Blahr

BTW, You should recognize me easily enough when we do meet. The picture next to my posts is a caricature of me drawn by a friend at work a year or so ago. It looks just like me. Well, except for the chainsaw.

Hi Herv, Easy answers I quit jumping 8 years ago for various reasons. Mostly financial. Then, just to make sure that I stayed away, I broke my back in a car accident. By the time I was fully recovered from this, which took several years, I had aquired the "habit" of not jumping. Skydiving was no longer a part of my normal life. Until one day about 3 months ago when it suddenly occured to me "Hey, you are no longer broke, broken, or screwed up. Go get back in the saddle!" I will be making a "Comeback" starting in Sept :-) This is why you have never seen me there. I have not been to Hazelton in 8 years. I've been in contact with Darlene via e-mail though. Unless you stop jumping, you WILL eventually meet me :-) That is definitely my A license number, not my USPA number which is 90818. In 1990 or so when I got it they were at 17xxx, in y2k, 10 years later, I guess they were in the 30k range. On the last thing, the whole point with the beer is that it contains alcohol Smirnoff ice, while a tasty alternative I'm sure, is no different. See you in Sept Chris

I was hoping that it would be just that simple :-) Skydiving folks are the coolest around. I've missed them in my abscence and am very excited to return. I've wondered about the beer though, before I laid off jumping I still drank so buying beer when required was not a problem.

OK, I dont drink. This was not a philosophical choice for me. I stopped 8 years ago rather than be a dead guy. I think I made the right choice The problem? I dont buy beer. I do not buy beer for myself. I do not buy beer for others. If I do something that would normally require that I buy beer, I'm not buying any beer. If folks want beer, more power to them :-) They'll have to buy their own. I'd be more than happy to buy some rootbeer for everyone :-) If folks want to drink beer while I'm there, once again, no problem with me. Watching folks drink beer doesnt bother me. I'm just not buying it. Anyone think this will be an issue for me when I return to the DZ? If so, whats the best way to handle it? Wait till someone tells me I have to buy beer and just tell them no? Make a general announcement upon my arrival that I'm not buying anyone any beer so dont bother telling me to? Chris

Dont everyone speak at once!

What exactly is involved in live water training? I'll be looking to go for my B soon so I want to know exactly what I will be required to do. Thanks

Terry, I have nothing to offer in the foot/ankle area, but I have had 2 surgeries on my right shoulder from a beer accident 12 years ago. This injury has cause me a lot of pain over the years and still does. I have been fairly heavy into bodybuilding for the last 10 years or so and the lack of a stable AC joint combined with regular heavy lifting equals more or less continual pain. Sometimes debilitating pain. It hurts when I pull due to the position I must place my right arm in. It doesnt stop me from pulling :-) It is painful for me though. The only option I am given these days is the classic: me "Doctor, it hurts when I do this!" doctor "So dont do that" "Dont do that" with regard to weight lifting, skydiving, or any other strenulous physical activity is not an option for me so I deal with the pain. At 38 I'm too young (or obstinate) to start giving ground. At the time of the injury there was no adequate reconstruction technique so they actually just removed the offending joint to keep the bones from rubbing and causing spurs (spurs in your shoulder are fun, lemme tell ya) Medical science is advancing fairly quickly in the area of joint replacements. For myself, I'm hanging in there and hoping a better alternative presents itself eventually. It sounds to me like your pain is seriously affecting your peace of mind and quality of life. The question is, is it enough to warrant a permanant solution like fusing. Also, if an adequate alternative were to come along, is it something that could still be done after a fusing has been done? You probably dont want to do something that cant be undone except as a last resort when you just cant take it any longer. Hopefully you have not reached that point yet. Obviously you are hoping to hear from someone with a fused ankle (I hope one responds) to give you the scoop on how their life is affected by it, so maybe this message is useless to you. But the fact is, only you know how much pain you can tolerate. For some folks its far more than for others. Is the pain worth it? For me it is. Maybe for you its not. Chris

It does...if you like Parrots

I have a dragon and Yin/Yang on my left arm, an Ankh and a Pegasus on my right. Both look cool. I have a large colorful phoenix on my right chest and I liked it right up till someone told me one day that it looked like a Parrot. Now all I see is a parrot when I look at it. Gah!

