ChasingBlueSky

Found a flyer at the concert - you can order a cd of the concert from the band and they send you a link to download the unmastered MP3's while waiting for the cd to arrive. Kinda cool - looks like it was a good set list in your town. www.pearljambootlegs.com _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Anyone else go to the concert last night? Sometimes you'll see a strange spot in the sky - a human being that was given to fly. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Right Here, Right Now - Fat Boy Slim How many more do you want - I have a Playlist with 72 songs that are all good skydiving songs for me. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Go to downloads.com and get lavasofts adaware. THen remove both lime and kazaa - then go to www.kazaalite.com and get the spyware free version. Run adaware again after you do all of this. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

wow - scary pics. glad you were able to walk away from that. I had a chance to see chop1.gif myself this weekend. Deployed in a max track only to feel my PC bounce off my ankle and felt my bag do a bounce or two off my back as well. After a few odd tugs behind me it stood me up but I had my chin pinned to my chest since it was spun up all the way down my risers behind my helmet. I tried to look up to see what the issue was and caught a slight glimpse of my canopy diving and turning towards the ground and pointed backwards from my prospective. I was on my side as it was turning and it was trying to flip me onto my back, but luckily I jump a 170 Stiletto under a 1.5 wingloading and it just didn't spin or dive too much. Check my alti to see I am passing thru 2200 (and very happy I pulled around 3000 instead of 2500) and grabbed both handles....a couple strange thoughts come thru my head: 1) Hmm...can't remember who packed my reserve 2)this is going to freak my friend out more than me and 3) oh yea, ARCH! As I arched and was about to pull red, the risers slipped over my helmet and I could see the twist started just around my toggles and went up higher than I had ever seen before. I figured I would give it one kick.....I kicked hard, the canopy stopped diving, stood me up and started to fly away from the dz.....check alti - I'm at 2000...kicked and pulled hard! 14 twists total and I'm flying under my canopy again - grab toggles, control check, check alti to see I am at 1800. Phew. Just barely made it back to the landing area. Packed up and had one hell of a jump a couple loads later. Good to know that my training can kick in - first (yea, yea) time I have ever had to go to my handles in five years. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Left the dropzone pretty late tonight after spending an hour trying to help someone find his helmet/alti/protrack that may have been stolen.....only to come home to find my older/2nd car broken into and the dashboard torn to bits to get out my $50 walmart radio. Not sure what else is missing out of the car yet. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Bill has hit it directly on the head again. You do not get into radio unless you have a substantial ego (do you feel someone wants to listen to you everyday for four hours?) - and they thrive off of further media attention. Do you think they have altrustic intentions when they do the "buried alive" radio stunts? Did you know you will find competiting radio hosts having civil off-air conversations on how to stage a war between their shows to help drive up ratings? Howard Stern has even realized to stop giving attention to the new kid on the block making fun of him since that will only give them more media recognition. Mostly this happens because a radio station cannot afford advertising for every show - therefore you make your own noise, get attention and it is free. This includes negative press (you can't buy coverage like that is what I used to be told). Most talk show hosts get revenue sharing - as ratings get higher, commericals become more expensive to buy - the higher the ratings the bigger the bonus check (most talk show folk make union basic wages). The only thing that will happen if this gets some steam behind it, is Rome's slanderous words will get national airtime and the facts will get lost in the hype. I promise you, this is a waste of time to fight. I've seen it, been on the other end of it flooded with emails/calls, etc. They are banking on you to do so. Once when I was working for ESPN radio around the time when a sports figure had alegedly beat up his wife, the host of the program said something along the lines of "she must have deserved it" and went to commercial break. I asked him if he was nuts - his retort was "The hate mail for this one is gonna be great!" _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Once again, well said Chris. Peace! You Rock! _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

