Deuce

All y'all listen up. Me and Iwan vanderSchoor are the official videographers of this event. When you do something noteworthy you have to get one of us to go with you. All you do is tell manifest when you "manifest" that either Deuce or Scooter are with your group. You also have to find us, and make sure we can make the load. It's freaking included as a benefit of the boogie! An even more amazing benefit is that Greg Gasson will coach and video your freeflying for NADA! Good LORD if I wasn't working for Betsy I would be so all over that. In the just as amazing category is that Omar The Amazing will freefly coach you for NADA as well. With Greg and Omar, you have to pay for their pack jobs. With me and Iwan, if you want a copy of your jump firewire or on DVD you can pay our pack jobs. Daily, Iwan and I will produce just about all the jumps in a concise format that will be viewed in the bar. Jumpers who have video they want included will have to get it to us very shortly after sunset. Check out last year's DVD by searching skydiving movies.com (somebody please do a clicky) Arizona law prohibits the display of nudity in places where liquor is served so just get over that or move to Arizona and amend the state constitution. I've been around a little. The SDA Holiday Boogie is the best there is. They have more airlift than Brazil. BRING IT!

I feel your pain about wishing the cops were able to witness better stuff, but you were the best thing they had going. Doing donuts on the ice is really fun, and the kind of thing that kids kill themselves doing. Investigating you, not finding a teenager, but an adult who had been drinking, they did their job. The insta-breathalyzer saves you the time of having to go do the real thing at county jail. You broke the law and got caught. Go to traffic school and don't do it again.

Good lord, Jay was the best.

SIR, there is no excuse SIR! Accountability and apology are no fun at all.

Jan, that is so open to some "red-state" "blue-state" thingie I just blew cola out my nose. There is no competitive two-way manual that I'm aware of, so I'm agreeing with Dom. Two skydivers shaking hands. Or the collective strength of the red states supporting the something-something of the blue states.

None of that really makes sense to me. It'll take a year to make you into an independent cop who will be able to work overtime. Maybe it's a New York thing, but nobody in California puts caps on overtime/income. Any Oakland Police Officer who wants to can make over $100,000 per year. No, not really. That attitude usually ends up costing somebody else their life. What cops CAN do is write really good reports about stuff that happened a year ago, so that when they get to court and they don't remember anything about the arrest, because they've made about 700 since, they can read their well-written, grammatically correct, neatly printed or typed record of the incident to the jury. Bad grammar sets about as many criminals free as the Johnny Cochrans of the world. Stupid sounding cops are not credible witnesses. No, not really. Being a good police officer is about responding as quickly as possible while minimizing risks. Stuff like don't get tunnel vision while shooting into a car with your partner on the other side of it. Skydiving doesn't compare to the risks taked in police work. Skydiving gear and skydivers can kill you, but almost never murder you. Why did I become a cop? They had killer benefits and I had just got married. Why did I stay? I saw the WIERDEST things and met the craziest people, and I loved being cross-examined. It was never a sacrifice. If you really feel like you're giving a lot up for the job, I'd really suggest you don't do it. It gives nothing back but a good salary and benefits and the opportunity to see wierd stuff and blow up cop-car engines. If you want to feel loved, become a firefighter.

From you I expected: "Who knew a 10-year-old boy could push a chain-link fence down like that? I just happened along behind him when it fell."

Are you asking for six months unpaid leave without accruals? That meaning you have a right to return but you stop gaining seniority and those hired after you pass you up in the last-hired first-fired heirarchy? I doubt that would be legal. Regarding the starving, overworked, gosh what I'm losing stuff. Shut the f*ck up, and never bring that up again. Nobody cares, especially the veterans and trainers at your new PD. If you are a year away from being vested in your current job, continue to work hard and be a good employee and get yourself vested. Not doing that would be stupid. Managers need good people to show up ready to work every day. Employees who do that are in high demand. If you earn your money every day, I see no problem with you planning on quitting in 365. Start living on your future salary now, save the rest, and when it's time to go to the academy, write a nice resignation. That nest egg from your vested retirement and your savings will help you during the probie years. Also, you are going to work a zillion hours of overtime after the academy and FTO programs so your take home will not suffer all that much. Or just don't do it. A cheaper, faster way to earn your macho merit badge would be to join the Guard or Reserve.

