PLFKING

That is SO not true ! Don

Sounds pretty cool, Andrea...got any pics you want to share ? I admire them on others, but it also reminds me of the scene in that old movie "A Man Called Horse"......Richard Harris got the ULTIMATE nipple piercing ! Don

Two words.....GRO - TESQUE !! I stand corrected, Kris.....although it humbles me to say so, your suit is MUCH more hideous than mine.... Don

Donna, Clay...thanks. I'm going to show these to my sis, but I don't think it will help. I've even offered to take him and NOT jump ; just show him around, and explain how everything works......I mean, what kid wouldn't love to see 20+ jumpers opening at the same time ? Maybe she's afraid he'll become a skydiver..... Don

I can be laughing my ass off at y'all and drink a beer without spewing it out of my nose... (I couldn't always do that -- it's an acquired trick I've learned over the last 12 months......you guys never cease to entertain me....) Thanks for the chucks ! Don

As am I. Don

Merrick's back up ? COOL ! About time, too ! CAUTION : Check your landing area very, very carefully ! Don

Glad to hear he'll be okay... ROFL !......mine has been called the same (actually, "hideous" was one of the tamer descriptions...) Kris, I like your sig too... Don

Hey Pam -- I hope Charlie's okay, and that it IS only a dislocation.... A gentleman named Gary and I were the only two students in my FJC (static-line). After training, we went and made our first jumps...I went out and flew all over the place, landed off, and came back full of smiles. Gary went up, flew his canopy perfectly until time to flare....and never flared at all. He stuck his feet out in front of him, then hit square on his ass, and broke his back in two places. He had discs fused, was in a body cast for three months, and at last report was walking again, and willing to try it again, but his doc won't let him. My JM pulled me aside after the ambulance carried him away, and we had a very long talk about it. He said you always have to weigh the enjoyment of jumping against the possibility of injury, because you can screw up and die, and you can also do everything right and still die......the odds are greatly against it, but it happens......those thoughts are always in the back of my mind, but I try to block them out, and concentrate on what I need to do. Just out of curiousity, I have a question for you and all the other parents of pre-teens......do you as a rule bring them to the DZ, and, if so, do you try to explain the fact that things can go terribly wrong, or do you wait until something happens, and THEN try to explain ? I know this depends greatly on the age and maturity of the child, but.....? The reason I ask is because my 8-year-old nephew has been agitating his mother to take him to "go see Uncle Don fly" since I started this, but my sis isn't at all thrilled with the idea of him seeing someone get hurt, or worse......I never talk about it with him anymore, because I want to keep peace in the family........how do y'all handle it ? He takes karate classes, and plays baseball, and I know he would enjoy watching the canopies swoop the landings... Don

Fun, ain't it ? Congrats ! Don

I thought he did.....he just strikes me as your average all-American hot-blooded heterosexual male.....(or, in his case -- all-Kiwi male !) Beside, Pyke and I have one thing in common....we're not handsome enough to be gay ! Don

lol@ the Grape Ape....

[Butthead voice] She said 'instrument"..heh..heh-heh..heh-heh...[/Butthead voice] Mr. Ultimate Rush

How about ..... " Drunken skydiver reads post, starts laughing at Ann's shit, loses balance, falls off chair and breaks arm......now in need of in-home caregiver for next 3 weeks ?" C'mon, give Pyke a break already ! (but I'm still rolling on the floor.....) Don

lol@Remi.....

Hey HH.....you'll have to double-post a lot more if you hope to catch Skreamer and the Zenmeister ! ...and I think taking a poll, then offering the top 2 or 3 quotes, is the way to go..... Don

Well, Anne, I don't think he is, personally ! And I just ran a search in the old forums....the article was in last November's issue of Parachutist ( I think...I wrote the following at the time...). I guess people DON'T change that much as they age, or, at the least, they write the same senseless crap over and over ! Don

Yeah, Merrick....I remember seeing that last year also....it was a good site, but not as awesome as this site has become..... And just think -- this home we call "Dropzone.com" sprang from the imagination of a young South African boy as he played on the veldt, dreaming of skydiving, dreaming of moving to San Francisco, dreaming of creating his very own website and transforming it into this.... Okay....maybe I got ALL of that wrong, but it sounded good ! FYI for all the new folks here....Sangiro and Dropzone.com were written up in a peice in Parachutist late last year (I think). It made for interesting reading, and described the transition from a page to let friends talk about their first jumps into a full-blown website....you might check it out if you can find it..... Don

Another awesome peice, Michele ! I wonder....when you and Sangiro made your deal to write about your progression, did he realize what a steal he was getting ? You should be billing him for such great craftsmanship ! Don

