Croc

The first bike I bought new was a 1971 Kawasaki 500 triple two stroke. At the time it was the fastest production motorcycle made. Way too fast for my skill level, and no brakes anyhow. Put 2500 miles on it in six weeks and then hit some gravel and drove it into a guardrail. After I got out of the hospital my Dad and I hauled it up to the shop where I bought it. It was nearly totaled and they gave me $500 for it. I followed the mechanics as they drug it around to the back of the shop and, lined up there like an elephant graveyard, were forty of them, half of all the 500's they sold that year, and there was still half the summer left! This thread makes me want to buy another bike...my tenth. "Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

Here in Indiana, night jumps are hard to come by. Since they are a requirement for a D license, USPA member dropzones ought to be required to have them at least once a year. I bet that would piss off a lot of DZ owners! "Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

Had a problem with my altimeter eating batteries. I e-mailed the mfr and they sent me a new battery cover and some new batteries, and it was a year out of warranty! Great customer service! "Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

Spectres open soft, but they land like shit. Pilots open and land nicely. "Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

Redwings. Can't wear them out. They're heavy, though. Their waterproof system is good but not as good as Goretex. But they have great support. Also they'll measure your feet at the Redwing store so that the arch and toebox are correct--often that means your "Redwing size" will be different than the size you usually get. Don't buy anything on the net. Fit is everything. "Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

I'm confused. Was that a commercial? If so, for what? "Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

Buddhist, violent? Bahai? Quakers? Amish? Mennonites? You seem to be painting all with a broad brush. "Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

As pchapman said, I suspect you haven't been instructed properly, or at all, how to exit a 182. Every jump plane has its own particular exit methods. Prop blast. door size and location make every aircraft unique. (I learned that in a hurry the first time I exited front float on a King Air...) But I digress--get specific instruction on your exit procedure and practice it on the ground until you are throughly comfortable with it. And, yes, it does matter if you fall off the step--you could bang your head! "Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

As with many servicemen in the USA (plumbers, HVAC, electricians, auto mechanics) we are all on straight commission. Every particular job pays a particular commission. I was skeptical at first, but, after 16 years, I would never go back to hourly. Well, maybe when I'm feeble I'll be a greeter at Walmart. I made a LOT of money over those years. Now that I'm older I wish I hadn't spent so much on motorcycles and jumping. Oh hell, that's not true. I don't regret a dime I've spent on bikes and rigs, except for a Lightning I bought once... "Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

Didn't notice his jump numbers but, so what? A friend of mine did a four stack with Mike Lewis and two of his CRW dog friends just after he got his A licence. I pinned a guy with less than forty jumps a couple of years ago. Another guy with less than fifty or sixty jumps let me land him. Best jump he ever had, he said. And I'm not even especially good at it. (Safe, but not real skilled.) Who says you need a bunch of jumps to run into another canopy on purpose? "Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

Are you building a CRW canopy? If so, go with #5 links so that you can re-trim your canopy with additional links if needed. "Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

My favorite ad was the little Darth Vadar ad. "Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

A Bushmaster AR-15, a Colt Commander, a Smith and Wesson model 65 revolver, a Glock 19, and some other guns and lots of ammo. Jumping is lots more fun than shooting. "Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

No, I'm actually more in your camp. Spelling does count insofar as communication is important. I hoped to offer a more sympathetic point of view to the discussion. Special words, meanings, spellings, pronunciations, etc. are a powerful way of creating and maintaining social strata. E.g., when a West Pointer says "cow" he or she may be speaking of a cadet. Is this a good thing? Probably not outside of Thayer Gate. But again, I didn't mean to argue against you. Nevertheless you might ask yourself what you hoped to gain by pointing it out in an international forum where you are already known as an intelligent person. "Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

In one of my educational misadventures I spent a semester at Warnbourgh (sp?--no joke!) College in Oxford, England. (No relation to Oxford University, although the professors were also Oxford dons.) There I learned, to my astonishment, that the spelling and pronunciation of many common English words was changed arbitrarily in the Elizabethan Age by scholars who were attempting to convince their contemporaries on the Continent that the origin of English was Greek and Latin. For example, "wife" and "knife" originally had two syllables; the "kn" came to be pronounced as "n" to connect it with Greek where no such connection existed. In fact, in the original Anglo-Saxon, every letter in the word "knight" was pronounced. Thus the very great advantage of having letters that represented sounds was thrown out the window for the sake of the ego of some scholars, making the current English language unnecessarily difficult. Shakespeare lampooned this trend in "Love's Labour's Lost". Thus, in English, spelling is a convention, nothing more. And worse, many of these conventions are foolish. Please excuse my misspellings. "Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

Many people, including me, love solo hop and pops. What is not fun is having someone tell you what is not fun. Dave "Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

Wow! "Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

He was certainly a great man, something that I realize more and more as I grow older. (And, hopefully, wiser!) "Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

Don't know where they got their salary info...around here ( Central Indiana) top plumbers make 100,000K or more. "Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

Our cat Bunny believes that anyone who comes to our house has come to see her. Our cat Danny believes that anyone who comes to our house has come to eat him. Our cockatiel Rosie believes that anyone who comes to our house should leave immediately. "Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

Very cool. Thanks! "Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

Yep, a couple of times to get signed off on tracking, for one, then the check dive. Got one from a dude names DJ. Was that you? (I was the old fart with madskilz.) "Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

Here in the State of Indiana the law is clear: if you break into Croc's house while he's there, he can shoot you. Don't know about anybody else. BTW Merry Christmas everybody! "Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

After making nothing but CRW jumps for more than a year I made a freefall jump and it went to hell. Got a coach jump from Dave Durant. Boundless enthusiasm, humor and skill. I want to be like you, Dave! Thanks also to Tara, his lovely wife. "Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

+4 "Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy