livendive

Nice tent, is the quality up to scratch? Seems fine to me for a normal nylon tent, though I've only used it maybe a dozen times. It replaced a smaller Ridgeway (3-man) that had lasted me about 20 years. Eventually the channels through which the poles route wore out along the seams on that one. Even that one still works fine, but I wanted something bigger and it's only a matter of time before those channels give up the ghost completely. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Why would you want people to know you are in a relationship? For me, it's to tell all others to back off. If I want to allow women to entertain the possibility of being with me, then I will indicate that I'm not in a relationship. If I want to lay the groundrules (i.e., "I'm taken") then I say I'm in a relationship. Perhaps I'm just a little more old fashioned. I don't play games. Never have. That can't possibly be old-fashioned, because I agree. I consider myself "in a relationship" when the lucky lady and I agree to be exclusive. Of course, like love, it's a good sign if it's perceived in the absence of words, rather than said without being felt. In either case, the purpose of communicating that status is (or should be) to avoid misunderstandings by persons not party to the relationship. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

We got a nice storm a few years ago in which it took the city 3 weeks to get to our street. I kept having to make a path through it with my truck that my ex could follow in her car so she could get to work. When the city finally did show up, they sent a grader instead of a plow. He got stuck in the cul-de-sac across the street from us. Did I mention he had a back-up beeper? Or that it was at 2 AM? Nothing like being woken up by BEEP-BEEP-BEEP....WHIIRRRRRR....BEEP-BEEP-BEEP....WHHHIIIIRRRRRRRR. I went outside and laughed at the poor guy for the half-hour it took another city truck to get there and unstick him. I could have fixed him myself, but I was too busy laughing. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Nice playhut I suppose, but where did you get the $100? It says $18.86. I have a couple year old model of this that I call the Tent Majal. I take it to boogies when I don't want to tow my trailer. I think you're taller than me, but at 6' I have zero problems standing up to get dressed. Lots of room for stuff, and the screen room/front porch is nice to sit in out of the reach of rain/bugs and watch skydivers be silly. I think mine was just a little over $100 at Costco. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

I like this quote from the CNN.com article. Remember the Iraqi Information Minister's rhetoric in the ramp-up and early days of the invasion? Would the following really be that different? I'm thinking the White House ought to try to steer clear of rhetoric about due process, denial of rights, and unconstitutional courts. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

You mean like you just did in this same post "I expect my President to be pretty positive about the causes to which he commits our young troops and countless civilian lives. And that cause ought to be something signicantly more important than trying to prove he's got a bigger dick than his father" Do you have proof that is the reason? Where did I say it WAS the reason? He has a BA from Yale and an MBA from Harvard. Also he is President and has been elected TWICE. So he may be smarter than you claim. Think he'd have gotten those degrees if he'd come from a long line of factory workers? As for the elections, the sad answer can be found by watching an episode each of Entertainment Tonight, the 700 Club, and the O'Reilly Factor and then asking yourself why they're still on the air. The answer has more to do with the populace than it does the entertainers. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

What I think doesn't matter. Such a decision should rest solely with the Iraqi people. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

OK, but without proof to the contrary we didn't KNOW until after the invasion. Not to turn this into a debate about WMD's but the fact is that people supported it, now they bitch about it. The shine has worn off the new toy. To compare to WWII we didn't know the extent of the Genocide until we were in Germany. Sometimes mths later. I was never in a position to *know* anything about Iraqi WMDs, and I sure as fuck would not have accepted "We can't be sure if Iraq has WMDs or not, let's invade them and find out" as reasonable. I expect my President to be pretty positive about the causes to which he commits our young troops and countless civilian lives. And that cause ought to be something signicantly more important than trying to prove he's got a bigger dick than his father. I've already admitted that this sergeant should be willing to accept the consequences of his decision to not report. This thing about shine wearing off a new toy or tiring of feeding a puppy is what's grating on me. You are ascribing a position to people who don't like the current situation that is absolutely not in evidence. The shine of the war hasn't worn off, and I haven't tired of feeding the puppy. What's happened is I was sold a cat when I thought was buying a puppy! I'm not sick of buying pet food, I'm pissed off that it's cat food. And I'm not suggesting we should just withdraw unilaterally. We put the Iraqi people in the mess they find themselves in, and we owe it to them to make amends. But we only need to look a little over the horizon from Iraq to see that violence for violence is not a winning tactic in the war we are fighting. I'll admit that I don't know what the answer is...it'll take more wisdom than I have to figure that out. Unfortunately, as I've said all along, the guy who got us into this mess isn't particularly bright. Maybe next time we'll elect someone with some intelligence, but I'm not counting on it. I gotta get smarter countrymen. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Sure, but do you know that this same situation has not resulted in a dishonorable? No I do not. It's just a gut feeling. Would you agree that he enlisted of his own free will? If so then he in fact was responsible for his being in the Army and that includes maybe going to war. He is not within his rights based on the contract he signed. For the record, I was also called up from the reserve (called IRR for Inactive Ready Reserve). So I don't have much pity on this guy. We'll just have to agree to disagree then. I think every American has the right to blame our leadership for our position in Iraq, *especially* our troops. I don't think the guy is particularly interested in your pity, but just out of curiousity, how many combat tours had you served when you got that call and was the call-up for another? Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Those people were told that Iraq had WMDs and intended to use them against the US. That doesn't appear to have been a particularly honest part of the sales pitch. If you were told the dryer you were buying was capable of also ironing and folding your clothes, wouldn't you be a little pissed off to get home and find out that wasn't true and was just a line from the salesman to get you to buy it? If I bought a puppy from a breeder on the east coast and when it arrived it looked suspiciously like a fucking kitten, I'd be a little pissed every time I went to the store to buy more kitten chow. Wouldn't you? Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

He is talking about the *people*. You are talking about the conflicts. Both are seperate. Back then the people made sacrifices and took risks to make the world a better place. Today most people seem to forget we are even in a conflict and bitch about gas prices....They had rations on almost everything back then. Yet today people seem to bitch more. That is the difference he is talking about. Back then, there was a ongoing genocide in one instance, and a few countries invading whatever other countries they could in both instances. There were obvious and valid reasons for going to war and sacrificing what was necessary to make the world a better place. This time it's us playing the role of invader, without a valid, agreed upon cause (I'm talking about Iraq, not Afghanistan), and without any indication that we're making the world a better place. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

I can. I know people who did several tours but still got kicked out with a dishonorable. I bet it was for something other than failure to report after 2 years of civilian life. Anyone is free to do as they please if they are willing to accept the consequences IMO. But I will not expect there to be no consequences, and blame others. As far as I know, this sergeant was not responsible for the decisions that prompted his first two tours, much less this potential third. I'd say he's well within his rights to blame others for demanding that he again play the role of invader. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Last I heard, Don Kellner has the most jumps (36,000+?) and Bill Dause the most freefall time (500+ hours ?). I believe they've each held their respective records as long as I've been jumping with neither really gaining on the other. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

"They're" spelling or Their spelling? ltdiver "Their probably..." or "They're probably..." Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

And in your 6 years, have you ever gotten a person with a dishonorable discharge a job? If they change his discharge status at all, it'll probably be to "other than honorable" or some such thing. Having served 4 years active duty and 2 tours in battle, I can't imagine them summarizing his service as "dishonorable." And I doubt it'll affect his employment options unless he finds himself in need of a clearance for a particular job. I think both sides are right in this debate. He did sign the contract, and it did say he could be recalled. He's also spent enough time dodging bullets to decide for himself whether he wants to dodge any more, as long as he's willing to accept the consequences. If it was my decision, I'd probably change his discharge to a general under honorable conditions (if that's still a classification of discharge...I seem to fuzzily remember it existing when I was in). Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Could you please post smaller copies of those pictures? I can still almost tell what was being photographed. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

In my purely amateur opinion, you'd have to be in exceptionally poor health and that be an exceptionally strong pill for it to pose any significant risk. My biggest problem with your post is the concept of actually wanting a beer that's available in 40 oz bottles. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

I have no clue, I just copied what Lindercles posted. I think he got it from the DZ directory on here. Wait one...yep, this site shows 11 DZs. I think one problem is defunct DZs are not deleted from the listing, and there are probably some tandem only operations as well. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

OK. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Just because I'm bored...it appears California's DZ-density is 18th in the country. State Dropzones Square Miles DZ-loading (sq.miles/DZ) Rhode Island 1 1,545 1545 Connecticut 3 5,544 1848 Delaware 1 1,954 1954 New Jersey 4 8,722 2181 Massachusetts 4 10,555 2639 Pennsylvania 13 46,058 3543 Florida 16 65,758 4110 Ohio 10 44,828 4483 Illinois 12 57,918 4827 Hawaii 2 10,932 5466 Wisconsin 11 65,503 5955 New York 9 54,475 6053 Indiana 6 36,420 6070 Virginia 7 42,769 6110 South Carolina 5 32,007 6401 Oklahoma 10 69,903 6990 Tennessee 6 42,146 7024 California 21 163,707 7796 Washington 9 71,303 7923 Georgia 7 59,441 8492 Vermont 1 9,615 9615 Michigan 10 96,810 9681 Missouri 7 69,709 9958 Alabama 5 52,423 10485 North Carolina 5 53,821 10764 Maryland 1 12,407 12407 Colorado 8 104,100 13013 Kentucky 3 40,411 13470 Iowa 4 56,276 14069 Texas 17 268,601 15800 Utah 5 84,904 16981 Louisiana 3 51,843 17281 Maine 2 35,387 17694 Arkansas 3 53,182 17727 Oregon 5 98,386 19677 Kansas 4 82,282 20571 West Virginia 1 24,231 24231 Nevada 4 110,567 27642 Idaho 3 83,574 27858 Arizona 4 114,006 28502 Minnesota 3 86,943 28981 North Dakota 2 70,704 35352 South Dakota 2 77,121 38561 Nebraska 2 77,358 38679 Mississippi 1 48,434 48434 Montana 3 147,046 49015 New Mexico 2 121,593 60797 Alaska 2 656,425 328213 New Hampshire 0 9,351 N/A Wyoming 0 97,818 N/A Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

A friend of mine picked up a cute chick he met in a gas station on his way to a boogie. The girl he was bringing to the boogie was none too pleased about it, but I was still impressed in a dumb-founded sort of way. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

I saw it Monday. I thought the cinemotagraphy was very good, and the goings on were engrossing. It did start slow though (caught myself nodding), and I'd be hard-pressed to summarize a story out of it. That is, there didn't seem to be a succinct tale being told, but rather a decades long glimpse into a state of affairs. Overall, I'd give it thumbs-up. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Why do you put out AFF behind tandems? As an AFF-I and a TI, I'd much rather the AFFs exit first. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

I seem to recall sending you a text a couple of days ago. I think your response was "bah humbug" Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)