I hear ya Bo. My mom told me on Sunday night (when I called her for some comfort) that she, my brother and sister think I'm crazy. Then she called Monday morning to apologize for that, saying that actually, my brother and sister never said that... Gee thanks Mom, I feel so much better now. People who listen to that kind of talk radio listen to it just to hear that kind of thing, an I doubt most people take it seriously. Somebody who actually uses that crap to form their opinions probably shouldn't be Skydiving anyway, IMO. Sorry to hear that Betz - hard to get comfort when someone isn't accepting of your life. I just ask my family/friends - do you want me to be happy? Then please, let me live my life the way i see fit - I would never tell you how to live your life. Please respect and honor my decisions - skydiving makes me happy and I have a passion that I don't expect you to understand, but hope you will accept it. Either way, I will continue to do what makes me the most happy in life. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

I think you missed my point. SDC is my home. I've been there for five years now, and because of Roger I am part of that family. I think what Roger did over his years in the sport stands alone without any need of explaination or justification - he did more for the sport than anyone I have ever met. The sport will forever suffer without him in it, the family has suffered a major loss. I wish there was a way to let the rest of the world understand just what he meant to us, and that the press would finally get something right. However, that won't ever happen. Talk radio is not a fair and equal public forum. The tables are in the favor of the person behind the microphone - I know this because I did it first hand for six years. It is very easy to manipulate ANYTHING that comes into your lap. If you called into the show I was producing and I needed something to generate some attention - I could tape your phone call, edit it and make you sound like the biggest ass in the world only to prove the point the host was saying - and you can do it pretty fast now with all the digital editing tools out there. It really is a losing battle - and you should always choose your battles wisely. Roger used to talk to the press once upon a time - he stopped once he realized they always took his quote out of context, never did him justice on what he said, and would eventually use his words to do damage to the sport. The last time he did anything major with the press was during the 1998 300-way attempt - which was an ongoing documentary that was aired on WGN-TV - which was hosted and guided by a jumper that worked for the station. The program was fair and handled the stuggle of the 300-way as well as the death of Sandy in a very fair and honest nature. If Jackie and Roger were not the guiding forces behind that, I doubt it would have been so true. (btw - that program won an emmy). Freaky - I miss Roger, I wish there was some way he could still be here. But honor his life by celebrating his memory and continue to do good things for the sport. That is the only way you can make a differance. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Just to point out that talk radio is never soft - they always go to the edge to get you to listen. Who would listen to a four hour program of a person saying nothing but nice things about people. The host angers you, you flood them with email, phone calls and help drive up the ratings. The ratings are used to make more money - the radio station never lets on how many of those rating points are from people that hate the host. Talk radio learned from Jerry Springer and the WWF - drama sells. Combine that with the typical "if it bleeds, it leads" idea and you have a winner (ie, Howard Stern and all his clones). I doubt that Rome even cares about skydiving or what happened at Skydive Chicago. What he said on his show is the equivalent of a trolling post on this forum. When I worked in radio I saw this all the time - a subject would come up and the host would instantly take the most controversial standpoint to generate pissed off callers. Don't let him push your buttons. Want to make a differance? Turn off the station and do not call them. Maybe a few educated emails to the program director and the host informing them of the irresonsible nature of their program. If it really was slander, then please inform the Nelson family lawyer and let him take care of it. Any angry outburst against this station or host will further his misconceptions about the sport and those in it - and those that loved Roger. Remember, Spread the Love, not hate. I am still in too much shock over the lose of Roger to listen to a program like this, and I doubt I ever will. Skydiving is not and never will be a main stream sport - most people will never understand our passion and the connection we have. No matter the whuffos will never understand. Even those closest to me that know what this sport means to me hope that I will be quitting soon. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Someone passed this link on to me tonight: (the clip was put together by John Musgrave) http://www.manifestmaster.com/video/roger.wmv (6 mb) or http://www.manifestmaster.com/video/roger_nelson.wmv (10 mb) _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Yes, Steve's family was upset after his death, and his folks were whuffos. The pain evolved into anger - a natural progression in this situation. You can explain to a whuffo all you want, but it will fall on deaf ears. I do not have any issues with a family member that is upset for losing a loved one - the displacement of anger feels logical for them. The issue here is the media intentially digging up someone in the past they know will give a negative quote just so it looks like the did research. Just more irresonsible, sensationalist journalism. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

