a static object. But for anything other than that, it is a completely impractical lens. Also, it's funny you would mention the pelican case... that's exactly what I bought upon returning from that trip! It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

Yeah, I actually borrowed that lens AFTER setting up my helmet, and ended up keeping it because I was forced to check my camera gear on a flight and Southwest was kind enough to break it for me . It's the screw-on wide angle attachment with the basic cannon 18-55mm lens. Not only is it in the way, but it's heavy as hell. It works fantastically with a mid-range macro lens I have... but it is AF only, and INCREDIBLY slow. I might be able to get a shot or two in one skydive, assuming we stayed the same distance from eachother the entire time. I have unfortunately been jumping it this way for months now. I agree, time to fix it. (When you watch the slow-motion part, it actually gets worse because the camera was tryin to focus... gaffers tape to hold the heavy ass lens fell off on the way up... you can also see at one point in the fast-motion, I was dealing with that issue, hence the decision to jump it in AF). Laziness also came in to play. No paying jobs have wanted stills in a long time, so I haven't been jumping it enough for it to irritate my lazy bum to loosen three screws and nudge the video forward. Just waiting til I have the $$ set aside to buy my Sigma... some day. (til then, yes... video shall be moved forward). It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

Haha, yes, the running man would be myself. Tryin' to spice things up, ya know? It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

Threw together a quick video to send to a friend of my helicopter jumps the other day, thought I would share with everybody here... No fancy editing or anything, just a fun jump. I had a blast! (I already have a handful of balloon jumps so the lack of air was nothing new... had some fun with it though!) Takes a while to get to the actualy jump... he wanted to see what the pre-jump flight was like... sorry if you are on a slow connection. http://youtube.com/watch?v=Heni1ZzCweQ It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

I already tried... got a nice picture of me standing out on the strut as others exited around me. We'll see what happens. They will probably deny me because of the whole underage thing... It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

Forget about flags, smoke, or any other demo tricks for now. Work on your accuracy. Try this, go to a DZ you've never been to before, and shoot acuraccy there. You'd better be dead center on the first jump, or you're not ready. Can't get to another DZ? Choose a new spot at your current DZ to land, like in the middle of the parking lot. Make sure you have a 'ground crew' to halt traffic for you. (Here's a hint - if the DZO isn't behind this idea, then you're not ready) Another home DZ idea - use a frisbee to act as your target. Get a brightly colored one, and give it to a buddy, who will place it AFTER the plane takes off. Again, dead center on the first try... Here's another one, look around for a nearby open-ish field, and 'land off' there on your next jump. Toss your frisbee there before the jump, and see how you do. Actually, how did you do when you had to land off for real? That's another good indicator if you're ready for demos. A new landing zone, the ability to make good choices under pressure, all that good stuff that comes with demos. Also, start with some easy demos. Good weather, easy open landign areas, small crowds, no flags or smoke, etc. Once you have those under control, add one level of diffuculty at a time. Master that, and repeat until you're ready to take on a full stadium with a flag. At night. Half drunk. Haha! I had a great time doing this today, actually. I used the frisbee idea (actually, a paper plate) and when somebody drove the van out to pick us up, they would set it out. It was actually pretty fun! In addition, I landed at my familiar landing zone while doing a couple altimeter-less jumps (with it upside-down, just in case, I could still see it if I had to... did simple RW). THose went really well, and it was good to see how my perception of my altitude was. But yes... the paper-plate thing was fun, even for another boring day at the DZ some time It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

Ooooooo...good point! I'll be heading out to the DZ to do some more accuracy landings today. Is there something I can use to simulate the weights and such without actually having to go through the trouble of jumping a flag for now? I could borrow a couple of packing weights or something similar and attach them to streamers... that seems like it would at least be similar, and would be minimal bulk to have along on the jump.... It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

driving across New York City without wrecking consistantly is proof enough for me that I could race at the Indianapolis 500 yeah, sorry, that came out much more errogant than I meant it to.... What would the most prominent dangers be in landing in such a large area? By planning to land there and setting up the proper precautions (making sure nobody is in there, etc.) and having max 2 people exiting, I don't see much variation (other than the adrenaline rush of the crowd). It SEEMS it would be pretty hard to spot the jump less than acceptable with a competant ground crew relaying good information... (there lies one potential problem, obviously... but I still don't see it being a concern here with so much landing space, and I haven't seen the winds pass 10 mph in the year and a half I have lived and jumped here. I don't execute hook-turns, and consider myself to be a rather timid canopy pilot for the lower-end of the flight... it seems the prime time to begin training myself for such jumps, as the temptation for high-speed show-boating isn't an option for me at this point, even if I wanted to give in... A couple people have suggested some demo canopy coaches for southern california... does anybody know of any highly experienced demo jumpers in northern california? It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

I thought I would clarify ahead of time I am at least a year and a half from even starting to consider the stadium... my main question now is if in experienced DEMO people's opinion's if this was a logical option. Like I said, landing consistantly within 5 meters of my target is proof enough for me that I could land on a wide open field 2 1/2 times the size of a football field. Also... the Spectre IS a 7-cell canopy... which I have come to know rather well. It's aggressive glide path and strong (even with older lines) flare seems like a completely reasonable canopy to jump into a stadium. I have recieved quite a bit of canopy coaching on it. Also learned that when used properly, it can fly significantly farther in brakes in certain conditions than on the rear-risers, which contradicts what i learned on other caopies... of course, that was before I really had enough expereince to tell the difference, so, maybe it's time to pick up some 9-cells again and do some learning?.... I have about 30 jumps of my last 100 on Sabre 2's... but I have preferred my Spectre for video work. It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

As far as sinking the canopy goes, I have done pretty heavy sinks low, but I definitely wouldn't do it on my spectre right now. The line set is due for replacement and the flare just wouldn't be there right now for such a tight situation as the 4-way stop you mentioned. But I would definitely not undertake such a landing if i knew of it ahead of time right now... I forgot to mention that the stands in our stadium are actually relatively low... they spread out pretty wide. I am not so sure how that would affect it... I assume it would be in my favor though, as in, it wouldn't cause as much change as a taller stadium might. (Or the complete opposite... I don't know which is why i am obviously not doing these). The demo would be done for the school. I can't gather enough people to get the support for a skydiving club, but they are considering a 1-2 person demo team at football games and school events may be worth their time. THey would pay for the demo insurance and all expenses.... possibly, even my sport jumps as "training." This was all in my defense that they pour thousands upon thousands upon thousands of dollars into a mediocre marching band. This would be the deal at this point, as far as what the school would pay for: -Demo insurance -Rig/canopy/jumpsuit in school colors -Cost of each jump (everything after insurance, IE fuel etc.) -Smoke, flags, etc down the line Possibly pay for: -My sport "training" jumps -My gas for the drive to the DZ! So if the deal comes through, I would be in a pretty koosh situation. The reason I bring all this up is because I wanted to give them a time frame so I could get petitions, etc.... Thanks for your help as well! It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

Completely unrelated to the recently locked demo jump forum... Since attending college (just started my second year) I am pretty sure I have day dreamed every day of doing demo jumps into our football stadium. When I go to the games, I look at my outs, possible landing patterns, etc. I have very little "demo" jump experience (a few "backyard" BBQ landings in open fields), therefore I feel I cannot judge the actual difficulty accurately, but if I had to guess I would say on a scale from 1 to 10, it's a 7 or 8. The reason I bring this up so early is I have some technicality questions. The stadium is about 80% enclosed... so no question it's a way off for me. But I think the area may allow for a very gentle ease into it. The attached picture shows the stadium before some cbleachers were removed. I am also aware that landing in an open practice field is not the same as understanding and navigating the winds that get thrown around like crazy from the enclosed stadium. Directly surrounding the stadium are many, many practice fields. I will attach some photos. These fields are HUGE... although the biggest one is reserved for tailgating, so no real options there (it's always full). But I was wondering, with so many wide-open practice fields, soccer fields, tracks, baseball fields... would it be possible to do the skydive demo and land in those fields, and as my jump numbers increase I could keep stepping closer to the stadium until I eventually start landing there? I know jump numbers aren't everything... many jumps don't always mean competant, few jumps don't mean clueless. So pointing out that I could easily have 500 jumps a year from now is worthless (as forcing jumps warrants much less learning, IMO). But I would like to do something like this step-up program, if logical. I am extremely confident in my ability to land accurately in an open landing zone with wind indicators and a familiar area. I consistantly land within 5 meters of my intended target, stand-up landings. (I fly my Spectre 150 loaded at 1.3). I really don't see a problem with orientation and such in the area, I know it pretty well and it is pretty obvious from above, as well. Would this be a logical progression, as well as a really fun thing to do? I know the excitement of the demo is the skydiver landing where the people are, but I figure flying smoke and such could be a (fairly) simpleway to entertain for the skydive/canopy flight and not disappoint by landing 1/2 a block away in the huge practice fields. It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

Time investment? You're being funny, right? No, actually. I hit a stride where I was filming and what not and quick turn-arounds never yielded enough time for me (I tend to pack slow, one rig) to pull out my logbook and fill it out. It got to the point where I was doing 6 or 7 jumps a day, and said I would fill it out at the end of the day, then weekend, never did, and then yes, the time investment was a deterring factor after that. It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

oh, and as stratostar pointed out, the speed adjustments in iMovie can be jerky. I find that they look actually pretty shitty on my computer (quad G5 with 8 gigs of ram and 23-inch Cinema HD display and Radeon XT900 graphics card-- it's not the computer). However, once exported through iDVD and played on a regular television, it looks perfect. Still choppy on the computer though. Glad it's not just me! It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye