Deuce

QuoteAt this point, I could see that he was nervous but the pilot wasn't Good pilot. Pilots, when they become emergency workers, should always be able to do that "Houston, we have a problem" thing. They calm us baggage down enough so that we can put on our helmets and exit. If they give you that cold as ice "Jumpers exit now" OBEY. IMMEDIATELY. The drafted generations have those of us who came later beat on this. There's a time to demand "why" and there are times when we should immediately jump without asking "how high?" If you are with competent people, JUST DO IT.

Yeah, I kind of figured (that shit happens). I HAD left the two extra weeks on the quoted 2-4 week rush, but got hosed when it changed to 4-6 weeks. Thanks for the reply.

The service I got on my RW suit from these same folks was great. I guess this is what I get for ordering at peak season.

In Ca. you can't run for office or vote unless you're a registered voter. That only eliminates people who have been convicted and are in jail (you can vote if you're awaiting trial), convicted persons in prison, and persons on parole. Felons who are out and off parole can vote, and run for most offices.

I ordered a camera suit from Tony 5 weeks and two days ago. I paid for the "rush" service which was supposed to be 2-4 weeks. I called last monday to Para-gear and they told me that "rush" now means 4-6 weeks. What to do? I'm pissed that they changed the conditions of our deal, but since they haven't billed my credit card, I really can't hold them to their word, because until they take my money, it's not really a contract. Lisa? If it's longer than six weeks I think I'm willing to fight over paying the rush charge. What I'm really upset about is that I ordered this thing with plenty of time to spare because I've got my first gig filming a 4 way team tomorrow, and I'll be doing it in my freefly suit. Not the first impression I wanted to make. Grrr.

Yeah, cut it off and unscrew the bayonet hand-swivelly thing. No way around it I could find. JP (PC 110)

Thanks, Ray, Thanks all. Tomorrow is the first team practice day out at Lodi. I'm looking forward to it. All of the tips and instruction y'all have provided will prove very valuable. My freakin' camera suit from Tony is late! I paid for the express 2-4 week delivery, but when I called they said express is now 4-6 weeks. I'm now at 5 weeks, two days. No chance it's going to get here today. So, I'll be wearing my Freefly suit, and not getting as close as I'd like. I'll post how it goes. Cheers and cold beers!

Very cool. One of the nice things about the bonehead carbon fiber is if you scratch it you can get it looking like new with nail polish. I "rashed" mine pretty good on an exit and felt like you do when you get that first car-door ding on a new car. That nail polish made it look almost like new. That big 'SMILE' is a nice touch.

Beam me up Scotty, there's a guy with a tribble on his head pointing a sword at my crotch.

At least once per skydive. If I make two attempts to pull my pud, but I can't find it or it just won't come out, I pull both the thingies in the front. I try to remember to pull the one on my right (no, your military right) first, and then the left one. OK, why the heck is it called a pud handle? Or maybe why is the unit of friskiness called a pud?

Thanks. On the next one, I think I'll get two pillows. The customer service at Wings is top-notch, and the comfort is outstanding.

OK, here's pictures of the pud handled BOC. It is the coolest. If you disagree with me I'll ignore you.

Well, it's the only one I've ever owned. I took tips from every source I could find and I'm happy with the result. It's a Hawkeye LT with a black base color and blue marbling. Got a cameye II wired right into the D-box, the wire for the light is shrink-tubed onto the swivel mount and quick tied to the sight. The indicator light is on the outside of the sight where both me and my subject can see it. It's right against my soarz goggle when in the down position. Got a stoboframe QR for the Nikon, and the switch for the nikon is permanently soldered on. Activate the SLR with a conceptus tongue switch. The tongue switch does activate the Auto focus before it trips the shutter. The SLR plugs into a 2.5mm jack I got from radio shack. The tongue switch tucks behind the ear pad when I'm not using the film camera. The cameye button is right in front of the stoboframe, and the jack for the SLR is right behind it. Note: I should have put the Cameye button behind the camera also, because if I turn it off with my left hand, my left hand comes into frame on the video. I've started turning the camera on and off with my right hand, just to avoid having my hand obscure the beginning and end of every segment of video. I ground out the room I needed in the "attic" of the helmet with a die grinder, but a Dremel tool would work fine. Seal all exposed carbon fiber with clear nail polish. Keep clear nail polish with the camera/helmet cause when you scratch either, you can seal them up and make them look fine with an application of nail polish. The coolest thing is the laser sight. This is an airgun laser sight I got through Cabelas.com. It's $30 and is adjustable for windage and elevation. It's attached to the D-box with a "Weaver" base. A Weaver is a scope mount base. You can usually get one out of a loose parts barrel at a gun store (I was an armorer) Mount the sight to the D-box and put the camera in. Point the helmet at a wall 25' away. Turn the camera on and zoom it to maximum. Adjust the laser until the dot is shown in the middle of the video frame. Mount your film camera so that the dot is in the middle of the camera frame. Put the helmet on and adjust the ringsight to dead center of the laser dot. Voila! Perfect alignment when you account for parallax. And you don't need a volunteer from the audience to confirm that everything is aligned if the helmet rolls out of the bag on the way to the DZ. I take the laser off when jumping the helmet. The weaver base is low profile and not especially snagedelic. (It's ALL a lot more snagadelic than not wearing a camera helmet, but not bad considering.) Thats' mine, show me yours!