Hey Lisa ! It was a lot of fun....thanks for the hospitality ! Pyke's a pretty cool guy also...I didn't recognize him when he walked up...he's cut his hair, and looks like your typical corporate "suit" now (well, except for the tongue-piercing !) It's easy to see why Sis rides him so much...he can dish it out as well as anyone.... And Lisa....wow ! I know how she got her nickname...you'd never think someone that small could make that much noise ! Every time the plane left the tarmac, she would let out a blood-curdling scream, and scare the shit out of me ! The first time I heard it, I literally thought the wing was off, and scraping the runway ! J/K...she's a really sweet person, and I enjoyed all the boundless energy she has...it's just "go, go, go" all the time with her. We definitely have to get together again and do the lawn dart thing ! Awesome ! I only got to talk to Cyber a few times, as he was busy all weekend...and I only met Clay and What42 as I was leaving, but we did get together for a pic. Great fun, good beer, great jumps ! Thanks for a memorable 2 days !! Don

I LOVE DZ's quote, and I've always liked Sangiro's also....why not a choice ? And put the quote in "quotations", and the originator below it... Example : ont the front... "....eroding corporate productivity one thread at a time." -- DZBone or... "This ain't no damn democracy !" -- Sangiro On the back... PLFKING Dropzone.com logo You could offer in short or long sleeve.....and for God's sake...offer some colors ! I get a shirt at every new DZ I visit, and all they offer is white or ash (and black, if you're lucky). I'd like to see some reds, or blues, or yellows, etc... Don ps....I got a short and long sleeve when they came from Cafepress (sometime last winter, I think). I've washed the short about 20 times, and the long about 10 times, and the printing still looks great....maybe I got lucky.....

Yeah, it was a pretty weird sight to behold......we had been up on load #1 (load #4 was the one that lost the prop), and Pyke, Mouth, me, and three others had launched a lawn dart. That in itself was a huge rush....we held it together for about 6000 ft, and hit 208 mph before it blew apart. Got down, packed up, then just hung out and talked for a while. We got manifested for load #5, load #4 takes off, they announce that load #5 is going to be a hot load, and that we're on a 20-minute call. Then, 5 minutes later thay announced that we are NOT on call, because there was "a problem with the plane." Load #4 lands, but nothing looks amiss, until he turns it around and starts taxiing back to the hangar area....then I saw about 10-15 video guys running for their camera helmets, and knew something out of the ordinary was going on, so I grabbed my camera and headed out also....it was like Clay said ; my eyes knew something was different, but I'd never seen that before...there was just a big hole in the front of the port engine where the propeller blades and hub should have been. There were about 40 jumpers standing at the front of the plane, pointing to the pilot and giving him a standing ovation, and when the guys on the load deplaned, they got a standing O also. After hearing the pilot's comments, and talking to 4-5 of the jumpers on the load.....at about 1000 ft, they were just starting to unbuckle and remove helmets, and the plane gave a lurch to the left. They thought it was just heavy turbulence, until they heard an exclamation from the pilot, and three or four jumpers seated beside the open door pointed out the prop, which they saw helicoptering down to earth. The pilot told them to stay in the plane, everyone leaned back and remained calm, and the pilots remained cool and did their thing. After everyone had returned safely to the airport, the DZ owner thanked the jumpers for remaining calm, and seated quietly, so that the pilots could deal with the situation......I was very impressed with the pilots and the jumpers for the way they handled what had to have been some scary moments up there... Don

Pssst....Lisa ! hey, Lisa ! I just remembered what Sis said about Pyke's....er......preferences......he's not gonna want to sleep in MY tent, is he ? Fearfully, Don

Hey Sis -- Glad you're feelin' better... Bill makes a great point. Hell, you're only 24....what's keeping you from taking a year or two off, and living the way you want to, and doing what you want ? When you hit middle age, you probably won't have that option (career, house payments, numerous obligations to a lot of different friends/family/organizations, etc...) (God, it's so true....youth IS wasted on the young !) Had I started jumping in my 20s, I would've been a DZ rat (if there was such a thing.......). Enjoy life ...enjoy yourself. What are you doing right now that you can't do 2 years from now ? Don

If it comes to this, I fervently hope that Bush and the other leaders go into it with this mindset. I think any action should have NATO's blessing, and if NATO can't arrive at a consensus.....then we should form a new Alliance of countries that will.....it's been done before. Even though I am a child of the "Cold War", I find it heartening that Russia, and others most of us would consider our relationship with as "strained" at best, have already offered their assistance. Don