Shawndiver

Thanks... edited reply, although the original was supposed to be taken as a compliment as well! _________________

I caught the wind tunnel performance purely by chance last night (and in high definition!). I thought given the venue and the audience, it was very well done and an incredible chance for exposure on a scale probably not experienced by this discipline before. The fascination by the commentators and the audience was still tangible up to the commercial break. I think the decision to keep it elegantly simple as compared to some of the more radical moves seen in some tunnel videos worked well, the sight of a more difficult move gone wrong 20' up in a narrow column in front of an international audience of millions would have put it right back into the "daredevil" mode skydiving is to the masses. Instead, it had the commentators considering trying it themselves! Congrats to everyone involved!

Classic II, cya there!

Amazing how anyone over the age of 30 survived their infancy not strapped into their car seats... But it was still a dumb, unnecessary thing to do. _________________

A friend of mine has this problem, he finds wearing a foil helmet helps to cut down the frequency of incidents dramatically!! _________________

2002 Suzuki Volusia, just over 48,000 miles on it! Makes even the long ride to the DZ a great day!

You rock Jaye! Congrats!!!

If they lock you up, can I have your ticket to Thailand? _________________

Skinnyshrek, not a direct reply to you, just my view on this situation: Shayna made a very poor decision getting into a high risk sport with no medical coverage. Unfortunately, the dice rolled against her, and she was critically injured in the outcome. In my younger days, there but for the grace of god walked I (and, I suspect, a significant percentage of this audience in pursuit of some endeavor or another). I was willing to take the risk knowing the consequences could have been severe, but I was 20 something and pretty much invincible. Luckily, I made it through that period intact. So, getting back to Shayna, this left her with some pretty glum choices. A} Go through the next 20 years of her life in abject poverty, disfigured, probably disabled to some degree, and oh, yeah, raising a child to boot. This scenario is a little more serious than having to have to eat Top Ramen and having to bicycle to work for the next couple of years to make up for your foolish mistake. B} By some chance, the media picked up on her story, out of all the miserable, life changing events that happened to hundreds of others during this period, she won the media lottery. By default giving her a chance to reach an international audience. This audience includes a whole range of people including: The holier than thou crowd with all the right answers and the attitude that everyone should be as perfect as they are…and Probably a smaller percentage of people that actually do have some charity in their hearts and are willing to forgive a young woman’s foolish choices and are willing to help her to rebuild her life. Choices, choices. Suck it up and live up to the reality of choice A, or, swallow your pride, grab the chance of an out given to you, and drastically increase your chances of a normal life for you and your child. Given the outcome of the first choice, I can’t blame her for making the choice she made. Sucks to be her, she made some really stupid decisions, but she has decided to take the road that although it is not the politically correct choice, will give her some sort of a chance for recovery from a event that came within inches of killing her. I say, give her a break. And for those that would have sucked it up and taken the harder road above, thank you for protecting my sport and not placing a heavier financial burden on us I’d be happy to give you a dollar on the street as I passed you by… _________________

Plenty of SUV's out there with only 2WD as well. _________________

How about a Chinook helicopter? An exit out of the back of one of those would definitely get my interest! _________________

Last night I gave Elisha the three 10x13 shade canopies I bought , he should be out there sometime Thursday, so keep those in mind setting up! See you all out there Friday evening, save me some shade! Shawn _________________

Good for you to apply for foster home care, there is going to be a huge demand for this over the coming weeks as more animals are found. Last night we got our 2nd delivery of dogs to the Marin Humane Society, with more scheduled in the coming days. I think it is pretty amazing that shelters as far away as California are receiving so many animals (our shelter alone may be getting approx. 500 animals in the coming days) Working with these dogs brings on so many emotions, empathy for the dogs themselves of course, who can even begin to imagine what they have gone through? Empathy for the previous owners, many of these animals were obviously well cared for, and I cannot begin to understand how these people must feel, did my pet drown, or was it rescued and in some shelter somewhere now in the country? Our shelter is fully coopertating with all agencies to help identify and re-unite them with their previous owners, but most will probably never know. The vast majority of the dogs received were not chipped, nor spayed/neutered. On the other hand, its uplifting to see the numbers of people that are volunteering their time to help, last nights load went well past midnight, but most of the people who came stayed until it was finished. It helps to re-affirm that there is some goodness left out there in the world and are willing to help, while so many others are just interested in who to blame for the whole disaster. Figure that out later, in the meantime, do what you can for who you can, whether they be biped or quadraped! Shawn _________________

