CanuckInUSA

I learned a lot about responsibility from my brief experience in the military and I was forced into it by the step-father (I wasn't a criminal or anything like that, but I was no angel either). Anyway it armed me with some great knowledge and allowed me to leave home at a very young age and become independent as a young adult. But there is a difference between my experience and my drill sergents yelling at me (helping myself learn how to be a responsible person) and the fact that this proposal is there to help fight the various wars that the US already sees themselves started and not knowing how to finish as well as the new wars they want to start (like the next war in Iran so many Americans seem interested in starting). Go ask the dead German youths of WWII how they feel about their government telling them about their mandatory military service (I couldn't use the "ask the dead American youths" since I do think WWII was the right war to fight for those on the allies side). I'm sure they would tell you that it wasn't worth it. This proposal just gives the old and angry an excuse to sacrific someone else's life to achieve their power struggle goals. If America stopped starting all these wars, they wouldn't need to worry about why people don't want to join their volunteer military. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

One thing to keep in mind is how does your canopy do in strong winds? I know I'm jumping a couple of monster canopies and I sure don't want to be under one of these boats in winds over 15-20 mph. I'm sure you we referring to the freefall aspect, but we still need to factor in the canopy ride as well right. Just a thought ... Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Now now Jaap ... you're a cat (9 lives) and not a baseball player (3 strikes and you're out). Plus if you're inexperienced, then I guess I need to change my somewhat experienced to inexperienced since you know more about BASE than I do. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I'm somewhat experienced (though I have tons still to learn about jumping different objects, tons to learn about jumping different rigging configurations and have no terminal BASE jumps). Anyway I have 81 total BASE jumps to date in a little under 2 years in the sport. 20 Moab Cliffs jumps off 5 different exit points, 2 jumps from the local cliff, 1 Building (scariest but also one of the most satisfying jumps to date), 2 Antennas (one being my lowest freefall), 3 at the local span (lowest jumps to date) and the rest in Twin. I have never had anything more than a 90 (knock on wood) and the vast majority of them are on heading. Then again I'm a chicken shit as I'm one of those flat and stable guys and no way should be confused as a cool jumper. But that's okay. I know why I occasionally BASE jump and know why I'm not big on the types of jumps requiring some form of trespassing. I'm comfortable with my current stature in the sport and the canopy ride (both BASE as well as swooping) is my passion in the jumping world. I do freefall for shits and giggles. Good luck with your poll. But I really don't know what you're trying to accomplish other than maybe trying to show those with the "it won't happen to me" attitude that it can actually happen to them. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Hey Michelle ... many of us here know that you're a valuable contributor to these forums and we like to hear what you have to say. But don't ever forget that America (against the opinions of much of the world) decided to invade a sovereign country with it's military might, over throw the government and install it's own preferred government. What would you do if a foreign military invaded and occupied your country? So I still don’t understand why some people don’t understand why the Iraqis are fighting back. People need to walk a mile in the other guy’s shoes before they are so quick judge. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Would you post a link or the specifics of the incident you spoke of here please? While my personal experience with the INS isn't as radical as Bill mentioned in his theoretical scenario. It's not as far fetched as you may think. In December of 2004 I showed up to apply for a new work visa and certain INS red flags went off and the INS agent really gave me a hard time and threatened to put a permanent ban on me towards being in the USA. I was unemployed for less than 30 days prior to this work visa application and the agent didn't like the fact that I still had ties to the US (they wanted me to leave the USA within 10 days of losing the job). Plus other red flags came up. I'm a foreign trained private pilot (I know the FBI has investigated me in the past, my flight club even told me about their investigations soon after 9-11 mentioning certain things that I purchased with my credit cards) and they the INS knew about some of my other activities state side that you'd never expect them to know and they hassled me about them. In the end, after pleading my case with a supervisor I was given the work visa (I really think they were just on their own small penis power trip trying to make me sweat ... and they were successful ... I was sweating that day). But the agent in a nasty way told me that he was adding notes to my file and that if I was ever caught violating certain terms again that I would be permanently banned. Contrary to how negatively you and others may think about me (because I'm a foreigner and not on board with your beloved policies of GWB and his crownies), I'm no fucking criminal. But the INS sure treated me like I was. So when the entire company that I was working at (the one I just got the visa for) went out of business last April, I wasted no time, obtained a visitors visa (ensuring that I didn't have to leave the country within 10 days) and left the country once the six month visitors visa expired in October. Of course I've yet to try and re-enter the US since my departure and who knows what's waiting for me at the border. But I left the country to hopefully not fuck myself for future work/visiting opportunities. Time will tell I guess. Anyway, as I said my experience isn't as radical as Bill's scenario. But it is real (I wouldn't be back in Canada if it wasn't). So don't think this is just talk. It's a reality which is just around the corner if it's not already here. Your government is gathering information about you as we speak and thanks to GWB and his beloved Patriot Act, they have given themselves the power to do anything they want to their own citizens. Of course some people still choose to ignore what's been going on in Guantanamo Bay with the feds giving themselves the power to hold and torture people indefinitely without ever charging them with a crime. But that's okay right. The American federal government would never hurt their own citizens now would they? Now let's have some apple pie and say the pledge. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

