benblee

There is a Georgia Tech Club and now with school back in, it's pretty active. We do a couple AFF's each weekend and up-jumpers all the time. The home DZ is Skydive Atlanta in Thomaston and the club website is www.GTskydive.com. But definitely check out www.CollegeSkydiving.com like Spence said. Ben Lee www.CollegeSkydiving.com

I used one of those flash color up things and then did a print out of the colors schemes I thought I might like (5 or 6 of them). Then I just set them out on the coffee table for a few days and tried to take note of the one that jumped out at me the most. http://www.collegeskydiving.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=228 Ben Lee www.CollegeSkydiving.com

Black Widows are now making it to Alaska. They apparently came in on the boats along with the Brown Recluse. I was a Big Game Hunting Guide up there for 3 years. Never saw one up there but the biologists all said they could survive and would probably be there for good now. I live in Georgia now and there are plenty of them here. You're more likely to find them in dark muggy places. For instance, if you have a shed out back that's really just used for storage, check it out for widows. Also places like the cover over your water main in your yard, use a stick or something to lift it up, don't stick your fingers in there. You can find whole nests of them in those places. Ben Lee www.CollegeSkydiving.com

What school do you go to? Some of the college clubs get some pretty good money from their schools for jumps. Check out http://www.CollegeSkydiving.com Ben Lee www.CollegeSkydiving.com

I might have beat you to that a little while ago. I can tell you that most manufacturers are pretty old school and because skydiving is a world wide sport (and most of the world has pretty bad internet connections), they like the sites to be fast loading with not much for extras. If you'd like, you could critique some of my work: http://www.CollegeSkydiving.com OK, so it's a pretty big front page, but this is for college students with plenty fast internet connections. I'd love a few pointers. I didn't make any money for this one, in fact, I had to fund everything about it. It's just a site that was needed and it's been pretty fun to work on. There's a great group on the forum there and some pretty cool people to jump with. Ben Lee www.CollegeSkydiving.com

Well I'm in Atlanta right now and the weather is perfect here, never too hot or humid and you hardly need air conditioning. Oh yeah, and the winter is always comfortable. Hahaha. During my time out there the temperature during the winter was never more than 5 or 10 degrees off of the temp in Atlanta. These temps minus humidity is just about perfect. If I could choose, I'd say Boulder. So, who has ever heard the saying "Go East young man"? Do you think there's a reason for that. Ben Lee www.CollegeSkydiving.com

You said it yourself, you lived NEAR Boulder. I lived IN Boulder and yes that is realistic. I guess the more people that want to stay away from there, the more room for me! Ben Lee www.CollegeSkydiving.com

It's like heaven. It really is the perfect place to be and there is a reason it's known for that all over the world. I lived there for 4 years and every day felt like vacation. The weather gets tripped up coming over the mountains so when Denver gets 3 feet of snow, Boulder gets 6 inches in the morning and then it's 70 degrees and sunny by two in the afternoon. Oh yeah, they have a ton of micro-brews there all within walking or biking distance. I went a full year with no car, I biked 30 miles a day, the total cost to go snowboarding on some of the best slopes in the world came out to be $7 a day after gas, PB&J and the lift tickets. Just get to know the locals game and you'll wonder why anyone lives on the east coast. I almost forgot to mention that Boulder gets more days of sunshine then Hawaii per year (and yes they are warm 70 and 80 degree days by the pool). Wow, maybe I need to get back out there. Ben Lee www.CollegeSkydiving.com

In all honesty, it really is funny that our society prides itself so incredibly much on being completely Politically Correct, when in the end, money still talks and the statistics tell gigantic corporations what to charge based on male:female studies. In the end, money and the desire for money wins and will never be beaten. This brings me to the next topic...how far would you go for a free jump? Hahaha! That just proves that we all think that way, because everyone just stopped and really contemplated how far they would go for a free jump. Ben Lee www.CollegeSkydiving.com

OK so I was being a little bit of an ass there. I have actually been going out with Nikki Russell for quite some time now and she has saved my ass financially more than once. I do however go to Georgia Tech where the guy to girl ratio is 5 to 1. I have also heard girls talking about wanting a nice dinner and going and flirting with some poor desperate guy just to get him to pick up the tab. AND that's fine if she puts out, but she doesn't even do that. Takes the dinner and runs, that's a crime in some states...like Mississippi or something. Ben Lee www.CollegeSkydiving.com

I know! I really feel for you women having to pay so much everywhere you go. Kind of like at Ladies Night at just about any bar, and dinner on dates, and tickets to the movies. You women really do end up spending way too much just for being women. I am so thankful that it's not expected of men to pay extra for being men...that would be a double standard. If there is anything I can do to help, just let me know. Ben Lee www.CollegeSkydiving.com

I have an Excel file that is full of tips and tricks if anyone is interested. It's a bigger file then what's allowed for an attachment here, so PM or email me if you would like me to send it to you. It has enough info in it to help anyone at any level. It's pretty intense and was put together by the top Excel people at a major corporation. Hit me up for it! [email protected] Ben Lee www.CollegeSkydiving.com

Nice work with the today function and if statements. I have a SS posted for Cypres2 maintenance and expiration to help our club better know when things are going out of date so we can put in way ahead of time for funding. I'm not worried about protecting it, but I'm curious as to whether or not the code works well enough. If anyone wants to play with it and see if they find errors, I'd be very interested and will probably buy beer next time I run into you. Cypres2 Maintenance Schedule Aside from putting dates in backwards, I think it works pretty well. It also checks for the previous maintenance and then counts up from the DOM for the next maintenance date. That's the part that made it confusing. It's for the Georgia Tech Club. Ben Lee www.CollegeSkydiving.com

Yeah, I can see that. Nikki was doing the freefall open mouth thing and then I was persuaded by a few friends to post my famous terrified jump #9 face. I'll be turning 100 jumps soon and I'm not sure if I still have that face. No more Protec though. Ben Lee www.CollegeSkydiving.com

We've got a "Geek the Camera" photo contest going on and the winner gets some PD stuff (T-shirt, pullup cords, stickers). Check it out and vote on your favorite. College Skydiving Geek the Camera Contest

CMS is short for "Content Management System". It's a database run by php and makes website stuff a whole lot easier. The big ones usually do a good job about keeping up with security threats and putting out updates. Making a new page or adding something to a site (once you have it set up) is as easy as sending an email. If you like graphics, but don't like code, I would highly recommend it. I've used http://www.Joomla.org and been really happy with it, and then for hosting, I've used Dreamhost and been very happy for the price and ease of use. I can't say they are "top dog", but for the price and free stuff, it's worth it. (I'd PM whoever above that mentioned Dreamhost for their review too). Here's the sites I've used these services for and I am no graphics person, so keep that in mind. http://www.collegeskydiving.com http://www.gtskydive.com http://www.collegeskydiving.com/clemson PM me if you have any other questions. I had to learn this from the ground up, so I can explain things fairly well. Ben Lee www.CollegeSkydiving.com

You bring up a very good point, now let me take all of your words out and put my own words in: Until you can pee in a gas tank and drive around town, sit your happy little ass down on a bike and start peddling like a motherf##ker, cuz you aint saving anything. It's just too damn expensive and skydivers are just too damn cheap. (I'm a cheap skydiver too, so don't any of you take it personally). Ben Lee www.CollegeSkydiving.com

How is Dreamhost? Ben Lee www.CollegeSkydiving.com

Just curious, who is your hosting company and were you using a CMS? I've been working on some websites and try to keep them clean and it takes constant updates of any programs I'm running on them. Ben Lee www.CollegeSkydiving.com

You think it's hard to raise a kid, try being a kid trying to raise your parents! This is probably more true than most people would like to think. It's sort of a joke, but sort of not a joke. Ben Lee www.CollegeSkydiving.com

I can answer that. The 33rd parallel is sort of an alternate dimension that can be travelled to by way of a worm hole. Once you are able to travel there at near the speed of light, on the other side is a person that tells you that the 33rd parallel is really the latitude line encircling the earth in reference to the equater. You are then instructed to take this information back to dropzone.com and blame the events that occer at this said latitude on George W. Bush. And that is the what a 33rd parallel is! Ben Lee www.CollegeSkydiving.com

I've got Verizon and I've been pretty happy with them. I switched from Cingular because they got service everywhere, BUT 50% of my calls were dropped. The service was there, but it was pretty bad. I've got the Samsung 730i phone now and it's got a wireless card so I can log on to the internet from any wireless router without paying for any data plan or usage. It works like a laptop. Ben Lee www.CollegeSkydiving.com

Where do you order those Boobie Koozies? You know, the ones with boobs on them. Nikki and I have seen people with them, but can't find where to get them. Where can you order them if the original batch is sold out? Ben Lee www.CollegeSkydiving.com

Well, I'm guessing that J probably doesn't know me, but I know him. This happened because every time I'm talking to a girl, he pulls her away and starts talking about Jello, or rolling around in it, or something with not many clothes. What the hell J. Just kidding man. I'm a Georgia Tech guy that's usually at SDA but makes appearances at The Farm. Good Thread here, and yes, I lurk the boobie threads. I'll do some more critiqing next time. I didn't know my input on that subject was requested. Anything I can do to help out. Ben Lee www.CollegeSkydiving.com

So, what do you guys like when it comes to vendors giving away things at booths (and add your ideas): -bottle opener key chains -koozies -T-Shirts -Pullup Cords -Boobie pictures with "Go Skydiving" written really small in the corner -etc. Ben Lee www.CollegeSkydiving.com