sandi

I agree, but unfortunately the fact is many people believe everything they see on TV. .

I'm not a soccer mom, I'm a gymnastics mom (my daughter's gymnastics skills will be much more useful when she's old enough to skydive). This is where the problem is. Due to the media and celebrities saying vaccines cause autism there are many parents out there who are afraid that by vaccinating their children they may be harming them. The public needs to be educated about the facts regarding vaccines and the consequences of not vaccinating. Those consequences extend to the community not just their child.

Wow, rant against moms. Is it all moms that are stupid are just those whose kids happen to like to play soccer? Not all moms believe everything in the media. Some of us actually read scientific journals and seek out information from reliable sources.

Don't despair, you can do this. I understand what you're feeling. I'm in a very demanding phd program and I'm a single mom. I had a point that I was ready to quit because I was exhausted and stressed and there just weren't enough hours in the day to do everything I needed to do for school and still be a good mom. So what I've learned is to schedule everything. When you have so many demands on your time that helps to keep things under control. If you saw my calender you would think I'm some crazy obsessive organization freak. I'm not, but I've learned the hard way that I have to have control over my time. So my time is split between my daughter and my work. I need to write a lot and I was having trouble finding time to write. So now I have scheduled writing time every day. As far as cleaning goes you may need to get used to it not being perfect. My house is never as clean as I would like it but I want to spend my time with my daughter not cleaning. So I usually spend about an hour on Saturday mornings cleaning and I try and keep up with little things throughout the week. Just spend a little time every day so its livable even if its not perfect. If you do a little every day then you never need to spend a whole day cleaning. The most important thing I've found for me in maintaining my sanity is exercise. My first couple years I felt like you do - that there is just no way to find time to workout. But after I hit bottom -- totally frazzled and I got a B in a class (that was traumatic for me, I don't get B's) I realized that to be successful and productive I need to take care of myself. Now I get up at 5:30 every morning and workout and I am so much happier and healthier. It means getting up earlier but it has made a huge difference. Just having that hour to do something for me has made me feel more in control and better able to handle the demands on my time. So the lessons here are 1. don't neglect yourself - you'll be more productive if you are happy and healthy 2. don't stress about things that aren't that important - when you graduate and get a great job you can hire someone to clean your house and you won't care that it wasn't spotless for a couple years. 3. figure out what you need to do -- prioritize -- and make a schedule. I don't know if this helps, but just know that you're not alone. You can do this, don't ever doubt yourself!

OK, wait a minute, none of my friends ever set me up. Does that mean I'm an asshole? I've been single for years now. Hmmm, maybe I should think about this...

Congratulations!! I remember when I got my first rig, everything was used but I loved it. Then when I got my custom container (for the first time I jumped with a harness that actually fit me) I was just incredibly happy. Enjoy your beautiful new rig and put lots of jumps on it!

Hey, don't start dissing short people, not everyone gets to be tall. I'm 5' but I'm stronger than I look, don't mess with the short girls.

It's snowing here in Indiana.

At least it's unpleasant for the faculty too. I actually took my qualifying exams late in my program because I was so busy with my research. I already have several experiments completed that will go into my dissertation (some already published). And I'm running a few now that are almost done. So, my committee members all agree that I have more than enough for my thesis. I could graduate this summer but I will probably go ahead and stay another year, there are some things I still want to learn before I go off on my own. I'm planning on going on the job market next fall so I will (hopefully) have a job to start the following fall.

Congratulations!! Hopefully I can say that someday.

I know that worn down and defeated look very well. That's how I've looked for the past month or so. Yeah, I've seen the barbie spoof. Completely true!

So I've been writing and writing. Now it's three months and 80 pages later and I'm done. Passed my oral exam this morning so I am officially a doctoral candidate instead of a lowly doctoral student! In reality it really just means there is another piece of paper in my file. But it was a ton of work so I'm very happy to cross qualifying exams off the list. Now I just have to write my dissertation.

Maybe... But I can see how anyone asking a question about a procedure could elicit this type of reaction. We're supposed to just shut up and let TSA do whatever they want to us.

I can't wait for ski season!!! I just started skiing last winter and I love it! I can't wait to go again.

I think the push toward year round school is being driven by the ever increasing evidence that children experience a decline in knowledge over the extended summer break. This is not news. It’s very clear in the research that children are at best stagnating, at worst exhibiting significant decline. The first month or two of the school year is spent re-teaching what was taught in the previous school year. The 180 days that children spend in school could be used more efficiently if those days spanned the entire year with breaks interspersed throughout the year. Same number of schools days, more breaks. I’ll spare you my rant about content since that’s a separate issue. I have many, many issues with the current educational system. From a developmental perspective, children do not ‘need’ a long summer break. They don’t ‘need’ large periods of completely unstructured time. Summer break is an antiquated system which arose from the need for children to work on the farms. Those children did not spend their summer playing; they spent it working on the farm. If children are stressed about school, it is most likely coming from the parents, not the school. The kids that are stressed are usually the ones whose parents are putting too much pressure on them or are over-scheduling them. From a parent perspective, I would love to have year round school. I think it would improve the quality of family life, not detract from it. Most people can’t take off work for the whole summer and the fact is the majority of women in this country with school-aged children work. Hence the dizzying array of summer camp options. Even people who have a lot of vacation time usually can’t take it all at once or may not want to use it all at once. What I would like to see is a 4 week break in the summer and some 2 week breaks throughout the year. I would be able to spend more of the break time with my daughter in that type of system than in the current system.

