I went skydiving in the summer of 2006 when I was in San Francisco visiting my brother. It was a tandem jump from 16,000 feet. When I was fresh out of high school/Freshman year at college (1991), I wanted to join the Army and be an Airborne Ranger but a car wreck (broke femur in 8 places plus a couple of more bones) ended that idea. Anyway, I learned that skydiving isn't as much fun as I thought it would be. I wanted to get that "falling" feeling like I experience on roller coasters and bungee jumping, but it never felt like that. Plus, my ears hurt when we were descending with the chute open. My ears hurt when I'm landing in a plane, as well. All I could think about was getting back to earth so my ears would quit hurting. I would like to try it again, but I'm glad I didn't sign years of my life away to the Army way back when, and then discover that being Airborne meant my ears were gonna hurt every time I jumped/did my job. The coolest part (besides a video I now have of me skydiving) was WHERE we made the jump: Hollister, CA. For a motorcycle guy, Hollister is sacred ground.

Good thing indeed. I've never jumped, but a co-worker did just this past weekend. I saw the video, too, looked like fun. It's definitely on the list of things to do before I die (hopefully, not the last thing on that list, if you know what I mean).

Tandem jumped at 10K feet over Key West back home in FL. AMAZING. Best single experience ever. Like being on a bike, with no bike under you. The air was... tasty. The view, amazing. I need to go again, but have not been so good with the planning of it. I was SCUBA certified and have freedived (snorkel/dive) since I was kid, so the pressurization of my ears was never an issue for me when jumping from a plane. But there are a few technique's you can do to help with that - like a less forceful version of Valsalva. Anyway, anyone who is interested in doing it, I highly reocomend it.