JDBoston

I lived with a girl I knew from college for the first 1.5 years out. Without going into gruesome detail, because I'm at work and don't have the time, I finally went online to do some research and figure out what the fuck was wrong with her. I came to the conclusion that she has Narcissistic and Histrionic personality disorder. Look them up sometime, and imagine how much fun it would be to have someone like that involved in your life in any way. She moved out 1/2 way through our second year of being roommates, and I haven't voluntarily spoken to her since. I'm a really nice guy most of the time, but she's the one person I actually wish bad things on. Joe

NO SHIT. I just bought a used Triathlon, and at least 50% of the reason was that it wasn't ass-ugly like most of the canopies out there. I don't know if a lot of skydivers are colorblind or what, maybe spending too much time up above the clouds where there's no ozone and the sun burns their eyeballs or something... Joe

Duh, you forgot boxer briefs. That's all I ever wear. Joe

Yeah, yeah, yeah, and hairdressers, gardeners, actors, etc... Joe

I'm no scientist, but I think of it more like an anomaly that recurs from generation to generation with the same frequency. Maybe there's a hereditary factor, maybe it's some biochemical thing in the early stages of development. Either way the probability is relatively fixed in each generation. Anyone know if there have been studies done on its frequency in different regions/populations/ethnic groups? THAT would be interesting. Joe

By all means. You need to purchase it first though. I will provide you with the payment details Joe

Viking, I have some stunning lakefront property in Arizona that I would like to sell you so you can do your cardio work there to get in shape. Seriously, all you have to do to get cut is these two things: 1. Run. Far. Fast. Make sure you sweat a bunch. It should hurt to get out of bed the next day. 2. Do situps, crunches, and leg raises until your stomach cramps up and you can't do them any more. Don't worry about being scientific about it. Just make sure it hurts. Oh, and make sure you stretch out for 10-15 minutes before each workout. That way you won't get injured. Peace, Joe

LMAO!!!!!!! My bad, I'll go back and edit it. Joe

I think you'll be fine. You'll find plenty of conservatives in skydiving who agree with you, and you'll find plenty of other people who don't agree with you, but will listen to what you have to say. As you can see by the (mainly) civil debate on the gay adoption thread. You will also find plenty of assholes, as you would in any large group of people. But overall I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. You sound like a good, reasonable person and I'm sure you'll fit in fine. Joe

Chuck, in all fairness I think you should expand a bit on what you think the negative consequences would be of gay parents raising a child. Consequences for the child, for society at large, etc. Joe

Well, to be more specific about my own beliefs, I believe everyone falls somewhere on a spectrum as far as gay-straight. Most are at one of the "poles," some are farther towards the middle. The way you're raised will NOT affect where you are on that spectrum, but it WILL affect how much of your sexuality you openly express. Anyway, people are obviously still free to debate my opinion on it, cause that's what it is, opinion. I probably could have pointed it out more explicitly as an opinion in my earlier post for the sake of intellectual honesty... Joe

Rhino, I think you have the right intentions as far as caring for children and wanting your kids to grow up and be stable, happy adults, and wanting to be an active parent and not just plop them in front of the TV or with strangers. But from my perspective, you are mistaken on a couple important points: Gay people are born that way, not taught. If your kid turns out to be gay there is nothing you could have done or can do to change that. You just have to accept them for who they are. It's not a "choice" that's given to people, just as you and I did not "choose" to be straight. We just are. I mean, who on earth would ever CHOOSE to be gay in this day of prejudice, AIDS, etc.?... The "system" you speak of as being better for kids than bouncing from gay couple to gay couple is in fact foster care, which by definition is bouncing from family to family until you end up with one that wants to adopt you. This gets progressively less likely the longer you stay in the "system." Fact... My $0.02, Joe

To me it's kind of like asking 50 years ago whether people think interracial couples should be allowed to have kids. Yeah, the kids would probably get some shit about it from ignorant people growing up, but that didn't mean the parents were doing anything wrong by having and raising them. If anything, these kids grow up more balanced and sensitive because they have 2 sets of cultures & backgrounds & perspectives to understand. As far as the whole "family values" line against gay parents, which seems pretty common, IMHO that's a total load of shit. Family values means loving, supportive parents who spend time with their kids, and a stable, safe home. That's how you raise grounded kids with a sense of morals. It doesn't matter if the parents are white, black, gay, straight, or Martian. Joe

I guess my basic take on it is that, despite what we would like to think, skydiving is not yet a science and there are MANY "holy wars" being fought out there, about everything from gear to body position to canopy control etc. So while experience does mean better advice MOST of the time, it doesn't ALWAYS. Some things, there isn't only one answer for, and it's best to gather a range of opinions, maybe even from people with jump #'s in the hundreds. Then, when you've asked the same questions of people with thousands of jumps, you can decide who knows their shit & can back it up with factual data, and who you trust. My $0.02, Joe

