Douva

A few of us are heading down to Cabo for five days next month. Any tips on what to expect or what to do while we're there? PS. SAVE SKYSURFING!!! I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

Anyone who doesn't think there is a social aspect to skysurfing obviously doesn't have a L.A.S.T. number. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

Time crunch bump. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

Sent to the USPA board of directors: I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

Does that first picture remind anyone else of a Georgia O'Keeffe painting? I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

Here's a math question, Ron. If 4 TEAMS (not people) showed up, and there are medals for first, second, and third place, how many medals were thrown away? Edited to add: If there are extra medals lying around, could somebody please mail a couple to Brains and me? We felt a little left out last year. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

If you know of anyone who might want to get involved in the fight to keep skysurfing in Nationals, I have attached a letter (Microsoft Word document) that you can email to your friends. As to where to get training, I've received training from Scott Smith and can personally vouch for his proficiency as a skysurfing coach. Tanya and Craig are AMAZING to see in action, and anyone wanting to get into skysurfing would be lucky to train with them. Larry (Heltzer) at Elsinore is an excellent skysurfer, and I know he would jump at the chance to train you (chime in here, Larry). Rob of Crazy Lemur (also in California) is also available for coaching, as are Brains and I (Texas). There are skysurfers in Florida and Arizona (try talking to Jason Peters at Eloy to find out who's available for coaching). I'm sure there are others around the country who I don't know about, but the point is you can get training if you really want it. If you wanted to organize and get a small class together, you could probably bring a coach to you. As I said, anyone who can make it to Skydive San Marcos (1/2 way between Austin and San Antonio, 4 hours from Dallas, 2 1/2 hours from Houston) this summer can train with me for the cost of my jump tickets. Blue skies, Douva I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

This is a quick bump to let everyone know that your emails need to be sent out by tomorrow (Wednesday, July 13) if they're going to reach the directors in time. You can email the entire board (including your regional director, the national directors, etc.) by sending an email to uspa@uspa.org, with the email subject being "ATTN Board of Directors." I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

Four months ago a reporter and photographer from the Austin American-Statesman's XLENT weekly news magazine were out at Skydive San Marcos doing a cover story on skydiving. After seeing Brains and me land from a training jump, they made the spur-of-the-moment decision to do a seperate full page story on L.A.S.T. and skysurfing in general. Our drop zone and the entire sport of skydiving got a little extra coverage because WHUFFO'S DIG SKYSURFING! It's a great tool for drawing new people into the sport of skydiving. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

Thank you to everyone who is standing behind skysurfing--We definitely need your support! Please continue to spread the word to your fellow skydivers to let the USPA know that the skydiving community still cares about skysurfing! The popularity of skysurfing has definitely dwindled over the last few years, but this is do to many factors unrelated to its viability as a competitive sport. Here is a brief breakdown of the rise and fall of skysurfing: When the X-Games came along and made skysurfing the first lucrative skydiving discipline for competitors, everybody and their camera-flying grandmother got a board and started looking for sponsors. When the X-Games dropped skysurfing, a lot of people’s interest disappeared with the cash prizes. For a short time skysurfing was looked at as the macho alternative to freestyle, but free flying revolutionized “alternative” body flight, and skysurfing lost its macho, anti-belly flying appeal. The final and I feel most damaging blow to skysurfing was the loss of most of the sport’s pioneers during its early days. Patrick de Gayardon (first skysurfer), Jerry Loftis (first American skysurfer, founder of Surf Flite), Rob Harris (first American to win the world championship, first X-Games gold medalist, arguably the best skysurfer ever), and Vic Pappadato (Troy Hartman’s teammate/camera flyer, gold medalist in the second X-Games) all died between 1995 and 1998 (all within 5 years of the first skysurfing competition). Of these four, only Jerry Loftis died in a skysurfing related accident. Where would free flying be today if people like Olav Zipser and Omar Alhegelan hadn’t been around to see it brought to fruition? Skysurfing is not an outdated discipline like style and accuracy; it just needs time to rebuild after these unfortunate setbacks. One of the hurdles in rebuilding is the lack of qualified coaches around the country. I’ve talked to a number of skydivers at boogies and online who would like to learn to skysurf but have nobody to teach them. Those of us still performing chest compressions on this discipline are trying to make training available and get more jumpers qualified to coach skysurfing, but it takes time. The USPA has sunk a lot of money into trying to get media coverage for Nationals over the next two years. I can almost guarantee you the first thing the news networks are going to ask for when it comes times to air clips--They’re going to want to see footage of some maniac with a board strapped to his feet spinning like an out-of-control ceiling fan because that’s the image of competitive skydiving the general public knows. Canopy swooping and free flying and RW are all fun to watch, but skysurfing has an undeniable “wow” factor that the general public loves. I come across non-skydivers all the time who remember watching skysurfing on ESPN. Skysurfing hasn’t been on TV in nearly five years, but most people will swear they’ve seen it within the last year or so because that’s how strong the image of a well executed “henhouse surprise” or “helicopter” or “tidy bowl in the hole” is for a non-skydiver. If skysurfing is to survive, it needs competitions to drive it. USPA is considering dropping a discipline that has probably done as much for the image and popularity of skydiving as any in the sport’s history--That’s not right! --Douva PS. Anybody who’s interested in learning to skysurf, get out to California or Arizona or Texas or Florida or anywhere you can find that offers training, get on a board, and give it a whirl. If you can make it to Skydive San Marcos (south of Austin) this summer, I’ll train you for the cost of my jumps. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

They could have saved a lot of money and just asked me. If a man lands a parachute in front of a crowd of men and women, the women will ignore him, and the men will be all over him like a bunch of drooling school boys. Once, while doing introductions in an AFF class, I had a student tell me he was taking up skydiving "for the chicks." I just laughed and said, "Boy, are you in the wrong sport!" If only meeting women was as simple as hurtling one's self out of an airplane and not dying. C'est la vie. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

As long as you're a USPA member, it could make a difference. If skysurfing contributed to your exposure to the sport before you became a skydiver (it certainly did with me), be sure to mention that. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

One of the agendas of the USPA Competition Committee when they meet on July 15-17 will be to eliminate Skysurfing from Nationals. Nationals is the last venue for competitive skysurfing in the United States, and even though the discipline has been going through a rebuilding period over the last two or three years, leading to fewer competitors than usual, it is still a viable modern skydiving discipline. Skysurfing requires as much skill as any discipline in skydiving. It is visually dynamic and one of the most recognizable disciplines to non-skydivers. Who in this sport hasn't had a whuffo or tandem student ask if they ever "jump with one of those boards?" To drop skysurfing from U.S. competition simply because it doesn't draw the dozens of teams each year that the other disciplines do dishonors the memories of the Rob Harris, Vic Pappadato, Jerry Loftis, and all of those who came before. Please write your regional director (email, fax, or mail) and insist that skysurfing be kept alive. We particularly need the assistance of those of you in the Northeast Region. Northeast Regional Director Marylou Laughlin has spearheaded the movement to drop skysurfing from Nationals for several years now. Even if you don't see how this could possibly affect you, a non-skysurfer, please think of the history and heritage of skysurfing and what it has meant to the sport of skydiving. Skysurfing has brought positive exposure to the sport of skydiving through numerous commercials, print ads, TV shows, and movies. It also brought the first and only nationally televised skydiving events to the American public, in the early days of the X-Games. And please think about the skydivers, past and present, whose hard work and dedication will be lost forever if skysurfing disappears from U.S. competition. Blue skies, Douva L.A.S.T. #1 I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

I didn't much care for "Section 6" under "Competition." I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

A few of my favorites: The animals who missed the Ark Optimus Prime gets prostate cancer Super villains stuck in traffic I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

I....SNIFF....am....SNIFF....so....SNIFF....hurt! I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

If you look closely at the rules, you'll see they have a self-contradicting yin and yang quality to them. They don't say "do this" or "do that;" they say "find the balance between this and that." They're about finding flexibility in dealing with life's complexities. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

These have served me well for the last couple of years, so I thought I'd share them with the rest of you. 8 Simple Rules to Life According to Douva 1. Don’t get so comfortable in your box that you’re afraid to leave when it’s on fire, and don’t be so insistent on leaving that you’re afraid to go back in when it starts to rain. 2. Don’t turn back because the going gets tough, and don’t try to save face by continuing on when you realize you’re on the wrong road. 3. Spending your life following the world’s lead is a good way to die without living. 4. Spending your life trying to prove the world wrong is a good way to die without friends. 5. Being told you can’t do something is neither a reason for or against trying. 6. Old sayings are about as helpful in the real world as most other old junk. If life gives you lemons, throw them away—I don’t trust that son-of-a-bitch. 7. Always do the best you can where you are, with what you’ve got. 8. Don’t get married to your philosophy on life, and never try to live by somebody else’s. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

Cool pic. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

I Googled my name today and found this cool picture of myself that I'd never seen before, on the New York Times News Service page. Now it's your turn. Google your name and share anything cool or unique you find about YOURSELF. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

Thanks a lot, Kim. I had my first zombie dream on Saturday night. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

My dad was driving me from Austin to Dallas so that I could catch a flight to Europe (cheaper to fly out of DFW). We stopped at a Luby's along the way for lunch. We ate, used the restroom, and got right back on the road. After a few minutes, we both started accusing each other of breaking wind. After each vehemently denying being the culprit, we checked our shoes. Lo and behold, I had somehow managed to step in a pile of human feces back in the Luby's restroom. It was now all over my shoe and the floor mat. My dad whipped the car off the road, and we proceeded to use all of the disinfecting hand gel and shower wipes (like really heavy duty baby wipes) I had packed for a month in Europe, cleaning up the pile of mystery shit. We then stopped at the next grocery store to thoroughly wash our hands and replenish my inventory of supplies. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

Do what you want bud, but if you get bitten, wait for a 50 cal bullet in your head. A .50?!?!?! Isn't that a little overkill? I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

I don't care what Ivan and Slappie say; I'm ordering one. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

That would be easier to agree with, if someone hadn't already done it. I guess we could argue the toss over that one for a while, but doesn't Mr Spielberg have more creative things to do with his time and talent? Either way, I'm sure I'm going to end up watching the damn thing anyway... I'll stay up late and drunk one night, or catch a plane somewhere, and Tom Cruise and his inevitable little sidekick will be there. Waiting. I am aware of both the previous film version of War of the Worlds and the radio version (which I have a copy of), but that still doesn't make it a remake. "Remake" infers that the film is based on a previous film. This film is actually based on the same literary work as an earlier film; that is not a "remake." I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.