Zennie

Which reminds me, I tested out my Sherpa on a tower with known platform heights recently. I zeroed it out at the base and compared at the platform levels. It was almost dead-on (+- 15 feet). So you can gauge AGL in addition to windspeed. Very handy. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Welp, I'm hosed. Mine are black & gray. Predominately black. My friend, who has a macabre sense of humor to begin with, even commented... did you have to pick colors that are so depressing? - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

And there are also many many studies supporting it. Anybody can say anything and call it a "study". Given the fact that ADHD is an accepted diagnosis in the medical community, I think I'll trust my doctors' (note the plural) judgment. Ummmmm.... my symtopms do manifest themselves in all aspects of my life. It isn't something that I can turn on or off... not even with meds. Meds only temper the symptoms, they don't eliminate them. I read the page you referenced and a few comments in order. Nothing on this page "debunks" anything I've said. All it says is that one should be cautious in confusing an unusually gifted person with one who has ADHD. I agree with this sentiment and so does every psychiatrist/psychoogist that I've talked to. Another common misconception of ADHD is that it implies poor performance in work or school. Not necessarily. There are many highly intelligent people I personally know with ADHD and performed quite well in school. One even graduated Manga Cum Laude. There is such a thing as a high-functioning ADHD. Your child's school system is not in the business of diagnosing a medical condition. That is the domain of phsyicians and psychologists. School systems cannot prescribe ADHD medications. Only physicians can. People who self-diagnose cannot prescribe themselves medications. Only physicians can. I suppose it depends on how you define "mind-altering", but Adderall does not have intoxicating effects for people with ADHD. It does improve my ability to focus and concentrate, however. If that's al alteration, I'm OK with that. Same with antidepressants. This assumes that I haven't thought about it... an assumption which you make without knowing anything about me, my history or my condition. It also denies the professionalism of the physicians (again not the plural) who I have consulted before going on meds. Maybe you should "think" before assuming that patients and licensed professionals would ignore research, make diagnoses and prescribe medications just "because". Going on medications is a personal choice. I don't deride those who choose not to go on medications for personal reasons. It would be appreciated if you showed similar respect for those who do. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

They offer mini-seminars the day before, but I wouldn't really call the FJCs. You won't go away from them knowing how to pack, assess sites & conditions, etc. You will know what you need to jump the bridge. If you plan on doing more than jump the bridge, you should either find an experienced mentor (like I did) or take one of the FJCs from one of the BASE outfitters (Vertigo, CR, BR, etc.). - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

My condolences Frank. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Funny you say that. I've had the exact same vibe when doing a cross-country. Sort of that "What if my harness comes loose?" Feeling. I said Yes and No. Getting out of a plane doesn't bother me anymore. But crawling out over a railing at 800' with a wadded up PC in your hand and the wind at your back still scares the crap out of me... let alone summoning up the courage to actually jump. Maybe that's why I like it so much. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