Well said. I agree with you. However, even at only 31 jumps, I DO feel qualified to advise you to use more than one paragraph in the future

8.8% like the rest of you people. Since I'm not bi nor have I screwed an animal, I expect I'll be stuck at 8.8 for a long time. Joe

Nice job brother! That's the way to do it - as many jumps as you can pack in. It all feels strange during AFF, and there's new shit to do every time, so it really helps (IMHO) to just bang through the levels. With proper preparation on the ground, of course... first solo exit was a big step for me. I tumbled like crazy right out of the door, for no reason at all, then realized that I just had to chill out and arch and everything would go fine. And it did. You'll be fine on the hop 'n' pop. Just remember that you have TONS of time when you get out at 5K. Hell, you could wait 15 seconds to pull and you'd still be above 3K. Have fun! Joe

Not so. Scores like that are a good thing to have, but the fact is you can get into Harvard with scores as low as 1000-1200 if you're a legitimate blue chip athlete. Places like Brown & Cornell and Penn are a bit easier to get into, but not a ton. Either way, people with 1500-1600 on their SATs regularly get turned down by schools like Harvard if there are no other apparent dimensions to their background or personality. As an indicator of academic success, though, I agree with you. That said, after a second look I am inclined to agree with Justin that this thread is a troll. Joe

I have a friend who was a Philosophy major and ended up trading energy derivatives. I was a Linguistics major and got a job in venture capital. My boss majored in English and sells software. You don't need to major in Economics to get a good job... so keep looking around, I'm sure you'll find something. And make sure skydiving is on your resume somewhere, so you'll stand out from all the boring losers you'll be competing for jobs with. When you sift through hundreds of resumes trying to figure out who to talk to, anything that makes you memorable is good. It may sound like a gimmick, but it's true. Joe

You gotta be a little more specific - if you're talking about an MBA, Harvard is good but HBS grads have a reputation in the business community for having, well, how should I put this, an inflated sense of how much money they should be making, given their actual experience and qualifications. If you look at CEOs of the Fortune 500 I think maybe one or two went to Harvard Business School. Yale's business/management school is not really in same league as those at Harvard, Stanford, UPenn, etc. I'd say focus on finding a job you enjoy and the rest will take care of itself. There are a couple of ways to make lots of money with few specific skills except some general smarts and a lot of hard work. The two that come to mind are sales and investment banking. Joe

Damn, you people are like a bunch of three year olds. Please welcome me to your club. I will eat pretty much anything as long as it's not spicy, rotten, or contains big chunks of pepper or onions. Or okra, olives, radishes, brussel sprouts, artichoke, or avocado. I will eat pickles from the jar, but NOT along with other foods like burgers. I like to eat all different kinds of animals, sea, land, or air, but I will not eat processed meats like bologna, pepperoni, etc. that are made of ground-up asses and noses and whatnot. I need to be able to imagine what my food looked like when it was alive, with the exception of lunch meats like turkey and ham which I know are probably pretty much processed too. Joe

The nastiest food I've eaten, hmmm.. to take Justin's subtle, funny joke one crass step further: do you want a name? Seriously, kimchi is the most wrong "food" I have ever knowingly put in my mouth. It's like Korea's national dish or something. Fermented cabbage buried underground for a while. Plus some other nasty shit and a lot of spice. I ate it on a dare. Joe

I like animals a lot. I've owned lots of 'em. But after this morning I like my current animal a little less. He's a chihuahua mutt, about 10 lbs., 8 months, looks kind of like a puppy instead of the fully-developed little wuss dog he is... whoops, sorry, I'm used to having bigger more manly dogs... so I take him out first thing at like 6:30 AM, he pees, he poops, success, I take him back in. Then while I am in the shower, he lets loose with about 1/2 gallon of pee on the middle of my bed. Soaks through 2 comforters, including a down comforter which now has to be dry cleaned. Before you dog experts out there tell me that the first pee was just him marking his territory and he still had a full bladder after that, let me tell you that he has never once peed twice on one walk, with me, my roommate, or my roommate's girlfriend. We are accustomed to him just getting it all out at once. Now I'm thinking maybe he has a bladder infection or something. Needless to say, I was not excited by this turn of events. Hopefully it will be the last time. Oh well - time to go home now and see if he's lost control again. Joe

Not necessarily. I still provoke my college roommate all the time now that we're living together again, because I'm so used to him telling everyone about the time I pissed on him that it doesn't bother me any more. Joe

Does that really happen? That's kind of neat. Joe