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She is one really lucky girl. I see what you did there it's you isn't it Is it not entirely possible that I could be paying champu a compliment? :)

She is one really lucky girl.

Thank you for sharing. P.S. You can be the change you want to be :)

I wonder if you spent half as much time as you devote to criticizing and judging people, towards appreciating people for who we are, if you'd be a happier person yourself. Perhaps in your hopes to constantly find something wrong with engineers you are also coming to terms with your own flaws. As the saying goes, beggars can't be choosers.

I am curious, what is your definition of being an authority or having competence in a particular domain?

Only when I wanted to be one of the most popular girls in my school who wore make up like it was Halloween or dressed up like they were going to be the next Snookie or tried really hard to pretend to be someone I'm not. All better alternatives to being happy with myself. :)

Oh, and I didn't at all mean to imply to substitute one for the other, just suggesting another thing to try if you have the time. :)

Have you ever thought about paragliding? From what I know, it's another avenue to really enjoy views from up high. :)

1. Whats your name? Emily 2. How old are you? 29 3. Why did you decide to start jumping out of airplanes? Best put, to fulfill the dream of flying. One tandem wasn't enough, so challenged me to jump out on my own. 4. Are you single or taken? Married? Happily taken. 5. Do you have kids? No, I do not. 6. What do you drive? My parent's Lexus. 7. Have you ever done a kisspass? Yes, one unexpectedly with a female friend. 8. Where do you live? Southern California 9. Do you have any pets? Not any more than I do have kids. 10. How many jumps do you have? Coming up on 500. 11. What color eyes do you have? Brown 12. What is your nationality? Chinese American. 13. Have you ever dated someone you met off the internet? No, I'm a simple girl. 14. Favorite Movie(s)? Back to the Future, Big, The Goonies, a lot of movies I remember from my childhood. 15. What do you do when you aren't skydiving? Enjoy life and the spend time around the people I care about immensely. 16. Have you ever BASE jumped? No I haven't. 17. If not... do you want to? Mayhaps. 18. Do you have siblings? Two sisters and a brother. 19. Where do you want to travel to the most? Australia/New Zealand. 20. What's your favorite color? Blue. 21. Where was the last place you flew to (not skydiving )? Phoenix. I enjoy the desert. And road runners.

I had the opportunity to coach Robyn while she was on her vacation to Elsinore. She had an incredibly free, beautiful soul and always marched to the beat of her own drum. Her pursuit and passion for the sky was unmatched with her messages to me and her posts in this forum. I'll never forget her laugh and smile. RIP Robyn.

boolean HavingFun = #t; while(HavingFun) { continue; } :)

That's a beautiful piece of engineering.

I'm a big proponent of using the wind tunnel as a constructive learning tool. You get immediate feedback on what you are doing with your inputs, and always have the option to review video. So if you can afford the time and funds, I would suggest the next time you attempt sit carving, do it in the tunnel. Particular to head up carving, learning in the tunnel is helpful because you have a frame of reference (e.g. glass, dividers between the glass panels) for your direction of turning and can more readily compensate for your movements in early learning stages. The way I have been taught [and I am still learning] is to think about it as a maneuver involving forward drive in a sit with a built in turn: 1. Initiate the carve with legs strong as you would move forward in the sit 2. With the leading leg, extend forward and down in the direction you want to carve 3. Add the corresponding arm pushed down for a more powerful/efficient carve 4. Leaning back with chest out will allow you to catch wind on your back to counter the fast fall position and maintain lift Hope this gives you some idea, but I would recommend to get a coach to give you more direct instruction. I'm still learning it myself but good luck and let us know how it works out. :)