I was renting this guy free diving equipment to try abalone diving in Northern California for the first time. After looking at his list of what he wanted to rent, I asked, "I assume you need a face mask as well?" His response, "no, I am not diving that deep". _________________

I'm in Novato also! PM sent. Shawn _________________

Hey All, Just came back from SportsMart, they had these 10'x13' shade canopies on sale, they came to $10 each! I bought all 3 that they had out. I make no claims to the sturdiness, etc. but for the price, who cares. Only thing is I will not get there until Friday night, so if you all want them out there earlier, maybe Shannon or someone else here in Marin can pick them up from me to get them out there earlier. Shawn _________________

Congrats to you both Shannon! (Just a little advise, no tuxedos at the wedding, they may remind you a little too much of penguins...) Shawn _________________

Easy! Just take the whole party to Lodi!

Very cool Shannon! Just be careful not to freeze yourself to the ice luge at the Byron Boogie with all that metal! Then again...hmmm _________________

Congrats Shannon! I thought I felt a shiver up my spine yesterday Cya at the Boogie! Shawn _________________

Congrats Lany!! The sky is now a better place.

I think Monty Pythons Knights of Ni had issues with saying "it": ARTHUR: Cut down a tree with a herring? It can't be done. KNIGHTS: Aaaaugh! Aaaugh! HEAD KNIGHT: Don't say that word. ARTHUR: What word? HEAD KNIGHT: I cannot tell, suffice to say is one of the words the Knights of Ni cannot hear. ARTHUR: How can we not say the word if you don't tell us what it is? KNIGHTS: Aaaaugh! Aaaugh! ARTHUR: What, `is'? HEAD KNIGHT: No, not `is' -- we couldn't get vary far in life not saying `is'. BEDEVERE: My liege, it's Sir Robin! MINSTREL (singing): Packing it in and packing it up And sneaking away and buggering up And chickening out and pissing about Yes, bravely he is throwing in the sponge ARTHUR: Oh, Robin! ROBIN: My liege! It's good to see you! KNIGHTS: Aaaaugh! HEAD KNIGHT: He said the word! ARTHUR: Surely you've not given up your quest for the Holy Grail? MINSTREL (singing): He is sneaking away and buggering up-- ROBIN: Shut up! No, no no-- far from it. HEAD KNIGHT: He said the word again! ROBIN: I was looking for it. KNIGHTS: Aaaaugh! ROBIN: Uh, here, here in this forest. ARTHUR: No, it is far from-- KNIGHTS: Aaaaugh! HEAD KNIGHT: Aaaaugh! Stop saying the word! ARTHUR: Oh, stop it! KNIGHTS: Aaaaugh! HEAD KNIGHT: Oh! He said it again! ARTHUR: Patsy! HEAD KNIGHT: Aaugh! I said it! I said it! Ooh! I said it again! That's three its! KNIGHTS: Aaaaugh! _________________

Hey, I survived last year, why not throw the dice again? Post: Coming ballsack Chaoskitty chopchop Cornholio! Deuce Feeblemind Girlfalldown gjhdiver jdobleman lummy mcneill79 mfrese plaything Shawndiver Skyesspot tallguy vdschoor definite maybe Amazon NWFlyer _________________

Thanks for taking one for the team Iwan!! _________________

Also ATC, we would tell the new guy the ATIS morse code identifier was out, hand them a dead mike and see how long they would proceed to "beep beep beep" into the microphone. After installing an ex-girlfriends car stereo, I set the time on the front, only to have her ask me, "how do I know if it is AM or PM? _________________