Marion

For those of you who don't know, Dave owes bear for having his picture in Parachutist! He's part of the rock solid base in the photo from the last Jive Jam. If you can't tell who he is, just look for the whiney uncolorful guy. Seriously, dude, congratulations- on the photo and your mad head down skillz.

Cool. If you didn't, I think I'd have to send Evil Marion over there to kick your butt.

Dude, be sure you change your review accordingly (or add another one and delete the old one). Refunding your money because you weren't happy in general with your visit is pretty awesome customer service. Once a service has been given, there's not a whole lot a company can do beyond apologizing and giving you your money back. Often, the apology about having a bad experience means way more than the money.

I know it's a few months away, but you should come for Thanksgiving. Maybe I can steal your cooler for another year. Matt, you crack me up.

A bunch of guys came to dinner last night (and a few even came to the movie, but I won't name names... Matt), so it wasn't just E-Rock and his ladies. Justin- I won't be around this weekend, but lets definitely do some jumps together next weekend.

Shimmel, is that your new freestyle move? Doing my makeup while I'm flying doesn't sound too complicated to me, but I guess it's because I don't wear much. Maybe your beauty routine is more extensive than mine?

Hey Joey. You know I'm all about filming carnage.

At least we got some farewell baseball. Have fun!

Pot luck cookout on Saturday Dawn is bringing grills, so you can bring a side dish, dessert, or something to grill. I think the plan is to also do something on the fourth (Tuesday). Darin's bringing fireworks. If everybody who wants dinner chips in a few dollars, I'd be glad to make a grocery store run on Tuesday afternoon to get burgers for the grill. (If you want to bring something Tuesday night, that's cool too.) Edited to add that Eric/SkyWhore/B.S. will be bringing since he just put his FIRST jump on his shiny new JVX! "How was it?" "Fast"

... and protecting endangered beavers from the malicious beaver poachers of Louisburg. He has a heart of gold, that Beaver Swooper.

Alas, there is dancing involved in the Milkshake routine, so you may want to bring a blindfold too. That was a really good post (the one above the earplugs post... although that one contains very good advice too). A year or so ago, we had a regular group of people every Friday for jumping/dinner/party. Sometimes Friday was rescheduled for Wednesday based on the forecast. Work schedules changed, aircraft availability during the week changed, people moved, and the weekday socializing started happening off the dz. Weekends are fun, but since dinner is often off the dz, a lot of people (myself included) go home afterward, since it's usually pretty late by then. There's still fun stuff going on, necessitating the (re)banning of explosives and a few rules about what should/should not be used in the fire (couches and motorcycles come to mind, both in the "should not" category). There's pretty regularly who-knows-what stewing in a barrel behind the trailers, and a fire to enjoy it around. It seems like a lot of the people who started jumping in the last couple of years miss the way it was when they were students. It was that way back then because some of us wanted to get back to the night time socializing that we remembered. Like Pam said, this stuff goes in cycles. I think it's easy for us to take stuff for granted and not really notice little changes along the way until it seems like all of a sudden stuff is different. There is some stuff we talk about that we probably can't do, like digging a pond overnight and inhabiting it with an endangered species of beaver to both increase the size of the pond and prevent anyone from filling it in. (If anyone tries that, and it actually works, please credit Eric Miller for his devious plan.) There's plenty of fun stuff we can do, though, like calling all our friends and asking them to bring some food to share on an average Saturday night. A lot of that already goes on. For now, let's plan this weekend.

It's a barter thing- I'm the Groupie Focker, and she's my own personal groupie. Believe me, if you heard Dave's rendition of "My Milkshake Brings All the Boys to the Yard," you'd welcome Casey's singing.

No joke, dude. Kids these days... I miss you big brother.

I thought the bear was going to juggle or ride a unicycle. I guess it could serve double duty as dinner too. A pot luck sounds great. How about Tuesday? For some reason earlier I was thinking Monday was the fourth.

Sweet. Is Saturday night the best night to cook out? Monday? Both?

Are your grills charcoal or gas? I can bring some charcoal (if we need it) and some stuff to grill. Probably corn and veggies. Yum. Who do you think organized last year's 4th of July Boogie that you thought was so much fun? Who paid for and booked the band, bought and cooked the food, launched the fireworks, brought the wood, and posted a thread or two or three? Who put together a really awesome boogie video? Skydivers. Us. People got together and figured out what they could do to make it a fun weekend for everyone. If you want a party, organize it. If not, don't complain because no one else is doing it for you. (I really don't mean that to have a rude tone, just a food for thought in response to your rant of the month. You know I love ya Darin.

Jeez, listen to all this complaining. Is Dave contagious or something? Last weekend I heard a lot of people talking about a cook out. Does anyone have a big grill? Or several small ones? Does anyone want to clean the sand out of their panties and actually do something? Since the lawnmower ate the slip 'n slide, that's out, I guess. If someone can bring a grill, I'm sure other people will bring food and drinks. With all the new gear, there will be plenty of beer to go around. And (from what I hear) there may be some pie for dessert. Yevgeniy is bringing a bear, and y'all can't even bring a grill and some burgers? I think this weekend will be awesome for working on canopy flight. It's the unofficial "Try a New Canopy or get a Whole Lot Better on Your Current Wing Boogie." (That's catchier than "4th of July Boogie," don't you think?) So who's going to be flying something new or working on something specific on their current canopy? Me: New (to me) Sabre2 135, want to demo a Katana Dave: Demo Katana 107, Eric's Katana 97 Eric: JVX (if it gets here ) Who else? This time of year is perfect for pulling high. I heard from Dave that PD will be there, so (unless Dave is lying to me) there will be demos. Eric, maybe I'll buy a really nice hook knife and we can try that two stack again, even though we won't match any more. And, um, Dave... what would you do for a Katana? [edited to add the part about the bear, because it's just too funny]

Congrats from your Groupie Focker.

Eric on stilts? Time to take one for the team, E-Rock.

Come on, Em. We all know you don't really work at a day care. I'll do some research for ya.

Hey everybody, My brother, sister and I are having a cook out in Raleigh this Wednesday night (the 24th). It should be a lot of fun- my sister will be doing all the grilling, so if you want to bring drinks/a side/dessert, that's cool, but it's also fine if you just bring yourself/a dog/a friend. We'll probably get started around 6, but feel free to come a little later too (especially if you're at the dz Wednesday afternoon- the weather looks good). Really, everyone is welcome to come. We just need a heads up by Wednesday am so we know how much grillable stuff to get. If you want to come, just send me a pm and I'll give you the address. See y'all Wednesday!

Hey Justin! I'm glad your finals are almost over, so we'll get to see you again soon.

Yev - I'll be at work Friday, but I'll be there this weekend.