(An aside: some may argue that the mantis is not really the proper position for RW flying [if that is your goal], rather a modified version of the box-man we learn as students. I come from the camp that mantis is actually not an efficient way of flying. See if an experienced RW flyer can explain to you why this may be true.) If you are interested in learning the mantis position I'll presume that you are prepared to get a coach to teach you proper body mechanics. So I think it really depends on your coach's teaching style, how well you may communicate and fly with said coach, and pick up the mechanics. The mechanics of flying mantis are not difficult, but how your body may adapt to it physically, whether you understand certain how to fly your body and become more air aware all play into learning how to fly your body in a specific orientation, particularly when you get into more unstable positions (i.e. back, sitfly, headdown). As the previous response mentioned, breaking bad habits from the number of jumps you had prior would be an inhibiting factor, simply because you are retraining your body and muscles to fly differently, akin to learning yoga for example. Good luck!

I haven't had a chance to read the article, but it is an interesting concept. I would think that level of happiness may be influenced by emotional affect resulting from anticipating a vacation. We react naturally thanks to the pleasure-pain system wired in our brains first and pleasure = no work = vacation. That is at least a natural instinct, before we start consciously think about it (e.g. stress from planning a vacation). Personally, a vacation is a happy/memorable one depending on the company you're with. A simple day of driving to a neighboring city and spending time with the right person can easily become a vacation for me. :)

Hello, In terms of tourist attractions, Alcatraz is certainly the most unique to San Francisco, its too bad that its sold out! If you're not faint of heart you ought to try a night tour, I've heard those are scary fun. :) As for general things to do in the city proper, that you would be able to get to by walking or through trolleys/public transportation, a few things that come to mind: -Fishermans Wharf/Pier 39/Ghiradelli Square -Coit tower -Lombard St -Golden Gate Bridge -Union Square -Chinatown However if you have a car I highly suggest getting out of the city and driving nearby, to appreciate the Northern California landscape: -about 2 hours of driving north is Napa Valley [well known for wineries, for wine tasting] -Sausalito, Point Reyes National park, Muir Woods, which are really nice areas, all on the North side of the Golden Gate Bridge -Golden Gate Park [has a Japanese garden, lots of walking trails; near the Legion of Honor, really nice fine arts museum; Palace of Fine Arts; and Exploratorium, really good science museum] -about an hour South of the city you can drive down the coast to Half Moon Bay, and 2-3 hours beyond that you are within distance of Santa Cruz, Monterey and Carmel which are all very nice beach/coastal cities Of course if you're really willing to make the drive Yosemite is a must if you have never been there. From the rain we've had this winter/spring you will still easily be able to see waterfalls; in fact some of the camping sites have been flooded because of the excess rain. Good luck and have fun!

Any time I take a smooth, solid dock on a freefly jump, particularly of the track dive variety. :)

Jump #440. It was pretty warm out, which isn't unusual for the summer season at Elsinore, and winds were not blowing exceptionally strong. But I got caught in thermals between 1400-1800', canopy partially collapsed twice. I never wanted to be on the ground so badly. Landing was uneventful but I was shaking when I got down. Lesson learned: when you think you're confident enough to handle wind/weather conditions, think twice. Consider consequence of the worst case scenario and not only how you'd handle it but how you'd feel. I didn't feel comfortable jumping the combined heat+wind after that jump and now think about setting a separate upper bound for winds considering higher temperatures.

...except for this one jerk with a blue camera helmet that jumps there... You're not a jerk. :) Next time you're at the dropzone say hi! I wear a blue/smoke colored jumpsuit.

Hm, I'm surprised no one has replied to this already, when normally I'm not an active poster. Congratulations on the A-license and welcome to the sky. I jump at Elsinore too, good choice for a dropzone. Maybe I'll see you there! :)

Google+ to me is essentially the same as Facebook, only possibly more customizable and better integrated with all the other Google widgets/apps that are already available and make people's lives so much easier. For those with Android-supported devices I gather it's probably pretty awesome. Facebook is pretty useful for sending mass messages without having to ask people for email addresses, sharing photos, and learning about/creating events. I think we all wish we didn't have to have a Facebook account, and be the one who lives off the grid, but I care enough about keeping in touch with friends and don't have the time/energy to call all my friends or visit them and have hour-long conversations with all of them. :)

