mfrese

Adventure Center Skydiving Inc. (CA) Bay Area Skydiving (CA) Skydive Monterey Bay (CA) The Parachute Center (CA) Skydance Skydiving (CA) Skydive California City (CA) The Silver Saddle (CA) (just a few miles from Cal City, not a DZ, jumped in for breakfast once) Skydive Arizona (AZ) Skydive Deland (FL) Skydive Daytona Beach (FL) (gone, but not forgotten) Skydive Space Center (FL) Skydive Sebastian (FL) Skydive City (Z-Hills) (FL) Definites this year: Perris, Elsinore, Rantoul Doctor I ain't gonna die, Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

So vut am I....chopped liva? Dese kids nowadays...dey haf NO RESPECT! You should RESPECT your fadda, Zac! Vut haf I done to deserve this, this...oh, never mind...I'll just go away now...back to ze retirement home with your mudda...who ALSO, I might add, gets no RESPECT from you, worthless child of my loins, I should have to remind you... Doctor I ain't gonna die, Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

Just for giggles, I asked three interns who worked for me last year (all sophomores in college, all native English speakers, all engineering students with 3.1 or higher overall GPAs) to write the following sentence, which I read to them: "They're over there, by their car". None of them got it right. Fortunately, I didn't have them writing any documentation or procedures. Doctor I ain't gonna die, Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

Dude, hard as it may be, SKIP THE BEER for the first couple days. That's the easiest way to blow it, you associate the alcohol high and the nicotine high too closely. I quit four years ago, after smoking for 20 years, and I stayed dry for the first two weeks, made it way easier. Hang in there! Doctor I ain't gonna die, Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

Pop...you been hittin' the tequila already, buddy? Doctor I ain't gonna die, Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

Two things: 1) "Hip" ain't hip anymore. 2) You better be smilin' when you say "elder", dude and Sheenster, MTV only rots your brain if you watch Road Rules and Real World...I mean would you really want to live without the video for the Darkness' "I Believe in a Thing Called Love"? Doctor I ain't gonna die, Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

F'shizzle, nowumsayin G? Pop the Cris and let's roll! (I have GOT to quit watchin' so much MTV...) Doctor I ain't gonna die, Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

By far the most annoying, meaningless, retarded pop culture phrase I've heard this year is "take it to the next level". If I hear someone at the DZ use that one, I'm gonna pull their reserve handle during the dirt dive. And DJL, that's "haoles", and I'm proud to be a former kamaaina haole boy Doctor I ain't gonna die, Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

Having opted to ride the plane down more than a few times, and in the same situation, I'd have to say it depends. If it's at a DZ I know well, with a pilot I trust, where I know there are a lot of outs and I know EXACTLY what altitude the bases are at and I'm comfortable with it, then probably. Change even one of those variables, almost certainly no. It takes a few out landings in less than optimal conditions to make you realize that there will probably still be airplanes, fuel, and a DZ tomorrow, thus no need to put yourself in jeopardy today. Doctor I ain't gonna die, Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

Not to mention "Jump" by Van Halen. Jeez, I used to like all those songs...I tried to get them to use "Bodies" by Drowning Pool, but something about the "bodies hit the floor" line didn't seem to sell the sport well. Andy and I have had our Creed discussions before , but I still like "One Last Breath". Gotta agree with the rest of the article, though, except for the White Stripes...to quote Triumph again, "you can't decide if she's your wife or your sister, shouldn't you be playing country music, mister"? Doctor I ain't gonna die, Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

Did 18K loads for tandems in Hollister on Friday, and it was -27F at altitude. We were all wearing neck warmers and several layers, but several people ended up with frostbitten fingers, lips and noses. I'm thinking about getting a full face mask for days like this, but the most important thing is to keep the hands working. I have personally been using latex gloves under my regular weight gloves; this works well as long as it's cold on the ground and in the plane...if not, you can sweat under the latex, which makes it even worse when you hit the air. Neumann makes winter-weight lined (American)football gloves that work very well; they have tackified palms making it easy to feel and grab all your handles. Don't know where you;d find them in Denmark, though. Goog luck, stay warm! Doctor I ain't gonna die, Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

I've got a 2002 Rio Cinco (a Rio with a hatchback instead of the trunk) that'll be two years old next month, and it's been working great for me. Wouldn't have been my first choice, but my wife's car died at about the same time as I decided to replace my truck, so I had to figure out a way we could BOTH get new vehicles at the same time. Ended up getting a Sportage for her and the RC for me. It is pretty gutless, but then, I'm not street racing any more. It cruises just fine at 75-85, and I still get about 28 MPG at 75 MPH, and up to 37 at more reasonable speeds. Like I said, it wouldn't be my first choice, but it's been working out great for me, and the price out the door from Carsdirect.com was $12,899. And the stereo is great, I think they built the car around it to drown out the engine noise... Doctor I ain't gonna die, Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

Actually, that would CYPRES Rob... Buddy of ours who posts here occasionally...great video after he goes just a BIT too low, Cypres fires, two out, manages to PLF about ten feet from a hang glider. Actually, the video ain't all the interesting, but the sound track is gonna be on the ACSI best-of tape this year! Doctor I ain't gonna die, Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

How did Raff describe that? Starts at the nads and just gets louder as it works up from the gut and to the vocal cords? (Picture the sound Butch and Sundance make when they jump off the cliff, that's about right...) Doctor I ain't gonna die, Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

I definitely need to give thanks to all the other soldiers, sailors, airmen (and women) from other countries who have given up their safety and their lives to try to bring peace to a troubled world. I didn't mean to exclude them from the original post; I was mainly responding to the "person of the year" article...I still think hero is a better word for all of them. Doctor I ain't gonna die, Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

Great video...slow quiet stuff works especially well with freefly video sometimes, and this is pretty cool. Thanks for the links, too! Doctor I ain't gonna die, Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

My Dad actually got my wife and I started in the sport by asking us if we wanted to do a tandem with him. That was a little over 8 years ago, and I've taken him as a tandem passenger for his last two birthdays...and Mom stil isn't happy about it! If they're willing to come out to the DZ, you should try to jump. It will definitely ease their mind knowing we're not all a bunch of psychotic adrenaline junkies, which is probably their perception. Bear in mind that you should prepare them for the following: - Minor injuries. Remember, bounces are rare, sprains and strains are common. - Noisy, charged-up people. Someone described your average dropzone as "a bunch of fourth-graders with ADHD, hyped up on too much sugar", and that's probably not too far off the mark. - Profanity...skydivers have been known to use coarse language from time to time, and I've never found the "Hey, my folks are coming out here so clean it up" approach to work very well. Good luck, hope you get 'em out there and they enjoy it! Doctor I ain't gonna die, Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

Geez, everyone starts getting all teary-eyed just 'cause I say I'm a big pussy. I don't always (in fact, very seldom) agree with the things my government does, but I've always tried to respect and honor the people who risk their lives to keep us safe. It has nothing to do with the Person of the Year thing, actually...it's more to do with this tiny woman who got embarassed when I tried to say thank you for risking her life...for me. Made me feel small indeed. Doctor I ain't gonna die, Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

Hmmm...it sounds like you need to grease the wheels on that cart, and I think your donkey only has two legs... Doctor I ain't gonna die, Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

