canopycandy

Thanks for all the kind messages. The car was locked, windows up, under my carport in a very quiet part of Palm Springs. The cop even said, "I had to look up directions to your place, because this is such a nice neighborhood, we never come over here!" Super. That just means the thieves felt safe while they were stealing my car. The cop asked if I had been to an oil change place or had my car valet parked recently -- both of which I had done just a few days prior to the theft. He said a lot of thieves work in such places -- they make a copy of the car key and get your address from something in the car. (Or, in the case of the oil change place, they already had my address on file.) I did get up in the air this weekend, though. As my friend Lew pointed out, if I didn't skydive, the thieves would have won. I borrowed enough stuff to make do, but soon I'll have to start buying new stuff.

The jumpsuit and helmet look like this: http://static.flickr.com/9/12696625_1fb5df1c22.jpg

My car was stolen from my home in Palm Springs, Ca. last night. Fortunately, my rig was not in the car, but a lot of other stuff was. I already put some of my things in the stolen listings (my Pro-Dytter, my Neptune, my Alti III), but I couldn't figure out how to list my other things. If you happen to see these items on eBay or elsewhere, they are mine: White Aviator helmet (size medium). Dytter and Neptune were inside the helmet. There's a Hello Kitty sticker on one side, two small cat stickers on the back and one sticker on the back that says "sexy." (Though these would be easy to remove.) Tony Space Suit -- black with cloud print down the arms and legs. Goggles. USPA license, etc. all in a gear bag. Also, my new Canon Digital Rebel XT was in the car, inside a red and black camera bag. None of this stuff is covered by my car insurance, and I don't have a homeowner's policy. I was also too dumb to write down the serial numbers -- I kept thinking that I would do it later. If you could help me recover any of these things, I would be forever grateful. I'm so angry and feel so violated. Somebody had the nerve to steal my 1994 white Honda Civic from my DRIVEWAY while I was sleeping. Thanks. I can be reached at maggiedowns@gmail.com. The number of the detective at the Palm Springs Police Department is (760) 778-8411.

I don't think it was inaccurate, because he spoke to so many people who described it in great detail -- including quite a few folks who saw the video. I'm not a videographer. But I have seen many tandem videos that show the bag coming out of the container -- which would have been shot above the pair. But that's something that has already been discussed at great length in the incidents forum.

My co-worker wrote a really, truly fabulous column about skydiving, a recent incident and the memorial jump, http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050807/SPT/508070409/-1/CINCI Honestly -- it's the best thing I've ever seen from a non-jumper. Actually, it could be the best thing I've read about skydiving at all. (Full disclosure: I'm not just saying this because my boyfriend, Jason, is a part of the story. It's just that good.)

Serious question here. I've started going through the process to adopt a child in China. But I'm worried about revealing to the adoption agency that I'm a skydiver during my interviews and home study. I worry they will find skydiving to be too risky and too extreme and that they will reject me on that fact alone. The thing is, I don't want to be dishonest with them. Skydiving is such a huge part of me and has caused such a beautiful, wonderful chain of events in my life, I don't know how I could hide it. Has anyone else been through the adoption process -- either domestic or international? Did you disclose your skydiving habit? What was the reaction? Any opinions on this would be very much appreciated. I'm truly losing sleep over this. I want a child, but I also want to continue doing what I love.

Sweet Mel! We share the same birthday! Hope yours was beautiful and full of sunshine, cupcakes and skydives, just like mine. Smooch smooch -- and have a great year, Maggie (PMS #125)

I should have expected it out of a place that frowns upon women wearing pants.

I rode one at the Greenbrier spa in West Virginia when it was first introduced. I tried to get a few other people (also on Segways) to play chicken with me, but the spa people freaked out and put a stop to that.

My boyfriend and I had to steal a plane to fly around and look at the skyline to find the building y'all were talking about. But now that we have found it, we're experimenting with very low pulls!! Too. Much. Fun.

INTERPOL!!!! http://www.matadorrecords.com/interpol/music.html

Some of our local absentee ballots didn't have Kerry's name on them. The ballots were recalled, of course. But it took an insane amount of time for Ohio to figure this out.

Not anymore! It's mine, all mine.

Hey, I drank one of your beers. You gave it to me outside on the deck.

