arlo

i bet there were hundreds of cows and aliens (and a satellite dish) close by when it happened....

wow gardner, thanks for that post. :) very informative. so if there is no code addressing it, does that make it illegal? that's interesting stuff... i hope that they quit tacking stuff onto the bill so that the noodling bill will pass next go-round. i'm with kim on this one too: if people want to go out and hand-fish (grabble, noodle, or whatever you wanna call it) it seems that would be the MOST legal way to go about it...if that makes sense. what started as absolutely curiosity watching a 'bunch of freaks' fish, i've started to gain an appreciation for these folks trying to hang onto a tradition that has been passed down from generation to generation. this was covered in the documentary too. if you're piss drunk floating in a lake wearing a life-jacket around your legs instead of your arms, and you try to grab for bream nipping at your legs, does that officially count as noodling? whoops. i just re-read the stipulations and it looks like it's only noodling with cats. any other game fish and it's illegal. arlo

oh sweetie, don't sweat it. we'll still play with you in zhills even if you ARE from okie. if it's any consolation, the documentary stated that noodling goes on in several states - it was just yours that hosted the first ever noodling competition (complete with a Miss 2002 Okie Noodler ). in all seriousness, if anyone's curiosity is getting the best of them, i have a copy of it for a large group gathering/viewing. chuckie b, katie, myself, kim and kev broke it in monday. and kev, thank you and cora for your open invite. :) i think you guys are alright regardless of what anyone says.

my brother saw a documentary on it and told me it was some of the funniest shit he's ever watched. so of course, i had to see it. but i'm with you brains, there's no way in hell i'm gonna stick my hand into some hole wiggling my arm as bait to catch some catfish (not just ANY catfish, CHANNEL cats) beaver, snapping turtle, or any other various and asundry creatures. these catfish are 30-50 lbs. your head could fit into these cats' mouths. but by the time the documentary is said and done, you're almost left cheering those okie noodlers on for trying to keep the tradition going. so if you guys have the opportunity to see this () you will be enlightened. you'll also sit there saying to yourself "i can't believe they really do this shit." so long live the okie noodlers! arlo p.s. mar, i love you AND your reference to my purity! ..and kev? we also squat over buffalo chip fires to cook and we bury food in pots. hide the dogs. bwahaha!

well......... do ya? arlo

nina, arianna, lise and eliana are all very incredible women. it is so rare to have these chicas together offering their skills and knowledge, i think you would regret not going. they have so much to offer as incredible skydivers, as women, and their input and insight would be worth its weight in gold. you'll have before you members of 4 different nations national teams. how cool is that? you'll be coached by a member of the italian, swiss, norweigian and us national team. it's not like you'd be trading fun for knowledge. you will still have an incredible amount of fun with the skills camp but you'll also be working on your skills with 4 of the best women in the world (and i didn't mean 4 of the best "women" - they are 4 of THE best....period). and you'll be at perris for god's sake! there's no way you can go to perris and NOT have fun. :) absorb! arlo

pvd for halloween.... very, very nice... enjoy your night.

huh? video? of me? hmmmmmmm..... lemme think on that one. i don't recall any video... nope.

hairballs are only tacky on a case-by-case basis and definitely not when it has to do with a llama. i would've pissed myself had she left it. enjoy the ride...and tell the Goat (you're staying with him) to be prepared for a recurrency this weekend. arlo :)

you don't scare me! i don't think you'll have any problem being shown around. if you don't have a good time, then it's your own damn fault! tampa's only 30 minutes MAX from the dz. arlo p.s. if you wanna play in the tunnel at all, there's usually a group that splits time every so often. i'm sure you could twist heather's arm. she HATES the tunnel...so do mark and alysse. oh yeah, kev? you and cora were just too easy to welcome anyway.

FWIW, my first trip to perris ever was the 2000 nationals. there was a 20-something way outta the dc-3 and i believe there were 3 maybe 4 cypres fires. there were at least 2 people that had 2 out and one or two cut away. someone correct me if i'm wrong. i just remember seeing a fucking good spot because 2 or 3 of the freebags fell right in front of me as i was looking towards the landing area. i remember it raining freebags and canopies. alll the folks that pulled low were scheduled to compete at that nationals. they were all told told to pack their toys because they weren't allowed to jump at nationals after that episode. i know a couple of the folks and they are very experienced (5 digit jump numbers). so they were punished for their actions in the sense that their teams had to scramble and find someone to fill their slot - teams that had trained all year long. bottom line is they all fucked up and they, along with their teammates, felt the repercussion of their actions. as much as i hated to see these people not get to compete, i feel the decision by perris mgmt was the correct one. i also feel that perris (or any other dz) reserves the right to institute whatever punishment they deem necessary to fit the situation. hell, if they want to ground you for life, that is their decision to make. as dave said, it's their sandbox...and the rest of it too. if you feel like you want to play around and lose altitude awareness, then maybe find a dz that doesn't give a shit about you and go there. there really is no excuse for loss of altitude awareness being the cause of a cypres fire - NONE. what can be more important in skydiving than knowing that YOU need to pull with enough time to get an open canopy? it's a pretty simple concept. i don't get why people think this is something that only requires a tiny slap on the wrist. boys and girls, this ain't fucking romper room.... blues, arlo

