Shotgun

One of my most memorable jumps was one I really shouldn't have made... The pilot had gotten to around 2000 feet and said he couldn't go any higher because of the clouds, so a few of us jumped anyway. As soon as I got my canopy sorted out, I turned around and saw a big black cloud traveling toward me really fast. I tried to get down as fast as I could, but the storm hit me and the wind was so high that I was flying backwards at a scary speed. I cleared a barbwire fence and then kept looking behind me trying to miss the mesquite bushes. I somehow managed to stand up the landing, but my canopy settled into a thorny bush, and then it started pouring rain. So I carefully pulled my canopy down and then trekked back to the dz in the rain. Of course all of us who jumped landed in all sorts of weird places and we were all soaked, but luckily no one got hurt. Definitely one of my more adrenaline-charged jumps. Oh, and my first heli jump, balloon jump and ultralite jump were all some of favorites.

Congratulations!

Quite good, actually... Would you like to give it a go?

Holy fuck, Lika, I like this video.

Umm, no. Hmm, maybe that is what I am missing in my life. Perhaps you could educate me , dear pops? (or at least pretend to - that can always be fun ).

You make the decision according to your own conscience and your own beliefs. Society will give you too many varying views, none of them "right" or "wrong." The only choice you need to make is what is right for you.

Do they really, Bill? Who exactly are these polls representing - lonely housewives who have nothing better to do than talk to some stranger on the phone? I could have answered all of the questions that you listed, except for where Superman is from and who the last American Idol winner was... But I pretty much never answer my phone, and if I did happen to answer my phone and it turned out to be someone wanting to take a survey, I'd tell them that I don't accept unsolicited calls and then I would hang up on them. So polls like this seem nothing more than silly to me; they don't indicate much of anything.

I have no idea what you said, but it sounded pissed off (with help from the mad face), so it was definitely hot.

Can you say, "This is your one warning," in Chinese. 'Cause that would be really hot. (Well, except that I wouldn't have any idea if that was what you were actually saying.)

Check out this picture that Rich took of our house this morning using his RC helicopter. The guy who will be installing our solar panels couldn't get a good photo of the roof because of all the trees in the backyard, so Rich was able to get a pic for him...

Hmm, and all this time I've assumed that you spend most of your days doing more important things than just sitting around thinking about roads and traffic and tires. I agree. I just don't think that the poll results you posted do much to accurately indicate how much the average person knows about the world around them.

Is that the sort of list you would make if someone asked you to make a list of questions regarding what you do in your daily life? I doubt it; I'm sure you would come up with much more interesting questions, as I'm sure most other people would too.

What would you then list as the single most important (significant) event in recent history? Hmm, I don't know if any particular event deserves to be the single most important, but the war in Iraq would probably be pretty high up there in significance. The hurricane that wiped out New Orleans was pretty significant too, as well as the little tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed more than 200K people. There's a conflict going on between Israel and Lebanon that seems to be fairly important... Just to name a few...

Could you clarify which of those questions involved "the single most important event in recent history"? I seriously hope you're not referring to 9/11. You think that 9/11, which has sparked two wars, could not possibly be considered one of the most important RECENT events that has impacted the world? I don't see 9/11 as being "the single most important event in recent history." (emphasis mine) One of the most important recent events? Sure. Single most important event? No.

Could you clarify which of those questions involved "the single most important event in recent history"? I seriously hope you're not referring to 9/11.

I fail to see how knowing the year that 9/11 occurred would affect anyone's life. Supreme Court Justices - yeah, the general public could do with knowing a bit more about that. Harry Potter vs. Tony Blair? Who cares? Personally, Harry Potter doesn't do anything for me. But, well, neither does Tony Blair. 50% knowing who he is? Doesn't sound like a bad number to me. The Iliad and the Odyssey? Why do people need to be concerned with outdated boring poetry? I mean, if that's your thing, fine. But most people have no reason to read that crap. I mean, after all, we've got the Bible to read if we want to read outdated boring crap. Why read someone else's delusions on how 'gods' have affected our lives, when we have a much more current version which clearly shows that Jesus and his 'father' are the characters that _really_ control our lives??? Where the planets are? Useful to know if you work in any field that might involve going to other planets - which is a very small percentage of the population. And if you're just curious, the info is fairly accessible from many different sources. Three branches of government? Again, yes I'll agree with that one - the general public should have a better understanding of our government. Most recent Supreme Court appointee? Same as the last question. But most of these poll questions are just silly. They sound like they were written by some elitist who wants to make himself feel better by showing that he has more knowledge of useless facts than the general public. Now if all the people who were polled were to write a list of questions that actually pertain to their daily lives, I wonder if the pollster would be able to accurately answer even half of those questions.

Well, we all know that swords don't kill people; guns do.

My husband has been doing some aerial photography using an RC helicopter. It's pretty cool. I don't think he's discovered any nude sunbathing neighbors yet though.

I'm pretty much the baby of the family, and no I am not very competitive (with most things).

I had the house to myself all night... So I drank a bit of whiskey, called my grandmother and talked to her for a while, and then I played my guitar and sang loudly (my favorite thing to do when there is no one home to be offended by my lack of talent).

No, but my husband is. So we got them started on it when they were kittens, and they freakin' love the stuff!

I was recently looking for a photo in one of my 'adult' folders (don't ask ), and I saw a picture of the yellow submarine (attached) which Shannon had sent me. She had sent it after a funny conversation that we had, and not knowing what it was - other than that it was from her ;-) - I saved it to the 'adult' folder. It turned out to simply be the yellow submarine, but it gives me a smile every time I see it in that folder, so it's still there.

My cats like tomato soup and Vegemite. In fact, they go nuts for the Vegemite. And of course they like tuna, but that's pretty normal. I used to have a cat that would eat bread and eat my pizza crusts; that was sort of weird.

Well, school just started today and I'm still not sure. I've changed my schedule about 50 times this semester, but I really need to make up my mind by, umm, tomorrow! The two classes I'm pretty sure I'll keep are Spanish and Interpersonal Communication because those are the last of the graduation requirements I need (other than the nursing classes which I should be starting next semester). But I need at least another five units to keep myself in full-time status, and I'm torn between a few different classes (how well they fit into my schedule vs. how interesting they sound to me vs. how useful they might be later on). I took Cultural Anthropology in the spring - thinking that it wouldn't be particularly interesting - and it turned out to be one of my favorite classes so far. It helped that the professor was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic (not to mention pretty hot ), but I really enjoyed the subject matter and ended up doing all of the extra credit work even though I didn't need it. Seems like the sort of thing that you'd like too... (the course material and the professor I had ).

Then quit wasting our time. Ok, well at the moment I'm having a whole chopped tomato on top of fresh greens, chopped carrot, sliced onion, freshly grated parmesan, slices of southwestern-spiced grilled chicken and honey mustard dressing. Not particularly unique, but it sure is yummy.