I'm still in shock, still not able to fully believe this is true. I happened not be at SDC this weekend and I didn't think twice before answering my phone when I saw a jumper on the caller id early Saturday afternoon. I'm certain all the people in the crowd around me were wondering what could be so bad to have me instantly stumbling backwards into a chair muttering over and over "that's not possible, what do you mean a collision, how is that possible???" When I finally got the bad news later that night, I was driving and had to pull over and stop for a half an hour as I just sat and stared into space, not wanting to believe the news. Roger was more than just Skydive Chicago - he was Skydiving. He was the inspiration, the vibes, the spirit, the passion, and the brotherhood that keeps us coming back jump after jump. The stories will flow in about Roger - if you knew him, if you had a chance to jump with him you would understand why there are so many. I don't think there is anyone that has given as much to the sport or given as much to the jumpers as Roger did. You never heard from him "I don't have time to help you out with that right now" and with the way he scheduled his life we should have heard that all the time. It was his passion for the sport that drove him - wanting to always make it better and safer. Take an average day at just Skydive Chicago - look out across the crowd and ask just one person there how he inspired them - and then you would also find out that the confidence he gave them in the sky somehow made it back to the real world as well. It was that intanglible part of him that will be missed. Those 30 years of confidence and experience in the sport which are now lost - the sport will never be the same without his constant stream of innovations and teachings. My only hope is all those FreakBrothers that learned from him will pass on the spirit and vibes that he generously passed on to anyone that crossed his path. Personally - I can tell you that Roger is one of the main reasons I still skydive. Just when I was ready to quit the sport out of frustration early on in AFP - he took me up in the air. He was the one that showed me you can relax in the air and still have control - and he did it for me in one jump. The way he explained it on the ground, the time he spent going over videos with me and the stories must have taken up over four hours of his time. By the time I got in the air and in the door he looked at me and told me to smile and have fun. I smiled the entire way down and had a great jump. Little did I know at the time I just made my first skydive with a legend in the sport. I made my last skydive with him last Sunday - that smile of mine in freefall still hasn't faded and I have Roger to thank for that. As I have spent more time at Skydive Chicago over the last five years, I was always in awe how Roger could show up last to the dirt dive (because he was just on the previous load), take any slot in the jump and the exit and still make it in and look amazing while doing it - the man knew how to fly. Then of course there will be the smaller things that made the DZ more friendly - the way Roger would walk the hanger and talk to anyone, esp those he didn't recognize or those that were sitting by themself.....the golf cart tours....the way he would just walk up to any group - freefly or belly - and ask if HE could jump with THEM....the Blue Man Group CD blaring from the auditorium.....always complaining that the cookies in the deli were too good.....the way he stuck to his convictions about safety in the sport......... Thank you for making a home for us Roger. Thank you for giving us another family. We will continue to Spread the Love. Freak Brother #4109 _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

The game is OK at best - the PC version is buggy and they released two patches for it the day it came out. It suffers on the console systems as well, esp in the frame rate department (I've seen the FMV stutter for no reasons on the PS2 and Xbox version). Some of the levels are unnecissarly large with nothing happening other than you running from room to room with zero interaction with the environment. The majority of the game has you running from door to door to get to new chapters. Between the doors you kill a bunch of officials trying to stop you (security guards, SWAT, etc). You will run into agents and then run away from them - in fact you spend three full levels in a row running away from Smith. (BTW - you look like the T1000 from T2 when you are running). For the most part, it is a button masher, esp early on. As the game continues you get a little bit better at learning how to pull some moves off - but it is frustrating at best since "attack" is only one button and you are never quite sure which move you will do. The fights do look cool, and the bullet/focus time is fun at times but I believe that Max Payne did a much better job of using that trick. In Enter the Matrix once you enter bullet time just hit the fire button and you will auto aim and shoot everyone in your FOV - in Max Payne you slow down but move your aiming in real time giving full control over who and what you want to shoot. In fact -once you have enough ammo you find it becomes much easier to move thru the levels by shooting instead of fighting. The majority of the really cool moves are done by the computer in cutscenes. There is a total of 25-30 FMV's in the video game once you finish both Ghost and Naiobi - the stuff towards the end of the game really throws a lot at you, much like the movie the majority of the story comes in one long dialog scene. I was disappointed in this game (Shinny has done much better in the past, esp on the graphics) and had much higher hopes for it, esp with the way Max Payne used bullet time. However, they had to make a game that would work for just about anyone, which is what they did. I will be selling this one back to EBgames. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