You yell "DOOR!" when exiting the room

Sweet! I remember it well myself :-)

Cheer up! You could be waiting till September like I am! Next weekend is only a few days off... ; ; ;

Good advice :-) Thanks Simply that they are both barely 15, no money, and 2000 miles apart. I wont underwrite this romance via telephone or otherwise. Thats gonna make it hard to work out. ; ; ;

Wendy, Thanks, this is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping for when I posted. :-) I actually found out about it by accident. I run my own mail server and got a bounced message because he had misconfigured his client AND sent the message to a bad address. The postmaster account got the bounce insluding the original message. There is no confusing this with mere friendship, take my word for that. :-) Anyway, my inclination is to let it run its course, I am basically just looking for someone to say that its the right way to deal with it. That seems to be the consensus :-) Thanks again! ; ; ;

Absolutely, I know its serious for him. Thats why it worries me. ; ; ;

Hi All, Question: What should you do if your 15 year old son believes he is "In love" with a girl that lives 2000 miles away and has never met? That this is even possible from their conversations I cant imagine how (how r u? lol, rofl, WTF? my dad is a dick cuz I cant play EQ 16 hours a day, school sux, etc) This relationship hasnt a chance in hell of ever going anywhere and thus far I have only offered advice. My instinct tells me that this can only lead to trouble and hurt. Already happened once when he discovered that she had "cheated" on him. How does that happen?!? He stayed in his room for 2 days and wouldnt talk. I fear this is just a taste of the shitstorm to come. I am not against online relationships per se, in fact thats how I met my wife. This one just aint gonna work out though for obvious geographic and age related reasons. He has never had a "real life" relationship. How far should I let this go before I put on the breaks? I'm afraid that just pulling the plug is not a good answer, but I also feel that letting it play out is not a good answer either. I'm not even sure what "experts" might have good advice. I'll entertain any suggestions. Thanks, Chris ; ; ;

How bout this? http://www.artcars.com/artcarweekend/LewisTwo/Lewis6.html ; ; ;

OK, heres an idiot question then. Whats a beer line? ; ; ;

Good catch dude :-) Keep on checkin... ; ; ;

Arnold is totally the man. He was the guy that inspired me to change from a fat kid to a bodybuilding adult. He MADE his life happen through sheer hard work and determination. If he wants to wear a speedo in public more power to him, you all should look so good when you are pushing 60 years old and have a new heart valve. :-) ; ; ;

The hardest level was that I did an IAD course cuz I couldnt afford AFF :-)

Just imagine what this could do for the beauty industry! "I went today for a facial peel, exited at 13 grand, just fell belly to earth till 3000, pulled. Had a good landing, then applied a mask with cucumber juice, and an avacado lotion. Doesnt my skin look beautiful and smooth? Gives your cheeks that rosy glow too!"

Well my home town is Gloucester Mass. If I ever move back there I'd be looking up Pepperell as its very close :-) But then it would be idiotic if you used that info to make a decision! ; ; ;

This seems kind of funny to me. Not to do it, but to NOT do it every time. I learned to pack 10 years ago and was taught to do this EVERY time I packed and have always followed that procedure. It seems odd to me that one would only do it once per day or every couple days. Especially since it only takes 30 seconds. Granted, I was taught to flat pack. This is probably a bigger pain in the ass when pro packing. I have been away from it for 8 years and will be starting again in Sept. I plan to learn how to pro pack but I still intend to do this every time. Why the hell not? I might loose a couple minutes by doing it every time but thats better than loosing the rest of the day because I had to chop. ; ; ;