NickDG

>> I don't have any problem with people knocking glen and his cronies but the military...must be a dem...

Sorted and broke in . . . Let's Ride! NickD

I took the vids down, that's why you can't see them. I felt I said some things better kept under wraps . . . you know, the big trouble with the internet is - it's the only place where honesty can burn you. Anyway, I started taking Nina apart for paint today but I'm sitting here now on pins and needles. At the Easy Rider Show a couple weeks ago while I was having my photo-op with the Girlies I noticed my Julia in deep conversation over at the Glendale Harley Dealer booth. "Hey," I thought to myself, "Maybe she's buying me a Crossbones," or worse, "buying a Sportster for herself!" So I rush over and find she's signing up for their MSF rider course. She's rode with me in the past but never expressed an interest in riding herself. So today is "ride day" while last night was her orientation class, along with a tour of the Stealership. She came home a bit disappointed last night saying it was a bit of a soft sell, the leathers and all that Harley boutique stuff, and in class they didn't cover what she was most interested in. Like, what's a clutch? Julia's a brilliant engineer, who knows a lot about going to Mars but little about motorcycles. She did say it was good her instructors weren't teaching skydiving! She said it would have been like learning emergency procedures while being talked into buying a PD 170 . . . So it's about 4:15 PM now and she's been gone all day so that's a good sign. I can't wait to hear how she did! Hey Gypsy, I'd have rather spent the 400 bucks hooking Julia up with your woman, but I guess it's better she drops the dealer's Buell Blasts rather than something nice . . . NickD

Naw, more like my Stiletto . . . NickD

Not talking about PDs website, and aren't you going to be surprised! Page one, Baby! NickD

We had a club on base in the Corps too back in '75. But I'd still have your friend check first. The Commander Officer of any military unit is totally responsible for everyone under his command, and they can, and sometimes do ban certain off duty activities like skydiving. Just like they can put certain troublesome bars or rip-off jewelery businesses off limits. With skydiving this usually follows a bad accident or a death, and is usually short lived, but if you get stuck with a CO who washed out of jump school earlier in their career there might have an issue. I've heard of COs like that and they had bad attitudes towards jumping. Now if we could just get the entire military to put Skyride off limits . . . NickD

Not sure about the PD Pulse, but I'd offer up that Krisanne sure is . . . NickD

warpedskydiver informed of a phenomena I wasn't aware of called Pirus Panic. Even the police call it that. So I'm backing off my previous comment. Damn, the world's getting complicated . . . NickD

>>How did we work together so many years, and I knwo so little about you?Unsure Ohhh yeaaahhh...we were uusally dirnking as soon as green light!

Yup, in my aircraft mechanic days I used MEK barehanded all the time as well. I still use it today as a final stage in prepping Nina's parts for paint, but you should see me now. Full set of coveralls, respirator, and rubber gloves so thick I could probably juggle balls of uranium. One thing I do remember about MEK is as soon as it hit your hands you could taste it in your mouth. That should have been a clue, eh . . . NickD

We used to make our own lead shot bags, but recall later on seeing the store bought ones starting to carry the lead warning labels. One thing that always got me was the "Jump for the Cause" woman strapping lead right over their breasts . . . NickD

>>I agree with you, I rear ended some asshole that slammed on his brakes because he decided to panic

I remember in about 1961 or so, when the exterminator came to our house and sprayed DDT all over our house including my bedroom. He had in an open one gallon can and it was white and the consistency of a lightly whipped milkshake. I almost stuck my finger into it for a taste . . . Rachel Carson's book "Silent Spring" didn't appear until 1962, but even after that this stuff was still being used. The lesson is not so much how dumb we were, but how dumb we probably still are. There's likely many things around right now that's killing us too. NickD

In this age of iPads and people who can't bite down on even short Tweets a real man of letters has passed . . . "I have a feeling that you're riding for some kind of a terrible, terrible fall. But I don't honestly know what kind.... It may be the kind where, at the age of thirty, you sit in some bar hating everybody who comes in looking as if he might have played football in college. Then again, you may pick up just enough education to hate people who say, 'It's a secret between he and I.' Or you may end up in some business office, throwing paper clips at the nearest stenographer. I just don't know." ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye. RIP, 1919-2010,

I'm sure they edit out a lot beer cans and rusty nail finds. I spent two years working in Cal City and spent a lot of time with a detector and magnets looking through the desert for them, and I found zilch . . . It's TV, so I wouldn't be surprised if they aren't just salting them. You're not one of those who believes TVs "Operation Repo" is real too? NickD

