ChasingBlueSky

And in Chicago...in fact we have a drought happening here (haven't had to cut my grass in three weeks since it's dead/burnt). That is good news for jumpers. Oh yea, 80ish and light on the humidity. Dennis won't even hit us with much water next week....their guess is less than an inch of rain. I don't think I've seen one tornado warning this year either...I had to go to Northern Wisconsin to see that. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

I do miss the days of old...txt files...multi color and flashing txt as well. Searching the BBS to find hacks for a Novell 3.11 network was a nightly ritual for me. It was amazing the artwork that was created with ASCII! I remember when it took all night to download this hot new game called Wolfenstein 3-D from the BBS I was on. And to think 14 years later I am playing with thousands of people online in World Of Warcraft. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Tash - good to see you finally check in - was starting to wonder about you. Glad to hear you are ok. Same to you Macca and everyone else. .....other than that, I don't know what to say. what a terrible day _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Google mice....you want to get them quick - they spawn like crazy. You need to use two or three types of traps when you have them - and use only a small amount of peanut butter. Snap traps are good in small areas behind your stove, fridge, etc. It is harder for them to move around and steal from them. Also, most hardware stores sell trap door traps. You place the food in the back and when they step inside it shifts the weight and the door closes. They can't get the food without closing the door. The most disgusting is the glue traps - use those only in the attack away from the kids. Also, get one of those high band emitters from the hardware store as well....once you clean the place out it should make them stay away (it worked for me). Empty your garbage every night btw. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

The best way to handle this? Cash. If you want the convience of using this system then pay in cash. This resolves many of the logistical issues in regards to reverse charges, canceled checks, etc. The idea is to bring more people in and help drive business by gaining people that would usually opt out of attending due to a small return on a large cost. This will help avoid adding additional work to the staff. Thus added value for both sides. The WFFC should realize the sale potential of this. How many people would plan on staying just two days and end up overstaying and commiting to the full entrance cost. Guess all that sales training and process control is finally kicking in. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Do people coming in on the last Saturday still have to pay the full registration fee? You could have a weekend only fee - or a couple day fee. How would that work? Pay up front the full cost, but sign an agreement on what day you would leave. If you come back before that time and turn in your wrist band then you get your money back. If you stay then it's all good and the WFFC isn't getting scammed. You could add a two-weekend deal that would be $5-$10 cheaper for missing out on five days. This way you could get people in Chicago (or other local regions) more willing to come just for a couple days. I know that I cannot take a full vacation this year for the convention and paying the full reg fee for a couple jumps and maybe one night on site just isn't worth it. Plus, I have a nearly all the same things at SDC - the only reason I go to the convention anymore is to meet up with friends. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Hey! I think I dated her as well. Personally speaking - I don't have the energy to be like that anymore. Why? I'm tired of getting badly burned by the women I trust the most. I've learned my lesson too many times and each time it only got worse. Romance now comes second to trust in my book - and trust needs to be well earned. However, someone as jaded as me believes that finding a partner worthy of trust is a very rare find. Therefore being single and alone is the better option. I fought off being jaded as long as possible, but the most important people in my life brought me to this point. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

You throw out a sexist comment like that and think a poor attempt at comedy will be a good way to cover it up? I have to wonder how many on this board couldn't vote due to lack of education? _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

I think you just lost the faith of 51% of those who might have been agreeing with you. ......and provided a good laugh to those of us who were not agreeing with him. And given us a good reason to ignore his responses from now on. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Most American's at the time were uneducated - the majority of the population never finished greade school so they could get a job and pay the bills. Most of American back then probably read more due to the lack of television. So you honestly believe it was right and moral to discrimainate against a person based on sex??? If so, I want you to give me real solid reasons why. I doubt you can. All created equal - remember that?? I had no idea anyone alive still felt that way. How can that even be possible? Speaking of education - what level did you complete? What area of study? _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Don't forget - it's ok to pass judgement (against what Christianity and the Bible tell you to....judge not lest ye be judged yourself) and kill people via the military (thou shall not kill). But sleeping with the member of the same sex and trying to live a happy, peaceful life??? OMG! I wonder who is really the immoral, sinful group here? _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

