tsisson

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Posts posted by tsisson


  1. Quote

    Quote

    I'm passionate about skydiving as much as they are...but I just can't dedicate as much time to my passion as I want to, at least at this point in time.
    ________________________________________________

    Obviously, you're not, or you'd be living in a trailer at the dz eating ramen noodles.

    The fact is, if you really were, you'd find a way to be getting in jumps instead of not going out to the dz.

    It doesn't take a lot of jumps to get a coach or instructor rating to actually start paying for your jumping -- none to start packing. i've seen many packers who make more money than the instructors at the dz. So it can be done.

    And maybe some of the instructors aren't out all that much to the dz, and really don't know what stage you;re at in your jumping. So they could be genuinely surprised to hear you've got the licence now -- who knows.



    People like you with their ignorant comments is what gets to me. You have no idea what's going on in my life outside of skydiving, and many people I know from there DO know what's going on & understand that, and don't give me crap for it, and don't make ignorant comments like you just did.

    I love skydiving but right now my FIRST priority is getting my career on track. Yes I want to be on the DZ more, yes I want to get my coach rating, yes I want to be an AFFI some day. Until I have time and money to do all those things, it won't happen, or won't happen as often or quickly as I want it to. Simple as that...and I'm surprised not all people understand that...skydivers are suppose to be flexible and understanding. ;)


    AMEN Brother...keep doing what your doing. Never over extend yourself to add a couple of extra jumps - there is always tomorrow. You stay reasonably current, you have fun when you go to the DZ...keep your career target on track to benefit yourself in the long run, and I'd say you have a pretty level head on your shoulders.

    The knucklehead that decides he's going to spend every last dime on skydiving, load up the credit cards and go nuts - is going to be the dude that regrets alot of things when retirement time hits and he's got to go work the checkout line at Piggly Wiggly.

    And to claim someone is not as passionate about skydiving because they don't make stupid financial decisions and drop every last dime and minute on the sport is ridiculous.

    I didn't realize this was a contest to see who was the most "dedicated and passionate" about this ridiculous sport. I love skydiving as much as the next guy - but at the end of the day for most, it is simply this...an expensive recreational activity.

  2. Quote

    >Nutter with gun: "EVERYBODY GET DOWN ON THE GROUND"
    >Me - eating my salad: "*BOOM* (.45 ACP)"

    Complacent gun owner: "Yep, my .45 can take down even the most evil criminal in the . . ."



    The lesson here is to not be a complacent gun owner. Condition Yellow...

  3. Nutter with gun: "EVERYBODY GET DOWN ON THE GROUND"

    Me - eating my salad: "*BOOM* (.45 ACP)"

    Nutter with gun: "gurgle...death rattle..."

    Me - resuming my salad eating: "can someone please call 911 - have them bring a mop. Oh, and can you pass me more salad dressing?"

  4. Holy cow this is exhausting...

    The good news is...I live in Arizona, where I can openly carry a firearm...or carry it concealed. I don't carry for anyone's protection but my own (and my loved one's).

    I sincerely hope I never am in a situation where I'd need it to defend myself...but God Help Me if I don't have it when I need it.

    Sort of like the skydiving/aviation saying..."It's better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than in the air wishing you were on the ground".

    "Better to have my gun and not need it...than need my gun and not have it."

    Contrary to some people's beliefs...my firearm is not going around shooting itself in the air, or getting stolen because I leave it on window sills in the house. It never gets pointed at anything I don't intend to destroy - it's always treated like it's loaded - and it's not a show and tell object.

    With all that said...it's legal for me to own, and a tool in my belt to enable my God given right to defend myself and my family. So whine and cry all you want, you are NOT TAKING MY GUNS.

  5. Quote

    If the gun is within reach, the drunken idiot full of anger will use it to kill his family (or his cattle [:/]).



    AHA! I think we're on to something here. I propose a solution while were on the topic of "banning" things that cause harm.

    If this booze and guns mixture is so deadly - we should confiscating and restricting booze...it would be easier and more sensible because booze isn't covered by the 2nd ammendment. Booze creates drunk driving deaths, death by health disease, death by violence, and a whole lot of other bad things.

    Bring back Prohibition!!!!

  6. Quote


    Properly secured gun is the one which does not get stolen. It is that simple.



    My guns are properly secured...period.

    Now...exactly how do you plan on removing 290 million guns from the U.S. population? I'm not giving mine back - so now you have 289,999,994 to account for...what's the plan?

  7. Quote


    Hopefully you wouldn't be surprised to get a reply like that: "Personally for me the number of idiots with guns seems to be too high for comfort, and since we cannot ban idiots, we need to ban guns. I don't care if someone wants to own or carry firearms. Whine and complain all you want, if the ban is there and you are carrying, you'll end up in jail. We can also start small - a tax like $1000/month per gun may be a good start, as 2nd amendment does not say anything about the right to bear arms for free, and Congress indeed has authority to establish new taxes".

