ILUVCHUTERS

Love it!! These make me smile, thanks for sharing. And congrats on your first solo!!

Sweet jumps!! Makes me sad we're not going to be in Eloy this Christmas - not that I could keep up to that anyway, but at least I could share a plane with you guys :P

I'm only 2 inches taller than your friend. (yes, I can stand up in the Otter, and even the Caravan with a slight bend in my knee.) I managed to find used gear that fit reasonably well, and when I bought my own, I went with a Talon. I have a 168 in there, so it's not a teeny tiny canopy either, and it fits beautifully. So it's possible :)

He's so cute!!!

Totally creepy. Plus, how would you clean it?

This is exactly what I did, and it was a good decision. Bought my first used rig for 1200, and a brand new cypres. A year and a half later, ordered my own new rig, transferred the cypres, and I'm now good to go for years and years. Sold the first rig to another newbie, who has since then sold it to another, all for around the same price I originally paid for it. Although I didn't downsize very much (first rig was a 195, current one is a 168, no plans to downsize for a few years, and then only to a 148 which will fit into my rig quite nicely), so that may be a factor too.

That is great news! Your original post broke my heart - I'm so glad to hear they've been adopted, and together to boot!

Hey, Namowal, can you PM me? I want to ask your permission to use a couple of these in a little skydiving newsletter I do (and give the details of same) ...your profile says you don't accept PMs... thanks!!

These are really great! Very funny

Aw, that's really sweet!!

Those look great - I have been wanting to order some but I can't justify a 34.00 shipping charge (to Canada) for 11 dollar glove liners

I'm sorry for your loss.

It's REALLY cold here right now...be prepared. It should warm up eventually though... There are two dropzones in the Edmonton area, Eden North and Edmonton Skydive Centre. Both are great dropzones and both have really awesome people

I was so scared my first balloon jump (last Christmas, Eloy) I had about 100 jumps, it was my first time off my home DZ, and the whole landing out thing freaked me out ("what do you mean we're not landing on the DZ??") Also, just the quiet of it all, right before you jump/fall off the basket. So freaky. But so very, very cool. I love balloon jumps.

I'm a big 'ol wind baby and not ashamed of it. I frequently sit loads out when others of the same or lower experience are going up, and I respect their choice to jump, but I also respect my own not to. Until late last season I was loading a fairly large (195) canopy really lightly (.7ish) and now I'm loading a 168 at about .9 or so, and it's really easy for me to get blown backwards. That is not good times, nor is getting tossed around like a rag doll after landing.

A) it wasn't in Alaska, it was in British Columbia B) it wasn't just that the dogs were killed, it was how the dogs were killed, and for what reason. At least had they been brought to a shelter, they would have had a chance to survive, or they would have been put down humanely. These dogs were shot, chased around when they survived the first shot, throats slit, allowed to run around in panic while watching other dogs get killed. This was not a humane way to do this, and it was 100% preventable. http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/canada/2011/02/01/17113521.html Read that and then tell me what happened was ok. You'll never convince me of it. Yes, the killing of 1000s of animals each year is preventable. Hell, if I could, I'd adopt them all. But I can't, so I stopped at 5, and those that I have are fixed so they don't contribute to the problem, and they are incredibly well cared for. I also donate to my local shelters every year - putting my "money where my mouth is" so to speak. I do what I can. But just because other animals are euthanized by shelters every year makes this particular slaughter ok? That doesn't make sense to me.

I agree. (that was a reply to the regulator, not the woodchipper stuff) This one's hit home pretty hard for me, and I wouldn't have been able to do what he did, no matter if my job was on the line or what. There was an article in our local paper (Edmonton) about it this morning, which had quotes from him and descriptions of what happened. All I could think of was...they why did you keep going??? But had he never opened his mouth to complain to the WCB for some compensation, this story may never have come to light. And that makes me sad.

What's extra sad is this happened almost a year ago and nobody heard about it until now, and only then because the employee went to WCB to claim post-traumatic stress.

I was never really one for self help books, but there are a couple of very good books on adult children of alcoholics out there that have some pretty good insight in them. PM me if you'd like the names, I don't have them here with me.

Couldn't agree more about the coaching thing. I've got two sets of tunnel sessions (about an hour each "set") did one without a coach, and another with one of the best coaches out there in Arizona (thanks Eliana!!). I got SO much more out of the second session. The first one didn't really do a lot learning wise, just stayed stable, etc. The second one, we went in with a plan of what we wanted to work on - fall rates, legs, etc. and I got so much more out of it I can't even compare the two sessions. More money, of course, because you have to pay for coaching, but money very very well spent.

It sure was and it made me wanna do it with a parachute perhaps some day

We did that a few weeks ago in Vegas. Fun and...dare I say boring? all at the same time. The excitement I had leading up to it, standing on the platform of the Strat looking down at the world was pretty cool. Jumping off was awesome. Then...the ride down was a bit slow, lol. Very cool experience for people that don't skydive for sure, and I had a good time, but maybe wasn't as exhilerated by it as some of the other people I saw were

As far as not deciding to land on rears goes, that's a decision only you can make. My first cut away at about 170 jumps was a hung up/knotted toggle. Couldn't reach it. Made the decision to cut away (was under a 195 loaded .8-1 - yes low WL but that's for another thread) and sort of felt stupid afterwards...until my BF told me about a mutual friend of ours, with hundreds of jumps, who'd had the same problem, made the decision to land on rears, and ate baby food for six months due to injury. Then I didn't feel so stupid anymore. As far as buying your rigger a nice bottle goes...if the reserve works and it saves your ass, then he/she did their job and a nice bottle is a small price to pay

Aw :( I hope he's ok. Lots of "healthy doggie vibes"! I love my dogs more than almost anything in the world. I hate when doggies are sick.

I think it's beautiful