gontleman

The worst pain I've experienced was a broken forearm. I honestly feel that it's totally unnecessary for your bones to be completely coated in nerves. At least once you know something is broken. Damn that pain and it's "usefulness".

I read in another thread long ago here I think where the women who "hovered" were told by other women that they "hovering" only makes the problem worse. Regardless.. if I have to sit down... I do a wipe down of the seat and go for it. Unless, of course, the seat is so nasty it doesn't even warrant entry into the stall.

As a person who has only my first skydiving experience to go off of, I want to re-emphasize how true this is. The first 5 minutes after getting out of the my car at the DZ were surreal. I can safely say that those first moments at the DZ gave me more sensory overload than my exit from the plane. I was in this new, unfamiliar, place with new and unfamiliar people with only my desire to jump to get me where I needed to go. Luckily there was a lone experienced jumper standing by the door to the building. I approached him and asked "Where do I go to jump out of a plane?" He responded with the obligatory, "You're crazy man" complete with grin. I confidently agreed with him and he kindly pointed me towards the manifest area and simultaneously negated 95% of the potential unnerving awkward feelings that come with being "fresh meat." My interaction with manifest was clumsy (imagine a humble person with no clue what he's doing trying to interact with a very busy manifest [it was an event weekend so her workload/tension level was... 'burdensome']) was probably the most uncomfortable part of the experience (made more uncomfortable by my screwing up the waiver) but as soon as I met with my TI, it was all gravy. He was energetic, engaging, and just generally an awesome guy to be around. He definitely delivered a positive experience. Didn't mean to go into too much detail but for those that haven't been there in a while, it's just important to remember how vital first impressions are. And this is coming from someone who has nothing but his first impressions to go off of. The guy who just happened to be at the door when I arrived really set the tone for the rest of my day and he may or may not have realized it. His projected... enthusiasm, which was totally impromptu and could have easily been diluted by the dozens of tandems that were there that day, was definitely appreciated. No one wants to timidly wander around an already humbling environment looking for the first person who doesnt look busy to ask even the simplest question of "Where do I need to go?" You're just hoping you didn't make the wrong selection and end up rewarded with an overly coarse or, worse, annoyed reply. It's a simple and small factor... but those first interactions are oh so important.

I'm sure your cats will love you for it!

It's time the OP checked in with... http://www.intellectualwhores.com/masterladder.html A couple of the key components of ladder theory have already been posted. This is the official site on it.

Amazing animals they are. If I had a stronger stomach for killing/cleaning small animals (rabbits, squirrels, small birds, etc), falconry is something I have imagined doing since 6th grade or so. The problem of course being I don't know how many rabbit necks I'd have to snap to "get used to it".

My words exactly

All I can think of is the story of the man saving himself from a lion attack by shoving his fist down the lions throat. Between the wrist-lock mentioned above and shoving one's fist down the throat... I can think of no better way to win a fight against a dog.

Looks like on two of the dives... the flap would come undone as they crawled out. They both appeared to have their rigs catching maybe part of the fuselage as they stood up? Crazy stuff.

You're right. If the actualities of the story as I believe they are (I give her the benefit of the doubt as I'm one of those weird "trusting" people)... this is just sad. It wasn't even a fair trial IMO.

Pay special attention to the part where they mention that the history/cookies/temp files (all of which were not allowed to be submitted for evidence due to an obscene act of ignorance on the judge's part) indicate that websites of that nature had been visited using the computer when SHE WASN'T EVEN WORKING THERE! It's no great leap of logic to assume that the regular teacher probably was responsible for the entire fiasco due to his browsing. Any ad-ware/spyware was already installed on the machine prior to her arrival. So when the kids get on the internet and start browsing a website (what type of content doesnt matter for a lot of malicious browser software) the pop-ups start coming. Not her fault outside of the kids having access to the machine. And even then... I challenge that it was the school's fault for allowing such a shoddy computer setup to be accessible at all to a student/teacher. I would be ripping heads off if I was her family or friends. Especially if she gets jail-time. This whole story is just absurd.

I dive at the Oklahoma Skydiving Center in Cushing. Where will you dive from? Maybe I'll see you around. Welcome to the forums! Cushing is where I did my tandem last year (when the Mullins' King Air was visiting, god that was awesome) and I am keen on going back.

Without doubt there would be no need for faith (or at least the necessity of faith would be seriously questionable). The Christian god, according to the Bible, requires faith of them. The reason being (imo), theoretically, is that faith shows one's love. Thus faith (specifically in Jesus' death etc.) is the key to salvation. So honestly... I think it's stupid for someone to say they have no doubts. Because if you don't have doubts then you don't need faith. Not a christian here but that's what I was raised to believe... if not in those words.

Off and on for the past year I've lurked these forums after my initial interest in skydiving appeared early last year. Having to take care of misc. responsibilities has thwarted my attempts to get in to the sport but not my desire. After my first tandem last year I knew I'd be coming back for more I just didn't know when! So this year I've resolved myself to get started with my training. Between now and my car getting paid off (2 more payments! w00t) I will be getting a 2nd job to occupy my spare time, and more importantly... make more money of course! I live in central Oklahoma and I know there are a few forum bugs here like steveorino who also live in OK, so greetings to my fellow Okies! Hope to be sharin the skies with you this year!