slotperfect

There is a very nice documentary segment on Bill Booth posted on the UPT homepage: http://www.uptvector.com/ It is very well done, and well worth the look. Arrive Safely John

I shared a 1985 bottle of Glenrothes at work the evening before my retirement last fall. I bought it while traveling abroad years ago and saved it for the occasion. It is very nice. Arrive Safely John

6 hours Arrive Safely John

I am pretty sure that's a troll post, but I erred on the side of congeniality . . . Arrive Safely John

I have a litte email weirdness going on as well. Receiving messages late, and not all at once. Arrive Safely John

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4065778 Arrive Safely John

I kinda had my heart set on "The Dread Pirate Bordson" Arrive Safely John

No pics Arrive Safely John

You have to volunteer to go to Jump School if you make the Team and end up assigned there. One of my teammates did that (she is still there). Arrive Safely John

Sending you one of my big bear hugs - loving you on your burfday!

I have two friends that are alive today because they performed a PLF. Bot of them suffered nearly complete canopy collapse under 100 feet in turbulence. They were both severely injured, breaking many bones and causing permanent damage, but both of them are alive. Both of them landed with extreme vertical velocity. One of them did such a good PLF, he spread the impact out over the right side of his body - and although he broke a lot of bones - he avoided injury to his spine. He is still jumping. A PLF is a landing emergency procedure. During first jump courses, we spend a lot of time on deployment EPs. Knowing how to execute cutaway procedures to handle a deployment malfunction is not planning for a bad opening - it's equipping the jumper for surviving a malfunction and living to jump another day. My two friends would tell you that the same philosophy applies to PLFs. Even if a PLF is not perfect because of the canopy's performance characteristics, the jumper's contact with the ground is made with the body being in a compact package with all the parts tucked in, maximizing chance for escaping injury. Arrive Safely John

Please post this in the existing thread - your note alone will not keep this from becoming a divided conversation. I can change the thread's subject line to reflect the addition of pictures, with permisson of the OP. Arrive Safely John

Let's keep this thread going. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3516297;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed; Arrive Safely John

[warning] @ Scatter: personal attacks are not tolerated in the forums [/warning] Arrive Safely John

I jumped my own pack job in Rigger School in 1984 - jump #7. Arrive Safely John

Courtesy of Rhett & Link and the Homestead Pickers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnWU7kDlgLQ Arrive Safely John

Orders that are already in place are scheduled for a May delivery. Retail price will be $349.00. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N83EOA21-ag Arrive Safely John

42 at Raeford - no jumping because of the sorry ass weather. Great Safety Day activities though! Arrive Safely John

Done! Arrive Safely John

lawrocket Arrive Safely John

I learned to ski at age 6 at Mad River and at nearby Glen Ellen. Great memories there. Arrive Safely John

At 14 I was the Assistant Sexton for the little town just north of my own called Walden, VT, caring for eight different cemeteries. Duties were mostly mowing, trimming, and raking leaves, but there were several other things we did occasionally as well. The first summer I worked directly for the Sexton, the second summer I did it with my friend PJ (who had the job before I did), and the third summer I did it by myself. It was a great job - these cemeteries were in beautiful picturesque places off dirt roads in the Vermont countryside. PJ and I had to dig one grave (by hand) because the location of the gravesite was such that a backhoe couldn't get in there. We finished it up in the dark, with a thunderstorm blowing its way in, listening to the only cassette we had for the boom box: Alice Cooper's "Welcome to My Nightmare." That was some creepy stuff . . . Arrive Safely John

Please see this announcement. Thanks. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3500811; Arrive Safely John

For several years at work we would get our coffee and settle down just in time to listen to "The Rest of the Story." Those were riveting, brilliant pieces of journalism. He was, and will likely remain, unequaled in his field. I heard a quote from him on the radio today: "I never saw a monument erected to a pessimist. Every pessimist who ever lived has been buried in an unmarked grave. Tomorrow has always been better than today, and it aways will be." Arrive Safely John

I love the state-of-the-art 5-cell in the photo. Arrive Safely John