So are you going to provide a link where we can actually read it? http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/hr3162.html _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Then give me their name and number as well - I have jobs I can recruit them for also. Mine won't get them killed and will give them a better career path in the business world. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Oh so you are enlightened and I am not...I guess since the newer things are good that you support the Patriot act since it is shinny and new? Just cause its new does not make it good or right. And just because someone wants to make a change doesn't mean it is wrong. If you run a company in this country you are forced to do a lot of things that you don't want to do. Skokie, IL has a large amount of Jewish run businesses (and it is the site of the controversial KKK march from 26 years ago) - I used to work at one of those companies. They are forced to deal on a daily basis that someone like me, a Christian, needed benefits that went against their religion and beliefs. They needed to build a second kitchen where I could eat my non-kosher meals and one where they could be Kosher. Due to the way laws are setup in this country they are not allowed to ask during an interview what my belief system is - it's called a protected class. They are not allowed to discriminate against what I think despite the conflict with their own life. That is one of the great things about this country - you are free to do as you want, practice what you want, etc. Your freedom cannot tread on anyone else. This is exactly what is happening right now. Once again, which religion is the right one to rule this country by? The moment you side with one you are then treading on the belief system of another. Well, go ahead and believe that. The fact is, I was siding with the priests at the time. My views have of course changed since then. But believe what you want, doubt what you want. I don't care anymore. Do you think I am trying to be insulting and taking small jabs? I'm not, and I'm sorry if you are reading it that way. Go back and re-read my replies as someone that is trying to have a conversation. This isn't a pissing contest for me. Interesting that you zero in on one word that I used to point out growth within our government and turn it into an insult. You and I are not on the same page here. This isn't yet another stupid argument on these forums for me - this is something real that I am seeing in my life right now. I see how it impacts people on a daily basis. I am not trying to 'one-up' and get the last word in on this thread. In fact, I am done here as I am wasting my time and energy on this. Have a good holiday everyone - don't blow yourself up. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

no problem, often thought I was talking to myself in these forums. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Why would you prevent someone from being happy and not let them marry a donkey? While are at it can we make 2+2=5? I always hate writing out the number 4 since there are too many ways to do it, and not everyone agrees to which way the 4 should be drawn. You know what comes next??? Human sacrifice, dogs and cats, living together... mass hysteria! _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Yep and they have said it is between a MAN AND A WOMAN. And our gov't was ok with slavery, discrimination against minorities, not allowing women to vote, etc. There have been plenty of changes made to our government once they became enlightened. sigh. This is about who wins an argument? For me it isn't. For me it is about people that are in my life that are being denied the same rights I have. That is wrong and un-American. There are two gay couples that I know of that would get married as soon as it was legal - they are not activists and didn't run to the States that did it for that short period of time. They are very professional managers and VP's in Fortune 1000 companies. Their love isn't a soap box. However, they are all concerned about what happens down the line when they are sick or if they had a car accident on the way home tonight. This country was in an uproar over the rights a husband had with Schiavo - what fun do you think the media would have if a gay man was in court to try to get the rights to make decisions for his loved one that was in the hospital? To turn this fight into something religious is insane. WHICH religion gets to make the decisions for our government? Which faith, which set of morals, which book, etc? NO ONE in this thread is trying to force ANY religion into marrying a gay couple. NO ONE. We see this as something beyond religion. I am not stepping on anyone rights in regard to practicing their religion or holding true to their beliefs. The abortion laws alone should show that a decision in this country can be made to give rights to an individual while still allowing religions to do as the please. To limit a non-religious couple a freedom because it interferes with someone else's religious beliefs is just mind-boggling.....and to think that trying to give someone the same freedoms and benefits the rest of us already have is stepping on their rights is even more mind boggling. btw - I have heard this topic from the other side. There were plenty of gay people in the Seminary with me and it came up in the theology classes we had. I've heard priests argue against it, and I sat there and understood their point of view. They choose to live their life that way and hold that belief. Cool with me. And they can still continue to do so once this country finally levels out and realizes it is making the same mistakes it has made repeatedly in the past. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

And there is a precedent of our government recognizing civil unions as marriage. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

OT dead sea scrolls. NT writtings from those who were there. The people that wrote the OT and NT were not there when it happened. Even just 150 years is a lot of time. Back then the average life span was not much more than 40....how many people did it pass thru before someone wrote it down. We can't even get correct incident reports from the DZ - everyone has their own version of the events and then those who were not there pass it on as fact when they are wrong. Then you get those that decide to write it down on the forums or in the paper and the majority of people tend to believe what is said there. That happens all in a matter of HOURS. Imagine what would happen in 150 years....or thousand of years as was the case with the OT. And now that version is considered by many to be the only telling of the book. Thus, it changed the bible and the way people follow the religion. No, I am not saying that. I am saying it happens, it has happened, and it will happen again. Sure it does. You just feel its ok to step on some peoples rights as long as you agree. What right am I stepping on? Expression/speech? No. Freedom of religion? No. Anything else? No. I'm all for them holding their beliefs, however I will not stand by and watch my friends be denied the same rights that I have. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