That it is. But don't forget where this idea came from. The good state of Kansas where obviously they serve much better apple pie with their patriotism than any other place and really have no concept of how much a program/draft like this would cost the feds. Plus who would work in the service industries? Oh I know. The Mexicans. But in many places already, the Mexicans are already doing this. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

1) We're all different and what's important to one person is meaningless to another. My DZ.COM profile usually contains a pretty accurate number when it comes to my jumps. But it's true that we can get lazy when it comes to paper logs. My log book is now up to date, but last summer when I was doing a lot of jumping I went several hundred jumps without updating my paper logbook. Then when I did make the effort to catch up, low and behold the ProTrack only keeps the details of the last (what is it again?) 100 jumps. So I lost the details of many jumps and thus there isn't a whole lot written in my log book concerning those jumps. 2) Now that I'm over 500 jumps (my first 500 jumps were all signed as 500 is kind of the magic number to get most of your instructional ratings), I no longer worry about getting each jump signed. So to me the details of my jumps are pretty brief. But one of the pieces of info I like to log is which canopy I jumped. I own multiple canopies and it's nice to log what was used on each jump. This way if/when I sell a canopy, I've got a pretty accurate number to pass onto the potential buyer. I've had people tell me that the canopy I purchased from them only has 100 or so jumps on it, but when I compared the wear of a similar canopy where the actual number of jumps was known, I'm pretty sure that the original number quoted me was wrong. 3) Going back to point number one about us all being different. This doesn't happen all of the time, but for many of the people who don't keep good records of their jumps, they tend to have inflated jump numbers. Is this good or bad or does it really matter? I know if I told people that I had 500 jumps but only had the skills of someone with 200 jumps, to me this is more embarassing than trying to get people to think I've got more numbers. Wouldn't you much rather have people think that you had more jumps than you actually did as opposed to what usually happens. But in the end, it doesn't really matter. Jump numbers are an decent indicator of experience but not a good indicator of skill and we all jump for different reasons. If you want to keep an accurate account of your jumps you'll do this. If you only want to guess as to how many jumps you've made, you do this. But the important thing is that we all stay in this sport as long as we can and jump as much as we want to jump. We're all different and what's important to one person is not important to another. Now will you people stop the ####### rain dances and give me some nice weather to jump in. I've been hovering around this sub 1400 jump figure for much too long now. This Pacific Northwest weather in the winter ####### sucks. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Not only am I "missing" some friends but I'm also "missing" the nice sunny weather of CO. All this ####### rain in Vancouver is really starting to get under my skin. And to top it off, I'm told that we have a good 2-3 more months of rain before it gets nice for what 2-3 months of the ####### year before it starts raining again? As I said, I'm "missing" alright. But other than that, nothing else has changed. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Why do you want to be using a full RDS? If it's for competition/training purposes, then yes this is a no brainer, you'll use it for some sort of hop n' pop. Otherwise why do you want a full RDS? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