A bunch of us will be at SDC that weekend - two plane shots for the belly fliers and the annual freefly and tracking money meet. Plus we always have a good fireworks show. I've had some of the best 4th of July's at the DZ. Would be great to see you stop by at least one day! _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Don't forget the music they choose for the films as well. I'm think they use the songs/lyrics to add just a bit more to the scene they are in - esp the Rage Against the Machine Songs. Here is another intersting bit I found out the other day: Thomas Anderson. In the first movie he was a Doubting Thomas. The Root of Anderson is Andos which means Man. Thomas the son of man. the Brothers Wachowski said they did this on purpose. I like it when the extra effort is put into the making of a movie - I'm enjoying the story more than the action in these flicks now. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

If you have played "Enter The Matrix" you would know that the guy at the end is Bane (same guy that said "God" then the Agent says "Smith will do" as he sticks his hand in him and takes him over - the picking up the phone and getting into Zion). They show Bane in the game walking on a ship just after he kills the entire crew - then they cut to Lock saying "What the hell!" when an EMP goes off leaving a hole in "the line." So, Bane is Smith somehow - guess we will find out. The "line" is the attack plan that Lock comes up with - Setting up each ship just out of EMP reach of each other so they can all fire their EMP's at the same time to take out the majority of the machines. However Bane fires an EMP while a good portion of the ships are still together. The game ends with the machines just three hours outside of Zion. Some other interesting bits from the game - Ghost is in Love with Trinity and the Oracle told him she would never be his. The Logos is left stranded, dead in the water at the end of the game - they had to fire their EMP before they shut down. They saw the setinels sitting just outide their range and decided to run before they threw the bomb at them. However they couldn't outrun them, so they fired the EMP. Everyone on the Logos is still alive. 72 hours. That is how long Zion lasted last time the machines attack. "An Observer" walks by and tells Naiobi this during the game - apparently a rogue program that was around last time (played by the wacky pilot from the Mad Max movies). From the Revolutions trailer at the end of the game, it looks like this guy will be in the next movie. The actor that played the Oracle died before she filmed her parts in Revolutions - she finished up most of her scenes for Reloaded. The new actor is in the game and explains why she looks different. Two rouge programs sold the termination code to her previous shell to the Merovigian to protect their child (seems like this child is an import factor). Merovigian also warned the Oracle to stay out of the affairs of the One or he would end her. She then goes on and spouts a ton of stuff about choice, how everyone's choice affects the path of the One, how the One has seperated himself from the Source and that the end is near, yes, the end of everything she says. Apparently she knows how this is all going to end. The Oracle refers to Smith as the Shadow that is overtaking the world. That is about all I can remember for the moment. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