Deuce, I usually agree with your posts, and everything I've seen/heard about you indicates you prefer to live your life with integrity. I gotta disagree with you here. The fact is that going to the Police Academy is not a protected employment category like the guard/reserves. SuperKat is looking for a lie to tell the employer, knowing that the truth will likely lead to a job loss in this situation. Sure, it's a big company (and searching past posts, we know exactly which company) and the financial impact will likely be the equivalent of a rounding error on the bottom line, but that's not the point. If she is going to help with her dad, like I said, really help by being there when she is not at school, that is a legitimate use. The other things she does while legitimately using her leave are her business. I was the FMLA manager at my last job and I would have no problem approving her request. I wouldn't have a choice. If she's using FMLA and not helping her father I'd prosecute her. Should she not use FMLA, keep working her current job, and spend at least 8 hours a day helping her dad? Yes. The hardest thing about managing employee benefits is that they are not the benefit manager's choice. The employees generally negotiate their benefits and that's that. When a request it made within the scope of the benefit, it generally must be granted. Here's an overkill explanation with case law from New York. http://www.alston.com/articles/Supreme%20Court%20Update.pdf I also was the primary caregiver to my dad, and I could really have used the help of a sister, had any of them cared. So, it's like this. She gets a note from her Dad's doctor that her dad needs her help, POW, she gets FMLA. For the folks who don't like it, write your congressman. If it was me? I don't know much about the poster's reputation on the boards, I'm nowhere near as active as I used to be. If it was me? I had perfect attendance as a police officer for six and a half years. Never late, never absent, and worked an average of 15 hours of overtime a week, never late or absent to that either. First sick leave was my kids birth. At that point they weren't going to give me more than two weeks because of policy. FMLA forced them to. It was years later that I was a County department manager doing FMLA and disability management.. So, if I had a chance to train for six months to do something I loved, and coincidentaly my dad was sick and my mom could use about 8 hours of releif a night while she got other stuff done while I studied? I'd go for it. I'd have at least three months leave accrued and at it's exhaustion I'd resign. Otherwise I'd sacrifice the sick leave (depending on your agency). If her agency will pay off on her earned sick leave, she should just resign. Again, best scenario? Resign get paid off on all leave accruals, eat ramen and become a big fat meanie.

Steve, you realize there is no better way to become reviled than to offer to do something nice for free. Really, check out the crowd when they run out of government cheese. Uh, by the way, Steveorino, WHERE THE F*CK IS MY FREE SKETCH YOU ARE TAKING ALL THAT TIME TO DO, AND I BETTER LOOK LIKE A CROSS BETWEEN SUPERMAN AND MEL GIBSON WHEN YOU GET OFF YOUR ASS AND GET BUSY! And send me some cheese.

I missed the count and keyed the funnel.

FMLA is just 12 weeks. If you are in a union or association you may have negotiated a better benefit. My POA did. If you are the primary caregiver to your Dad, this is a legitimate use of the FMLA benefit. Do your 8 hours of academy time and then do your bookwork every evening at your Dad's bedside while your mom or whoever does the other stuff required by the household. Use up the 3 months FMLA and take 3 months leave. I was a cop when I had my twins and my employer specifically stated only two weeks per birth event, not per baby. We were first time parents and the pregnancy was difficult and when the babies came we were in a state of complete mental and physical breakdown. My commander at the time (best man I ever knew in any bureaucracy) told me I could have 6 months (might have been a year) if I wanted them. Or until my accruals ran out. I ended up taking 6 weeks. My Dad had colon cancer and ended up having an iliostomy (like a colostomy but pretty much everything south of the stomach). Taking FMLA to assist with his care is legitimate. Consider this, too. How much money is there in your quitting? How much vacation, retirement etc have you accrued? If there is enough there to just quit, write a nice letter of resignation. If the police thing doesn't work out, they'll hire you back. Be honest with yourself first and formost. If you are really going to help with your dad a good portion of every day, take the FMLA. If another family member is taking care of your dad and doesn't need or want your help, don't use it. Consider telling your company you want to take the six month leave to learn about the cop thing, and then go on leave until your accruals run out, and decide. For those of you harping on Superkat about screwing her employer over, she could join the reserve or guard and her employer would have to keep her job until she finished basic and then whatever finishing school she chose. If I could have my way, the police service and retirement would be much more like the military versions. There is only one 50 year old cop in a thousand capable of laying the proper amount of whoop-ass on an 18 year old felon. Most cops, like me, end up retired on disabilities (backs, feets, carpal). For the ones that don't get promoted inside, a retirement at 41 would keep more of them on board. (I'd have stayed, by my chief HATED me . Hated with captital FORCED RETIREMENT) Good luck Kat. With your new job, and with your dad. Both are going to be hard. Ah, but the payoff is being a big fat meanie.