I personally am not complaining about the WFFC staff trying to cover the margin and try to make a profit for the amount of work they put in. Nothing wrong with that. As it is, people did plenty of complaining last year about the showers and not enough porta potties - Beth said they were going to work on that. My thoughts are that will cost more money for them. People don't consdier that stuff. I am not knocking what the WFFC staff do. I've organized a small boogie for the last few years and it's HARD work. However, I stopped going to the vendor tents last year. Why? I got tired of hearing nothing but complaints about cost and how they would never come back again. All that bitching did a good job of ruining the fun. And yes, there was that much bitching from every vendor I went to. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

What is the original source of the bible? Which is the 100% accurate version? How can they prove that one version is more correct over the other. Who can prove what the word of god is? Who can prove what the word of god isn't? You want to base your value and belief systems on people that heard voices in their head and figured they needed to evangelize the world with what they heard???? If someone writes their own version of the bible and claims that God spoke to them to make the changes how are they different from any other prophet that penned a chapter of the bible? If the Pope invoked Papal Infallibility he could make ANY change to the church he wanted to and according to church law they would have to follow (yes, even changes to the bible). Do you realize how many years went by after the death of Jesus and the creation of the first Gospel - IIRC John was the first Gospel to be created and it was over 150 years later. How much do you think changed in the grapevine method of storytelling before someone thought they should write it down? You are basing your argument on time - the length that some dusty old book has been around? Why couldn't it be the word of god? What makes your declaration and written word any different from what is in the bible? Time? Is that it? A couple thousand years of blindly following what someone wrote down makes it gospel??? I don't need to provide any such passage. Why? That book and what it says has no impact in my life, drives no decisions, and holds no sway on my faith. To me it is just another book and quoting it and living my life by it seems just as silly as quoting Star Wars and basing my entire life off what George Lucas said. I have two friends that were married outside of any religion at city hall. Are they not married? The documents they get from our government claim that they are. One of them are in the process of getting a divorce - those papers also claim they are married. This same argument was used during the civil right era - "just because the gov't said all citizens were equal doesn't mean I have to let their forced beliefs change how I do things." These people still burn crosses and churches to this day. Granting equal and free access to rights to a minority may be forcing you to deal with an issue you would rather ignore, but that doesn't make it wrong to give them those rights. The issue isn't a matter of who is right and who is wrong. It is a matter of equality for American citizens. Personally, I want all of us to have the same rights. Just because these rights would be granted doesn't mean you can't still hold true to your beliefs. Exactly - freedom to think how you want. No one is stopping that or stopping you from expressing what you feel. But I do know that it is only a matter of time before gay marriage is allowed in this country. What other side? That some don't want it? That it makes people feel uncomfortable? That those that don't understand it will hide their prejudice behind religion? I have seen that first hand. I don't care to stop them from feeling this way. I just want the equality. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

I don't get why you are on the religious aspect of this. I don't see anyone here pushing to have the Catholic Church or any other religion accept gay marriage or have it happen in their buildings. The issue here is with the gov't and civil unions, not bible study. Go to any college theology class and you will hear your arguments pounded out on a daily basis (trust me on this). There are plenty of people in this country that are not in a religion, did not have any minister bless their union and our country legally recognizes them as married. THIS is what is being asked for, THIS is what is being discriminated against. To say that these people are not "married" due to the lack of religion involved would have one hell of an impact on tens of thousands of families. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

So is the Pope God? If not, I don't see how he can change WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS. If the Bible says murdering your Father is bad. Then no amount of the Pope saying its OK is going to change that the BIBLE says its bad.. There fore if the Pope says its OK then the Church is no longer following the BIBLE, and threfore is not longer CHRISTIAN. What really runs the Church these days is called Canon Law. The Church does not follow everything the bible says - it pays people to interpret it to come up with the governing laws. Why doesn't the Church follow the bible? IF it did you would see people being stoned to death, people having to cut off body parts that even thought of a sin, etc. The Church's interpretation of the bible has changed multiple times in history. Look at Vatican II - it was a major paradigm shift in how the Church did things. Plus, which version should they use? In what language? If you ever were to do a side by side comparision of bibles you would see they are not all the same...and the interpretations that come from this are many. What you need to realize is that the bible is not static and every few years a new version comes out (there was even a politically correct version). _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

That was the worst Aug weather I have ever seen in this area. Nothing else ever comes close. Aug also isn't that much of a rain month either - most of the summer isn't. We just got our first rel rain in close to 30 days last night. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Out of site, out of mind. Once you don't have to see them anymore they are no longer a problem, huh? Effective social reform You paid for Grand Central Station or Union Station? Was that check or cash? _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....