Merrick

Exactly! Strange Unpredictable things come out of the UK. The hats I'm looking for were pretty basic, just said "SKYDIVE" accross the front, but they used a headdown guy to form the "Y". I'm going skiing in a couple weeks, gonna sport my brightest skydiving shirt, my go fast pants, and this hat (if I can find it)... Gotta let those skiing pansies know.... "Hey, there's another, cooler sport that I suck at to!" Blues! Merrick

Bump.... I really want one of those hats! Blues! Merrick

A few days ago I saw some SKYDIVE Beanie hats in the Classifieds, the ad is not up anymore... anybody know who was selling these??? Thanks! Blues! Merrick

Nope, it's not me! Blues! Merrick

AWWW MAN, I love this place. Pam surprised me with 30 minutes for my birthday. Dawn and John both were very professional, and I learned a LOT in the short time I was there... it was awesome! The only other tunnel I've been in was in Pigeon Forge TN, and the L1 tunnel was WAY better than that. The air is clean, there was no turbulance, just a big round wall of smooth air. And, once I figured out that I have actually just been falling for the past 120 jumps instead of "flying" I did just fine... I think. One thing nobody else mentioned is how incredibly quiet it is, I could actually hear John talking to me most of the time. I'd reccomend it to anyone, recreational or for training purposes, and I'm sure I'll be going back. Blues, Merrick

What a fun weekend... a time when I actually had more jumps than you Dave, and one of my more embarassing skydives. I think I can name all of them but one.... Let's see... AggieDave, JumperConway, cyberskydive, Me, don't remember the jackass that kissed my wife durring her SCR seremony, Slappie, Ramon, AirAnn, Pammi, JumperPaula, Cloud9, Tammy, Scotty, Zennie, Tequilagirl, Chicagoskydiver! Blues! Merrick

NiCe!!!! Thanks man! Blues! Merrick

Providing we're not completely socked in and actually get to Jump this weekend, is there a registration fee? I tried calling the number but got the PKairpark voicemail. Anybody know? Thanks! blues! Merrick

Oh hell man, I don't get on here much anymore, I didn't know you lost Fat Cat!!! I'm sorry man, I know how bad that sucks, we had to put a cat to sleep due to feline HIV about a month or so ago... I'm not much of a cat person, but Fat Cat was one of the coolest I've ever seen.. sorry man.

I'm sitting here at work, trying my damndest to hold back the tears. You guys have no idea how incredibly strong this woman is. I've seen her go through more in the past 2 weeks than I've had to deal with in my entire lifetime. I've been right there beside her for a lot of it, but I still can't even fathom what she's going through... yet, she remains strong. I don't know how she has managed to do it considering the situation, but she has taken control, and made sure that everything that needs to be done is taken care of. However, things are going to calm down, she's going to find that there's not much to do when she gets home, and that's when she (and her brothers) will need your thoughts and prayers the most. In all the middle of all the tragedy, as Pam mentioned, there has been a lot of good. The memories they've been able to share with each other, the love letters, GAWD the love letters between her mom and dad, and the huge challenges they faced, and how they had to fight to be together... it's one of the most poetic things I've ever read. I feel so... privileged to be a part of the family and to have known these two amazing people... God Speed Larry and Shirley... Pam is my life's blood, and I can only hope that I can love her as much as you have loved each other. You are my world baby! Thank you all again for all the PM's and good vibes, even if we do decide to quit jumping, I know we'll always have a family here. I know I've kind of been the prodigal son who has disappeared from action, but I have met a lot of incredible people from this site, and I'm sure there are 100's more.... all the best! Blues! Merrick

THAT'S WHAT I SAID!!! No, don't worry man, I see all, and nobody else could have pulled it off... unscathed (You're lucky I like you Kris)! Blues! Merrick

ROFL - I have that T-shirt. "No Gear Skydiving Team" Made to look like a no fear t-shirt, with a 4-way team shaped hole in the ground. Blues! Merrick

PM sent... you know you're the man. HUGE VIBES from NC comin at ya brotha. Blues! Merrick

Hey, It's better than breaking your collar bone in a senseless creeper accident huh slappie. Blues! Merrick

Well, in an effort to steal a a quick ride on Kris' new love interest Pam and I went to his house, snuck in to his garage to steal the little thing and take it for a ride. Imagine our confusion when it wasn't in the garage. Hmmm... My curiosity started to get the best of me, surely Kris isn't one us few "really cool" people who keep their bikes in the house, I had to know! So, with very little effort we managed to jimmy the deadbolt on his backdoor (dude, you really need to get that replaced), and went inside. It was obvious by the fog-horn sounds and the Cargo ships parked in the front lawn that Kris was fast asleep. We quietly tip-toed through the house, slowly opened the bedroom door, and shot milk out our noses (I hadn't even had milk that day) from laughing so hard at what we saw!!! HeHe blues! Merrick

I love you man!!! Blues! Merrick

Ahhhh... You B**ch!!! and I mean that, with nothing but respect and admiration..*grumble* Seriously, Congrats man! Still the best bike I've EVER ridden, I miss the hell outta my 93' 750 Ah well, one day I'll get me a new R1000. Have fun, and be safe brutha! Blues! Merrick

Better late than never... and still, better than 5 miles too early! Oooh, no sir, Lynn has a tight firm ass, and I love to watch Pammi rub it, lick it, SPANK it!!! Blues! Merrick

I saw some at the gear store at CSS a few weekends ago. They're pretty cool! lol Blues! Merrick

well If I was gay and your ass looked like BENLO's I may hafta make you my bitch! LOL hmmm, would have to come up with a name....hmmm what name you suit a BENLO look-a-like...GOT IT...I'd Call you Lynn! ROFLMAO - Ooooh, Bastardo!!