ron, dvg did not say that one guy does not make a difference. he said: BIG DIFFERENCE between "carrying a team" and "making a difference"...at least that's how i read it. also, teams in general have different averages for each of the NSL meets. everyone that competes knows that some draws may be faster or slower than others. you know how true this is. i remember you telling me at the perfect spot during one of the FSL meets that you guys scored such and such because it was a slow draw. that could account for some of that avg point spread when you filled in for that team. if you check out the NSL season scores for this year at NSL meet averages, you'll see a spread of over 4 points with majik...and they didn't change members. so maybe the draw itself had a little to do with it.

http://www.merck.com/newsroom/press_releases/product/2004_0930.html Merck Announces Voluntary Worldwide Withdrawal of VIOXX® WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J., Sept. 30, 2004 - Merck &. Co., Inc. today announced a voluntary worldwide withdrawal of VIOXX® (rofecoxib), its arthritis and acute pain medication. The company's decision, which is effective immediately, is based on new, three-year data from a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial, the APPROVe (Adenomatous Polyp Prevention on VIOXX) trial. The trial, which is being stopped, was designed to evaluate the efficacy of VIOXX 25 mg in preventing recurrence of colorectal polyps in patients with a history of colorectal adenomas. In this study, there was an increased relative risk for confirmed cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and stroke, beginning after 18 months of treatment in the patients taking VIOXX compared to those taking placebo. The results for the first 18 months of the APPROVe study did not show any increased risk of confirmed cardiovascular events on VIOXX, and in this respect, are similar to the results of two placebo-controlled studies described in the current U.S. labeling for VIOXX. "We are taking this action because we believe it best serves the interests of patients," said Raymond V. Gilmartin, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Merck. "Although we believe it would have been possible to continue to market VIOXX with labeling that would incorporate these new data, given the availability of alternative therapies, and the questions raised by the data, we concluded that a voluntary withdrawal is the responsible course to take." ======== there's more but you can read it on their website. hell, most people i know take vioxx or celebrex. happy inflammation.... arlo

both kim and i made it thru the gusts in deland. the storm made a more westerly turn and we didn't get what i thought we would. definitely not as much rain with this one compared to frances. winds were similar. sporatic power outages. lost cable (i know...wahhhhhh!! ). bo, thanks for asking and checking in on everyone! hope all the zhills peeps are sober and not having to clean up alot of debris. arlo

and congrats to the US CRW sequential team....they set a new world record in the last round!! all the teams did an outstanding job... and congratulations to all of the folks that had their dreams come true in Croatia.

if you decide to try it, do yourself a favor and get the stuff at an oriental grocery. it's soooooooo much better. oh yeah, while you're there, get the sapporo ichiban ramen...original flavor. arlo

spot on gillian. RW has it's own judging issues as well, but the round 2 fiasco was fucked up. anomaly: big kudos to you for representing the US at this world meet and for flying your asses off. YOU know how well you did...and so do the other competitors. sorry you got dicked over by the judges. i feel for you guys that compete in the artisitic events. in RW competitions, MOST everything is pretty cut and dry (except for a couple of block moves that STILL are causing issues). but there's so much room for interpretation within the artistic category that it would be nice to see some qualified people judging these things. for everyone that competed and overcame all the crap with relocating and such: congratulations on getting out there and skydiving your asses off.

kim-chee

woohoo!! majik in the lead by 1 after 3 rounds. synchronicity in the lead by 1 after 2 rounds. 8-way...get you some of that captain america. best wishes to our buds in croatia.... arlo

....looks like FL went from flacid to attention...AND almost put it's eye out. FL. the flacid penis of the US.

