NickDG

"Far out," is really new school. It's, "way out," that's old school . . . My 84 year old mother cracked us all up after first seeing Lady GaGa on TV and remarking, "Wow, she's way out!" The first time we ever heard the word "extreme" (in it's current context) was in describing Street Luge in about 1980. As in an extreme form of skateboarding. Which it wasn't as it was a brand new sport. Then around the same time B.A.S.E. jumping was being called extreme, as in an extreme form of skydiving. Which it wasn't as it was a brand new sport. After that "extreme" became a Madison Avenue word used by corporations in order to sell stuff to the most gullible among us. Redbull is a current great example of this. I remember an early Bridge Day from back then when the very first corporate entity became involved. Up until that point the BASE trade show held the day before Bridge Day was just a homegrown affair, and mostly just a few guys selling BASE gear they were banging out in their garages. But that particular year the "No Fear" apparel company showed up with their strobe lite, rock music blaring, staffed with "happening" teenagers, set up. And it began a split in the BASE community that exists to this day. Some of us thought, "This is great!" And took it as a sign B.A.S.E. jumping was coming of age. And some of us (the group I was in) thought, “WTF, these corporate pigs are just using us to sell their crap!" You may also remember "No Fear" stuff was very popular on DZs around this time. My thoughts were cemented when I approached the No Fear reps amidst the hundreds of displayed T-shirts and stuff proclaiming, “No Fear" and asked if they'd be jumping from the bridge tomorrow? All I got, of course, were blank stares and few, no fucking ways. I'm not sure of everyone else, but every B.A.S.E. jump I've ever made scared the crap out of me. So I asked one of the reps, "Hey, ya got any shirts that say, "Big Fear?" More blank stares . . . Of course it was foolish to think we’d be able to keep BASE our little thing let alone follow the mantra the late Carl Boenish, the father of modern B.A.S.E. jumping, set down for us when he proclaimed, “We are a small band of brothers.” Sadly, the corporate influence begat the “glory hound” and the glory hounds begat the “sponsored jumpers” and that was the beginning of the end of BASE as we knew it. Lately, I’ve been thinking of taking up street luge. Now that’s way out . . . NickD

>>in an emergency, my first priority is to get rid of the bad canopy. And in a perfect world, as soon as that happens the RSL starts reserve deployment.

I never knew anyone that used the first method when teaching students. It should always be the second method, case closed. However for experienced jumpers it's their call. However, using the first method almost bit me in the ass after a really bad spinner on my Stiletto. I grabbed right and left, peeled the Velcro on the cutaway pud, and removed the reserve ripcord from its keeper pocket. Then found out I couldn't budge the cutaway handle. The twists had traveled down into the risers, in fact I was starting to feel the yoke of the container tightening around my neck. I dropped the reserve handle (which now became a floater) and grabbed the cutaway pud with both hands (what I should have done in the first place.) And I still couldn't pull it. I was pulling straight down and straining as much as I could and I just couldn't budge it. I was just a few seconds away from giving up on the cutaway altogether and just going for the reserve as I was still high enough to work on a wrap if it all went wrong, but when I glanced over to my left I couldn't see the reserve ripcord anywhere. But I figured it was up under my arm somewhere. By this time I felt like the rig itself was trying to strangle me. Later on the ground the thought occurred to me that some of the early Stiletto spin fatalities, where the deceased never did anything except spin in, may have been caused by their being choked into unconscious. One of my friends Bruce Geikie purchased a Stiletto when they first came out. Bruce was a very experienced skydiver, Navy test, jumper, the whole nine yards, and on his third or fourth jump on it he just spun into the ground apparently doing nothing at all. We kind of chalked it up, at the time, to the fact nobody needed to cutaway line twists and he simply ran out of time trying to kick out the twists. You'll understand what I'm saying if you jumped prior to there being elliptical canopies. But I wasn't thinking about any of that at the moment. All I knew is I had to make this skydive stop and I needed to make it stop right now. I tried one more time with the cutaway handle pulling with all my might. (What I didn't realize is I was actually moving the cables a little bit every time I tried pulling.) And finally it came out and I was back in freefall. I was on my back now and just decided to stay there. I wasn't exactly sure how low I was but knew I was getting down there from the look of the horizon. I spread my arms and the reserve ripcord floated up right in front of me and that was the end of all that. So anyway, yeah, the second method . . . NickD

Kind of like skydiving . . . Up and Down Up and Down Up and Down Yawn, oh, something happened . . . NickD

Thanks everyone for the good info. It really made it easier to decide. After carefully weighing all the pros and cons I'm going with this one . . . Very Slick NickD

Yikes, that's a lotta dough! But I'm sure the dog is considered a family member so what are you gonna do? You gotta pay. I never did like those fish-tails, LOL . . . Still don't get how the bike fell over? Figured it out yet? NickD

My Motorola cell phone (I've had for 12 years) finally died the other day. So time for something new. Julia has an iPhone and gets them from her employer for free. Actually she's on her second one as the first one fell off a table and the glass screen shattered. But the dropped calls are a real serious problem for her. Also I know I'm not an Apple guy as in those commercials it's the "cool" guy I want to bitch slap. So the iPhone is out. Plus I've experienced everything Apple since the Lisa through the latest iBook and I can't put my finger on it, but there's just something creepy about them. So I'm thinking Droid. (Unless someone has another suggestion.) I like the open source idea but reading through the various forums and tech websites is making my eyes bleed. I'll tell you what. Web 3.0 better be voiced based as very few people can write a coherent sentence these days, especially a technical one. Anyway, can anyone give me the current Droid status in a nutshell? Should I buy today, or is there some better version of the Droid or Android OS looming on the horizon I should know about? Price point seems to be around $149. Does that sound about right? NickD

