flygrrrl95

Mikey, we lost you 4 years ago tomorrow, still missing your presence in my life, but thoughts of you still bring a smile to my face and make me laugh. Does anyone have any more Mikey stories to share? Blue Skies.

Hard to believe it's been 3 years, sometimes it still seems like yesterday. Still thinking about you and missing you buddy. Love, Burrowing Betty

Happy Birthday Mikey! I know it's not until tomorrow, but I remember how you loved to celebrate for at least the whole week, sometimes even the whole month. You would always remind me that it was okay to do fun things and not get the chores done because it was your birthday (or the day before your birthday, or the day after, or your birthday weekend, or your birthday week....) Of course you did the same for everyone else and instigated as much fun around you as possible, whether we were celebrating you, me, or any one of your friends and family. I remember a little surprise party we threw for you in DC where an acomplice helped keep you away from the house for the whole day and we had all our friends come over for a little fiesta complete with sombreros. There was a chocolate cake involved and some great pics of you going at the whole cake, just a man and his fork. Sweet Life - Of course a birthday was always an occasion to head to Sweet Life in Eugene for an assortment of desserts, way more than any of us could eat, but we had to try a bunch just to get an appropriate variety. Happy Birthday and I know you are enjoying some Sweet Life right now! Love, M

OOooohh, yeah! I'll be happy to give them a rub.

Yeah for progression of jumpers. Congrats Red Shoes, Rosie and Kara!!! Sorry I had to miss it. I hope to see all of you soon. Seattle is still really sucking. blue skies and hugs, Fleeps

Okay, here's the scoop. Mike's ash dive will be this weekend on Sunday August 26 at Eugene Skydivers in Creswell, OR where he wanted it. This will be on the 1-year anniversary of his death, to the day. Everyone will meet at Eugene Skydivers hangar at 8:00/8:15 a.m. and we will have wheels up at 8:30 a.m. Spectators will caravan/carpool from the hangar to the landing field about 15 minutes from the airport. Please feel free to PM me or email me if you have questions or plan on attending and need directions. R.I.P. Mikey, no one has forgotten you or ever will. Blue Skies, Megan

I got my private pilot's license in high school and was considering flying for a career. I decided against it for several reasons, but it wouldn't have been impossible by any means. I got as far as instrument and commercial ground school. Now I just fly for fun whenever I have money left over from skydiving (HA HA HA). There are several tracks you can take to get there if you really want it. Military, 4 year degree (including ratings), schools that just get your your ratings (but at a rapid pace), down to your local FBO. Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) has a message board like this where you can get some good info, so join that group and start reading everything you can. I think you can even access a lot of good info on their website if you're not a member. There are several books about becoming a professional pilot and how to get there, how to get jobs, what kinds of jobs are available, etc. so check out your local bookstore or library. They have a lot of good resources. As for job prospects, many of the other posters are correct, you may end up finding it difficult to get a good paying job for quite a while. However, if it's really something you are passionate about and don't have a lot of expenses (old student debt), it will probably be a sacrifice you can deal with. I have a friend who started by flying skydivers (after he got his commercial) and from there went on to fly humanitarian aid missions in Darfur/Sudan, then flew in the Carribean, and is now flying in Greece. There are lots of options, you just have to be willing to work hard and keep your eyes open for good opportunities. GOOD LUCK!!! DON"T GIVE UP IF IT'S WHAT YOU REALLY WANT TO DO!!!!! (Be realistic, but don't let the pessimists discourage you too much) blue skies, flygrrrl95

I remember your dad, he was a great guy! I'm sure it's still hard to be without him, I'm so sorry for your loss!!! blue skies, Megan (Burrowing Betty - back then)

I guess that's why it's call the PRACTICE of medicine and the PRACTICE of law, eh???

lawrocket, how long have you been practicing?

I loved that future interest stuff. It was like a little puzzle you could diagram. Life in being plus 21 years anyone??? Contingent remainder subject to condition precedent? Was that executory interest shifting or springing? I still haven't figured out why you needed to name them like that. It didn't seem to make too much difference in the outcome of a case, just a test to see if you could figure out what to call it. I don't think I could even do it now, I think I've forgotten everything I learned in law school. Oh well, that's what we have Deskbooks for right?

I haven't been much of a poster either and probably won't become one. I do lurk and read from time to time though. I'll definitely admit I was hesitant about admitting my lawyerlyness, but then again I'm proud to have made it to this point so I don't care too much when the "lawyers are scum" bit comes up. I'm glad to know you're out there. Skydivers seem to need a lot of free criminal defense advice and family law help as well.

But people don't usually "hate" doctors and nurses, like they claim to hate lawyers. However you're right about everyone wanting free stuff, no matter who its from.

Washington - our bar exam was all essay, so no MBE for me. Not sure if that's better or worse.

Good luck on the bar! I took this last winter bar. Totally sucked! 2 weeks left? Just do what the review course tells you to do, other than that, just don't go crazy. I know, easier said than done. IP law, sounds like you may be of some use to those Engineering/Science types.

How do you like the commercial real estate stuff? I'm certainly more interested in a transactional practice rather than litigation. I'll be going to get my LLM in Tax this fall. Now THAT'S exciting! Yep, I"m all geeked out.

