cbain

My three cats do crazy things all the time too. Frodo is the male who doesn't know he's fixed. He's all badass. Sam is the fat princess who's too lazy to fight back. 18 lb when we weighed her the other day. And Gimli is just a little freak still. Christina

Down one more this week! Wahoo! For a total of 8 lb lost. Only 47 more to go. Christina

The teamwork thing is a pretty cool connection. I hadn't thought about that. Thanks for the suggestions!

Have 'em buy you custom gear with the company logo on it as "advertising". Blues, Dave That would be cool but highly unlikely. Christina

Thanks for the support! I've been trying to get him out to the DZ and get his gear current again. He keeps saying he wants to but doesn't have time. Was married August 24, 2004 in Deland in the back of the skyvan to my rigger, what fun! The inside of our matching rings are engraved with "Blue skies, Black death." You should've seen the lady at the store when I told what we wanted! Christina

Thanks Sunshine! I guess I'm just a little self-conscience about the whole thing but what the heck, it'll be fun. PS - Your tour should include a stop at the Gold Coast "Nail their Balls to Wall" boogie! Christina

Well, about a month ago I was at this meeting where we went around the table and everybody had to say something about themselves. So, I of course said I'm skydiver. How was I supposed to know that the director of the communications department was there and he did a jump ~25 years ago. Or that the VP/general manager that was there was also a skydiver with ~100 jumps, but uncurrent. Today I get call from the communications department that they want to interview me about skydiving to put into a quaterly newsletter that goes out to the entire company, not just the site here. I work for a very large company. I kept trying to tell them that with my measily 400 jumps they should be talking to someone else with much much more experience. But they were just so in awe over my 400 jumps and that I had a skydiving wedding. Guess I'm going to be in the next company newsletter in an article on skydiving with pictures and all! Is there anything I should email the guy that I may have forgetten to talk about during the interview? I've been going crazy racking my brain, thinking I'm going to sound like an idiot for sure! Christina

I took this from a thread in the incidents forum that has been discussing the differences of using brakes for extending glide versus using brakes for "sinking" accuracy type landings. I took Scott Miller's Essential skills class last August and one of the things he stresses is learning how your canopy flies in various brake levels and using that to your advantage. Since then I've been learning a lot about my canopy by practicing using brakes. I've found on my canopy that I get the best glide at about 3/4 brakes in most wind conditions

I demoed (and then decided to purchase) a Firebolt 164. My wingloading is between 1.2 and 1.3. The openings are great once you understand it is elliptical and how important body position is. Very soft and consistant openings. It's fun to fly but not super scary either. Lots of flare, making landings easy and consistant. I don't swoop so can't say anything about that aspect of its performance. But from playing up high it can be fast and reponsive or also flies very stable in brakes or doing flat or flare turns. Bottom line is I enjoy jumping this canopy and it fits my needs/wants.

I'm going through the same thing, so far I've found: Green apples with peanut butter, even though the peanut butter isn't great, it also isn't terrible if you limit yourself to a tablespoon with an apple especially if you're not getting a lot of protein from other sources. Try freezing the yogurt. Freezing grapes is also very good. Or take some fat free cool whip and put it between graham crackers and freeze it - icecream sandwhich. Rice cakes, the caramel flavored ones can satisfy a mild sweet tooth. Good luck and thanks for posting. Lots of new ideas to try. Christina

Just got back from the endoscope procedure. No ulcers, no hiatal hernia, a little damage to the esphogus but not bad. He gave me three different trial samples of PPI's and told me to tell him which one I like best and he'll give me a prescription. They gave me a pretty good sedative because I don't remember a thing after the nurse said, "ok. I'm putting the drugs in your IV now." Came home and have been sleeping ever since, just woke up and still feel a little woozy even. Just glad it's over. Thanks everyone for the kind words and encouragement. Christina

No change since Monday. Christina

I'm a natural redhead with the temper to prove it. Often times gets me in trouble. Christina

So, here's the synopsis of the visit to the doctor's office yesterday. Told him about everything going on and history and stuff. He seems to think it's most likely GERD (acid reflux). But he wants to do an endoscope to check for hiatial hernia or ulcers and damage to esphogus. He didn't think a barium swallow would give him enough info so went straight to the endoscope. He doesn't want me to take anything for it besides what I've already been doing because he wants to see what it "really" looks life first. Then prescribe something based on the results I guess. So, I'm scheduled for the endoscope for next Monday, the 21st. He also mentioned heavy sedation for the procedure. I'll let you know how the endoscope goes next Monday (or maybe Tuesday since I'll probably be pretty out of it on Monday). Christina

I typically only weigh once a week on Fridays but this morning I couldn't resist the urge to step on the scale. Down 3 since Friday!! That puts me at 198!! And down 7 altogether. I put an old picture of me up on the fridge of my goal and it's been a real motivater. On a side note did anyone watch the Dateline on last night with the 5 people trying to loose weight for their high school reunion? I thougt it was really good. But I wanted them to say which ones were able to maintain it afterwards and had made real changes instead of temporary ones. The woman who went vegetarian did an amazing job, maybe that's what I should try. Christina

