Deuce

Christian, I'm a video flyer, not a Tandem Master, but I've seen lots of tandem openings up close. We use Vectors. Our TM's generally pull the students head back to their right shoulder by the forehead while they reach back with their left hand to deploy the main.

Thanks for the updates, Bill. You're an inspiration! 278 skydivers docked! Wow! Good luck

The .6 will be easier to get good video with. I started with a .5 and listened to a lot of people holler at me that I wasn't close enough. I wasn't. The nice thing about a .5 is that you can "cheat-zoom" it a little to compensate for not being closer. A .6 is really very good for tandems, the customer really likes to see a close-up of their face. You can't consistently shoot quality tandem footage without a camera suit. Get big wings. You can always pull the wings in, but if you have a female tandem master with a 90 pound passenger there's just no way to slow down enough to stay up with them without some serious wingage. (unless you're a feather-butt yourself). Good luck. I love shooting tandems, I'm an adrenaline vampire!

Me and NacMac. I'm 39, 40 this summer. I still feel just like a teenager, but now I've got money. Funny thread, I PM'd one of the other grownups just yesterday about looking older but still feeling like a kid. The DZ.commers at Perris all thought I was younger. Poor NacMac, you've got a newborn, right? Ugh. That'll make you feel the age in your bones. Kids don't HAVE a lot of energy, they suck it out of their parents. Like vampires. Cute vampires, but vampires just the same

I just don't like 3. What are your jumpsuit colors gonna be? My jumpsuits (RW, FF and Camera) are all primarily blue with red and black. Looks like your'e setting up for primarily black with blue. (Appropriate colors if your nickname is "divot") Nice. I'm thinking DaKine black background with blue floral. Wow. I sound like the Home Channel guy.

Rodeo on a birdman suited jumper. I've video'd a couple. Wicked, wicked cool.

Beautiful. Matches your jumpsuit real nice. I think it's gonna be rainin Saturday, you coming out Sunday to jump? NorCal's gonna be frontin' at Eloy! (Assuming you don't scrub it like I scrubbed my first new rig on it's first jump)

Great movie poster! Bad movie. It was released in 1989. I was old enough to drink and had been getting laid for a decade. No thanks, smartboy, nothing else.

Damn. OK, how about the movie poster?

Yeah, it's pretty hard to hide that you stole a huge console television when you're driving a Jeep with the top off.

It was used in a really bad Mark Hamill movie, kinda like Road Warrior, but with that cool plane. Good knowledge, Viking, but I'll be real impressed if you can find the title of that movie. That plane was on the movie's poster.

Clay, that's a don't, that will work on a cop who's nervous, scared of you, or doing something illegal, like stopping you for "no" reason. A smarter approach for you would have been to say "Officer, for your safety, I want you to know I have a concealed carry weapons permit, and I have a pistol in the center console". If you have a CCW, you don't have any major legally-recorded malfunctions. Everybody will violate a traffic law within a 5 mile stretch. I could PC (probably cause) up anybody for a lawful stop. If I was curious that you were drunk I'd let you go when I resolved that curiosity. If you were an *sshole, I'd PC up a reason to toss your Jeep, and it would stick. Even on a badass zoomie veteran security specialist like you

Hey, Keith. That guy didnt' fight the case, the cop didn't show up and the case was dismissed. Whatever homework he did was irrelevant. No cop = case dismissed, even if you're guilty as hades. That really is the best way to get out of a ticket. I was challenged a few times on tickets I gave out and never had one overuled. If the cop shows up, the best thing to do, usually, is beg to be able to go to traffic school so that the incident is not reported to your insurance agent. That last paragraph is really, really good information. A very large percentage of cops killed get killed on traffic stops. So when you get pulled over, roll down the windows on both sides, and turn on the dome light and have your hands where the cop can see them. If you're rooting around in the glove box or console or under your seat, it is probably you will raise your head to a pistol pointed right at your eye socket. Tell the cop what moves you are going to make before you make them. "The reg is in the glove box, I'll get it now, OK?". Oh, and don't get out of the car and come back to the cop unless he/she tells you to. That's called "charging the car" and cops don't like it at all. It is often done because people have stuff in their car that they don't want the cop to see. (Like a case of empty beer cans on the rear floorboards!) This will increase the probability of getting your car "tossed" or searched. Donts: Do you know why I stopped you? "Yeah, I was going like 80, but look, dude, I'm really late for a manicure and I'll get charged even if I don't have my nails done! Do's: (Hand driver's license, registration, and proof of insurance to cop without being asked) Do you know why I stopped you? "No" You were going 70 in a 55. "Oh" (risky, but maybe helpful) "Where is that posted" This can help if you didn't pass a sign while the cop witnessed you speeding. But cops will usually set up a trap right after a sign, so they can show that you were not only speeding, but being inattentive as well. A pretty good article, though, and nice of you to post it.

I've been told there are only two kinds of people: Monkeys, and hurdy-gurdy men. But in that scenario the monkey is the flunky. If the Skymonkey turns the hurdy-gurdy, the Tangomonkey must hold the cup, huh?

No significant distortion for this wide of a lens. It rocks for close work.

You know, for a massage, I'll cross more than my fingers. You gonna be at Eloy between Christmas and New Years? Good luck!

You guys are just killing me with these pictures! What, the group chunks off when the plane stalls and goes into a flat spin? Hooo-eeee. Looks like fun though!

I got a nice reply from Max when I asked him about new lenses from Diamond. The reply e-mail was: genfreefly@hotmail.com Nice guy, great product.

I snored like a freight train when I weighed about 290. So loud I'd wake myself up! I don't snore anymore now that I'm about 190.

OK, so my daughters are in Brownies (pre-girl scouts) first-graders. They march in a parade Saturday afternoon, so the Moms and Dads are walking along behind them. After the parade we decide to go to this pub and have dinner. There's about 9 parents and 11 girls. One of the Dads and his Mrs. separate to different tables and it ends up with the guys sitting at one table (with the kids) and the women sitting at their own table. Now, I can appreciate giving the Mom's a break, but I thought it was weird that we separated to "boys and girls" tables. WTF? Whaddya think? Other than giving the Mom's a break by having the kids at our table, why segregate?

Chickie-mama, bring blank film. Hundreds of unexposed frames of blank film.

Serious question: What's the treatment regimen? I stressed all my soft tissues from my ankles to my shoulder blades a couple weeks ago, and my back is still sore. I just hate to go to the doctor to have him tell me I'm stupid and reckless and take some motrin, elevate and ice it and stop being stupid. Are you just supposed to take it easy? JP

Runs with scissors too.

Hijack alert. I just sold my Wings rig (PDR 176 reserve/Spectre 170 )to a new jumper under this condition. He'll jump a 190 in it 20 times before going to the 170. (I've arranged for him to borrow a Spectre 190). The 190 will be at .95/1 and then the 170 will be at 1.05/1. I know this guy, and I like him. I'd be very upset if he hurt himself as a result of the equipment choice, so if it's good enough for a freind of mine, I'd hope it would be good enough for you.

OH, come-on! TOUCH IT!