Bmore_chrissy

wow, great job granny. i've seen our posts and i'm beyond impressed.... hopefully i can do as well with my first mal.

good post, flyangel. I don't post much but read at work often. Some people need to either jump, learn about jumping, or call a dz and book a jump. Not postwhore about their boobs with all the lol's and omg's. It's not going to get your anywhere quickly except your next therapy appt.

If you're in Richmond there are a bunch of DZs relatively close. I'm not familiar with most of them (I'm in Baltimore), but Skydive West Point seems to have a great student progression. And they have a really fun DZ Since you'll be 18 pretty soon, I'd save your $- you'll need it! If you really can't wait, you could get a head start by checking out a wind tunnel (there's one in NC)

I'm pretty new to skydiving and am not familiar with the club concept. What exactly does this mean w/ regard to the 2 dropzones mentioned? How does this work? Thanks, I'm just curious. Good luck to all involved.

I bought my Pilot from Bigway for a better price than i could find anywhere else, quick shipping, and great all-around service. You can do a search for him on here or check out www.karnagekrew.com

Kind of. I don't normally post in SC, but i'm interested in this particular topic. I'm just saying... know your audience, people!

I respect that this is a heated and likely a personal subject for you, but this is a skydiving website, not a Cuban History and US-Cuban Politics website. If everyone to post on this topic had a PhD in these subjects, it would be a very short-lived topic. Are there any books you recommend in particular?? I'm very interested in learning more, but clearly would like as objective a perspective as possible. I hope the books you're referring to weren't written in the US.

I spent a month in Cuba in 2003 (mostly Havana) and found this generally to be true. Unless someone publicly was making anti-Castro statements, they lived fairly happily and relatively undisturbed from teh gov't. The older folks seemed content to an extent (I do assume there was fear in not being 'content,' I'm not that naive.) and even spoke fondly of Castro (nickamed "El Caballo," or The Horse) Because of the state of the economy/distribution of wealth (or lack thereof) and other factors, food and consumer goods rationing made things rough - a few eggs per month per family, 4 tampons per months, etc. Everyone was extremely kind, curious, and accomodating to me during my visit. I was invited into several people's homes for dinner. I know there are lots of dissidents, some louder than others, but this is the feel I got from my brief visit, loaded with all of the unintentional subjectivity because it's my personal experience.

I couldn't agree more. Perhaps because Batista wasn't a socialist, and he was pro-US relations, and had a close relationship with the US Mafia....

I looked around on STP's website and couldn't find this. Do you have a link? Or know how to register or get more info? If not, I'll contact the dz, just thought I'd check.

The same reason American citizens shouldn't pay for GW's stupidity. The embargo doesn't hurt the Castro family - it hurts Cuban citizens as a whole. I do understand that the US has a right to trade with whomever it wants, but the logic doesn't hold up anymore, and I don't think it's the place of the US to 'punish' Cubans. (Yeah, there's a little hypocrisy in that statement). The only way to make Castro 'pay for his stupidity' would be to imprison or assassinate him, right? And well, the US government tried (600 or so times), and we see how well that worked out.

I think we agree mostly, but what 'minimal' threats are you referring to? Honestly, i'm just curious

Really good, interesting point. But be careful, looks like you're going to get into a Dem/Rep 'what is the government's role' sort of thing...

One of the characteristics of liberty (in an economic sense) is a free market. I know it's semantics, but the 'blessing' thing irks me. Castro's regime does eliminate a number of freedoms and restricts liberty. But... to play devil's advocate, the US embargo further restricts the possibility of a free market and, therefore, liberty. No one's helping the situation.

... because there's no need to hold an embargo against a country that we have essentially been in a "pride battle" with for the past 40 or so of those 50 years. There are places that pose an actual threat (or a perceived, 'more' actual threat) that we trade with daily. It isn't about a beach hotel, it's about free trade with a country that badly needs it. It's not always about 'what's in it for us,' from a US perspective. Or I guess it is. But it shouldn't be. The CNN article quoted Bush as stating ""The United States will help the people of Cuba realize the blessings of liberty." ...Vomit.

www.skydivedelmarva.com I think it's less than 1.5 hours from Annapolis, I'm in Baltimore and it's 2 hours for me. We open back up for spring (and have safety day) on 3/29. Or do a search and check the reviews on here.

Haha! I thought the EXACT same thing when i saw the news article on msnbc... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23108871/

Email Sunrise (Wings) directly with the container size (W-8, W-12, etc), should be on the card. I'm not a rigger, obviously. But I just bought a Wings and the people there are VERY helpful.

Thanks for the info! Can you tell us what the price is for helicopter jumps? Is there a timeline/schedule for the boogie so we know when these are going up? So Excited!!!!

I'll give this a shot- Tokyo is the last of the major exhanges open, and it closes at 4am EST. So if you are in the Sydney time zone, this would be 6pm friday for you that the markets would close for the weekend. The first major market to open is London, which opens Monday at 3am EST, or 7pm Sunday in Sydney. So your window for Sydney (adjust if this isn't your time zone) Is 6pm friday to 7pm sunday. Its very possible i made a mistake here

Well good luck with the househunting! And if it helps you rest easier, in your wintry absence it appears that the beer fridge is being looked after. I spoke to JR earlier about tomorrow, and he firmly reminded me of my beer duties

Well in that case, look at houses near C-burg! I was there last weekend and was warned of the 'beer marshall' by Kathie. I assume that means you?

C-burg, tomorrow. A couple delmarvans are thinking of coming up. Anyone else planning on braving the cold before it gets colder?

Haven't jumped any, but I'm currently going through PD's demo program to try out a Sabre2 170, and I completely recommend it. For $50 you get a canopy for 2 weekends, including shipping both ways, and their customer service is excellent. Just a idea

Just wanted to thank everyone who helped me out on Sunday. We didn't quite get to jump but I got an awesome ride by the door of the Cessna (clouds...), and I took the B license written test