The concept of a conservative government means that it is more fiscally responsible. But the Republican governments over the years sure seem to like to invade countries to start wars which sure doesn't help the bottom line in terms of government expenditures. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

What you’re asking for is exactly what Hitler did when he annexed Austria prior to his attempt at world conquest in order to ensure that the supreme race ruled the world. So what kind of better society are you asking for? Let me guess, the one where good obedient caucasian Christians are allowed flourish at the expense of everyone else huh? And Americans wonder why the rest of the world doesn't trust them. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I guess some of you people haven't learned that war is a horrible thing that should only be ventured into as a last resort. By having mandatory service requirements for your young, you are giving the polical leaders the freedom to wage war whenever they want at the expense of someone else's life. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Why is it that as a life long hockey player (and from Cana'dia to boot) and I've never even been remotely close to the Cup. Yet a hottie (yes she is a hottie and she/we know it) is seen next to it. Then again, what am I thinking? Of course a hottie will be given access to the Cup while monsters like myself aren't. It's all good. You remind me of a hottie (Nance was her name) I met from Syracuse NY many moons ago. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

"What it shrinks? I don't know how you guys walk around with those things" - Elaine Benis from Seinfeld. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Where's Remi? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

What about the swoopers who are also BASE jumpers? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Keep your head up and don't be afraid to use your elbows in the corners. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Awesome news Denise ... be a sponge ... be safe ... and have a great 1000th. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

This thread has stooped to a new low. Grow up people. You're not a bunch of school children (or are you?). Get back on the topic of the thread, or better yet get off of the computer and do something productive with your lives. But to continue ranting the way some people have been ranting here isn't helping with the "dorkzone.com" reputation this site sometimes has with much of the jumping community. I know I've got work to do, so I'm out of here for a while. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I've got no problem with people wanting to push the limits of the evolution of human flight. People do die doing this, but we as a human race wouldn't be where we are if we didn't take risks pushing the existing limits that have been set. But please do two things here. Keep your successful/unsuccessful jumping escapades away from the media and thus out of the whuffo publics eyes. I have enough trouble right now with trying to tell a Product Manager that I'm not automatically going to die because I skydive (god forbid if she ever finds out that I've BASE jumped). And secondly please don't tell us that we're whimps because some of us choose not to push the limits. I don't BASE jump to impress others. I BASE jump because it gives myself personal satisfaction and adventure. So is there any video to share so that we have a better idea as to what happened? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I'm assuming you're still in FL? In 1 1/2 hours you'll be waking up and I might still be awake here on the west coast (well maybe not I'm starting to get tired). Anyway my alarm will go off at 7 am and I'll roll out of bed sometime after 7:45 to be at work by 9:00 am (12 noon your time). Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Economic Left/Right: 1.00 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.41 Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Just use Turbo Tax online! Cool ... I guess I don't need to visit Snohomish now. I'll probably be there anyway. I need to check out the drive and the DZ vibe to see how much time I want to spend there this season (if it ever stops ####### raining) since I suspect jump tickets will be a whole lot cheaper there than here and the drive might be worth it. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Can anyone from Snohomish tell me when your Safety Day festivities will start? I need to venture down into the US sometime before April 15th to purchase some software to do my 2005 tax returns (since I was living and earned some income in the USA before moving back to Canad'ia) and this might be a good weekend to check out Snohomish. Of course if your WX is anything like the shitty rainy dreary cool WX up here in Vancouver, then I'm sure we won't be jumping. But it might be a good weekend to check the DZ out and fill out some waivers. Steve ... Try not to worry about the things you have no control over