Deuce

Conceptus tongue switch. I don't get much feedback from it, but it works just fine. I put at least two rolls a week on it, up to 15 rolls a weekend high-season/boogies. Zero failures.

OK, with that visual I think I can vomit on command too. Blech.

BMW K1200RS, hard BMW side bags and GIVI tailbag. Put the rig and all my camera gear in my gear bag (Sunshine Factory, medium holds two rigs and suits). Rode from San Francisco to Perris, jumped the weekend, rode to San Diego for a conference and jumped evenings at Otay. Shipped the skydiving gear home UPS, the Mrs. flew in to San Diego and we rode home on Highway one. My rig fits in the tailbag for trips to the local DZ. GIVI makes great stuff. Everybody dogs motorcycle luggage until they do a week on a bike. Being able to have lunch with you stuff locked and secure is worth the razzing. http://www.givi.it/home/frame.asp

I did. It was way cooler with that turquoise cape thingie that comes with the graduate degree. Walk the walk.

Coolio! Now Mr. Kitty can work on his Raeford RV Ghetto Trailer Park status. You know, watch all the daytime TV shows, whacked-out of painkillers, eating cheetos. That is some seriously good news!

I've done my two. Loved both freefalls, and enjoyed the landing at Byron. I was the only one to make it back to the landing area at Byron, everybody else landed out, way out. My truck and the DZO's truck were out in the landing area with the headlights on. My second night jump was at Perris, again a great freefall. There were two trucks out in the landing areas, and smudge pots. I crashed into my shadow on that one, realizing only at touchdown that it was my shadow, and not a jumper all in black. A jumper landed out on that one, too, and he will never jump or walk again. Davis (Skydance) does light trucks during their boogie, and I'll do that next year. I will not jump into a non-lighted (and I mean stadium or light-truck lighted) dropzone again at night. Not on purpose.

Them's some smart vehicles. My SUV can't talk, I don't know about limos. I bet the owners of the vehicles were behind your freedom of expression 100%. I know I am.

The heat coming off a Tango-Tango Rock-n-Roll Porno Pixie is enough to clear any cloudy sky.

Yesterday I got to jump my reserve, a PDR 143 loaded at about 1.55:1, as my main parachute. This is a program that Bonnie, owner of Gravity Gear, does every winter at my dropzone in Byron, California. My regular main is a Spectre 150, so many folks will say that they are both 7 cells with similar flying characteristics. I really didn't think the PDR was that much like my Spectre, so if you're used to a 9 cell (I have zero 9-cell experience) the PDR at the same loading will probably be VERY different. The flare was shorter, and I was able to stall the PDR when I kept the toggles down. Oh, I tossed the pilot chute right out the door at 14K, so I got some good flying time in. The PDR is very, very ground hungry in toggle turns, but flat turns better. In general it seemed like the PDR also had a generally steeper descent. Probably because although it's about the same size as my Spectre, it's not zero-p. It was suggested that I bring a little speed into the landing flare, so I did a little front riser on my straight-in approach, and surfed the landing a little bit. The landing required a constant, single flare-stroke. In straight flight the PDR seemed very controllable and stable, but toggle turns and riser turns seemed very steep and fast. More and more, I'm hearing of people making it into the thousands of jumps before having to chop. I hope I can be one of them. I've also heard jumpers say "I'm glad I had to do a cutaway, just to get it out of the way". My gear is precious to me, and I don't want to cut my main loose to be run over, snagged on a barbed wire fence, or lost, unless it is to save my life. So yesterday I had the best of both worlds. I got to jump the same reserve that's in the top of my containers, I got to fly it to sea level from 14 thousand feet, and I got to walk out a landing under it. My confidence level, knowing I may have to chop and fly that PDR down from only 1000 feet is much higher. So if you're not blessed to have a gear store owner like Bonnie do a "Reserve Days" at your DZ, maybe contact PD, or your reserve manufacturer about demoing an identical reserve to the one your life depends on.

I've got it right here. My neighbor didn't think I could open the mailbox with just a straight bar, but I proved him wrong. The other 15 videos with picture CD's are on the way, I'll send yours after I let it sit on this big magnet for a while.... J/K JP

Hey, just trying to be a proper skydiver, you know, it's all about the boobs

Neither one of us is likely to get a permission slip.

Gee, Bets, I'm thinking "gathering" sounds just a little too much like afternoon tea eating little white-bread sandwiches with the crusts cut off. Drunk people swimming naked in subzero temperatures in the middle of the night sounds much more like an "invasion" to me

Old guys like me already have that scar. What I'm really concerned about is any affect the innoculation could have had on your breasts. Quickly, post a nicely framed photograph of your breasts so we can determine if the shot had any affect on your boobs. Really. JP

LD, you were DIVING on all the formation loads! VROOOOOOM!

Youbet! Stills and video. That Arizona Airspeed guy grabs your butt on every exit. Damn quick, those world-champions

Oh, no. Dude, this is FACTual! Monkeys spontaneously gestate in your lower colon when localized conditions approximate the Omega point of your personal human experience. When that condition peaks, the monkeys deliver themselves unto the world fully formed, winged, and really, really, smelly. Anything can happen when monkeys fly out of your ass. You have to be careful what you want, or you could end up fighting, say, the Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man for the future of mankind. Don't f*ck with flying monkeys! Word.

Uh, Dave? I think she's referring to the kind with other people, not the kind while WATCHING other people from a concealed place...

Will a Delta 88 fit in the Van?

I got a great Michael McGowan answer for you: I only have to look like a competent freeflier for 1/500th of a second! Whoo-hooo! Have a great weekend! JP

No. The OJP got there first. Missed it by THAT much.

Am I the first to ask the obvious question?

*** But offer up somebody who's a challenge who's ass I can eventually kick in.*** See, you gotta read the post. I have about 400 jumps. You have about 4 zillion. "Deuce and Hookitt are both jumping at a rate of 10 jumps a week. Deuce has 400 jumps, Hookitt has 4 zillion. When will Deuce arrive at Hookitt's skill level?" Answer: "When monkeys fly out of his ass"

My brother, if you're gonna wear it while skydiving within arms reach of the other jumpers, there's no question the Diamond .3 is better. I finally figured out how to use the .3 with the "sports" shutter setting (it makes the props look really cool). When Max gets a .5 or .6 in that configuration, I'll sell you my Kenko, cheap. If you're doing tandems or over-the-top RW, you gotta have a .5 or .6. For mail-order, I like B&H. They're a little higher $, but they don't screw around with you.