What a disappointment

[BabyDuck]

congrats to ivan - how's the non-smoking going??

has anyone used the new med advertised with the 'my time to quit' ads? i just wanted to hear stories. my ex-m-i-l quit with welbutrin after 30 years of hitting cigarettes hard, so i think some of these newer therapies work. a dive bud who is taking fundies this spring quit with the help of a med, but i'm not sure which one.

i'm a smoker more like ivan used to be. i was 3-5 a day before i got preggers, 5 total since mid-july. unlike chris, it's just not a physical addiction for me. so now i'm not a smoker. eating, however...food is totally a comfort issue right now, with the baby in the hospital. i hope that won't continue to be so when he's home.

 

[WJL]

Piss poor communication isn't an exclusive feature of DIR proponents, this problem is wide spread throughout our society......how else do you explain all the attorneys?

Don't provoke the attorneys. We're watching you.

 

[CompuDude]

...One solution might be to allow smokers (or anyone that doesn't meet certain criteria) to audit the course for learning, but not receive a "pass" or card, essentially making it a workshop for them. It would then be up to individuals or organizations to determine if they are willing to compromise on diving with smokers that otherwise possess all the knowledge and skills to dive DIR. This, of course, opens up a thousand other questions such as which prerequisites are still complete disqualifiers, and which ones could be overlooked for someone to audit the class? What if someone quits smoking, do they need to take the class again, or just somehow prove they quit to get their pass? What happens to this class of "almost-DIR" divers? I hope this doesn't come across as mean, condecending, or offensive. I'm just throwing out ideas for discussion. I'm certainly not in any position to determine anyone's DIR-ness.

You know, I have to say that I agree with you on this one.

While I applaud GUE for setting standards and sticking to them, Fundies is supposed to a workshop course to prepare you to get ready for Tech1, Cave1, whatever. If you look at the history, the whole reason the class came about was to raise the training level to a certain minimum so that you could avoid insufficiently-skilled divers from entering Tech1, etc.

As a simple skills workshop (at it's heart) where you are supposed to learn the basic skills for the first time, they even compromise on a number of gear requirements (Not all of them, but some definitely): Per MHK, you need a long hose, bp/w, and no splits, other than that it doesn't matter, because the whole point is for them to teach you the skills so you can go practice them on your own and become a skilled GUE diver.

So refuse them a pass, rec or tech, fine. But to refuse them the class entirely based on this sole issue seems foolish. Instead, impart the training (could be all someone is looking for), and teach them the GUE methodology, philosophy, and reasoning behind it's decisions (including no smoking)... that's what they do (and are supposed to do) anyway. Once class is over, it's up to the student to go out, practice honing their skills, and perhaps add additional gear (drysuit, canister light, doubles, etc.) to perhaps try again for a tech pass and continue their education. That would be an entirely suitable point to lay down the restriction. NO TECH PASSES (rec is arguable, but fine, no rec passes if you want) WITHOUT MEETING THE REQUIREMENTS.

Anyway, that's my thought on the subject, not that it matters a whit...

 

[Soggy]

So refuse them a pass, rec or tech, fine. But to refuse them the class entirely based on this sole issue seems foolish.

It's not foolish if the organization believes that smoking and diving are contraindicated.

 

[Jason B]

has anyone used the new med advertised with the 'my time to quit' ads?

Marci, that is what Bob used to quit, well, maybe not that actual drug but some med he got from his Doc and it worked very fast.

 

[SparticleBrane]

Bob quit smoking? That's AWESOME!

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Bob quit smoking? That's AWESOME!

Bob who?

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[SparticleBrane]

Bob not you.
We have way too many Bob's here.

"Bob_B" if I remember his username on here correctly. I should have clarified.

 

[Jason B]

Bob quit smoking? That's AWESOME!

We're doing the rest of our training through GUE, he had no choice. He quit almost 2 months ago.

Sorry for the confusion Bob, different Bob.

 

[BabyDuck]

yep, bob's the buddy i was referring to. quit smoking to be able to take fundies - yay bob!