You're absolutely right. Plus, I've seen firsthand the good that organ donation can do. As a journalist, I wrote weekly articles about a 17-year-old boy who was waiting for a new heart. He was sick, depressed and stuck in a tiny hospital room for seven months when he should have been enjoying his senior year of high school. I had no idea if the series would end in a celebration or a funeral. Thankfully, it ended with him receiving the gift of a new heart. I was in the operating room with him and watched as his old, weak, enlarged heart was removed from his body and replaced with a vibrant, colorful one. It was amazing. Shortly after the series ended, a 7-year-old boy died the day after Christmas during an accident on his new sled. The family decided to donate his organs because of the articles I had written, and they asked me to write about the process of donation from their perspective. Kyle was a caring, loving little boy, and even in death he was a hero. He gave a handful of people a second chance at life and helped several others with the donation of his corneas and tissue. Plus, the family gained so much from the experience, knowing that their son was able to give such a great gift to so many others.

In Ohio they can, thanks to the Ohio Donor Registry Law. "Senate Bill 188 (2000): The Ohio Legislature passed Senate Bill 188, signed into law by Gov. Bob Taft on Dec. 13, 2000, establishing a statewide donor registry by July 2002. The new law requires the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles to establish and maintain a registry of donors, enabling organ, tissue and eye procurement organizations to have access 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Under this law, an individual's registration as a donor is established as an advanced directive to recover organs. In addition to establishing the registry, the law ensures that public education about the need to register a personal decision concerning organ and tissue donation will be increased. The law will also enable organ and tissue recovery agencies to learn of an individual's decision on their driver's license or state I.D. as an advanced directive and proceed with the recovery of organs." One of the families that pushed this law through had a son who was injured in a car accident. Though this guy had every intention of being an organ donor -- and even though he was one of the small percentage of people who could, since he was brain dead -- the hospital could not reach his parents, who were on vacation, so they didn't procure his organs. His family still feels like his death was wasted. I'm also in total support of this law, since my family doesn't believe in organ donation ... and I do 100 percent.

If any of you ever read the Believer magazine, they recently had a cool story about Jeff Tweedy's son. He's only about 8 years old and has a band too ... and that band does play "Heavy Metal Drummer" at their concerts.

Awwww ... you guys are just about the cutest thing I've ever seen. I adore my skyboy too. He's sincere, loving and kind to everyone. Plus his swoops always make me brag, "THAT'S my boyfriend!"

Maybe Crack Alley was just a tiny part of Crack City. Ever think of that?!? Hey, if any of the cool people I met at the Boogie are lurking, send me a PM to say hello. Especially the really fun people like Canadian Chris ("soooo good!") and Ben.

I'm sure the Dash-M is fine. However, I heard a couple stories about Dash-Ms collapsing or blowing up, and it was enough to make me doubt my reserve. I was spooked -- and in an emergency situation, I want to be 100 percent confident in what is going to be above my head. I figured I would have enough to worry about without wondering how my reserve would land. So I bought a PD. I'm glad too. Because not only did the PD-R function well, I never once doubted it while I was flying it. Back to Boogie discussion -- who else was staying in Crack Alley? I was wandering around there and heard Sporto's "WHAT?" and "Yeah-uh!" all night!!

Hee. My reserve ride was actually on my new PD143, which I just bought about three weeks ago. Now I'm totally in love with this reserve. Even though the opening was at terminal, I didn't get beaten up very much. It flew well, it landed perfectly and softly, and it's the most beautiful canopy I've ever seen. Though I'm sure the Dash-M would have been OK, I'm 100 percent thankful the PD was in my container when this happened. And I'm thankful for you and Jason, because you guys are the reason I have a PD right now ... and the reason my Dash-M is still for sale. We'll come back to Perris soon -- we loved it there! However, I think our next stop will be Skydive Spaceland. We met so many cool people from that DZ. (Actually, I'm just about to have lunch with Yoshi, who happens to be passing through Cincinnati.) Come to the Boogie next year. We missed you!

I don't even remember Saturday night. I was probably wandering around aimlessly. Wait -- that was the night of my cutaway, so I was drinking champagne straight out of the bottle, then filling it back up with beer ... several times. Yeah, I don't remember much about that night at all. And I wasn't by the campfire much -- I was running around having adventures at many different tents. My friend Carly and I just followed the lights and glowsticks around. Have you been to many Richmond Boogies, Bolas?