I didn't see the show but heard about it when they shot it. I thought is was kinda sad. That airplane, if it can't be hauling jumpers, should be dropping food and clothing over Haiti or at least making drug runs like all cabin class DZ aircraft used to do during the night. Ya can't make money with the master switch off . . . NickD

I've never waved off doing solos . . . and I've never not waved off jumping with others . . . But I get what you're saying from a "teaching" point of view. Now that we're bagging on each other when I first met you I thought you were some kind of sidewalk commando or something. It wasn't until much later I actually saw you riding the knuck . . . NickD

Watch it again. I did signal . . . it's when my left hand comes off the bars. And why he went ahead and started turning left. Other than that, yeah, I tend not to signal when there's no one to signal too . . . NickD

So since I can legally ride Nina down to the CHP inspection I threw some turn signals on her. Man, that was like drawing a mustache on the Mona Lisa. All I did was go down the auto parts store (on Nina of course!) and bought 4 cheapo trailer signal lights and a flasher. I wired it up and took another ride. They're nice to have, I guess, from a safety point of view, but as I type this I cringe every time I look over at them. As soon as I see the Chipies they're coming off . . . NickD

You're in front of the judge and he knows you well enough to use your first name, "Well Nick, it's apparent you have a flagrant disregard for the law. Before I pronounce sentence, I'm going to need ten minutes to sift through all this! Gulp . . . NickD

LOL, as this guy makes his way through life I hope he keeps a good relationship with his dentist. I'm sure it'll come in handy . . . NickD

>>Hope ya don't mind if I share this with the bikers at my chat board...(If so let me know I will delete it!

Man, I’m talking about a long cool woman in a black dress . . . Nina shined on the Freeway! I went up the 210 and down the 118 and over to the 405 and back again. About 30 miles. I have Nina’s ignition rev limiter set to 5500 RPM (for break in) and I never even got close to hitting it. I took my TomTom GPS so I could monitor her speed and when I nudged her very gently up to 75 mph I could tell she still had plenty more to give. And no death wobble! The cheapie mirrors were just a blue but other than that she felt solid as a rock! Julia and I (well, mostly Julia) did a lot of work on the math when we were figuring what gear ratios to run. I finally went with a 54 tooth rear sprocket and a 24 tooth transmission sprocket and boy it just flat works. Very torquey on the bottom end and who knows on the top end as I didn’t push it. I did drop her into sixth gear just once to see if it was there, and wow, that gear’s gotta be for 90 and up. I haven’t figured out Nina’s power to weight ratio yet but even though she’s all steel, she’s way lighter than anything the MOCO sells, and she seems to intuitively know how to get down the road. I’m sending that chick at the DMV some flowers . . . NickD

Oh, I almost forgot. I edited that raw video footage of Nina and added some slide show stuff from build . . . I even found some free music Youtube can't bitch about! Check it out . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUUJvAPlwq8 NickD

Dum Da Dumm Dumm! DMV Day!!!! I must have an Angel on my shoulder because at the DMV today I got the sweetheart of all sweethearts to process my paperwork. I even think she was making goo goo eyes at me. (Great, now I'm even starting to sound like Steve Buscemi, thanks a lot Krisanne!) It's funny but as I overcame one issue after another during Nina's build phase there was always that nagging thought of the DMV registration process always hanging out there in the back of my mind like a big matzo ball. I'd read and heard many nightmare stories about other guys going through it and I just figured, "Oh well, my turn in the box is coming." So I did my best to help it along. I put on a nice clean pressed shirt, combed my hair, and showed up for my appointment on time with all my paper work ducks lined up in a row and hard cash in my pocket. And it was a breeze. She even gave me a 90 day temporary paper plate! I still have to do the CHP inspection but that's only a numbers check and that's no sweat. So Nina is a legal to ride girl now! So why ain't I out riding her right now? I'm going! I'm going as soon as I post this. I've been wanting to get Nina up on the freeway and stretch her legs. And today's the day! NickD

>>Steve Buscemi as .... NickDG

Starring . . . - Julia Roberts as "Skymama" -Jason alexander as "Cocheese" -Michael Richards as "Bolas" -rodney carrington as "divot" -Randy as "quade." - Methuselah or Mosesas "Airtwardo" - Jane Curtain as "skybytch" - Jeff Bridges as "ryoder" --- Ron Howard director

Wow, Sandy, you're the very first person (online or in real life) I've ever heard mention the "Melody Inn" in the last 25 years. Almost no one I know today remembers (let alone knows about) that place in Lake Elsinore! Memories . . . NickD

Man, ya got a friggen dog too! Now you're just biggin yourself!!! NickD

>>Married 32 years come july 4th>>See that is the problem. You can be married but you need one on the side

Dude, it's a forum, not a library, LOL (Stole that line from someone here.) NickD

Starring . . . - Julia Roberts as "Skymama" - - - - -

>>There was this guy who intentionally cut away a perfectly good canopy>>He died on a BASE jump with in the year of the incident.