skydiver30960

Had a student who had a couple linetwists from a direct bag S/L on his first jump, tried to kick out of them for MAYBE a full second, then chopped. I wasn't at the DZ when it happened, but I've heard the story of a first jump student suffering the dreaded "slider down" malfunction: "My canopy deployed, but no matter how much I pumped the brakes I couldn't get my slider to go back up so I used my reserve." OMfuckin'G...

Here's my fav. The face on the student is friggin' priceless. Also, the long shutter time blurs the picture a-la-oil-painting. I like it for the abstract sort of feel to it. Picture Credit goes to Dan Paganini. Please don't use the pic without his permission, he has lots of guns. Elvisio "ready, set, ARCH" Rodriguez

What I liked was mention of a double-blind trial with placebos. Like they were handing out parachutes that were NOT going to work. Elvisio "sugar pill" Rodriguez

Also, if you generate twice what you use, does the electric company pay you for that juice? Or is it just a "buffer" that makes you comfortable you'll never actually be drawing from the grid? thx again; Elvisio "I have a bigass roof going to waste" Rodriguez

I obviously got left out of the first part of this conversation, and therefore will be an annoying bastard by butting in and throwing out questions that I am sure have already been answered: 1.) So is this like a "plug-and-play" system to reduce the amount of juice you pull through your electric meter? Stack them up on the roof and become less dependent on the local electric company? 2.) How much does a unit cost? 3.) Assuming the answer to #1 is "yes" then how much juice does one unit put out? Can we use this information to derive a "breakeven" point of how long a unit has to be used before it's paid itself off? Thanks guys, Elvisio "twist caps and electrical tape" rodriguez

Nothing a little Allegro marinade won't fix... Elvisio "serve with roasted potatoes and a green salad" Rodriguez

Boogers are definitely more fun. On the other hand, when properly done, a good q-tip swabbing can be almost as good as sex. Elvisio "heading for the q-tips now" rodriguez

I know it's a reach to file them away as "comedies" but any "reality" show is to me as Kryptonite is to Superman. I hate them with an overwhelming passion. I feel comfortable filing them as comedies because of shows like "the osbornes" and "surreal life" where the shit is obviously supposed to be so insanely stupid as to make you laugh. But, even with that being said, I hate 'em all... from Real World to Fear Factor to everything in between. Stuff 'em in a barrell and sink 'em to the bottom of the nearest lake. Elvisio "no, I'm not being overly harsh" Rodriguez

Oh God Val, you KNOW damn well where this thread is going... Elvisio "let the fun begin" Rodriguez

Corporal Wobblebottom? Fak... Elvisio "even my pimp name was better than that" Rodriguez

Wrong on so many levels... Definitely an all-time "keeper"... Elvisio "yikes" Rodriguez

A bit off topic, but I just saw a commercial for, and am DEFINITELY going to buy, Star Wars Battlefront. I'm not much a fan of computer games anymore (not much free time) but I'm definitely going to invest in this one because you get to SHOOT EWOKS! YES! I finally get to exact some form of pathetic revenge on thos damn furry bastards for wussifying the Star Wars series. Elvisio "how will an ewok look mounted over my fireplace" Rodriguez

Is "bike" a bicycle or motorcycle? Either way, do the right thing: send him a small piece of it in the mail. Something small, but something he'll recognize immediately, like a shift lever (bicycle) or rearview mirror (motorcycle). Tell him that if he doesn't pay up that he'll be getting more (and more vital) pieces of the bike in the mail every day. ..postage due, too. Elvisio "master negotiator" Rodriguez

Just about anyone can sew on new booties, UNLESS we're talking about a jumpsuit that would be for emergency use only (i.e. a reserve jumpsuit or a pilot's jumpsuit). If so, this jumpsuit would have to be covered by a TSO, and the repair would have to be completed by a certificated master rigger (this would definitely be considered a major repair). If, in the process of the repair, you wanted to make any design changes to the booties, you would first need approval from the manufacturer, who may want to perform test drops on the new jumpsuit design before providing approval... ... ... Damn guys, I am so sorry. I try SO hard to keep myself from making BS PW posts to this forum 'cuz I'm a rigger myself and learn bunches of good stuff here, but I just could NOT resist... Elvisio "off to do my penance" Rodriguez

