JohnMitchell

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Everything posted by JohnMitchell

  1. JohnMitchell
    Our 12,500' tickets went from $23 to $25 two years ago. I'd love to see them come back down with fuel so cheap, but I ain't gonna hold my breath. Maybe I'll inquire this weekend at the DZ. . .
  2. JohnMitchell
    Nice. Oven roasted? What's the herb and spice mix? Funny, we roasted a chicken for dinner tonight too. Such an easy, simple way to make a great and economical meal. We taught all of our kids how to do it. Tomorrow night, tortilla soup made from the leftover chicken carcass. Two meals for $5.
  3. JohnMitchell
    I read an article the other day that said how much people tip has less to do with service and more to do with whether or not you tip well. Makes sense. I used to be a hard working, min. wage kid and know how much those tips mean. I start at 20% and go up from there. As I round up the $$, I think "They need this extra buck (or two) a lot more than I do." It takes pretty bad service before I tip poorly.
  4. JohnMitchell
    And you think they do that by accident? NoIdon'twanttogivetocharitynoIdon'twanttoroundupfortheboyscouts. . .. I don't usually take my debit card anyway. Still use the frequent flyer credit cards the most (bought 2 tickets to Eloy on miles this month ). And I still carry cash for shopping at Winco Foods and for tipping wait staff and bartenders. I don't like running the tips for hard working people thru the credit card system. It costs them a percentage and makes it too easy for the IRS to track.
  5. JohnMitchell
    A dozen years ago or so, on vacation in Orlando, my youngest daughter and I were treated to an orbiter sonic boom while hanging around the condo. She was 8 and had no idea what that was.
  6. JohnMitchell
    Sadly, losing one engine on a multi engine plane has caused more than a few pilots to lose control of the aircraft, although it's totally avoidable (just like most fatalities in OUR sport).
  7. JohnMitchell
    Do you have to do quarterly estimated payments or just one big check in April? I'd love to keep my money for over 15 months and just pay them April 15th, earning some $$ with my $$$. My accountant always says "I've got some bad news. You owe money this year." I'm like "Yahoo, I underpaid those bitches all year!"
  8. JohnMitchell
    You - guys - all - crack me up. Thanks for the laughs.
  9. JohnMitchell
    You make a good point, John, to educate, not denigrate. Hopefully this post has educated many jumpers, not just the original one, though. The downwind landings, depending on the DZ policies and size of the landing area, can be from no problem to and extreme hazard. Opposite direction traffic in the landing area is prohibited at my usual DZ. If you don't want to land in the prescribed direction, head out to the student field. Hey, quick tip for checking your gopro yourself? Get some adhesive mirror labels, available at office supply stores. Put a square on the side of your altimeter. Use that as a mirror to check your own camera light. Works great.
  10. JohnMitchell
    Ahh, the hip flask for the hip crowd.
  11. JohnMitchell
    I spent several hours yesterday compiling tax info for my accountant. We have a home business (Vskydiver's jumpsuits) and a non-profit, the Leap for Lupus, whose tax returns are due at the end of January. Plus I started running numbers for our personal return due in April. I don't have all the forms yet, but I just want to get it over with. We sold a house and some stocks, so we had some capital gains. Pretty sure I'll be writing a check to Uncle Sam in April. Anyone else getting an early start?
  12. JohnMitchell
    That's pretty cool. When I was a kid in Texas, used to hear sonic booms all the time from the B-58s flying out of Carswell AFB in Fort Worth. Grown ups used to jump whenever it happened but kids seemed to be used to it.
  13. JohnMitchell
    They were just following orders. Would that sausage still be Kosher?
  14. JohnMitchell
    Someone actually vaped one of those e-cigs the other night at my dinner table. I was a little surprised, but noticed no smell, so I let it slide. If I were doing that, I think I would still take it outside.
  15. JohnMitchell
    Your Period? I'm really relieved!! Hey, now that I'm retired, my holiday "period" goes on forever.
  16. JohnMitchell
    I'll be damned. Thanks for the pic. Still curious as to the cause of the crash. So many things can go wrong.
  17. JohnMitchell
    One of the best, most experienced jumpers I know, many cutaways, movie experience, very good swooper, etc. said that all wingsuiters should use RSLs. A very expert opinion, IMHO. I don't know about wingsuiters, but I know of a lot of dead skydivers that probably would have been saved by an RSL.
  18. JohnMitchell
    Spotting is not that hard. It's a learned skill, much like using open sights on a rifle. It's all about sight picture and making a few course corrections. And with square parachutes, spotting is not as critical as it used to be. But that's all way in the future. See if you can spend some time working with the gear and, best thing, sit in on a few first jump courses. The sooner you start pumping that stuff in your pumpkin, the more it will become natural to you.
  19. JohnMitchell
    Very true stuff, and why I pay my USPA dues, to keep the govt. off my back as much as possible. If you look at the FARs, there is no rule requiring any jumper to open either parachute. You are just not allowed to bounce on a taxpayer.
  20. JohnMitchell
    Sure as hell did. It's starting off great.
  21. JohnMitchell
    The plane was a Piper Seneca.
  22. JohnMitchell
    Oh yeah. No argument there.
  23. JohnMitchell
    I hear that a lot. The unholy Northwest-Delta alliance has caused some real heart burn in our family travels too. Boy, you really learn not to put anything you really need or cherish in your checked luggage, don't you?
  24. JohnMitchell
    Well, someone just pushed the envelope a little further. I'll stay on my nice little middle path, thank you very much.
  25. JohnMitchell
    The one with the cat? I can't believe I laughed at that so much. That's terrible.