Clearly, they've been married a long, long time, and he wants to remind her of their first date at the swimming hole. It's the anniversary of that date, and when she gets washed all the way out of that tub she is going to exclaim "You remembered!"and get to know her old husband a little better. The Boones Strawberry Wine is something they only drink to celebrate this special day, Sebazz, lighten up! Yeah! Strawberry wine! Anybody else drink strawberry wine in a Vega?

Isn't Angelica the cat on Rugrats? Uh, yes, I've got six-year-olds I watch TV with. But, the Rugrats cat?

I'll try. EVery time I try to upload photos here they're too damn big. I owe some pictures of my camera set-up, so I'll try to work on that tonight. JP

Congrats! My rig is a similar layout but I went for the pud-handled BOC instead of the hackey. I love the set-up and I don't know why more people aren't going for it. That cordura pouch with the logo is just the bomb! Nice colors too! After student canopy openings, isn't that whole ZP articulated rig thing just the best?! I've got almost 200 jumps in a year on my cordura BOC and it shows no wear or stretch at all. I've also got the Wings pud handle on my throw-out so there is no exposed bridle AT ALL on my rig. Unless something better comes along I will never jump anything else. JP

Oh. Heck, I'll pull back on the yoke for an unobstructed view of ANY woman's front yard. Is this a new way to objectify the fairer gender? -sidelong glance- "oh, 2000 feet, easy" (All: the "yard" analogy keeps the IT people out of my hair)

The sign was place by County government, not federal. Keep your conspiracy theories closer to home. You've got some 4-way haters in your Department of Public Works. July 6, slowest fall rate: 88mph vertical in track July 13, fastest vertical fall rate head-down: 205. I am very, very gay. Ask my wife. Lisa? What makes a woman's front yard "altitude worthy" or whatever you said? Decaf might be a good idea. Maybe Zoloft.

Non-camera: Royal and black marble aviator with Pro-ditter and Pro-track internal. Muy comfortable, and if you scratch it you just put some clear nail polish on it and it's like new. Camera: Black and royal marble Hawkeye LT, PC110, Nikon N70 with QR, tongue switch, cameye II, optical and laser sight, internal audibles (always 2). Assimilate! Soarz goggles, clear or grey. Balaklava in winter. And hey! I found this neck wrap thingie that holds water that you wear around your neck that really helps keep you cool! I suspect it has those diaper crystals in it.

If you've got a $5 head, buy a $5 helmet. If you have a fairly new mini-dv camera and a decent SLR, you've got about $2000 in camera equipment, plus accessories. $60 for a case that will insure that stuff retains it's value is cheap. (my 2 cents) The only cheap thing I've found in this sport is the sandwich I make and bring to the DZ. We don't have one of those Container stores in my area. I saw one in San Diego, but didn't have a chance to get in. If the box is rigid enough for somebody to sit on and not crush, probably good enough.

I've got the Square One soft camera helmet bag. It's nice for protecting my Hawkeye and D-box. It's just not big enough for all the accessories I keep with me and my SLR. I'm going to get a Pelican case for my cameras and accessories and keep the Square One bag for the helmet. I'll get the Pelican case from Botachtactical.com Good luck.

It's worth the trip to Byron just to hear this one. We're right on the other side of the Altamont Pass, with one of the biggest windfarms in the country right next to the DZ. So you've got thousands of these propellors on the hills just west of us. We get winded out pretty regularly. So the hangar is full of skydivers and people waiting to go on tandems when the wind drops down and a whuffo will point to the west and ask: "Why don't you just turn off those fans?" Really. JP

It's good to be married:4:1 Did a solo head-down waiting for my coach, and three super-killer-way-hella-fun head-down video coach jumps. First time I broke 200 mph! (205) I haven't let anyone pack for me in 100+ jumps, but last week I was tired, and Jen was available to pack. Had her pack my Spectre, but really had the willies about it when I went to jump, cause I just don't use a packer. It was the sweetest, softest, snivelliest, most on-heading 1100 foot opening I've ever had. Wow. Packers rock (Jen does, anyway)

No blood, No foul. Damage to people: NO Damage to equipment: NO Violation of rules and regs: NO (well, 3000 foot pull on an A license) Important lesson learned without parting with serious time or cash: YES Dude, your ego-money grows back. It's even important for it to be trimmed back from time to time to keep you healthy. My AFF instructor and her husband, also an AFF instructor, constantly "informed" me of errors in both procedure and style that I was making over the last year and a half. I could barely regrow the ego-money before it was getting trimmed off by some goofiness on my part. Last night we went out to dinner and Guiness (Hmmmm Guiness), and while I will never catch up to their jump numbers since they are full-time pros, I am accepted as a skydiver by them. Still pretty new, but not a newbie, not a student. When they stop criticizing you, they have given up on you as too worthless and stupid to bother with. As long as they are talking to you about getting better, they still care. When they reach past you to adjust the door, and nobody has anything to say to you, then worry. Yesterday I managed to crash into a national freefly champ during a head-down coaching jump. This true skygod could not remember the last time a student had managed to do that. I listened carefully to him during debrief about how I got so much drive, and didn't repeat the mistake. Small mistakes corrected prevent uncorrectable big mistakes. I am grabbing the top of your head and shaking you gently. JP