I KNOW i heard it here first, but I can't remember what thread it was from, but one of my favorite sayings goes something like: "A good friend will get up at 2AM to come and bail you out of jail. A GREAT friend will be sitting next to you in the jailcell saying 'that was fucking AWESOME'!" Later; Elvisio "punctuation goes inside or outside the quotes?" Rodriguez

Meh... what could possibly go wrong? Elvisio "was it starve a fever, feed a cold?" Rodriguez

QuoteI do love the DT series, but I can sense the end is near and maybe he's rushed these last few just to finish! (but then we bitch when we have to wait 5 years between installments too!) Quote Yeah, I'm with you on that. Some of the volumes are definitely better than others. I'm sure everyone has their particular parts of the story they don't agree with; I for one would personally LOVE to see Roland shoot Oy out of a potato-gun. But, for the most part, it's been a good read. Funny thing... in one of the earlier volumes (2 or 3 I think) he mentions in an afterword that, if he were to finish the series and the pace he expected to finish it that he would wrap it up sometime around 2005. I sat there reading that way back when and thought "damn, I'll be thirty by then!?" and tried to imagine myself as a thirty year old. The thought of being thirty was totally beyond my late-teen mentality to grasp. And here we are, right on schedule... Memories...>sniff

"wife" Elvisio "cruisin' for a bruisin'" Rodriguez

BIG HUGE FRIGGIN'... BBBUUUUMMMMMPPPPP! DT 7 comes out tomorrow. Who's going to be standing at the local bookstore doors when they open? Elvisio "tomorrow" Rodriguez

I went S/L bc there was no AFF at my DZ at the time, but I had the same problem. I got about 2/3 of the way through and just ran out of $$$, plus I needed to buy a rig. What I did to get through my program and buy my beginner's rig was get a personal service loan. Your profile sez "Student" so you may need a cosigner if you don't have a good part-time job, but if you can convince the parental units then you might be good to go. The way to justify it is to consider the money you'll be spending to retrain to get back to the point you were at when winter came, and what you'd be spending renting a rig if you didn't buy your own. The payment on my $4,000 PSL was eighty bucks a month IIRC. So I figured that at what rental gear was going to cost me, if I even jumped twice a month, then I was money ahead. Plus, it got me my own gear which made me MUCH more comfortable than jumping rental gear (no offense to DZs intended). You know, never wondering who packed it last, etc... This isn't the perfect solution for everyone, I know. But I must say it was a great solution for me, and I think if you're comfortable with the small monthly payment and can find a cosigner then maybe you might want to check out the possibilities. One last note: DO NOT USE CREDIT CARDS. I hate the damn things with a passion and consider them to be financial poison (credit card debt free for four years and counting

... some pay $18, $20 if you're a rigger... Elvisio "tandem packers are our friends" Rodriguez

Another thing it does is help prevent a reserve punching into a main if the cutaway is partially pulled on exit or in freefall. If the RSL side cut away first from the handle getting snagged, then as soon as you deployed your main it'd cut away halfway, but stay on at the other riser as your RSL-deployed reserve came up to meet it. This "offset length" method assures that if only one riser releases that it is the non-RSL side, which will (after it obviously gets your attention) then allow you (hopefully, if you can find that damn floating handle) to complete the cutaway prior to your reserve hitting the wind. My gut feeling: RSL or no RSL, leave 'em be. General opinion is that you'll never notice it in a real cutaway, and there's something about unnecessary modifications that scares me... Elvisio "overly paranoid" Rodriguez

Ivan, kiss my ass. I meant storm, not Star Wars fan. No jumps this weekend! Elvisio "hoping doesn't count as a syllable" Rodriguez

[reply ...and as long as you're not wafting a spliff in the face of the nearest plod... Sometimes, the Queen's English can be so much cooler than American English. Elvisio "bluntless and pointless" Rodriguez