Joke's on you brother, whose hand do you think that is?! Thanks Kris You're pretty OK too... who am I kidding, you rock brother I miss hangin out with you, you're lucky I (we) like you so much... I wouldn't have just "let that go" with ANYBODY else. LOL Well maybe with JT or FFF, but that's because I'm sure JT's gay (BENLO my ass!), and FFF likes animals... no he "LIKES" animals! So no threats there. Forgive me if my jealousy of your jump numbers forces me not to respond! Dammit!!! guess that WAS a response. Peace Brit! DEFINITELY NOT!! Girl's been bustin her ass in the Gym every morning at 5:00am for months, and it's paying off in spades.... she looks awesome! Girl's badass!!! Blues! Merrick

And then some brother! You should see the other pictures she took and sent to me at work. Her Av is probably my favorite picture of her.*drool* Blues! Merrick

OH! Good idea! I'll get our video out today! The lightening in the background was way cool for effect too! Not sure what kind of redneck that makes me that I did something Dave is advising against! Oh, and it wasn't standard gear. Huge-a$$ chute and even a cutaway rigged to kick loose with your foot when you were done. NO, I'm not saying go do it. Visited a DZ, looked like fun, did it, NOT recommending it! Pammi ROFL - Yeah, there are a few things I've done since I started jumping that I'm not real proud of, and probably shouldn't have done (in retrospect)... but damn, it sure was fun! Just a little to add to Pam's post. We were using an old Unit 230 hooked to a harness that someone altered to be used specifically for this purpose. There was a three-ring release hooked to the attachment point that you could kick out of at any time. The tow rope was about 200' long, so we probably got up to about 100-150' or so. This DZ has done this several times and never had a problem. Granted, that doesn't mean that the danger isn't there.... And, it extends to the people in the towing vehicle. The video is pretty cool actually, and the way it launched was kind of unbelievable until I actually saw it. They had the towee stand facing in to the wind, with the canopy spread out behind them. two or three assistants would hold the canopy up to help inflate it, while the towee holds half brakes. The guy driving the truck punches it and you're lifted straight off the ground. It was actually a pretty smooth transition from land to air. Like I said, it's not something I would do again, or even suggest doing... but it was pretty fun. Blues! Merrick

Good on ya, I actually agree. I was just trying to point out that the majority of this great nation is very "sue happy," and I honestly thought some of the responses were from a mindset of a skydiver. That they might have been different if posed in a different situation. Agree with that too, if a good-ol ass whippin' can't solve the problem it's time to take other measures. Yes I did, and I accept that. But, in the certain circumstances a waiver doesn't mean much. How many students have already sued and won, regardless of the waiver. How many doctors have been sued by patients whose life they just saved... I'm sure the list goes on. In this particular case, I'm sure it would be hard to prove all of Lawrocket's 1)2)3)and4) points. I was mainly trying to get everyone to take the Gatorz (read: skydiving blinders ) off. Blues! Merrick

Not singling you out dd, but this just seems to be the general consensus. Why is it that what is considered acceptable in all other aspects of life, isn’t in our community, just because we’re all skydivers?! Who are we trying to protect, our sport, the manufacturer….? We’re all (or most all) drivers too, driving is pretty much a necessity. What if you were driving a Ford Explorer a few years ago and the bead on your Firestones broke causing you to roll your vehicle breaking your back. I believe it was a series of lawsuits that prompted the recall. Or, how about the Rambler that used to have problems with the gas tank exploding in crashes (acceptable levels of risk)? These are obvious manufacturer defects, that resulted in several deaths and serious injuries. I’m not trying to promote suing anybody (business or personal), but if you can prove without a doubt that it was indeed a “faulty” cutaway system due to a manufacturer defect, I would certainly want to know what gear it was, and I would expect something to be done to correct the problem. Like I said, I’m not advocating it, especially if it is a problem the manufacturer isn’t aware of, but on the other hand if my life or, more importantly, the life of any of my loved ones was seriously jeopardized, I would seriously be pissed off! I know there are hundreds of other variables to consider, body-position, correct emergency procedures, currency.. etc, but if you can prove negligence you might have a case, regardless of the warnings, any waivers, or knowledge of risk. This has come up many times before, jumpers suing other jumpers, jumpers suing manufacturers, jumpers suing DZ’s… etc, and I know that as members supporting a small community we feel it’s our duty to stand up and shout how wrong it is, but the bottom line is that people are in control of everything we do and use, and people make mistakes (sometimes resulting in serious problems). It’s when we discover that those mistakes are actually negligence, that I have a problem with. Not saying that’s the case here, but anything’s possible….. flame on. Wish your wife luck with her recovery. Blues! Merrick