Nightingale

personally, I'd give him cash to use towards the new suit of his choice (or an alti, or whatever). just get him a gift certificate to the local gear shop. Its one thing to give him the jumpsuit because he needs it and you're being a good friend... but if you do that at the holidays, it just looks like you're being cheap.

when I did some work in the TV industry, we used bubble wrap to muffle sounds on the fly. works well. those little air pockets are great insulators. see if that might help.

the school rules said "hair must be in a tasteful style" and "shoes and boots must be closed toe and black in color." My shoes were closed toe. didn't say anything bout them not being able to lace up to my knees. My hair was cut in a tasteful style. just plain long and straight with bangs. it just happened to be bright purple. when the school argued to my mother that it wasn't tasteful, my mom said "sure it is! I think she looks cute!" the school shut up after that. One of the teachers told me a couple of years later that they were advised not to make any changes to the dress code during the school year, because it left them opened to lawsuits from parents who'd bought their kids shoes that didn't meet the new code. Fine with me. I only stayed a year. Just long enough to leave the school in complete and total chaos... I was one of those kids that half the teachers adored and the other half were referring to the school shrink.

we had school uniforms too. which is why I had purple hair and wore doc martens with my catholic school girl skirt. kids will find a way to express themselves.

get up. get out. go distract yourself. go do something other than sitting around thinking about smoking. we believe in you!!!!!! {{{{{{{{{{VIBES}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

if you can't go back to the shop, take a photo and email it to a couple of tattoo shops in your area. they should be able to help. personally, I'd stop by a different tattoo shop first and get an opinion and see if the first one concurrs... sounds to me like he was a little heavy with the needle and maybe went too deep.

I've never been to san diego, but I can tell you elsinore or perris are both great. either one of those is a good option.

bring your helmet into the hobby shop so they can see what its made out of and can maybe tell you what will stick best. or... call your local harley davidson store. ask them where they send people to get helmets painted. then call those folks and ask them what process they use and what kind of paint and all that. My cousin did that for his skateboard helmet, and it came out great... not sure what he did or what he used tho.

I don't sponser children directly, because I find that most of the money usually goes towards running the organization rather than to the child. However, I do donate regularly to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Nashville, TN. Its a children's cancer hospital that does TONS of research on cancer, and doesn't charge the kids there anything at all for treatment. They'll bill the insurance company, but whatever insurance doesn't cover, the hospital picks up the tab. I figure that its not only an investment to help the kids there now, but the research they do could help save my own kids lives one day, should I have them. http://www.stjude.org/

sounds like me in karate class about a year ago... I dislocated my thumb, reset the thing myself, wrapped it up, and jumped right back into class. sometimes, in the grand scheme of things, pain just isn't as important as whatever else is going on!

NSFW

not sure about where you are, but skiing around here, especially learning to ski is around: $55.00 at Mountain High, CA, includes a lower mountain lift ticket (as a newbie, you don't want upper mountain anyway), ski/boots/poles rental, and a 2 hour group lesson. Private lessons run $75.00 for one person or $100.00 for two people, and don't include lift ticket or rentals, but are probably a better learning option for an adult. Regular lift tickets run $40.00 for a four hour ticket, and $44.00 for an 8 hour ticket. Rentals are $25.00 for complete package skis/boots/poles. When you rent equipment, ASK FOR PARABOLIC OR SHAPED SKIS. They may charge a buck or two more for them, but they are well worth it. they are much easier to control and make a huge difference in your skiing.

hehe... bruises suck. The rotten landing I had three weeks ago left a bruise in the PERFECT shape of the harness. You could completely see the outline of chest strap, leg straps, shoulder straps, back of the rig, everything! LOL. I guess doing two forward rolls and a faceplant pulls the rig in all kinds of strange directions! congrats on surviving your first (BEER!) hard opening!

you just have to skim your junkmail every so often. Or, like me, keep your address book updated.

ok... its official... I do not understand men.

I use hotmail. love it. I like that you can set it on "exclusive" and only receive email from the folks in your address book. You can also have emails sort to different folders... all my DZ.com mail goes to one folder, personal mail to another, martialtalk.com mail to another one, etc... works GREAT.

LOL... My experience has been just the opposite! well, sorta... Ever since an oil place screwed up and put the wrong weight oil in my car, I like to change the oil myself. Its just a little ford escort, so its easy enough, and its better than paying the $30 at Jiffy Lube for ten or 15 minutes worth of work, saves me the drive across town, and I have plenty of space to work in my carport at my apartment complex. Seems pretty easy, right? except... people won't just leave me alone to muck around underneath my car in peace! The first couple of times, it was kinda sweet, and when I said no, they watched anyway, to make sure I didn't do something stupid, I guess (I didn't. I know how to change oil. Dad made sure of that one)... but every two minutes, its "can I help you with that?" and I have to drag myself out from under the car and say "nope. I can do it, thanks." Then Mr. Helpful goes away, and two minutes later, another one is asking "do you need help?" It got to the point where I hung a sign that said "I am changing the oil. Yes, I know how. No, I don't need help." and even then, they kept asking... I don't know if there's something attractive about a woman in coveralls with grease in her hair or what, but its freakin annoying, to the point that the last two times my car's needed an oil change, I've just taken it in to the shop! sigh. don't get me wrong... I like chivalry. I really do... but sometimes it goes too far!

try these... they work with your regular vacuum hose. http://store.yahoo.com/organizeeverything1/spacebaglarge.html

I met him while he was campaigning. He came to my college. I was the student assigned to play gopher for his little entourage. He and his group were not the most polite individuals I have encountered.

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{LUCKY VIBES}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

Nope... Official BEER RULE #7: If more than one first is accomplished on a single jump, only one case of beer is required.

I'd rather go to the boogie. and as for the "sam hill" thing... well...um...you asked: The phrase "Sam Hill" refers to a New England farmer who ran for public office, but he was a nobody who no one had heard of. Everyone was asking "Who in the heck is Sam Hill?!" SAM HILL – “If someone could locate any historical record of a Col. Samuel Hill of Guilford, Connecticut, we might find the origin of the phrase ‘go like Sam Hill’ or ‘run like Sam Hill.’ Edwin V. Mitchell makes mention of the man in the ‘Encyclopedia of American Politics (1946). It seems that Colonel Hill perpetually ran for office – but no other evidence of his existence can be found. Since no one knows ‘who in the Sam Hill’ he was, Sam Hill must remain ‘a personified euphemism our puritan ancestors used for ‘hell.’” From “Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins” by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997)

hmm.... If you're talking about PMS, its the acronym for the Pink Mafia Sisters...among other things. edited for spelling

No jumps for me this weekend...still feeling under the weather a bit... but I got to meet Michele! Hopefully I can get in five or six jumps next weekend!

breathe. smile. and bring a coach who will make you laugh and relax. someone you're comfortable with. or bring a friend who's doing their first jump. you find yourself in a situation of keeping your friend calm, so you don't worry about your own nerves.