I'm not so sure about the "Big Money." I sure haven't found that just getting that JD and passing a bar exam is a ticket to riches. I don't disagree that a lot of money changes hands when it comes to lawsuits, but certainly not all lawyers, or even most, are swimming in fat cash. I'm just hoping to pay off my student loans within the next 30 years at this point. One (of the many) problems I see is that we as a country rely on "the law" to fix everything. You get pissed off, hurt, offended, inconvenienced or fired and "There should be a law again that" More laws = more lawyers involved to make the system work. That could easily be an entire thread itself.... But really, I've just noticed from posts and profiles that we have a lot of lawyer skydivers which I think is very cool because everyone knows that DZs get in a lot of trouble over airport issues and need help from time to time. One of my interests is property law including land use, landlord/tenant, real estate, etc.. I would love to have the knowledge and experience eventually to help DZs who get in fights about being able to use airports/airspace, etc. I think the more lawyers in skydiving the better, although I'm sure plenty would disagree.

Of course I know you love me, but don't let the other docs know your dirty little secret or you might get the boot. It's amazing that people (skydivers) have such distaste for lawyers, until they know one and want free legal advice. I just think its cool that as skydivers we have such amazing resources within our own community. Someone at the DZ (or on DZ.com) can help you with just about any problem or answer any question you have. I love skydiving!!! Counselor Fleep Flops

Ah yes, let the lawyer jokes begin.

Just curious to see how many skydiving lawyers we have on these forums? Seems to be quite a few! If you are, how long have you been practicing and what's your practice area? flygrrrl95 - sworn in this summer, currently mostly labor and employment

Rosie, you were supposed to call me first you ass!!!! I can't believe I had to find out like this!!!! You have some serious making up to do!!!! I accept cash. Counselor FlipFlops

Since you're asking simply how to find a good lawyer and not how to solve your problem, I would suggest calling some lawyers from the phonebook who you know (from the advertisements) don't practice family law and ask them for recommendations. Attorneys know other attorneys and refer business to each other all the time. Make some calls, ask around, if you're lucky, the same name might pop up a couple times. If the attorney doesn't practice family law, it seems more likely you'll get a decent lead since they aren't trying to get your business for themselves. Make sure the attorney has a bit of time under their belt as a family law attorney. New attorneys, like me, don't tend to know the system as well although they can usually still handle cases very comptently. Also, talk to a few attorneys before picking one. Make sure you feel like you can talk to them and like the way they deal with you. Good Luck!

Happy Birthday Big Moose...we miss you, but I know we can all feel you with us.

The grill - I can't even remember how many funny things came out of Mike playing around on the grill. He could fix up a mean ribeye steak! Then there was the time we decided to do the deep fried turkey in our backyard in DC. His family does it in Florida, but we had never done it. Getting it ready was pretty hilarious with the little syringe full of italian dressing and the chunks kept clogging the syringe. We both ended up with italian dressing from head to toe trying to stick that bird full of that stuff. I think there's still a few gallons of peanut oil all over the place. It was just a little too full and he didn't expect quite that much of a boil on it. I just tried to stay out of the way and let him weild the man tools! It came out pretty good!!! Blue Skies, Megan

Vanessa, Yep, we were opposites in a lot of ways, sometimes that made things entertaining and fun, other times it made them frusterating. At the very least, it made for good stories. The car story is funny - I remember he loved to eat messy snacks in the car. Cheetos especially. I'd look over at him and he's elbow deep in the Cheetos bag with orange crap all over his fact and hands. He'd just grin real big with a mouthful of Cheetos, then I'd catch him wiping his hands all over his pants, or worse, our car. I'd have to scold him and get on him about it, but he'd always just smile, shrug and look at me like I was crazy for not wanting Cheeto scum all over the place. Who wouldn't ??? He just loved to drive me nuts knowing I was neurotic about those kinds of things. I think he did it on puropose. I used to tell him I didn't want to scold him like a kid because it made me feel bad, but whatever thing he was doing still drove me nuts, but he would reply that he actually liked it and thought it was cute. Great combo, huh? He wanted to make me yell at him on purpose because he liked it!!! Crazy kid!! Movies - remember going to hte movies with him? never complete without a HUGE Pepsi and about 5 bags of candy of some sort and maybe some popcorn to finish it off. He could never leave candy uneaten and as soon as it was open, he had devoured it. He was so excited when Ben was old enough to eat candy because he could spoil him and make it seem like the candy was for Ben, not Mike who it was really for. He also just loved to get Ben riled up so he would drive Kim nuts! A 2 year old on a sugar high - Mike and Ben had a lot in common!!! :-) The whole enchilada - he hated to leave leftovers of any kind. A big bowl of my smoked salmon dip, he would eat the whole thing. A huge Pepsi, he would drink it up in no time flat. Breakfast always came with a side of something and he would eat it all, as I said before. Buying new gear, always the best and most expensive thing he could find. Ordering pizza, all gone before you know it. For those of you who don't know, his birthday was May 30, so it's just around the corner. This next week will be a little tough thinking about that. I can't even remember all the different things we did for his birthday. Trips to Florida, surprise fiesta in DC, skydiving... he loved to have almost a whole week of birthday if he could, but wasn't too big on presents. I think he just liked the idea of celebrating and being the center of attention. It was fun to make him the center of attention too because he just soaked it up! What a sweetheart! I'm sure I'll think of more stories too. If anyone else has more to share, keep them coming!!! Blue Skies, Burrowing Betty (Megan)