madonnashere

He is not 40 lbs he is about 30 lbs. or so. When we took him over to the tunnel at Perris to see when he could fly they said if he met the height restriction (a mark on the wall) that he could fly. He is a solid kid, some three year olds are pretty small/petite kids. We took him up to watch them fly in the tunnel and he said he wanted to do it and they got him in for 2 minutes. The only thing he did not like was the noise, he doesn't want to go back until he is older because of the noise. As he put it "He want's his ears to be older."

I mentioned to my husband to get a 5 year interest only loan to get the payment down really low and rent out the house. That way we would not give up our SoCal real estate until we are sure we do not want to live here. He says he wants to leave and not come back, I am not so sure he really means it. We have a 5-6bdr 2bth in the golden triangle area of San Diego that we should have no trouble keeping rented. We would only be about 6 hrs away so we can keep an eye on it. Plus all of my inlaws live here. If we decide to go that route I will let you know.

My husband and I just got bit by the sky diving bug. He has 3 jumps and starting his AFF. I have 2 jumps and will start AFF soon. We currently have to work very hard to cover our San Diego mortgage along with the other high costs of living in beautiful sunny California. If we sell our house, which has tripled in value in the 3 years we have owned it. Move to AZ and pay cash for a house, we could buy a small motor home and take 6 months to a year off, touring the country checking out the drop zones. Are we crazy? Have any of you taken these kinds of steps to support your sky diving habit? Or are we just completly out of our minds?

Yes, the expense is something that we have talked about. We found a solution. . . We are going to sell our house in San Diego (5bdr, 2bath, doubled in value in 3 years so TONS of equity). Moving to a state (probably AZ, still has good weather) where we can pay cash for another house, buying a motor home and checking out the drop zones around the country. Take about 6 mnths to a year off before hubbie has to get a job again. I REALLY want to go to Australia, so maybe we will check out the drop zones around the world. He starts his AFF in 2 weeks, I won't be to far behind him. I need to work on arm strength. Really have had a hard time pulling the rip cord on both of my tandems. So need to build some confidence there. When we got married 13 years ago, we both had children so we never had "US" time. Now the last kid is about to move to London, England and we told our children that we are going to live and have some fun. The boogie at Eloy will be our first New Year's Eve that we will not be sitting at home in front of our TV watching the ball drop in New York in our relationship. Looking forward to a life of excitement and meeting alot of new people!

I just want to say a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to all of you who gave me your words of advice, wisdom and encouragement about my fear at the door, when I made my first jump at Eloy over Thanksgiving weekend. Made my second jump today at Perris, (finally decent weather), been waiting two weeks to do this jump and work on conquering that door. I told my TM how it was at the door on my first jump and that all I remember was getting to the door and pushing backwards and feeling this panic and don't really remember going out the door. If it wasn't for the video the first 5-10 seconds of my jump are kind of a blur. Today, I got to the door, took a couple deep breaths, looked down and said "Yes, I can do this!" AND WE DID IT, counted to three and out the door and I had a blast. Now I understand why you guys do this. The sky was so clear that we could see for miles, I have never had so much fun in my life. I never in a million years would have thought that I would be considering starting AFF. I am not a person who takes chances or risks and here I am jumping out of airplanes!! WOO HOO!!!

Here are a few programs that I have used: DVD Wizard Pro Easy DVD to Divx/VDC/SVCD Converter I don't remember which one worked the best as I haven't used them in quite awile. I don't think either one was more than $30 to buy.

Thanks so much for the article, I don't feel like I am alone in this feeling and look forward to jumping this weekend.

Amazon, Brodes, skysprite, MC2088, wee, nate_1979, NickDG, markharju, Travman, LuvToFly, flyangel2, VampireGirl, Dougiefresh, VanillaSkyGirl, and TEB6363 I want to thank all of you for your words of encouragement and letting me know that the feeling is something that I can get over. I AM GOING TO PERRIS ON SATURDAY (weather permitting) and FACE THAT DOOR AND JUMP AGAIN!!! I hope that I get to meet some of you in Eloy at the holiday boogie and thank you in person. And Next year Jump with You!!!

There is one on ebay - a Radko parachute ornament. Search for Sky Dive and it will bring it up. Here is another one - a snowman parachuting. I don't know how to make it a clicky. http://store.yahoo.com/old-world-christmas/sninpablglor.html

I made my first tandem jump at Eloy over the Thanksgiving weekend. It was the most awesome experience of my life. I have never had this amount of fun in my entire life. I would like some advice, suggestions, comments from you experienced jumpers, as one thing that happened may keep me from continuing. I did not feel any nervousness on the flight up, I was totally excited and having a blast during the freefall and the time under the canopy. My Tandem Master asked me what kind of ride I wanted and I told him "Let's have some fun and I will let you know if it bothers/scares me." We did spins left and right on freefall and several canopy spins. I had such a blast, and think I could become hooked on this sport. BUT. . . . . What I didn't like and want to know what to do to about "door fear." I was so excited sliding down the bench and seeing everyone go out the door. (we were 2nd to the last out of the plane) Saw the person in front of me drop out of sight and when I stood up for my turn and looked down, I felt my feet back pedaling and I thought "What in the world are you doing." I know that I didn't get into the position we practiced on the ground. I felt like I just froze at the door. Fortunately I didn't have to make the decision to go out the door, because I would not have been able to do it. I don't want to have the feeling of fear at the door everytime I jump and would really like to hear from anyone who has had the same feeling and how you overcame it, if it is something you can overcome. I told my husband (who is going to do his AFF/ASP while we are in Eloy, he has 3 jumps and is hooked) that I had such a blast, but don't think that I will be able to continue to jump if I get that feeling everytime. I am not the type person who goes out of her way looking for an adreline rush and I almost never (until now) take risks or chances on something that I could get hurt doing. My kids (17yo and 22yo) are so excited that I am finally getting out and having fun. They even told me that they are proud of me and couldn't believe it when I called them from Eloy to tell them "Guess what, I just jumped out of an airplane." Sorry for the long post, appreciate any helpful input.