sunman

Allow me to attempt to make a long story short. My company rented a car for me when I was home for Christmas break. I ran over a damn rock in a dirt parking lot by accident (it was dark) which seriously damaged the underside of the vehicle. $2000 worth of damage to be exact. My company's insurace won't pay for it since I was not on "company time". Now my company is planning on taking $125 out of my paychecks until the damage is paid off. But here's the thing - I never signed anything stating that I would be responsible for the damages and I was never given the opportunity to purchase the optional insurance. I picked up the car at my company's headquarters. So should I tell my company to go screw themselves or should I suck it up and pay for the damages that I caused? $2000 is a lot of jump tickets...

Leaving for Z-Hills from NC in about an hour! I was there once about a year ago and I can't freakin' wait to get back! Meeting some friends from Michigan down there. So if you Z-hillers see some guy walking around in a blue free-fly suit looking for somebody to jump with, that's me (my MI friends are belly flyers, the dirty bastards).

The funny thing is, if you do manage to make your house airtight, you'll freaking suffocate!

Holy living fuck. Just how stupid does our government believe we are? Yeah, and while you're doing that, be sure not to breathe. Oh wait, you'll already be dead so it won't matter. It's this kind of BS that puts people in such a state of panic that they do stupid stuff like trample each other to run from a little pepper spray.

1:1:20 1 shitty valentine's day, 1 shitty birthday, and 20 drinks I had to make up for the fact that I couldn't jump.

Rage Against The Machine. Good workout music.

Maybe you should try getting the cat to run into the snow using the laser pointer. That way you can fuck with kitty's head in two different ways at the same time! It'd be multi-disciplinary, kind of like a hybrid jump. Somebody please try this and let me know if it works. If you're really bored, you could get it on video.

Two. Pro-Track and Pro-Dytter. For ff, it's the best way to go. I also believe that together, they are more accurate and dependable than my visual altimeter. I depend on them to tell me when to break off (second only to my eyes watching the ground get bigger). Some people think this is stupid, but you always rely on SOME altimeter, so why not rely on two audibles with good batteries?

By all means, put the cat in the snow. It's harmless. The worst that can happen is the cat will love it and want to be outside more. You need to get one of those laser pointer things. Move it around the floor and watch the cat go nuts chasing it. One of the funniest things you'll ever see.

Hahahaha! I'll drink to that!

Maybe I'm just weird, but I like to think of it in terms of a risk/fun ratio. The risk of skydiving is very low compared to how much fun it is. The fun factor makes the risk factor seem irrelevant. Now take something like snowmobiling. I enjoy this as well, but I believe it to be much more dangerous and not nearly as much fun as skydiving. (There are so many more things to run into!) So is it insane to jump out of an airplane? Not for the pleasure I get from it! From the risk/fun ratio point of view, snowmobiling is much more insane, because it is not as much fun and much more dangerous.

Option 1, man. I too have blue and yellow on my canopy, and I wish there were more yellow and less blue. The yellow looks sweet against the blue sky, and you want to stick out like a sore thumb so everybody can see your killer swoops!

"Blah blah blah..." That's all I got out of that post, Dave. Of course, I spent V-day alone, I'm drunk, and tomorrow's my birthday, which I will spend alone and not jumping cuz the weather's gonna suck, so just ignore me.

My teammate once funneled a 64 way (attempt). No shit. He came in really hot and flew right under it, then got really big to come back up. Took out the entire 8-way base and then some. It was definately his most embarrassing moment, but it was also mine, because everybody knew we were on a team together (matching jumpsuits).

www.kazaa.com Just like the old napster. You download a program and file share with like 500,000,000 people. You can get anything.

Okay, I see your point. That demographic itself is not racist because it is a fact. I was just trying to say that the demographic brings us to conclusions that may or may not be true about a minority who happens to walk into the admissions office.

Do you know who was the first person to say that? Just curious.