How funny that we were thinking the exact same thing! Another hallmark of ADHD is low self-esteem... a feeling of being a failure, of never measuring up... even though you may actually do quite well in school, work etc. And to answer your question Tiff, it's a very common misconception that ADHD is only a "child's disease". I've had it all my life but I wasn't formally diagnosed (by two psychiatrists and a psychologist) until this year. The meds used to treat ADHD in adults is the same as for kids. I take Adderall. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Gimme an "A"! Gimme a "D"! Gimme an "H"! Gimme a "D"! You think you're bad? Try this on for size.... I was in a hurry to get somewhere (forget exactly where), and I go to where my keys normally are. Ain't there. I spend the next 20 minutes tearing the house apart cursing up and down how sick I am of losing my keys. Liz asks "What's wrong?" I tell her I can't find my keys. So she says "You mean the ones you have in your hand?" I couldn't believe it. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Heya Tiff, Like lots are saying, the choice is totally yours, but all I can give is my perspective as a guy (for whatever that's worth). If I have a choice between small real boobies and big fake boobies, give me the small real ones thank you very much. For starters, natural is better (in my book). Small, big, hey they're boobies and that's all that matters. Second, "beautiful" is awfully subjective, and I really don't give a damn what Hollywood tries to tell me "beautiful" is. Sorry, but Pamela Anderson looks like crap in my book. Gimme Liv Tyler, Lucy Liu or Carrie-Anne Moss (OK, I like brunettes). So don't let Hollywood influence you or give you some sort of inferiority complex. Most people I see in Hollywood are even more screwed up than me. Finally, like others have said, ask yourself why you want the implants. And be honest with yourself. Will getting them really address what is making you feel down? I seriously, seriously doubt it. Most issues come from the inside, not the surface. So try and address what is the real problem (and only you know that) is. A cosmetic change will only be temportary and superficial. You'll get them, be happy for a while, but learn they didn't "fix" the real problem. Then you'll be miserable and out however many grand boob jobs cost these days. Be happy with yourself. Learn to like yourself for who and what you are. If you try to be something or someone you think someone else wants you to be, you'll be robbing yourself of your individuality and you'll never be truly happy. I've never been so miserable as when I was trying to be what I thought Liz wanted me to be. I lost myself... my identity... and became a shell of a person. Don't let that happen to you. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Absolutely, but I'm going strictly on Quade's hypothetical, in which there is no uncertainty.... that is part of the hypothetical. No as far as practical application goes, you bring up very valid points. It would be extremely difficult to come up with a scenario in which one would be certain that they have a perpetrator who has information necessary to extract. As a practical matter, I think we need to err on the side of caution. I would rather have a policy of no torture if there exists a risk that an innocent person may be mistakenly tortured than the converse. That's the nice thing (and problem) abouot hypotheticals.... you define the parameters and they are clear-cut. Life is rarely that way. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Following the "depends on how you define torture" tangent, would the use of "chemical inducement" qualify as torture? I would really be shocked if we don't have chemical agents which would weaken a person's resistance to interrogation without causing any permanent physical or psychological side effects. Heck, an ideal agent would cause the person to have no memory whatsoever of what transpired during the interrogation. Would one consider that "torture"? I'm not sure I would. And to answer Quade's hypothetical, as much as I abhor violence, I think it would be appropriate to use whatever means necessary to extract information from someone who you know is part of a plot to kill people if doing so would have a decent likelihood of saving innocent people's lives. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Nothing like having a great freefly with friends and then finishing with a killer swoop. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

'Bout the best we can do is learn from our mistakes & try not to repeat them. And I know it's cliche, but sometimes we think we just screwed our lives up and then something happens later that makes us grateful for the screwup. Doors may open that would otherwise have been shut, you may meet someone who is a really good match... even if the first one was pretty good as well. I'm not a huge believer in fate, but things seem to sort themselves out over time. That said, I'm still dealing with my own "issues". I still kick myself for some of the things I did (or didn't do). And I don't know about other situations, but if my ex came back my response would be abso-f#$%ing-lutely not. I don't think there's anything she could do to get my trust back. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Ah, thanks for the clarification. It's sort of ambiguous if you aren't in on the joke, and I took it in the "bad" sense. So the reaction was basically a "DOH!" rather than them seeing something bad happen. I also rewatched it and noticed he was stowed, not handheld. Funny how one "remembers" things totally differently from what actually happens. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Funny you mention this. At the very beginning of Continuum there's a very brief clip that shows a guy running off a cliff handheld. You see him pitch and he drops out of view. The guys that are with him are looking over watching and almost immediately turn away with that look that says something really bad happened. So you don't see what happened to the guy going off, just the reaction of his fellow jumpers. I have no idea whether the guy died or not. The kicker is that the video is dedicated to Earl Redfern & Clint Ford... both of whom died in a plane crash. So I have no idea who is in that first video clip. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Real fear is watching someone you love battle a sickness which may or may not kill them... and being totally helpless to do something about it. 'Spose some could say that about BASE. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Oh man! People still play "I Never", "Quarters" & "Sink The Bismark"? "I Never" is great. But usually only good once everybody was good and drunk from playing one (or both) of the other two. My favorite "I Never" question that I'd ask was "I never m4sturb4ted in the past month." Then I'd drink. I loved to watch people squirm. Especially the women. I voted for quarters though because that was always sort of our standby game. And me and a few others loved to get these huge football players wasted. Clink. Drink. Clink. Drink. Clink. Drink. Clink. Drink. Clink. Drink. Clink. Drink.... There was a really cool mutation of quarters called "Chandeliers" that the more "advanced" quarters players played. Each person has a 1/2-3/4 full glass in front of them and they are arranged in a circle. Inside the circle is an upside down glass, and sitting on top of the upside down glass is a FULL glass. If you put the quarter into somebody's glass, they have to drink it (and refill, obviously) and you can go again. If you put it into the high-sitting middle glass, everybody has to drink their glass (except you). Last one to finish has to also drink the contents of the full glass. Never heard of Flippy Cup though, what's that? - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Well, then I may really be screwed. The payment was both subsequent to the divorce and part of the property division agreement filed with the court. Thing is, Texas is a community property state, not an alimony state. This was all part of the equitable division of community property. Guess I'll be paying an accountant/tax attorney to help me out on this one. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Don't try to impress them. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