    Arrogant opinion provides adequate response, and since you gun owners are minority, IMHO you should exercise more caution because of your potential to turn gun-neutral people to anti-gun people.



    A question...do you feel all firearm owners are idiots? I can tell you, that I am not considered an idiot by any measure. I'm a well educated, professional, law abiding tax payer who votes.

    If you take my attitude towards this whole debate as arrogance, then you have mistaken arrogance for exhaustion. You are obviously not moving off your position, just as I am not moving off of mine. I respect your right to fear firearms. Yes, I agree that they are very dangerous - that's exactly why I carry mine.

    So - go ahead and get that gun tax legislation written up...good luck with that.

  8. We can all drudge up statistics to support either side of the debate. Below is an example. Personally, for me it is about my freedom and right to protect myself and more importantly my family. I don't really care if someone has a problem with me owning firearms, or carrying them concealed. Whine and complain all you want, I'm not giving my guns back.

    ---------------------------------

    All firearms in Brazil are required to be registered with the state. The minimum age for ownership is 25[3] and it is generally illegal to carry a gun outside a residence.[4] The total number of firearms in Brazil is thought to be around 17 million[4] with 9 million of those being unregistered.[3] Some 39,000 people died in 2003 due to gun-related injuries nationwide.[4] In 2004, the number was 36,000.[3] Although Brazil has 100 million fewer citizens than the United States, and more restrictive gun laws, there are 25 percent more gun deaths;[5] other sources indicate that homicide rates due to guns are approximately four times higher than the rate in the United States.[6] Brazil has the second largest arms industry in the Western Hemisphere.[6] Approximately 80 percent of the weapons manufactured in Brazil are exported, mostly to neighboring countries; many of these weapons are then smuggled back into Brazil.[6] Some firearms in Brazil come from police and military arsenals, having either been "stolen or sold by corrupt soldiers and officers."[6]

  9. I'm still shaking my head over all the hand wringing by some because people like me own and carry firearms.

    But, I'm still smiling because my right to own a firearm is protected by the 2nd ammendment. I also smile because my state has granted me a license to legally carry that firearm concealed.

    So nanananananananaaaaaaaa...........;)


  10. Quote

    I would prefer not to be there when the bad stuff happened.
    "Skilled intelligence agents use their combat training to get out of shitty situation alive, while wise intelligence agents use their brain to not get into such situations where they would have to show their skills" was the favorite quote of my Sgt.



    I don't see how this is relevant to anything that we've been discussing. I'm not talking about living my life as a skilled intelligence agent - having to extract myself from situations or taking constant vigilance to ensure I'm not finding myself in a secret agent standoff.

    I'm talking about defending my life should I need to - if by some chance I find myself in a predicament like the poor folks at Brown's...

    I didn't realize that a local Brown's Chicken is a high risk environment that one should never go near. Let's look at some other high risk environments:

    Denny's
    The Olive Garden
    Your local Radio Shack
    Dog Parks
    Any bank
    Commuter Train Stations
    All of Northern Arizona backcountry

  11. Quote



    I'd speculate that all your guns won't help you even against a single skilled assassin who is determined to kill you. Even Presidents have been killed, and they had much more than just people with guns around them.



    You are absolutely correct! I completely agree with you that I have zero defense against a skilled assassin who attacks me under the complete cover of surprise. No guns or weapons of any kind will ever help me or anyone else in that situation.

    BUT...that is completely irrelevant to this debate. I'm not talking about protecting myself against skilled assassins.

    I'm talking about protecting myself and loved ones against something bad happening - like the examples I have given (aka Brown's Chicken). See the difference?

    The Brown's Chicken massacre was not pulled off by skilled assassins. It was committed by two lunatics who I wish would have been stopped by someone capable of defending themselves.

    Here's the crime...

    On January 8, 1993, seven people were murdered at the Brown's Chicken and Pasta at 168 W. Northwest Highway in Palatine. The assailants stole less than 2000 dollars from the restaurant.

    When Palatine police found the bodies, it was more than 5 1/2 hours after the 9 p.m. closing. Michael Castro's parents called the police a couple hours after closing time. Later, Guadalupe Maldonado's wife had called police, concerned that her husband had not returned home from work and that his car was still in the apparently-closed Brown's Chicken parking lot.

    When officers arrived at the building, they spotted the rear, employees' door open. Inside, they found the seven bodies, some face down, in a cooler and in a walk-in refrigerator.

    The victims included the owners, Richard E. Ehlenfeldt, 50, and his wife, Lynn W Ehlenfeldt, 49, of Arlington Heights, Illinois. Also killed were five employees: Guadalupe Maldonado, 46, of Palatine, via Mexico, the cook; Michael C. Castro, 16, and Rico L. Solis, 17, both Palatine High School students working there part-time; and Palatine residents Thomas Mennes, 32, and Marcus Nellsen, 31.