So white people are rich and dark people are poor? That sounds like racist to me. If we're trying to fight racism and be "color blind", shouldn't we try to make equal opportunities for all people regardless of race? Assuming somebody has not had equal opportunities because they have dark skin is wrong. And for God's sake, adding a new and different prejudice, or "swinging the pendulum the other way" IS ANOTHER PROBLEM, NOT A SOLUTION! I should add that Bush has come up with a pretty interesting alternative, which he calls "affirmative access." He believes that anybody who graduates in the top ten percent of their High School should be automatically eligible for admission. I believe this to be a good compromise. This would mean that somebody who went to a poor school district, but managed to do reasonably well considering their situation, would have the same opportunity as somebody who was lucky enough to attend a better school. This system is better because it does not assume that assume that all minorities are poor and under-privileged. Some may be, but to say they all are is wrong. I would like to add that my job has placed me in about 15 different schools over the past 3 years (don't ask me to explain what I do for a living). I currently work at five different schools. I do not believe that a school is good or bad based solely on the economic status of the students. What is far more important is the teachers and principals. If a school has a good principal who hires good teachers who really try hard to reach the kids, then it is a good school, even if all the kids are poor. 'Nuff said. Thank you all for your contributions. I got exactly what I was looking for; a variety of knowledgeable opinions. Whether or not you agree with me, I respect and understand your viewpoint.

I'm not sure. Last time I saw him he had it shaved off.

I'll do video. I won't charge you a dime. I see you're from Hawaii. Do you know a guy named Mark Tilburt? I've seen video of that guy packing nekked...ewwwww....

I usually don't like to start political debates, but something is pissing me off, so what the hell. Let me start by saying that I hold no party affiliation and zero political loyalties. I am not a democrat and I am not republican. For those of you who haven't seen this in the news yet, I'll offer a brief summary. The University of Michigan has an affirmative action policy that helps minorities get into the school. The idea is to encourage diversity in the student body. To get into the U of M, one needs to take an admissions test. Any applicant who is African-American, Hispanic, or Native American automatically gets 20 points out of a 150 point system for being a minority. The Bush administration is opposing this, saying that the system is unconstitutional and fundamentally flawed. "All races must be treated equally under the law", Bush says, and feels that this system does not treat races equally. Needless to say, the democrats, civil rights groups and civil rights leaders stand opposed to the stance taken by the Bush administration. Now I certainly do not agree with everything Bush says and does. But I have to admit that I think he's right on with this one. I do not have a problem with encouraging racial diversity. Hell, it would be nice to see a little more diversity at our drop zones. What I have a problem with is the way the University of Michigan goes about promoting diversity, and it's not because I feel "threatened" as a caucasian. I do not feel at all threatened by this policy. That is not my complaint. My complaint is that this affirmative action policy taken by the U of M is actually quite racist. Why do they give minorities an automatic 20 points on a test for admission? Are minorities inferior and they need the help? This policy seems to say that to make things fair, that African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans need a "handicap" to mentally compete with white people! Could this notion possibly be any more racist? This is why I am so pissed off! The Bush administration is actually doing the right thing in opposing this racist policy, and is accused of being racist! The democrats and civil rights leaders, who are supposed to fight racism, actually support this policy that asserts that minorities are somehow inferior! So what do you think? Do you agree with me that the affirmative action policy at the U of M is trying so hard to promote diversity that it is actually racist? Or am I missing something here?

The current two-party system is a joke and a mockery of democracy. Only those who please big business and special interest groups have a chance. But you can get information about ALL the candidates (there are usually more than two) and their issues at www.votesmart.org. You might even find somebody you don't hate. A vote for a third-party candidate is not a throw-away vote, even if they don't win. It's one more vote to tip the scales away from the two-party monopoly. If enough people do it, maybe we won't need to start a bloody revolution.

Good kitty. Don't worry though, you can train him to not do that anymore. All you have to do is teach him to go against his perfectly honed instincts that helped his species survive through millions of years of evolution.

Don't be afraid to ask people to jump with you. The worst that happens is they say no. Big freakin' deal. If you want to do belly, then grab some people with comparable experience to you and put together a 4-way. Want to freefly? Grab somebody and do a two-way. Want to get in good with the skygods? Ask their advice, they love that. And don't forget, you're a skydog to the guy with 20 jumps. Just jump your ass off and prove yourself in the air. And beer. Bring lots of beer.

Watchers... I like that. Did you come up with that? Sarcasm works pretty good. When they talk to you, act as if it's the most interesting thing you've ever heard. Keep your eyes open really wide and say things like "Really?" and "Wow! That's amazing!" They'll get the picture and leave you the hell alone.