Yeah, that's a good reason not buy a Dell. I just bought a new Dell 1545 Inspiron laptop and it's great. I bought my first Dell laptop many years ago and it survived a couple of years in the dusty Perris Ghetto and another four years on sailboat in salt waters. It only died just recently when the monitor blew but the computer itself still works. It must have been at least ten years old. This new one I got for $499 at Best Buy and it rocks. Go try one out . . . NickD

I have the HP Photosmart C7280-All in One-Printer-Fax-Copier-Scanner. I've had it for two years. It has docks for four different types of digital camera memory cards and a USB for a flash card or connecting right to a computer. The print results are excellent and even more so on the photo side of things. Using HP photo paper you can do sizes from 4x6 (or smaller like passport size using your computer software) all the way to 8x10. As a photographer that aspect of the machine was important to me and it didn't disappoint. Even an 8x10 on regular plain printing paper looks great framed and behind glass. I do bemoan the absence of archival quality of these photographs, but that's a price we all pay in the digital age. Unlike the photos I once made in darkrooms which will last hundreds of years or longer these prints will degrade eventually in time. Plus the fact any photos stored on digital media (hard drives, flash drives, and back up servers) will all disappear if we experience a good sized electromagnetic pulse either natural or man made. However, in our case Jan, all that might be a good thing when a hundred years from now the government begins lining up and executing the descendants of intellectuals like us. The fax feature I didn't think I'd use much but it turned out (for me) to be very convenient. Between keeping my EMS ratings current and Paramedic school I use it all the time. And it both sends and receives so it saves me a lot of trips to Kinkos. HP's MSRP is $299 but street prices are lower. There is now also an updated version that offers wireless connectivity if that's important to you at the same price. The downside? At my high rate of use it eats ink cartridges and a box containing the black and color replacent cartridges are about $70. But replacing the cartridges is very easy and isn't as messy as previous printers I've had and so far I've never spilled a drop or had to clean up a mess. An HP printer I had previously could be refilled at home with a kit containing syringes and bulk ink, but they now have a computer chip in the cartridges that "so far" no smart hacker has found a way around. But to an extent all printers depend on cartridge sales to subsidize the initial cheap price of the printer itself. And I can remember when a decent printer was over a $1000 back in the 1980s. But like I said the quality, ease of use (I've never had any glitches or driver problems) makes it worth it to me. And I do a lot of printing so your mileage on cartridges might be acceptable. If you are just going to be doing everyday type printing like creating depositions and replying to subpoenas you may want to look for a cheaper to operate laser printer. Edit to add: The thing about using Kinkos for all your printing needs is fine, but you lose control of the final product. And that may or may not be important you, but it is to me . . . NickD

Happy B-Day, Bro . . . NickD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOGyqO8QdF8 NickD

I remember that change and didn't really like it. After RW became FS (for formation skydiving, right, or did they change it again?) I wrote to USPA fearing what was next. I closed with, "Fine, while you're in the designated horizontal practice pad area I'll still be dirt diving! NickD

This is very cool . . . http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10439985-52.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20 NickD

The pup, they're calling him Vernon (that was the name of the nearby town) is safe at the Vets and doing fine. They did say his nails were worn down to the nub, as he was trying to climb out of the river for a lot longer than seen in the video. He's also in quarantine for ten days because he bit the fireman who pulled him out. No word on his rescuer so far. But that's cool, true heroes lay low . . . NickD

I work alongside the LA Fire Department at my job and I bag on them a lot, but this time I have nothing but praise for them. Right on Boys, right on . . . ! http://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/news/local/dog-rescue-in-la-river-20100122 NickD

I can always count on you, AggieDave, I wasn't sure how many here would get that joke . . . NickD

My good friend Larry Walsh, who admins the Air Trash website, hosts a weekly BlogTV show that spurned me to try it out with Nina's build. Here are the first five installments and I'm just getting the feel of it. I'm certainly no Jesse James, or even OCC Teutul worthy, and that's saying something. So go easy on me . . . http://www.blogtv.com/Shows/1260225/Ze7EZ27GbWFEZmNEbeR&pos=ancr http://www.blogtv.com/Shows/1260225/date/Ze7EZ27GbWFEZmNEbuZ http://www.blogtv.com/Shows/1260225/date/Ze7EZ27GbWFEZmNEY2X http://www.blogtv.com/Shows/1260225/date/Ze7EZ27GbWFEZmNEYe3 http://www.blogtv.com/Shows/1260225/date/Ze7EZ27GbWFEZmNwZ2_ Hey, and if nothing else, this might plant the seed for the Skymama Hour . . . NickD