Thanks for the recommendations. Do you have any particular websites that are easy to use in finding the calorie content of stuff? In the past I found it difficult in estimating how many calories I was actually eating and I think I under estimated a lot so it never worked. Or I'd forget to right down that handful of nuts I ate sitting at my bosses desk. Is there an easy way to keep track of it all without going insane? I'm slowly building up some will power with the husband thing and having the healthier "alternatives" to snack on when I'm tempted help a lot. I just wish he'd be more willing to go for a walk with me every now and then or go to a park to play, just be more active. It's hard to get motivated when he just sits on the coach and never gains a pound. Thanks again, Christina

Well, I'm down 1 lb for the week. Not too shabby considering this weekend was Mardi Gras. So that's -4 altogether. Now I just have to avoid all that Valentine's day junk this week. Started at 205 Current: 201 Goal: 150 Sigh, still so far to go... I've been doing 45 minutes on my excerise bike 5 days a week. I've cut out almost all beer & chocolate and am eating healthier choices. I can't afford to join a gym and I don't have a lot of time. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to kick it up a notch to see more results? In the past I've always found that if there's any event I want to train for I'm more motivated in working out in order to perform for the event instead of just to lose weight. But I haven't found any event to train for. I hate running so 5ks, etc are out. Any other suggestions? I thought about a short adventure race but that's typically 2 people and my husband refuses to work out. That's my other problem, he doesn't work out, he drinks beer and and eats terrible and doesn't like it when I cook healthy for us both. I've started to get healthier alternatives for myself, so when he wants chips, if I'm feeling tempted I'll eat a handful of mini rise cakes instead, or I'll eat a yogurt when he's eating ice cream. Any other suggestions on how to eat and excercise healthier when your other half is no help? I refuse to cook two seperate meals for us. Christina

Cool Pic. I'll be sure to post how everything goes at the doc's. Thanks everyone, Christina

Thanks for the info! It's nice to know that eventually something "should" work. I haven't tried the prilosec OTC yet, but I'm starting it in the morning (thanks for the warning or I may have started tonight!). I have tried pepcid and zantac (OTC). I hadn't tried the prilosec OTC yet because it says to only use it for 14 days and if heartburn returns to see a doc and since this has been going on for 5+ months I figured it wasn't going away in 14 days. Thanks for the encouraging words about the Upper GI too, it wasn't explained quite the same way by some others I've talked to. Thanks again to everyone who replied or PMed. Christina

Thanks, that's all I'm hoping for too! The lactose thing, I thought about but I get it all the time not just after dairy. And the spicy/greasy foods thing - I've changed my diet and even those frozen little lean cuisines give me heartburn! Chicken noodle soup gave me heart burn yesterday! Even the blandest foods seem to give me heartburn. Christina

I'll check into it. Thanks for the suggestion!

I'll definately check into it. Thanks!

I've had a peptic ulcer before and there was no mistaking that for heartburn! The ulcer made my stomach as hard as rock and was very painful in my stomach not my chest and throat like the heartburn is. I guess it's still a possibility though. I've also had a gallstone before (at least that's what the doc thought it was) and that was nothing like heartburn either. That night I ended up in the ER screaming in pain and they put me on demirol to knock me out. Then in the morning I was ok. They did an ultrasound in the morning and didn't see anything. So the doc said it was most likely a gallstone. Don't know for sure what it was. I'll be sure to give the doc my whole history to help figure it out. I'm just having a tough time with it this week and it seems worse than usual. Christina

I haven't seen my PCP for this. My insurance doesn't require referrals so I figured I'd go straight to the specialist instead of paying two copayments for office visits. (Plus I just moved recently so I don't have a pcp in my area yet) But I did have a complete physical through work in November. My cholesterol was fine and nothing really stood out in the bloodwork. But I plan to take the results with me (if I can find them) when I go to the doc. Also, I had a problems with heartburn in college. And was treated for acid reflux the pcp then wanted me to go to a specialist for an Upper GI but it was my senior year and who had time for that. Then after I graduated it went away (until now) so I never even thought twice about it. And after having an Upper GI described to me by a few people I figured since I didn't have symptoms anymore why go through that! Of course who knows if this is related or not but I'll tell the doc about it. It started when things at work were really really stressfull and I was working tons of overtime to get this big project finished. It finished at the end of the year and I was hoping once the stress let up it would help. But I'm still experiencing the same symptoms even though I haven't worked any overtime in Jan. Christina

Thanks for the link. And Thanks Wendy for the suggestion for Gaviscon, haven't tried that one yet. I've obviously tried the antacid thing, which works most of the time temporarily but not always. I've tried the H2 blocker stuff, pepcid, didn't really help. Today I'm getting Prilosec OTC, the Proton pump inhibitor. We'll see if that helps but I guess it takes a while to kick in. I've changed my diet. Completely cut out caffeine and chocolate. Been trying to eat healthier, I've been working out and trying to lose weight too. I've also been keeping a record of what I eat when I get it and so far (3 weeks) I haven't seen any direct correlations except time of day. It's always in the morning/afternoons, never at evening/night. Again thanks everyone for the suggestions. Only 12 days tell the dr's appointment. Maybe the Prilosec OTC will kick in by then. Thanks again, Christina