Doasfu

In all honesty, the upper peninsula is a fantastically beautiful place, and somewhere I'd love to spend some more time. I haven't been up there in about six years, and that was only for a day or so. Cool to see another Michigan person here, even if you are one of the yoopers who thinks they're from Wisconsin. (like my old roomate) For those of you not familiar with the state, drag out a map and take a look at Michigan. See that thing that's hanging right above it? That's the upper peninsula. :) Dan

Hey Yooper, They have planes there in the U.P.? Who knew. :) Good luck with the weather. I'm still holding out hope for southwest Michigan. Dan

Yep, that's it exactly. Whether or not it really happened, you and I both felt the terror of someone going in...

The worst injury I ever witnessed was about one year ago. I was sitting around passing time in the hangar, intending to make a jump. All of a sudden, I heard one of the loudest noises I've ever heard in my life. A huge, horrendous crashing noise. I run outside, all the time thinking, "That was the sound of someone going in. I'm about to see a dead body when I get outside." It turns out it was not a burn in, but rather a studen who had steered herself square into the side of the hangar, and was lying on the ground screaming in pain. As soon as my brain caught up with my eyes, and realized what had happened, I ran back in and joined a chorus of voices telling manifest to dial 911. By the time the paramedics were there, it was pretty clear that the girl was in serious pain but was going to be more or less alright. She broke a whole handful of bones, but did come out later and sign the dent she made in the hangar wall. I didn't jump that day, and having seen the accident was the primary cause of it. I did, however, make a jump the next weekend. The worst bit was that as we were waiting for the paramedics, some whuffo lady showed up and started snapping pictures of the poor girl. We herded her ass back to the spectator area and blocked her view, but she still got off a few shots before we noticed. I don't know what morbid interest compelled that lady (she only showed up after the accident, I assume she had a scanner) but I'm still pretty pissed about that to this day. So, how did I react to the accident? A mixture of calm and terror. I was sure, sure that the sound I'd heard was someone going in at high speed and that I was about to see the aftermath, and I moved as if underwater, going outside automatically with the world passing in slow motion. It was like my first jump, every sense heightened and my senses seeming somehow magnified. It wasn't untill I perceived that the girl was screaming that everything snapped back to normal and I could think clearly. I've heard that she's been back and made another jump, although I'm postive its true. I hope it is. We crack jokes around the dz about the girl who flew into the hangar, and before the hangar expansion covered it up I would show off the dent to people and tell them the story, but underneath the levity the situation was really damn scary to me. The fact that the jumper in this situation was so obviously at fault helps a lot, I think. If I saw similar injuries on someone did not make such an easily avoidable mistake, I think it would have been very hard for me to make that jump the next weekend. Wow, I've never written any where near this much about the incident... I think I'm rambling at this point, so I'll leave off. :) Dan

I have nine jumps. I've asked my girlfriend, my roomate, and my parents. None of them have more than that. I am pretty sure that I have the most jumps in the world. Dan

I must say, from my own limited experience, that skydiving may well be the only time you'll be happy to have that belly. The sucker should keep your center of gravity right where you want it to be, and make stablity a but easier. :)

Alas, I've tried. She has a standing offer for a tandem from me, but hasn't seen fit to take me up on it yet. :( Dan

... I jumped out of an airplane! :) Damn, July was a long time ago. True, I may have been on the dope rope again for recurrency, it may have been fourty degrees and drizzly on saturday, and I may have slid down gracelessly on my ass, but it was damn fun to get back up in the air. If I can find some way to get out of seeing my girlfriend on her birthday next weekend, I should be back to freefall. :) Just thought I'd share my good mood, Dan

Blue canaray in the attic by the light switch Who watches over you! Make a little birdhouse in your soul. :)

Zennie, I think we've got a lot more in common musically than politically. :) I used to be a huge TMBG fan, even saw them a couple of times. I sort of burned out on them a few years ago, but just last weekend as I was driving to the other side of the state I dug out one of their CDs and listened to them the whole way there. Good fun. Dan

None for me, thanks. :)

I like this version: Farmer: "That plane crashing?" Skydiver: "Nope." Farmer: "Whuffo you jump?" :) Dan

I'll play, too. :) California's problem is not over-regulation or under regulation, its a hackneyed combination of the two. I won't pretend to know enough about the economics of energy to say that I know if the system would work better under a totally free-market approach, or under a completely regulated approach, but in allowing the price the utilities to pay for oil to flucuate, while at the same time fixing the price they can charge for consumers, we have the worst possible hybrid of the two. The State was moronic for proposing it, and the utilities were moronic for accepting it. Just my $0.02 Dan

Skreamer, As an American, I am disgusted by this and many other actions our government undertakes. Failure to adhere to the important Kyoto treaty is ridiculously short sighted, and I think its embarrasing. Dubya was appointed, not elected. Dan

Static Line Student here. Weather and nerves allowing I'm going to retake the FJC this weekend, for what should be the last time.

Foreigners? We're Americans. Everyone else is a foreigner. I had a pretty bad dream. I was flying in to the dropzone. I hadn't jumped, I was just getting a lift in someone's Cessna, I think it was from another DZ. Anyhow, the plane started into a deep dive, and I remember vividly seeing the ground rushing up at me, when the plane pulled out of it and landed, letting me out at my dz, which was on the beach again like my last dream. Also, when the plane was crashing, I was sitting in what seemed like the back seat of a car. Weird. Dan

...the fact that it is 12 degrees out right now. And next weekend it's supposed to be cloudy and rainy. Bloody Michigan. Bitch, bitch. Sorry, Dan

Umm, you know that when you start to think the birds are mocking you, maybe you've become a bit unhinged... Unlike, say, those pilots who fly their Cessnas over my campus all day just to screw with my mind. Dan

wow, the thought of a canopy sitting in a garbage bag on the side of the road waiting to be picked up makes me feel... awful. Dan

I agree, keep 'em coming! Dan

I did! That's the problem, now it's all red and sore.

Geez, Froggie! You went and gave it right away! Didn't you notice we were trying to obfuscate? Dan (I said obfuscate. hehe.)

Hey, hangnails are no laughing matter. I have a terrible one right now, and not only is it making it hard to type, I'm just sure it's going to keep from getting my ripcord out when I jump next week. Serious stuff, man. Dan

I was a newbie not too long ago, now I'm not. Dan

Damn. I have a feeling someday I'm going to wish I had listented to this. Dan