I've been following this thread intermittently and needed to throw in my input, considering the flip side of this stereotype that seems to have fallen out of the wash. Female engineers can, in fact like any normal person, have a deflated ego. Since we're all about stereotypes, take the typical engineering male: on average shy/quiet or generally less inclined to approach a girl. Lack of opportunity or approach from the guy may discourage the engineering girls' confidence. The problem is propagated when they believe, or just plain know, that they aren't wanted, when every engineering guy is going after the super hot chicks or is dreaming of kick ass anime babes or how to level up in World of Warcraft. Don't get me wrong I'm a fan of video games and anime and other things that engineers do. I watched Kenshin, Cowboy Bebop, Sailormoon, Escaflowne and played Call of Duty, Quake, Counterstrike etc. etc. I totally get all of it. I just don't think the issue is one of gender ratios as much as how we (men+women) can see past stereotypes/stigma associated with this class we assign ourselves to as "engineers". People naturally classify things, that's what we do to organize and make sense of things. But I don't think there is any necessary progression to us assuming the average or the stereotypes for these classifications. Just be confident in yourself and what you like to do, while appreciating the world around you. Its not cliche to be yourself.

One of the key things I'm reading in your post is focus on the end goal . As things may have it, a lot of us know what that feels like, to just want to graduate AFF, or get the job promotion, or get the guy to go out with me. But we forget what we need to ask of ourselves to be the person we want to be, to achieve those goals. You need to learn what it takes to relax, overcome anxiety for instance. Or someone trying to get the promotion needs to spend more hours at the office, flushing out a project idea. Its so easy to just expect what we want to fall right into our laps, instead of respect what it will take for us to get there. The great thing you're doing is that you're recognizing what your obstacle is to overcome. If this is something you really want, then it will be worthwhile to appreciate every detail necessary for you to achieve your goal of finishing AFF. That means being good at ALL of it; success is founded on failure, otherwise you won't learn and be a badass at what you do. You may say you are "failing" at every opportunity you make a jump and do not advance to the next level of AFF. But I say, with every jump, you have one more opportunity to succeed, by improving your canopy flying skills and in-air awareness in both freefall and under canopy. You were able to land on your own, that's a big accomplishment! Canopy flying/landing is just as, if not more, important a skill that many new skydivers are less focused on compared to the freefall portion of a skydive. Think about how much better a canopy pilot you can be compared to someone who breezes through AFF thinking they know everything. You have had more chances than many to be a more skilled skydiver. Be a badass :)

Performance anxiety isn't easy to overcome, there are entire areas of research (i.e. sports psychology) devoted to understanding it, so your frustration is perfectly natural and understood. Maybe it is worth considering the true source of your anxiety, and what particular aspects of it really make you nervous. Separate yourself from everyone else because when you're up in the sky, up in the plane on the way to altitude, you're not doing it for anyone but you. Its your jump, its your time. Tom used to say to me when I was preparing for an AFF jump with another instructor "go show 'em what you can do" thereby implying a level of performance, yes. I know it was his method of encouragement, to take the challenge by the horns and believe in your own ability. So I want to say instructors aren't there to judge how good you are, they just want you to be safe, and want you to succeed. If anything the instructors are thinking about everything and anything that can go wrong, not whether you'll perform for them. We all want you to succeed. If you perhaps think of it like that you won't be so nervous? If you believe that you can do it, overcome the fears, and have the goal of overcoming the fear for yourself then you only have yourself to satisfy. I believe in you :)

Maybe 2 months ago I got a preview from the VP of Operations for Skyventure, Trevor Thompson, for blueprints/walkthrough for the NJ tunnel. It looked like there will be a double tunnel setup similar to iFly Dubai...I think he said that they're still putting through the paperwork to get the land settlement before they break ground.