It better be good. "The dog ate it" will only fly for K9 officers who have supervisors wanting to know where the defendant's testical went. Chain of custody and all that. So? What's your excuse!?

My weekend job. For big money listings at my current job I sometimes wear a suit. Best gig ever was the cop thing. Ah, the wierdness.

Best freeways I ever drove on were in Italy. I hear Germany is similar. Stay off of the median lane unless you are passing. Somebody flashes their lights at you, move the fuck over. They may be going 10 mph faster than you or 100. Oregon has that "passing only" law too.

Yeah, me too. My first S3 jump was out of a Cessna and I was spinning like that for the first 20 seconds or so. Very violently like towards the end of that video. I tried everything and as a last resort opened the wings and tail and arched and BAMMO everything was fine and I was flying. I suspect the subject in this video arched to get belly to earth before pulling. I also wonder why they chopped the wings so quickly. That tail sitting out there without wings is really going to keep you flipping over.

Whenever I get tailgated or "pushed" I slow to the legal limit. Only once did I have to slam on my brakes to avoid a deer that apparently I was the only one to see in the roadway ahead of me. The guy who was behind me (apparently tailgating me, I didn't notice) didn't see the deer either because he was busy fishtailing on the nice wide shoulder of the highway there. Shame, that.

OK, (Congrats! both on being successfully employed and having a gay-friendly employer) That said, once you settle in could you PM me some info on who's reasonable providing life insurance to skydivers? JP

I disagree with this, Bill. I think, from what I've read, that mutation is the result of stuff like radiation. I'm not convinced of evolution, yet, but I'm open to DNA coding in response to environment. If human DNA allows for webbed fingers, then it would appear we could "evolve" for a waterworld environment. What's the key, though? How does DNA "know" that we need to move to the aquatic variant of a human? Honestly, I'm wide open about this. I just doubt the ability of individuals to recode their offspring according to environment. I'm dying to know what's in there. Is a zero G variant of human already programmed? An amphibian? I'm wide open, but I think we are limited to what is in the code.

I agree! But for mouth to post this...chances are it wasn't small stuff You drama queens are killing me. Stop whining and have a coctail. Monkey, your misspelled "Cocktail". It's a cockatillio anyhow. You already drunk?

Well, I'm sorry to see you so frustrated and angry. I've been the most hurt when I've trusted someone, and then they told me a lie I wanted to hear, or made a promise that was important to me that they never intended to make good on. When you trust somebody like that you give them power over you. When they abuse it, it hurts worse than anything. Both because of the abuse of trust, and for feeling foolish for trusting someone. I trust less than 5 people in the world with my matters of the heart. People who have proven they are trustworthy through action, not words. You are one of those people, Lisa. Cheer up.

Brilliant! What's your music source? That stuff is exceptional. Your face montages work really good with the skydiving and canopy shots.

Who you going to borrow the can from?

Dude, you so crack me up.

Congrats, Dave. You'll never get rich, but you will see some extraordinarily wierd shit. "One Adam Twelve" "Twelve" "Report of a severed human head on the trackway at MacArthur" "Confirm severed human head?" "Affirmative" "Enroute" (five minutes of squelch as everybody attempts to claim cover on the good ones) As a skydiver you'll be required to buy a case when you blow your first engine code three (or code bucking bronco or whatever you call it in Texas) Have fun, only bring the wierd and fun stuff home.