nacmacfeegle

"Look for the CO2 Mask and get ready for the ride of your life. " Cos it'll probably be your last one, take it that was a typo Phil O2 works better at altitude. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

"Actually, we're not that crazy about the French having anything more lethal than a chafing dish and stinky cheese. " Hell you should just invade them, topple their government, and install a puppet system loyal to the US. It would be good practice. hehehe...... -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

LIVING ARRANGEMENT? Nac-me and my sweetie of over ten yeras and my wee boy of 2 months WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchet, WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Bits of my lunch...a cheese sandwich WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE BOARD GAME? Backgammon FAVORITE MAGAZINE? Skydive the mag (British parachute mag), Viz FAVORITE SMELLS fresh coffee, freshly made bread LEAST FAVORITE SMELLS? PCB (poly choryl butadiene), H2S, dead people FAVORITE SOUND? Dido's voice, my wee boy chuckling WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD? Terror, real terror at being held up at gunpoint in Nigeria by a kid with an M16 WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING? What time is it? FAVORITE COLOR? Purple HOW MANY RINGS BEFORE YOU ANSWER THE PHONE? home 4 office, 1-2 FUTURE CHILD'S NAME? Current--Calum..future kids...dunno WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT IN LIFE? Happiness and health FAVORITE FOODS Beer CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA? chocolate, what else is there? DO YOU LIKE TO DRIVE FAST? Hell yes! DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL? Inflated yes, stuffed no..... STORMS - COOL OR SCARY? Cool if I'm nice and safe, scary if I'm out in the middle of the sea at the time---- I spend a lot of time on oil rigs. WHAT TYPE WAS YOUR FIRST CAR Land rover short wheel base IF YOU COULD MEET ONE PERSON DEAD OR ALIVE? Leonardo Da Vinci FAVORITE ALCOHOLIC DRINK? Beer, all beer is good WHAT IS YOUR ZODIAC SIGN? Aries DO YOU EAT THE STEMS OF BROCCOLI? Hell yes, prostate cancer guys....... YOU COULD HAVE ANY JOB YOU WANTED WHAT WOULD IT BE? DZ bum IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY COLOR? Why? EVER BEEN IN LOVE? Yup, still am, and with the same girl, also still in love with my sweetie IS THE GLASS HALF EMPTY OR HALF FULL? The glass is the wrong size FAVORITE MOVIES Spaghetti westerns, anything scifi, WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED? Dunno, can't get under it for all the clutter and junk WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NUMBER? Pi, it makes the world round FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH Rugby -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

"I am sure that my gradfather would really appreciate that." Lest we forget bro... Besides, I know for a fact that most US citizens are actually quite decent people underneath it all. My time in Texas taught me that. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

"the world would be boring if we had no-one to argue with" Its also quite good fun to noise up the colonials every now and again too..... -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

"I don't recall ever asking for help from anyone, let alone the US" Ummm, we asked for, and got a whole load of help from Uncle Sam about 60 years ago. And by golly we needed it. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

The Scots, hell we invented soccer violence, and still maintain outmoded religious bigotry. We have driven our own people off their lands, because it made better financial sense to populate it with sheep. The Swiss...hmm kinda difficult to think up something your govt has done recently that I personally disagree with. Apart from all those damn clocks, that triangular chocolate, and those fiddly little penknives. Hmmm, if I were an international terrorist, where would I stash my war chest? -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

French atomic testing at Moorea (sp) atoll, and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior in NZ. The UK's 'handling' of the situation in Northern Ireland. The sinking of the Belgrano during the Falklands conflict. Sitting back and watching Yugoslavia tear itself to pieces. Supporting Kuwait, yet ignoring Tibet, Rwanda, etc Conflicts involving outmoded colonialism such as the Congo, etc What I'm trying to say is that before we criticise an all too easy target, perhaps some introspection might be a good idea. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't stop questioning our colonial cousin's policies, its just that none of us are totally whiter than white. peace D -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

I disagree, its not that I hate him....I just don't agree with SOME of his policies. Being the leader of the most powerful nation on earth can't be an easy job at the best of times, but when you have a large majority of the country (not to mention the civilised world) outraged by an attack, and baying for blood, its gotta be even more difficult. From my point of view there's a lot of things European premieres have done in the not too distant past that are nothing to be proud of. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

"Sounds so gross it has to be delicious Hmm" Recipes here http://www.smart.net/~tak/haggis.html Its a bit of a 'ritual food' these days, but regardless of what goes into it, it actually tastes quite good...... -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

All the above are good, also important...don't rush it you have a lot more time than you think..... -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

I'll throw in a haggis, and a couple of bottles of fine malt whisky...... -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

"the CD is baked" Aw man, I was gonna suggest taking the CD out of the drive turning it over....well you get the picture -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

"They pay me to talk to skydivers all day long. " Me too they just don't know it! Good news on your publicity for JFTC, by the way. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

Yup thats the one.....Its being used for a car advert here in the UK. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

Hey Bilious dude, your from the UK.. what about that..... "I'm stickin with you, Cos I'm made out of glue" jingle, betcha can't get it out of your head now hehehe...... Can't believe it was written by John Cale (allegedly) -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

I generally trust the BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2280008.stm for example gives you a flavour of whats happening this side of the pond. And of course, the continued good natured exchange of views and opinions of people like ourselves has got to be good. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

Just hangin' nate, anything to avoid actually working, you know what I mean..... -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

Roister Doister One who roisters....... -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

BTW, I'm an engineer, I design, build, and modify the oil rigs Huffermoose spends half his life on...... -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

"Is training in winter an option" Its an option, but if you only have a small 'window' to train in, its likley to be frustrating. Skydiving is heavily dependent on the weather gods, even more restrictions apply when you are a (skydiving sense) student. AFF is certainly the way to go if you are limted in time etc, and its the way I would recommend anyone in the UK hoping to progress within a reasonable timeframe. If I were you, I would think about training abroad, especially in november, as you know the weather here sucks in winter. Of course its more expensive, if funds allow, its best to contact a few outfits that run AFF in America, France or Spain, if this appeals let me know and I'll sort you out some contact details. I'm at work right now, but can look them out later. Static line in november is not liklety to be a good idea, your progression will be slow, and because of the frequent weather holds, you will not be able to make sufficient jumps to remain 'current' with your newly developed skills. I started static line in Scotland, and finished my progression in America out of sheer frustration. D -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

"Forgive me if this is in the wrong forum." You are in the right place to gibber about skydiving. "I have achieved a life long dream by completing a tandem jump on Saturday, and am now making plans to complete the AFF training." Welcome to our world, and I'm pleased you are bitten. "I was also wondering if anyone could recommend a school in England that I should use?" You don't say where you live, and at teh end of teh day, its location that will probably dominate our decision making process, I might enquire at the DZ where you did your tandem. All parachuting centres in the UK operate under BPA guidance. Go here to find a map of affiliated DZs http://www.bpa.org.uk/dropzone/dzone.htm Or, if you let us know where you are at, we can help you with your choices. Once again, welcome, hope to see you around

"Hope I've redeemed myself. " [elvis voice on] Thats all right Mamma [elvis voice off] -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

Good questions and worthy of thought BEFORE it happens to each of us. I agree with most of the answers given from the usual reliable sources..... However---- open container/floating pin and bridle in the middle of a formation:- Saw this twice in one week, Langar '99 Britsh RW record attempts...the guys spotting the imminent hazard, flew over to the person concerned and held him whilst the rest of the formation departed, then, after checking for the presence of video folks, gave the pull signal. A hand on the d-bag definitely kept one incident from turning nasty. On a go around for traffic, help your friends back in. And yup, its not that easy, and be careful where you grab em wrt handles etc. I've hauled our very own Ramon back into an Otter from the camera step. Again on a large RW load, we had a jump where the floaters were out way too early on a record attempt, 19,000ft, off oxygen, and very cold. So watch out for that too. We got everyone back in except one guy who had a very unpleasant time of it, he eventually let go and reportedly had difficulty pulling, but made it down OK. I have video of all these incidents stashed away somewhere, someday, when I'm really bored I'll compress and post some of it. cya D -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

Ommm>>>>>transatlantic vibes