clipped from the national hurricane center updated 2 minutes ago: IVAN IS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTH NEAR 14 MPH...AND THIS MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE UNTIL LANDFALL. ON THE FORECAST TRACK...THE CENTER OF IVAN IS EXPECTED TO REACH THE COASTLINE VERY LATE TONIGHT OR EARLY THURSDAY. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 135 MPH...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. SOME FLUCTUATIONS IN INTENSITY ARE POSSIBLE PRIOR TO LANDFALL...BUT IVAN IS EXPECTED TO MAKE LANDFALL AS A MAJOR HURRICANE...CATEGORY THREE OR HIGHER. OCCUPANTS OF HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS WITHIN THE HURRICANE WARNING AREA CAN EXPECT HIGHER WINDS THAN THOSE EXPERIENCED AT THE SURFACE...ABOUT ONE SAFFIR-SIMPSON CATEGORY HIGHER AT THE TOP OF A 30-STORY BUILDING. AFTER LANDFALL... HURRICANE FORCE WINDS COULD TO SPREAD INLAND UP TO ABOUT 150 MILES NEAR THE PATH OF THE CENTER. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 105 MILES FROM THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 290 MILES. SUSTAINED WINDS AT THE DAUPHIN ISLAND C-MAN STATION WERE RECENTLY CLOCKED AT 45 MPH...WITH GUSTS TO 59 MPH. A BUOY ABOUT 75 MILES SOUTH OF DAUPHIN ISLAND REPORTED 50 FT SEAS.

please get the hell out of there. noaa just reported that it's supposed to REMAIN a hurricane well into alabama. we just went thru 2 in FL (deland) and we only got tropical force winds and the city looks like a bomb went off. these winds were around 60-80. you're gonna get the full force of (at a minimum) strong cat 3 if not a full force cat 4. it's noble that you want to be together as a family, so move your entire family outta there. bring them to deland if need be. i'll take you guys in at my house. i've offered this up to a friend and hers that live in pensacola as well. but if you're next on the west side of that bay and on the mainland south of I-10, you guys will be getting the brunt of it. roofs will blow off and could very well kill or injure your family. there won't be anyone around that can help you or take you to the hospitals. i usually don't post serious shit, but this really is. please reconsider and ask your dad if he's willing to bury his kids or his parents. i'm sorry if it's brutal, but for fuck's sake, 140 KNOT (not mph) winds aren't to be toyed with. that's more than double what we got here and there are places STILL flooded out and without power. phones in some places IN DELAND won't return until october (so sayeth bellsouth). i hope those in the path have weighed the consequences and you'll be in my thoughts... arlo p.s. don't forget about all the tornadoes that will come with the hurricane. we had tornado warnings thru the duration of frances and sleeping in a closet sucks. i would bet that's what destroyed alot of kepler road area here. we're not talking 1 or 2 tornadoes either. tornadoes were spotted several times every hour as the storm started thru (keep in mind we were NOT in the direct path of it either).

HEY! i resemble that remark! --> (i can respond now that i have power AND cable back as of today!! woohoo!!) a

wow. deland is a fucking wreck. flooded and trees down everywhere. the dropzone sustained some damage - the doors to the hangar blew off and into the Perfect Spot parking lot. the worst parts for me were the tornado warnings saturday night. i slept in the closet. mar, this was after you called saturday night. things deteriorated RAPIDLY afterwards. I think we has sustained winds of 60-ish mph thru the day sunday. trees were blowing over like crazy thru the neighborhood. kim and kev's neighborhood looked like a warzone - or a giant paintball field. BIG trees down everywhere. i lost power (and subsequently water due to having a well/pump) saturday night and my landline yesterday. my nextel cell quit working early on. kim just called the gear store to tell me that the service call is in on my landline - could be now til the 18th to come out. parts of deland have power (TSO-D has it - yeah!! my neighborhood, does not ) and there are wicked crazy lines to get gas. glad i don't need any. :) driving thru neighborhoods is like playing labrynith. dodging trees and debris and shit to get thru. in the grand scheme of things, we're all doing great. i have my health, my friends are good, we are a little inconvenienced, but no complaints from me. it's nothing like the folks have after charley. i wish everyone the best in getting order restored after this wicked long storm. i just found out arby's is open so i'm outta here to get some hot food. arlo

deland is doing alright. every once in a while a little squall will come thru and we'll rush out in the winds with the anemometer to see what the gusts are. haven't gotten around the house enough to get clean air for an accurate measurement. hardly any rain to speak of, but the shit hasn't started to hit the fan either. we're boredom eating like CRAZY here. if this keeps up, my ass will be the size of frances by the time all is said and done. arlo