steveorino

Why would the lighter girl be more of an issue than the bigger guy? Think of a badmitten birdie ... TM = ball & light weight tandem = feathers. steveOrino

SORRY IF IT IS A REPOST President George W. Bush goes to a primary school to talk to the kids to get a little good press. After his talk he offers question time. One little boy puts up his hand and George asks him his name. "Stanley," responds the little boy. "And what is your question, Stanley?" "I have 4 questions: First, why did the USA invade Iraq without the support of the UN? Second, why are you President when Al Gore got more votes? Third, whatever happened to Osama Bin Laden?" Fourth, why are we so worried about gay-marriage when 1/2 of all Americans don't have health insurance? Just then, the bell rings for recess. President Bush informs the kiddies that they will continue after recess. When they resume George says, "OK, where were we? Oh, that's right, question time. Who has a question?" Another little boy puts up his hand. George points him out and asks him his name. "Steve," he responds. "And what is your question, Steve?" "Actually, I have 6 questions. First, why did the USA invade Iraq without the support of the UN? Second, why are you President when Al Gore got more votes? Third, whatever happened to Osama Bin Laden? Fourth, why are we so worried about gay marriage when 1/2 of all Americans don't have health insurance? Fifth, why did the recess bell go off 20 minutes early? And sixth, what the hell happened to Stanley?" steveOrino

Any idea how I can find out how many first jump students there were in the USA in 2005? I need the info for a research project. USPA lists approximate jumps, but doesn't list 1st jumpers. steveOrino

Saved from what? I told ya I like religion discussions. steveOrino

I skydive and I post in SC and occaisionally BF. Like Chuck, I prefrer the general Skydiving discussions, along with the Instructor & Photog forums. I typically don't post on political threads as I don't feel politics is that simple. I hate defending my party when I disagree with it and I don't like to side with a party that rewards laziness. However, I do post occaisionally about religion. I prefer to debate it with atheists though as "fundies" will vilify you if you disagree. Atheists/agnostics will simply ignore you. steveOrino

YEP! Even as a newbie, I know that! steveOrino

Yeah, after about 100 they get a little redundant.

Lee has Moobs! steveOrino

Harley Tee shirts from every city I've been to. steveOrino

No, because assuming there were more customers in the rotation, and there was someone who could do the "United 747 Heavy coming in for landing" better, they could trade with no financial repercussions if there is no extra money involved... But if this heavy guy was the only customer left for the day, or no one was willing to trade, then you have a valid point... There were three of us there that day the big guy came. Greg was actually third in rotation behind Mel & me. Both Mel and I are over 210# so Greg was slotted to take the heavy. Did he get a lot more money than Mel & me? Yep, Do we care? Nope! We prefer to police ourselves without relying on some organization telling us our limits, or worse, leveling the pay so no one will be attempted to do more than they should. As I said. It is about knowing (and sticking to) your limits. steveOrino

Yeah, I know but beats Craig (crag dweller) in my simple mind. Picture the students referring to Robin Williams character (Mr. Keating) in Dead Poet's Society "Oh captain, my captain!" From the poem by same name steveOrino

Apart from it is the name my parents chose I don't like my name at all. My two brothers had family names (first & midlle) I had neither. I guess they ran out of males they could name me after. I'm sure I was "supposed" to be a girl after my two brothers. So, they somehow came up with Steve. I prefer my son's names, Dustin, Drew & Cameron. My middle name is Craig. Since both parents are gone and I'm not named after anyone, I thought of changing that name to "Captain". Yeah, I know ... I'm weird. But my wife said it would a legal mess to change wills, insurance, etc. So I guess I will stick with what I got. steveOrino

My mom was my inspiration. I'm way too much like her in so many ways. She died of cancer in 1983 at the age of 54 (I'm 51+). Her mom died of diabetes when she was only 18 months old. She was raised by her grandparents. She met my dad when he was stationed near her home town. I believe she met him at a skating rink. A few months later they were married. She raised three athletic, football loving boys. I remember her staying up late to hear my version of the game. Only later did I realize she couldn't sleep until I was safe at home. She doted on her family. She waited on everyone at the table, rarely sitting down to eat with us. She preferred to cater to her guys. Our wives quickly broke us of that habit. Mom, I miss you! You left this earth way too soon! I hope I made you proud. I look forward to seeing you again. How about them grandbabies of mine! They some cute kids, eh? steveOrino

Way too cool! I bet you are proud!

I admit it would be hard to not want to mess with the dude after the verbal bashing his president gave ours, but I'd suggest the best way to get his goat is to detain him as long as possible to verify who he is, and cover him with pseudo-gentleness, "Yes, sir, I apologize, but will you please face the wall and spread your legs. " steveOrino

Now I can see that if you use your own rig it could age the system, and it is harder work for the TI, thus money well earned... But I guess I have a fundamental problem with this... It encourages people to push their comfort zone for money. In a perfect world, everyone would say, "I will not take anyone that is over this size" and stick with it... But then a slow day comes, the rent bill is due, the brakes on the car need to be done, and this really big person walks in and wants to do a tandem... You are next on the rotation... It is all about knowing your limits and sticking to them. To follow your same reasoning, the same guy with all the bills pressing his finance would most likely still take the tandem over his limits whether he was paid extra or not. As for the example I told about, the TM weighs about 140 pounds. He can take the guys I cant't. I weigh 225#s. steveOrino

Sigh ... no wonder they feel about us the way they do. Personally, I prefer Christ's teaching to do unto them as I would have them do unto me. steveOrino

Our TMs get paid additional $1 for every pound over 220 pounds. I saw one little TM make almost $100 on a tandem jump $30 TM fee $30 Rig fee (his own) $10 packing #28 (Dude was 248#s) steveOrino

Your limits are your wallet, not the weather or time. If you can only jump weekends, you can knock it all out in 2-3 weekends easy. Heck one weekend is possible. I passed 7 levels in 7 jumps over about a month. steveOrino

Tall 6'8" dude. Thank God he was skinny, 175#. I prefer those over the 5'7" 230# guys! steveOrino

THAT says a lot of good things about the BOTH of you! steveOrino

USA may lose the cup, but they'll win the trophy wife competition. Tiger Wood's wife (Elin) vs Europe's captain Woosnam's wife (Glendryth) Lighten up guys ... it is just golf! steveOrino

$2.14 today. It will get below $2.00 in Tulsa soon steveOrino

Just know you can buy a HC30 for $125 or less on Ebay. If Sony wanted to charge you anything, be aware you may be spending more to repair it than the camera is worth. steveOrino

My best guess is they're nervous about skydiving and their ignorance of skydiving is now compunded by their ignorance of diabetes and the maintenaince therein. steveOrino