I got to jump with a hero on Sunday. Walk out to talk to my second tandem student of the day. She's about 5'2", 100 pounds, and scared shitless (that's what she said, and the look in her eyes bore that out). I start with my usual line of questions/shtick to calm her down ("What scares you about the skydive? No, it's NOT going to feel like you're falling", etc.), and it's starting to work, she seems a little reassured. Get her into a jumpsuit, start putting on her harness, ask her where she's from ("Germany"), what she does ("Air Force"), what she's doing in Germany ("Just got back from Iraq")...so of course, like an idiot, I ask her what she was doing in Iraq, and she replies totally deadpan: "Getting shot at, mostly". I thanked her for being a hero, to me and most of the people in this country ("Nah, I was just doing my job".). I asked her if I was embarassing her ("Yeah, it's no big deal, but thanks".) Then, I reassured her that I couldn't guarantee we wouldn't have a malfunction, an aircraft problem, or some other unforeseeable event, but I could absolutely guarantee that no one was going to be shooting at us, which produced the first smile I saw from her that day. The skydive goes great...she calms down right off the step, geeks the camera for the entire skydive, cusses her fool head off during most of the canopy ride, while insisting that we keep spiraling even though it's making her dizzy. After we land, she sits down for about 5 minutes to get her breath back. She finally thanks me for the jump, gives me shit about backlooping her out of the plane (at the request of her boyfriend, another hero just back from Iraq), and then tells me it was one of the greatest things she's ever done. Usually, that's when I feel like a million bucks after a tandem, feeling like I got the chance to change someones life, or at least their outlook on it for a while. This time, I felt like a big pussy. So, next time you're feeling like you're pretty hot shit because of what you do in this sport, think about Aimee...all 5'2", 100 pounds of her, who thinks getting shot at is just part of her job. To all of you who have served or are serving in the armed forces of the US, thank you. Jmpnkramer, thanks for posting the Person of the Year article, but I think, as usual, the media didn't quite get it right. My Hero of the Year: the American Soldier. Doctor I ain't gonna die, Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

Usually, the "traitor" tag is reserved for people like me who pull off the RW load to go freefly. The only issue I've had with friends who quit or took some time away is that I don't see them as often. I believe that the reasons you skydive are very personal, and I would have a very hard time (in general) giving any shit to someone who quit for any reason. Now, there was one young guy at our DZ who came out, went through AFF, did about 100 jumps, got brand new gear, Mom bought him a block of 100 jump tickets, and THEN he quit with no apparent reason. HIM, I'll give shit to Doctor I ain't gonna die, Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

Yep, this is California, where it sometimes seems that we have two lawyers for every citizen and lead the country in dipshit litigation. I figured you'd be out of luck here. Doctor I ain't gonna die, Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

My understanding has always been that the age limit depends on the legal age of consent for entering into binding contracts (i.e. the waiver). This varies from state to state in the US, so the USPA BSRs allow the minimum age as 16 since that is the age at which SOME states allow you to enter into a binding contract (not sure if this is with parental consent or not). My guess is that a licensed jumper from a state that allowed 16-year olds to jump would NOT be allowed to jump at a DZ in a state where 18 was the minimum legal age, since the waiver would be invalid and the liability issue too great. But that's just my guess... Doctor I ain't gonna die, Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

Many older jumpers (like myself) may have started a little later in life, and had a few more close calls than some of the the younger folks starting out. When you've had close calls climbing, with motorcycles, in the water, etc., you tend to exhibit a little more caution than people who haven't done a wider range of things for a longer period. If you're smart, you won't do what Ron outlined above...keep listening, and more imprtantly, figure out WHO to listen to and why. The best attitude you can take, IMHO, is to always try to remember what you felt like with 10 jumps, and keep that feeling alive in your mind...it may keep YOU alive. Doctor I ain't gonna die, Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

And, as all of us experienced packers know, the more time you spend on it, the harder it will open. Don't know why that is, but it's been true EVERY time for me. I remember packing a friend's Stiletto one time after he'd let me borrow it, and I wanted to make sure it was OK for him. He watched me flaking the stabilizer, flaking the cells, making sure the lines were all even...and he said "JESUS, you're making me nervous! Just stick it in the damn bag"! I did, and it opened fine Doctor I ain't gonna die, Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash