mpuettman

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Everything posted by mpuettman

  1. I think I probably just have a high tolerance for pain. Since February I have torn the cartilege in my knee (from laying hardwood floors in my house) and I have fractured my foot in 2 places (from 4-wheeling), but I have continued to jump. I've perfected the butt-slide and have been told that it looks like I do "touch and go's" on landing. I prefer to call it "butt swooping"...
  2. I was 50 and now have 500+ jumps at 56 -- and feel like I'm getting younger every jump...
  3. The first picture is my 2 daughters -- the day they made their first tandem. The second picture is my 2 granddaughters (and me) -- both of whom love to watch skydiving and who already have the arch perfected...
  4. mpuettman

    MEOW KITTY

    Hope you had a great birthday, Kristi!!
  5. He made 3 incisions on my knee (2 on the inside and 1 on the outside) and right now (3+ months later) the 1 on the outside is barely noticeable and the 2 on the inside of my knee look like little dimples. But, of course, I'm not real young (56 yrs. old) so I don't heal up quite so fast.
  6. I just had this surgery done the end of January 2007 (3+ months ago) and I was jumping by the end of March -- 2 months later. I had torn cartilege on both sides of my knee and he also did some scraping while he was in there. The only painful part of the jumps in March and early April was the 25 min. ride to altitude in a Cessna. The doctor was definitely not real enthusiastic about my jumping that early, but he did not say I couldn't. However, my first several landings were intentional butt slides. As of now, I have very little, if any, residual pain. All in all, it was definitely worth it to have the surgery done even though I have never been a "good" patient. Good luck!
  7. I definitely agree with Kristi (chaoskitty)-- John Dean, whether you know him really well or not, is a friend who is always there for you. (Thanks, John, for all your diversionary tactics this past weekend!) And, having known Kristi since her AFF days, she is definitely a really good friend to many people, too. Always someone you can count on for advice or to give you that "heads up" phone call... Thanks, Kristi!
  8. Quotethe year of the container and why? Two (2) Wings -- custom-made for me and measured by Wings in 2003. Problems with the 1st Container… 1. My main would not fit into the container. A total of 3 different riggers attempted to get it into the container (over a 3-day period) and were not successful. In addition, 3 other riggers looked at it and said that it was their opinion that the main was too big for the container. A copy of the label from the plastic bag in which the container was shipped to me, indicated that Wings knew the correct size of both my main (Triathlon 160) and my reserve (PD143) 2. The d-bag may also have been the incorrect size because the same 3 riggers were BARELY able to get the main in the bag – even after setting a heavy trunk on my main overnight to flatten it out as much as possible. After the 3 riggers finally got my main into the d-bag, there was material left hanging out of the bag and absolutely no room left in the bag. 3. The shoulder harness did not sit properly on my shoulders. (the shoulder straps were sitting off my shoulders and when I had the container on, there was wrinkling across the base of the should straps which indicated that there was excessive pulling to the sides.) 4. The container set way too low on my back (it was actually sitting 4-5” below the small of my back). 5. The leg pads were about 4” too short (and my weight had not changed). So I gave Wings the benefit of the doubt and sent it back for a replacement. A month later I received the replacement (2nd) container and the problems were just as bad or worse. The problems I had with the 2nd included… I only put 3 (three) jumps on it and had 2 near malfunctions (container lock) on the first 2 jumps and a TOTAL container lock malfunction on the 3rd jump – after attempting for nearly 5000’ to pull. On this third jump, I began attempting to pull at 7000’ and continued trying until I finally pulled my reserve at about 2000’ On my first 2 jumps, it took several very hard pulls each time and about 3000’ each jump to pull the pin – which is exactly why I started to pull at 7000’ on my 3rd jump. And each time, it was the same problem. A total of 4 riggers looked at my rig after my reserve ride and PRIOR to pulling the main pin. (These were not the same riggers who encountered problems attempting to pack my first Wings rig. They were 4 different riggers, 3 of whom have jumped a pull-out for many years, (my container had a pull-out) and 3 of whom knew nothing about the problems with the previous container.) Each of the 4 riggers determined that it was due to the fact that the container is too small for the size of my main (Triathlon 160) and reserve (a red PD143) which made the bottom flap too short when the container was closed -- even on the first jump when it had been packed by a rigger at Wings. Basically, with the reserve and the main in the container, the side flap overlapped the bottom flap with less than 1” of fabric. So, when the grommet between the pud and the pin was pushed up under the side flap, the “v” shaped fabric to which the grommet is attached, would get hung up on the bottom flap. And then, when I would try to pull, the side flap became so tight over the bottom flap, that it became impossible to pull the pin out. This was demonstrated when one of the riggers actually put his foot on the container for leverage (immediately after my reserve ride), and tried to pull. And it literally took all of his strength to actually pull the pin! And even when they tried to pull the pud straight down (towards the feet) rather than to the side as you normally do when pulling, they often had a very difficult time. The other problems were not life-threatening like the continuous container lock. However, they definitely were problems that existed with the first rig and, it made me wonder if only slight modifications were made to the first container that I returned instead of the complete re-do that I was told Wings was going to do. These problems included: 1. The shoulder harness sat on the edge of my shoulders regardless of the positioning and regardless of how tight I pulled my chest strap. 2. The leg pads were still about 2-3” to short. 3. The flaps over the main were obviously too small because, for all practical purposes, there was not enough overlap. (Even if I wanted to, I would not have been able to extend the closing loop because if I did – even ½”, the flaps would definitely not have overlapped. 4. And, in the opinion of one rigger (prior to my first jump), he felt that the container was too small for me. Needless to say, I returned the 2nd container to Wings and requested (and received) a full refund. I then ordered a Javelin Odyssey instead and have been extremely happy with it.
  9. Ronnie Smith of Crossville, Tennessee has -- out of a Huey (complete with the guns on the outside). He took the mayor of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee.
  10. Somebody should ask Peanut about his bottle rocket incident 3 or 4 years ago...
  11. Quotethis from that website... For some odd reason, that looks sooo funny! I saw the video of this last night on TV on the "What Were They Thinking" show. They did not identify the person, but they did say that it was done at the World Freefall Convention in Rantoul, IL.
  12. We won't be there until Saturday morning....
  13. Another option is Tennessee Skydiving Center in Tullahoma. It re-opened last month and at the present time, it is usually open the first Saturday (only) of each month. The next time they're jumping there is May 6th. Jumping Mullins' Super King Air and jumps are $22.00 to 13,900'.
  14. I'm from Tennessee but I am not aware of any DZ in Alexandria. What's it called? Who's the DZO? Thanks.
  15. Show them a video of some RW - then get your audience involved with some dirt-diving.
  16. Maybe we were on the same load at WFFC 2005 - I did one from 30,100' also.
  17. I'm a 1951 baby, but have never heard anything about eating blue cheese dressing...what's that about?
  18. I had a similar problem when I began jumping -- either I'd drop one knee or, even more often, I would drop both knees and backslide something awful. This went on for many, many, many jumps. My problem was that I could not "feel" my legs in the air even though I had complete leg awareness on the ground. I tried lots of tunnel time, made lots of jumps, and got lots of coaching. The more jumps I made, the more frustrated I became, and soon the “failure mentality” began to take over my thinking. I was about ready to concede when someone told me to relax, quit trying to over-analyze in the air, and just fly where I wanted to go. It worked! Once I stopped dwelling on every body part position in the air and just started concentrating on getting where I wanted to go, it finally all starting coming together. Even though I still do not have the ability to feel my legs very much while I am in the air, the leg muscles seem to work instinctively with my mind and eyes and I am now usually pretty proficient on getting to my slot quickly and maintaining stability. The way I figure, by dwelling so much on the position of my legs, or arms, or whatever, I was always in a reactive mode rather than a proactive mode. And consequently, my mind was always a few seconds behind my body position. I guess what I would suggest to you is to quit trying so hard (i.e., over-analyze everything in the air) and RELAX! DISCLAIMER TO AVOID NASTY COMMENTS ABOUT MY SUGGESTION: This is what worked for me and it may not work for everyone. This is my opinion only. I am not an instructor.
  19. Feel free to PM me -- I have many, many years of first-hand experience with an ADHD daughter. She has had ADHD from childhood up until the present time. She is now 28 and has adult ADHD. She has one of the more extreme forms of ADHD which, over the years, has manifested itself in not only the usual ways (inability to concentrate, complete a task, etc.), but without her medication, it was not uncommon for the violent side of ADHD to take over. I would like to say, though, that despite all this, she has become very successful in her career -- by the numbers, one of the top specialized pharmaceutical reps in the country. I'm not sure what it is you're wanting to know or learn, but through necessity, I have learned quite a bit about dealing with ADD/ADHD children. And I'll be happy to share my experiences with you.
  20. If you're still looking for help, PM me with attachment. I use Excel nearly everyday and I consider myself to be very proficient in the area of Excel spreadsheets.
  21. I just tried to reserve a room and the lady checked with the manager and said that they do not know anything about skydiver rates... Can you check on that again?