... I got a good one for ya. OK. Here's the deal. Liz & I get divorced. Liz wants to keep the house. I want my share of the equity. So as part of the property division agreement she agrees to pay me $X which represents approximately half the equity we had in the house (i.e. current market valie - principal) and she refinances. I am in the process of buying my own place. I'm getting 100% financing, so I don't need (or want) to put any of that payout down. My new place costs more than the old house when we bought it. So the big question is, is that $X taxable income? As I understand it, property divisions in a divorce are non-taxable. can accrued equity fall under that exemption? There's also a $250,000 exemption for the sale of a primary residence, but would an equity payout/refi qualify as a "sale"? Would it be a capital gain? Seems like only the latter would make it a taxable event, but it seems more in line with one of the first two. So whaddaya think? Do I owe taxes on the payout or can I get a legit exemption that won't result in an audit? - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Careful there paisano, or we freeflying POPS may have to show you punks a thing or two. This horse has still got quite a few good laps left in him. And remember, we're not "old", we're "experienced". Oh, and to answer the original question, 35 two years ago. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I've seen some video of Eric Butts with a reserve lineover and it was some scary stuff. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I'm mentoring under a Master Rigger here in Texas (Bill Lee) right now for this very reason. I really think to be a truly knowledgable BASE jumper you need to have a rigger's knowledge of equipment. I've always been one who like to know how his equipment works, and I always sort of felt like I never really understood the "whys" of things when I was just skydiving. I plan on at least getting my Senior Rigger's ticket. There are an awful lot of riggers out there so I'm not sure I want to really go into it as a side business, but you never know. Some may disagree here, but if you can mentor under a good Master Rigger I would highly recommend that over a course. The going might be slower, but you'll learn an awful lot and meet a lot of people in both the skydiving and BASE communities. It's as much a social thing as a gear thing. Just my $0.02 - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

We may not be as far apart as you might think. You just hit on Ted's Soapbox #872... Far, far too many kids are being diagnosed with ADHD merely out of convcenience for the parents. It's a heckuva lot easier to just dismiss a basic behavioral problem (possibly caused by poor parenting?) as ADHD, throw the kid a pill and then forget about it. Of course then the kid gets more hyper so they give him/her more drugs, etc. etc. In my case, I completely accept responsibility for my part in my marriage failing. I never blamed it on the ADHD, though I'm certain it played a factor. I consulted two psychiatrists & a psychologist before I went on meds... all of whom concluded I'm ADHD. Now the drugs don't have the effect on me that it sounds like they had on your g/f. I feel more alert, less depressed (I'm also on Wellbutrin) and more like myself. It really is a night & day difference for me. But even now I have to monitor my reaction to my current dose, and I may wind up lowering it here in a bit because sometimes I get a little too ancy... I'll start fidgeting & obsessing about things needlessly. That's the problem with psychiatry... it's not static. What may work perfectly for a few months will need to be adjusted down the road. As far as the incentives for prescribing drugs goes... it's not just confined to neurology. I remember a few years back my ex & I were invited to this posh dinner where a "respected"doctor talked about the benefits of phen phen and downplayed the risks thatwere coming to light as hysteria. He happened to eat at the same table as me so I asked what I thought were some basic questions... what studies were done, what caused people to think these risks were real, stuff like that... he kept dodging my questions and both me & my ex sort of suspected he wasn't being totally up front. Well, about a year later guess what got pulled from the market? Guess what is now the subject of countless class-action lawsuits? Still, I am interested in Strattera. There are some things about the stimulant treatment that I don't like and it would be nice to give a non-stimulant treatment a whirl. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon