JJohnson

I'm looking forward to seeing some old friends and meeting some new ones. See you there Sunshine. JJ JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

I work for a Finnish company, and was a little suprised by this. Driving around Chicago today, one of Finnish compadres made a remark about how much decorations we Americans put on our houses. His exact words were: "Do all you Americans have a secret storage shed somewhere to hide all your holiday decorations." He went on to explain his observation that no normal house could possibly hold all the shit we seem to have for Easter, Halloween, X-mas, Thanksgiving....you name it. He says ," You people don't have the Halloween stuff down yet, and already there is houses with X-mas stuff and Thanksgiving stuff up!" I had to laugh. Some of the houses already look like Clark Griswald's place. At X-mas time most neighborhoods are so lit up airplanes go into holding patterns above them. So seeing as how we got a lot of folks from other countries out there....what's the story? Are we Americans the only people that (over) decorate their houses for every little holiday? JJ JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

Well I was not really paying attention to any of the posts on the Eloy X-mas boogie cause I wasn't going. But a new customer of mine in Phoenix is buying a machine from us. During our conversation I find out he's an old jumper. One thing leads to another and bingo....He takes delivery in December and wants me to come out and "train" him. I love it!!! I arrive on the 27th and leave on the 31st. What is the planned agenda for DZ.Com people? Who all is coming for sure? I'll be getting a rental vehicle does anyone need a lift from the airport that day? JJ JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

Well said. JJ JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

Peace brother. May 5th, 1990 and counting. JJ JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

Me!!!! I'm the best freeflier I have ever been in the air with. In fact I'm so damn good that ater jumping with me most freefliers won't jump with me again....obviously they can't take me showing them up. I got this one move....to the untrained eye it is a blur of movement. Arms and legs flying everywhere! Then bam! Right back to a stable sit. Man I'm good. A real legend in my own mind. JJ JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

His reponse to that question made him sound like a dick...to be blunt. I don't know the man, but I don't see as how the question was a waste of anyone's time. If he thought so he didn't have to answer. JJ JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

ANIMAL!!!! Used his patch to cover a hole in the leg of my FF suit. Lesson: Never wear baggy pants while riding a motorcycle, it will burn a hole. JJ JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

I enjoy doing night jumps alot and there is some anxiety in doing them. One trick I was taught was to tape the chem light stick to my helmut with gaffer's tape. Then when I bring the altimeter to my face to read it the chem light is bright enough to see it. The chem lights are suprisingly bright. I was also amazed to find out how little gaffers tape was required to hold the chem light to my helmut. It did not budge at all. I would also suggest using an audible altimeter. JJ JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

I'm with you brother. Scary shit. JJ JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

Smoking is the last bad habit I got to give up.......well aside from smoking crack, whores and biting my toe nails while watching Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.......was that my out loud voice again? JJ JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

A true musical genuis, one hell of a talented musician and a very intelligent person.... "watch out where the huskies go and don't you eat that yellow snow!" Although Billy the mountain has to be my favorite. JJ JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

I find the entire term "politically correct to be offensive. Since was does politics have anything to do with being correct? "nuke the gay whales for Jesus!!" that my motto!! JJ JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

The ball is made out of a cheap plastic. I don't think getting out of that would pose any real problem at all. The jumper will fall faster than it once his partners let go of it. All the jumper has to do slip through it and break it as he needs to till it floats above him. Track a bit and get clear....worst case scenario. Don't get me wrong, they added an element of danger to the jump, but not a lot. The results were coool as all get out. Nice pics. JJ JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

I think I know the dude you are talking about. Was he the guy on Lake Street in Hanover Park area?? If so he tried to hand me the same line. JJ JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

I was the guy in neon green freefly suit. Amidst all the rather conservative dressed Army boys I stuck out like a sore thumb. I got a few comments on my "loud" colors. Hope to see you the next I get out that way. JJ JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

Thanks to a little business trip I was able to hit Raeford this last weekend for their Veterans Day bash. No longer being active duty I did not get to take advantage of the awesome deal, but it was still a great time. Tony the owner bent over backwards to get the civilians into the air, including putting his Otter up with as few as 7 people. I got to make 8 loads from Friday to Saturday, got to finally meet the infamous Chuck Blue and hang out with so damn many Army rejects it almost made the Marine in me puke. As I was about to leave on Saturday night I realized I had forgotten to get any bumper stickers from the DZ. ( I decorate my garage with them ) Tony opened up the gear store for me and sent me home with enough patches and decals to decorate my neighbors garage. All weekend the Golden Knights were running their invitational meet and socializing. They were willing to teach anybody anything they could. It was a really cool time and the DZ is beautiful. Thanks to all. Hope to get out your way again. JJ JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

I was at the boogie, and guy who organized this little adventure is a very saftey oriented person. It was announced that there was going to be a target shoot, EVERYONE was aware of it both on the ground and in the plane. I felt real bad for Shannon, but she did land in the target area. It would not sueprise me to find out that a few of the Byron boys helped flip the bill for th repair and if not, Shannon I will help you out. JJ JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

I too have a Cobalt 120, loaded at about 1.6. I have noticed that this canopy requires my attention during opening. At LP this year I dumped with one soulder way low and I knew as I did it line twists were the result. I grabbed the risers, pulled on them and evened the pressure out. The Cobalt came out of the spinning dive immediatley, flew level and allowed me to kick out of the twists. After playing with this canopy over the summer I came up with the following rules, which may vary as I know every canopy has its own quirks. 1) Pack it neatly, even though I have trash packed it without incident. 2) At first I thought the openings were slow, which I hate. I am using a 24 inch pilot chute as suggested. Plus I pack the canopy loose. I do not push the nose in or roll the tail tight. During the two stage opening, the slider is up for what seems to be a longer time than other canopies...expect my Crossfire. But the Cobalt does have the center cells inflated, slowing you down. I finally watched my wrist mount during the entire opening, from throw out until I was in the saddle. To my surprise it took 500 feet, maybe 600. I have checked this more than once and result was the same. 3) During the opening, keep your hands off the risers. If you are going to smack the risers to open it quicker, aborting the two stage opening make sure you hit them equally. Stay symetrical during the opening. Most of my openings have been on heading. At worst 90 degrees off. Two times I have had line twists, both times I was able to pull a riser and level the canopy out. I had a buddy of mine, for whatever his reasons were kind of follow me. He tracked above me and off to the right and eatched me dump. I did not know he was there. After I opened he fell under me and dumped. No close call at all, but I would have felt better if I had known in advance he was going to do it. Anyway, when we got down he asked me if my opening was a slammer cause he could not believe how fast the Cobalt opened. I have not dumped in a full track yet, nor from a sit either. I have dumped without burning off much speed from a track, like I would with other canopies and I have never been slammed. To date I have been impressed with the Cobalt and enjoy it. I hope you figure your problems out and get results that you can enjoy as well. I put a few jumps on a Stilleto 135 and I was not impressed. Flare I thought was weak and the opening was quite the snivel. Currently I am looking at getting another rig. I sold my old Racer and miss having two rigs. For my canopy choice I am hard pressed to decide. I'd like to go to a Comp. Cobalt, Atair's Onyx after jumping it or......a Samurai or Brian's new Sensei once it's out. If you want the ultimate in fast soft opening try a Samurai. It will freak you out. Hope this helps, JJ JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

Well put. Thanks. JJ JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

You should also look at the Samurai and Cobalt. Although fully elliptical, they can be docile. JJ JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

About time somebody put that in writing. JJ JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

Speaking of mimes. Why is it I find nothing funny about a mime and nothing funny about death.....yet I find the thought of beating a mime to death mildly hysterical? Why do light switches have off and on written on them? If the light is on, I can see the light. If its off its too dark to read the switch anyway. JJ JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

Haze is what they call the visible pollution in California...or do they call that the marine layer now??? Clouds are the cool white puffy floating targets that God put in the sky for us to aim at. JJ JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

Friggin classic!!! JJ JJ "Call me Darth Balls"