  12. Quote

    To make it really workable (and address your "robber" concern), I suppose you'd have to screen everyone at the door.



    Exactly...and this doesn't happen. So the sign is useless. If I'm a bad guy and want to rob a store - the first place I'm going is somewhere that has one of those silly "No Guns Allowed" signs posted out front.

    Then, when I yell "EVERYONE GET DOWN!!!!", I can be more confident that no one is going to stand up for themselves and point the business end of a .45 at me.

  13. Quote


    Do you think a terrorist who has a belt with explosives on him would be scared of your guns?
    Do you think those who flew the planes into WTC would scared and land the plane back in JFK if the full plane was armed?
    This is not even funny.



    The terrorist probably wouldn't be scared because he would be dead.

    And the terrorist wouldn't be the ones to land the plane back at JFK either - same reason. Dead people cannot fly airplanes.

  14. Can we all just re-read the 2nd Amendment please?

    And last I checked, we don't have a magic "make the guns disappear" wand.

    I will stay armed...because I can and because I have a right to protect myself. I'm not a trained Ninja so I'm not too confident of my hand to hand combat with armed assailants that decide to hold up the corner 7-eleven while I'm buying a snickers bar...but I will put a .45 sized hole in some asshat who decides he wants to hurt myself or my family.

    I chuckle at the signs posted on some establishments in Arizona - the No Guns Allowed signs. Like they create some sort of magical forcefield preventing someone with bad intentions of holding the joint up...because the robber surely would obey that sign and leave his gun in the car.

  15. Quote

    Quote

    120 gun homicides? Wonder how many of those would have turned out differently had the victim been carrying a firearm for self defense.



    And JFK would be still alive if only his guards had guns, right? Oh wait...



    What in the world does JFK have to do with what we are talking about?

    If you were a customer at Brown's Chicken in Palatine, IL when the bad stuff happened...would you feel better or worse if you had a weapon/firearm on your person and you were being escorted to the freezer area?

    Just asking...

    I have a carry permit - I'm legally allowed to carry a firearm concealed. How is this hurting you?

    I've never drawn my weapon on anyone...I've never used it in a crime...I've never brandished it openly...I've never menaced anyone. But I do know this, I'm not going to go into the freezer in Brown's Chicken to be executed- nor is anyone else who is with me.

    And before anyone starts arguing that these things don't really happen...tell that to the victims in the McDonald's shooting in San Ysidro (James Huberty killed 21 people that day).

    You don't want to own or carry a firearm? Fine...that is your choice - but I certainly hope you never find yoruself crying to God to save you when something really really bad goes down and you find yourself in the freezer - unable to do anything about it but scribble a goodbye note to your loved ones before you get dead.

  16. Quote



    Are they supposed to justify the 120 or so gun homicides that have taken place over the same time period?



    120 gun homicides? Wonder how many of those would have turned out differently had the victim been carrying a firearm for self defense. How many total homicides were committed during that period - not using a handgun? I can kill someone just as easily with a baseball bat as I can with a hand gun...should we outlaw baseball bats?

    Brown's Chicken...

    If just one of those employees had a firearm for self defense, I'm betting that would have turned out differently.

    God help me if I'm ever in a restaurant/store/etc and someone robs the place...then orders everyone into the "back room". Not going to happen to me, I can PROMISE you that.

    I don't intend on committing a crime with my firearm - so why does anyone have a problem with my right to own it and if necessary use it to defend myself?

    God bless John Moses Browning...

  17. Criminals and crazy people will always have access to guns...whether gun ownership is legal or not. That is just a fact - sort of like drugs - if you want them, you will get them - legal or not.

    Now, in my home - I have guns too. When I'm out and about, I have my firearm. Should I encounter a situation where my life is threatened by some nut similar to the one described in the article referenced - I take some measure of peace knowing that I can properly defend myself or my wife.

    I am very liberal, vote democrat typically - but as far as the 2nd ammendment - complain all you want...I just don't see the sense in disarming society and leaving guns to the criminals. Sort of like leaving the bank unlocked at night with the alarm off - just an invitation to those with bad intentions to do whatever they want, whenever they want.

    "An armed society is a polite society"

  18. 135 lbs under a 190? I don't think this is as radical of a concept as many here are reacting to.

    That said...I know of a very progressive dropzone in the midwest that put all AFF students out on Sabre's...and did so safely. I personally saw some students transition to Stilleto's for a few jumps...and many bought and jumped ellipticals for their first canopy's. This was all done with alot of coaching, mentoring, attention,and constant reminder that you will likely die if you screw up close to the ground.

    Remember that low turns will kill you, no matter what sort of canopy you are flying, and fly this one conservatively knowing that it will put you in the hurt locker more efficiently if you screw up close to the ground.

    Use your head when flying the gear you have...be conservative...stay ahead of the jump...head on a swivel...don't try to get cute with swooping at this point...live to learn.

    My 2 cents.