I thought that part of the bid process was to include weather reports from the previous five years during the time Nationals would be scheduled? I doubt the USPA would have allowed it to happen if the odds were not in favor of good weather. This year should be interesting due to the increased amount of hurricane activity that is supposed to hit this fall. Wish I could make it down there - Lake Wales is a great DZ, I'm sure they will do a good job on it. I asked about the performance issue on video to a few vidiots during nationals and all of them agreed it would take too much time and may even be noticable (someone mumbled something about NTSC and PAL during this talk as well - wish I heard what he said). Which leads me to ask - if the video is suspect, is there a way to test it? _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Should be hitting my 500th jump sooner rather than later and thinking of adding a camera to my head.... However, I think I may go with Still Photography first - and learn how to get some great shots on the ground and in the air. I'll add video at a later date. Looks like there are some great deals on the Coolpix 5000 on ebay and will get one as soon as I have the remainder of the cash. My question - is there a good source to get me back up to date on how to take better pictures, etc? Maybe even a Pictures for Dummies book? I have "Flying the Camera" and have been reading as many posts on here to gather even more data ...but I want to fully learn how to use the camera on the ground before I ever jump with it. Thanks for the help _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

The weekend is near! Or here for some of us lucky ones! So is the second otter which landed just around 8am. Skies are warm and blue here, and the other otter has been doing loads. Both will be flying this weekend (yup, we will be doing two plane shots). People are starting to arrive now. Hope to see some of you out here this weekend - esp those looking to learn some big way skills (esp those B and C license people). For those with serious big way skills there will be organizing for you as well. HUGE MEGA BONFIRE pit that has been building in size for weeks (months?) and will be burning Sat night. Don't forget about the band and the cookout before hand. Our local chef Tim will be cooking tonight (Fri) up in the Lounge. Don't forget to purchase some raffle tickets (see post above) - and Thank You to the dz.com folks that already have!!!! No matter what boogie you guys head out to this weekend - hope you have a fun and safe one! OK, need to run, I'm on a ten minute call..... Blue skies, TF#3 _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Hey all, sitting here at the DZ finishing up the details before the boogie starts and the fundraising begins tomorrow. Everything is falling into place and it looks like the weather will be working with us! In case you haven't heard - last year we raised over $5400 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation (our goal was $4600) to help little 6 year-old Brian get his wish. Brian, who has cancer of the muscles, wanted to fly like a bird - the perfect wish for a group of skydivers to help out with. Now Brian's parents have let us know that by helping him with his dream - he has aspirations of a career in aviation (NASA) and has given them something to focus on besides the cancer. This year, we are working to fulfill the wish of 13 year-old Katie who has cystic fibrosis (her parents say she is a little practical joker). Her one wish is to go to Hawaii with her family. For Team Funnel and the skydiving community to help her out, we need to raise at least $5800. You guys could help with this wish and possibly win some stuff in the process. We have setup a PayPal account to sell some raffle tickets to help with the fundraising efforts. A good portion of the skydiving manufactures have donated some great prizes and have been really helpful supporting us in our efforts. Make-A-Wish is a great organization, and the Northern Illinois Chapter fulfilled 463 wishes last year, and have set 500 as their goal for this year. We feel the least our little group could do in memory of our friends was to help these little kids live their lives to the fullest! Please check out this link to purchase raffle tickets: http://www.teamfunnel.com/2003_Tickets.htm You do not need to be present to win the raffle prizes. We will be cutting off online ticket sales around Noon on Sunday afternoon. If we receive your purchase after that time, we will refund the money back to you unless you want to make that a donation to the charity. Please check the rest of our website for details on the prizes/sponsors as well as details on TF and the rest of our happenings. Once again, if you can, maybe give up just one jump this weekend and purchase some raffle tickets. Thanks a bunch and blue skies! TF#3 _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Got your attention? Then head to Skydive Chicago this weekend to take part in our Memorial Day Boogie and Fundraiser. We have over $39,000 worth of prizes to give away - and a chance to win one of two full skydiving setups (rig, canopy, aad, etc). Oh yea - don't forget about the novice big way training camp as well! Check the link below to get more details! Hope to see everyone there! _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Yup, two BA's and you could do it a total of 3 times for a total of 90 guys. I think the farthest I ever got without the cheat code was that outerspace level. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Thank god we have those polluting rigs out there. What did fish do before there were oil and production rigs in the water? _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....