Galen

RESPECT THE DOLPHIN!

Thanks everyone. It's officially today but we celebrated last night. Had a nice big dinner at my favorite restaurant - DaRuma in Sarasota. Dagny, believe me, there won't be any left.

Dude, you're right down the street from Dirty Frank's. Is it still there? For all it's problems I miss that city.

You guys got me laughing on a long boring Friday afternoon at work. Favorite church sign I've ever seen: Don't Make Me Come Down There, God

I think the swoop pond has a restraining order against you.

Uh-oh, Hans is coming. Quick, hide the sharp objects. No boring New Years for us.

She MADE me take her out to dinner.

If you fly into Tampa and it's a weekend I can probably give you a ride.

Welcome to Florida. So you've decided to live in god's waiting room. I live in Sarasota. Closest to you is probably Clewiston which I've never been to. Supposedly Skydive South Beach will be opening soon. Probably 1.5 to 2 hours form you. About the 5 o'clock position of the lake if you look at the map. I jump at z-hills which is probably about 2.5 hours from you. Rememer, you can vote as many times as you'd like in Florida.

1 - My favorite dinner prepared for me as a surprise after a long drive. 1- Kick ass tent on sale at Sports Authority. 1- unnerving movie (Texas Chainsaw Massacre). Respect the Dolphin

Not yet but soon. I almost forgot how hillarious that shit was. Respect the Dolphin

I have a magnetic trainer I got on sale from Performance for $100. Not as nice as a fluid trainer and no frills (power output readings etc) but it works well for me. Respect the Dolphin

Soccer Mom, Soccer Mom, Soccer Mom. Don't even try to race Andrea. You can't win. Nobody can. Respect the Dolphin

... but have some tylenol handy. Respect the Dolphin

Me too! Respect the Dolphin

I just got back from the wind tunnel in Orlando, FL. Typically we get 4 people to share an hour. The one hour time slot cost $600 USD (split 4-ways). We also split a coach that costs $100 USD for one hour. We each do 2 minute rotations and 1 1 minute rotation.

OK, I ddidn't really mean new. I should have just said gear.

I got new gear for $2,000 from someone who gave up the sport - container, main, reserve, 2 year old cypress, brand new bev suit, alti, and gear bag. However... it is a Dolphin and a Sabre 1. Had a rigger check it out and agreed it was a good first rig. A new Dolphin wouldn't be my first choice out of all of the rigs. Not really sure if it's freefly friendly or not. There are some good deals out there. Check the classifieds. Also, check with Sunshine Factory. The guy that runs the place from what I understand can get his hands on a lot of stuff. If you can get something to try out have Sally Hathaway at z-hills check it out for you.

I wasn't on the 16 pointer. One of the reasons they were able to pull it off.

Nice job. Sorry you got bummed out from the first one but glad you got to see (do) how good it can be. Gotta admit there were some exciting things that happened on that jump that went bust. It was still a good time. Gotta love z-hills.

Ain't helping him much is it.

I took his class a few months ago. It doesn't really focus on helping you pick a canopy size. It's more focused toward developing the skills and tools needed for safe consitent canopy piloting. We did 5 hop n pops form 5K. First jump, he videos your landing/flare technique. Then he reviews it with you, shows video of proper flare techniques and discusses some technique. We then went and put that to practice. The following skills included flat turns, rear riser and toggle stalling to get to know your canopy, planning your landing pattern, and accuracy techniques. Great class. I don't know if it immediately made me a better canopy pilot but it gave me the skills and knowledge to progress. See you at z-hills.

Hurricane party at Kramers - who's coming? I'll bring the duct tape. I read that it was being comapred to Hurricane Mitch. That one's going to do some damage somewhere.

The last paragraph is my favorite. __________________________________________ Community Gathers Vt.'s David Smiths Tue Sep 9, 8:08 AM ET Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo! By ANNE WALLACE ALLEN, Associated Press Writer PLAINFIELD, Vt. - Almost everywhere he's gone in life, David B. Smith Jr. has run into other David Smiths, either in person or through their misdirected mail. AP Photo "I've always wondered what their lives were like," said Smith, 63, who owns the Highland Lodge hotel in Greensboro. "You'd expect someone who has your name to have something in common with you, so the question is, what? Where have they been? What have they been doing?" This week, Smith and all the other David Smiths in Vermont will get a chance to find out. On Tuesday, the Twinfield Union School in Plainfield is hosting David Smith Night. To celebrate an already abundant population of local David Smiths, and to welcome a new VISTA volunteer named David Smith who will be working at the school, the school has invited all 57 David Smiths listed in Vermont phone books to a corn roast and community pot luck dinner. "We're going to sort of get a sense of who these David Smiths are," said Twinfield Principal Owen Bradley. "It may be a common name, but we want to show people how unique each one is." David C. Smith, a 42-year-old tree nursery worker from Johnson, plans to be there. So does David L. Smith, 53, an artist and carpenter from Marshfield. Like most of the other David Smiths, David L. Smith has stories to tell about his popular name. "I first noticed it a few years ago when David R. Smith moved into town," said David L. Smith. "He's a biker, and I used to get some pretty interesting party invitations that I probably should have gone to." David E. Smith, of Putney, a computer network manager, gets calls that were meant for a local contractor, asking him to do construction projects. "I generally tell them no, but if you need a computer fixed, I'm your guy," he said. Another David C. Smith, this one living in Norwich, said he'd never met another David Smith until he moved from Texas to Vermont 20 years ago and immediately met three of them. He didn't know what to make of the invitation to meet his fellow David Smiths. "I thought at first it was some marketing strategy or something like that," he said. He remembers a day at the local hardware store when all three of the community's David Smiths happened to be in at the same time. He got them all together at the counter. "I said, "All I ask you two guys is to keep enough money in your checking account,'" he joked. Of all the David Smiths, it's David B. Smith, Jr. who is perhaps the most enthusiastic about the gathering. "I'm so excited. Although we share some things in common, we also look at life differently, and that's going to be very interesting," said Smith. "I'm going to eat a lot of corn and listen to what other David Smiths have to say."

This was not a good start.