NickDG

Let me know when you finally see it (Jesus, go down to the library or something ) because I'll soon be calling a band meeting. (And that means you too, Ringo!) NickD

That was nicely put . . . you explained what I was thinking better than I did, LOL! NickD

Congrats! Sometimes I wish there was an anti-skydive drug I could take to forget I ever jumped, just so I could start all over again. The beginning is the best part, the rest is just practice . . . NickD

I see what you're saying, but I used the word "most" because I recall when it was "none" so to me it does seem like most. NickD

http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=173725929324454&id=519082143 Click the thumbnail under my name . . . NickD

Jesus, this thread turned out a hell of lot more funnier (and prophetic) than I thought it would . . . NickD

Timing is everything! Back in the late 80s we taught a fellow to B.A.S.E. jump who owned and ran the very first commercial bungee jumping operation in North America. While we were there B.A.S.E. jumping his 240-foot crane I couldn't help notice how many customers were lined up to bungee jump. When I went back to Perris I discussed it with Anne Helliwell and it turned out (being she's from New Zealand, the part of the world that invented modern Bungee jumping) she knew how to build the bungee cords from scratch. So we rented a crane and set up an operation in Riverside. And we had the rubes lined up all day long to make the hundred dollar jump. This was better than drug dealing! I never saw so much money. It was the very beginning of the bungee jumping craze and we hit the jackpot! Today, you can't give bungee jumps away. The last commercial operation I saw (about a year ago) was getting $10 a jump and the place was devoid of any customers, LOL. Bungee has the same problem as tunnels do and to some extent, the same problem tandem skydiving has. Even though we know better, after most "normal" people do it once, they see little point in doing it again. Add in saturation and it's all over. NickD

Man, I'm probably the last guy left here to jump your shit, but I'm firmly on-board now, move on over Airtwardo, and g'me some room . . . NickD

I actually loved those old metric scooters. And I remember a lot of really cool ones from back in the 70s. In fact I'm seriously considering building one someday soon. So stand by for: Geisha Girl! (LOL, don't worry I'll figure out a better name.) NickD

Yeah that, and giving the new B.A.S.E. jumpers today the nod! LOL! NickD

>>Why is it cool now?

This is lighting up basejumper.com and it's classic BASE. The only part I'm gonna knock Jester for (and I've known him a long time) is jumping without his frigging chest strap hooked up . . . NickD

Yeah, Mike played the "security guard" in T2. Also Harley (no, not the dead one) sold a ton of Fatboys after that flick . . . NickD

>>How'd you get away with that much hair in the Corp?

Google has a new feature (accessed through advanced search) that rates the reading level of websites. Leave it to Google to answer the age old question of who's smarter, Skydivers or B.A.S.E. jumpers, LOL! NickD

They'd find this old one from 1973 when I was in the Marine Corps. The caption would be, "It's obvious he'd come to a bad end." (I'm on the right with the "Easy Rider" Magazine.) NickD

LOL, you're right, what was I thinking? Check this out. Man's best friend, but not "the man's" best friend! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9D9f_ySvkA&feature=player_embedded#! NickD

I can only handle five or six woman at a time and it's the about the same for forums . . . LOL! Beautiful bike and she's a resilient woman that's for sure. Maybe this was addressed @ Neds, but with that seat set up isn't she going to tire very quickly just hanging on with one arm? I would think she'd need some type of back rest. NickD

I knew John Early and jumped with him a lot in 1983. The last I knew he was living in Laguna Nigel, CA. If you run into him ask about the time he busted out of a South American prison after a U.S. backed freighter full of weapons he was on was captured. Here's a photo of him I took back then . . . NickD

Man, is that your arm, your leg, or the side of your thigh and ass? Seriously though I like those solid black tats. I almost got one when I was New Zealand but I'm not a fad follower. LOL . . . NickD

Nina and me had our first roadside breakdown today . . . I was going down the 210 freeway around Monrovia and I heard a funny noise that was getting worse. So I looked down and behind my right leg and was horrified to see my battery about to slip under my rear tire. I wasn't sure I would make the next exit so I pulled over to the side of the freeway. There was never anything holding that battery in place, it was just wedged under the solenoid on the top and the rear fender on the other side. But it was pretty tight and didn't seem like it would move. And it stayed in place for about two months. But today the bottom end of the battery kicked out and off the little shelf I welded in for it to sit on. So I shoved it back into place but it was too loose to stay there. So I tried using my belt to secure it but there was no way to get a good wrap on it. So I'm looking at it and scratching my head when another Harley pulled in behind me. It was a young guy about thirty. "Need some help?" He says. I laughed and said, "I need some duct tape!" "No problem," he said, "I'll be right back!" And off he went. Twenty minutes later he returned with a brand new roll of duct tape and between the two of us we managed to cobble enough of it around the battery to hold it in place. "What do I owe you for the tape?" I asked reaching for my wallet. "Nothing," and he smiled, "just stop and help the next guy on a motorcycle you see broke down." I assured him I would and off he went. Harley riders! What else can you say! NickD

>>Along similar lines I knew an AFF Instructor who lost a very light student. The camera guy with wings, flew in to assist the student.

>>It's not an explosive, it's a pyrotechnic cutter.

When I was at that Toy run last weekend I was parked next to a RUB who dropped his helmet off his handlebars, and he said, "Damn, guess I'll have to buy another one now." When I asked him why he said any blow to the helmet can compromise its integrity! I'm not anti-helmet but I rode a Harley for years in So Cal before there was a helmet law in California. But in those days most bike accidents were self induced and not the result of today's overly distracted cage drivers. But man, I wouldn't buy another helmet after a four foot drop. Or even after swinging it around in a bar fight! LOL! NickD

I remember long before the 9/11 (and the TSA) a couple of us were in the LAX terminal on our way to an 80s something Bridge Day. And some fellow passenger heard us talking about the "parachutes" we had with us. All of a sudden an airline employee, a woman, confronted us. After I explained they were BASE rigs and what we planned to do with them she apologized and whispered to me, "Oh, I'm so sorry, but you know, it's the D.B. Cooper thing." "Okay," I said, "but DB Cooper was a criminal." She left and quickly reappeared with a few hundred dollars in travel vouchers for us. It was obvious she was worried we'd complain to the airline that an employee inferred we were criminals. Oh, how I miss the old days! NickD