I jumped a 270, I can't remember what kind, it was a student canopy. I weighed 105 pounds at the time. Had a very long ride to enjoy the view.

Let me know if you find an answer to that one! I need more hours in the day. I never sleep more than 2-3 hours without waking up.

I've landed off lots of times. Not a big deal. As a student I was 105 pounds jumping a 240 sq. ft. canopy, so extremely low wing loading (that was the smallest student gear they had). If I wasn't over the dz or really, really close I was not going to get there. My instructor taught me that the most important thing is to land safely, not to get back to the dropzone. We spent a lot of time talking about off landings (since there was a high probabilty I would have some). So my guidelines for landing off are 1) if you are not 100% sure you can make it to the dz don't just try to make it and hope for the best and 2) the higher you make that decision the better, then you have more time to choose a suitable landing place, get there, and set up your landing pattern. I never had a radio, but I had amazing instructors. The only time I've been injured skydiving was when I had to land off at an unfamiliar dz where I didn't know the outs. I wasn't 100% sure I could make it back but I tried anyway. Resulted in landing in a not ideal area and a not ideal landing. Fortunately not a serious injury, just a lot of swelling and bruising. Later when I started jumping at Perris I never landed off since the pilot goes around twice (and I was no longer jumping an enormous canopy). Good luck with your training and enjoy the sky!!

I would never ask my parents for help. I don't even consider it an option. I've sold stuff in the past when I needed money. When my daughter was little high quality childcare cost a fortune. I sold my book collection which was worth quite a lot, I still miss my books. But my daughter is more important so I don't regret it. I sold my canopies since I'm not currently jumping but I kept my container since it's custom and it's not that easy to find used gear to fit when you're really short. But I would sell it if I needed the money. I would never go to my parents. Anyway one of my sisters asks my mom for help on a regular basis. My mom should only have to take care of one of her adult children.

Haha, funny. Actually I should start teaching my 6 year-old to pack. I really just got my rigging ticket because I like to know how things work. And it was a challenge, someone told me I was too small to be a rigger (5'0"). So I had to see if I could. But rigging is hard work. It took every bit of my strength and most of my body weight to get that damn super strong spring down to close my javelin. All those riggers out there definitely earn their money.

Back when I was jumping, I almost always used a packer. That doesn’t mean I don’t know how to pack. And you’re right, it’s a luxury, I make choices about how to spend my time and money. If I have a day to jump, I would rather spend that time jumping than packing and I’m a slow packer so it is time consuming (I like it all neat and tidy). Although, I’ll agree that there probably are too many people who don’t know enough about their gear, but not everyone who uses a packer does so because they can’t pack. Some of us just don’t want to (okay, you can call me lazy). I can pack my reserve too, but that doesn’t mean I want to.

I’m very happy with my degrees, they are worth all of the hard work I put into earning them. Now I’m getting paid to continue on in school. Sure, I have student loans from my undergrad, I went to one of those highly rated expensive private schools and I think it was worth every penny. But then I was there to learn not just to get a piece of paper. I worked and got scholarships to keep the loans to a minimum. Now I get to do research, and if I want to have a research career then a PhD is a requirement. But it’s not just that one needs a piece of paper with a degree listed on it. I actually need the education and training required to get the degree in order to do the job. I wouldn’t be publishing research without all of the education I've obtained during the past four years in grad school because I wouldn’t have the skills to do so. I think education is very valuable and I don’t measure success in terms of how much money someone makes. I won’t make tons on money when I graduate but I love the work I do, I find it extremely rewarding. Making a decent living doing work I enjoy means more to me than being rich. Back to the original topic. A college degree is in fact a requirement for many careers. To me it says a lot about a person. They are of at least average intelligence. They can show up for classes and can manage responsibilities for multiple classes. And they can do that consistently for four years. So they’ve learned the topics of their courses, how to manage their time effectively, and they have acquired at least some skill in writing and speaking effectively. And no, I don’t think that everything can be learned on the job. Maybe for some jobs but most need a strong educational foundation.

I'm going to be in Portland, OR for a few days in August and I'm hoping to add on a day or two for jumping. Does anyone have any recommendations on which dropzone to go to? I haven't jumped in awhile (ok, a very long while) so I would need to do some coached jumps to get current. I will also need rental gear as my gear is no longer appropriate since I'm far from current. And I'm 5'0" which can be a problem as not all dz's have rental gear for really short people. So, any suggestions/comments on dz's? Instructor/coach recommendations would be great too.

If I saw some guy lurking near a childrens' play area I would think he's a pervert and I would get my daughter and leave. You might need a different plan. ----

+1 Single moms are still women, we just have much less free time and different priorities than single women without kids. ------