arlo

got my shipment last night and the first ones are already being shipped right now.

hair spray (or any flammable propellent) and a lighter will burn those f*ckers everytime....ALL of them.

seems that last year alot of people were being a little "shy" or hesitant about jumping with airspeed in rantoul. DON'T BE!

not yet mar. it only shipped on tuesday so it's not expected to arrive until the 27th.... i must've been in batch #2. i'm looking forward to seeing the completed project, though.

blake...you guys one a ff comp?! way to go!!!!!! :) i almost feel like a proud "mom."

huh? unless one of the guys contracted food poisoning or ebola the past couple of hours, i think they are all in pretty good shape. ian's arm has healed and they have trained since the break back in april. blues, arlo

dude, you have just hit the motherlode of skydiving, let me tell ya. dropzones within 1.5 hrs of orlando: z-hills (skydive city)..........1 hr SW of orlando lake wales.......................1 hr SSW of orlando sebastian........................1.5 hrs SE " titusville..........................45 minutes E of deland............................50 minutes NE of skyventure windtunnel......."X" you are HERE other dzs: homestead........near miami clewiston...........SW of lake okachobee (sp? haha!) palatka............closer to Jacksonville quincy.............panhandle gear manufacturers breeding grounds :) zhills: sunpath............maker of the javelin odyssey (YES!) tony suits..........great jumpsuit mfgr sunrise rigging....maker of the wings container aerodyne...........(in tampa) rigs and canopies sunshine factory....local gear store deland: Performance Designs......canopy mfgr (tours avail) relative workshop (RWS)...rig mfgr (tours avail) jumpshack.....................rig/canopy mfgr alti-2...........................altimeters skysytems....................helmet mfgr michigan suits..............45 mins away, but great suits ouragan suits...............kick ASS freefly and tunnel suits and nancy is SUNSHINE, i tell ya. TSO-D (the skydiving outlet-deland)......KICK ASS gear store with outstanding service. and yeah, i'm biased...but it's true. LAKE WALES: windline.............jumpsuits by billy bradshaw. i like supporting him as much as possible as a dealer because he got HAMMERED during the hurricanes. my apologies if i've omitted anyone but i did this in a hurry. what i wanted you to see is that you have a wealth of information in front of you with pioneers of the sport and world champions all over the place. the people are great and the weather is stupid humid and rainy alot. btw, get to zhills first chance you get. lots of dz.commers there and the vibe is outstanding. and yes, i'm biased there, too. :) cya around... arlo

this is a note to all the people who asked me to reserve one of these outstanding JFTC calendars. my shipment will be arrive on the 27th of june. so please email me the address where you want me to ship it and i will have it in the mail free shipping as soon as i have the info (and the calendars). thanks to everyone who expressed interest in these calendars and all i can say is to get 'em while they're hot. mar and jen, thank you again. girls in the calendar... you guys rock! i can't wait to share the energy with you all in a couple months. :) btw, for those that want a calendar and aren't sure how to get one, go to www.gaiasrose.org and click on order. you can find out which girls in your area are selling these calendars. all the profit from these calendars go to support the city of hope and breast cancer research. blues (and a little pink) arlo

1-800-skyfun1. he's an instructor at SV orlando. btw, welcome to deland.

maybe try http://www.zooload.com. i know kurt sells shirts, but he might also provide printing services....don't know for sure. but give him a shout and see. can't hurt to ask... arlo

LALALALALALALA I AM NOT HEARING THIS....... LALALALALA xoxo

jimmy t is no longer living in fl, though. sean is a bad-ass flyer regardless of discipline.

kyle's old, but he ain't THAT old. wait, are we talking mental years? god bless our young fleeflyer. he's been led astray once or twice, but we've always managed to reel him in. you know he's been called the Reverend on more than one occasion....

Updated: 05:04 PM EDT Boy Scout Found Alive After Intensive Search By PAUL FOY, AP KAMAS, Utah (June 21) - An 11-year-old boy who vanished from a Boy Scout camp was found alive and in good condition Tuesday after an intensive four-day search of the rugged Utah wilderness. Sheriff Dave Edmunds said Brennan Hawkins was "a little dehydrated, a little weak, but other than that, he was in very good health." The sheriff said that after eating some food and drinking some water, the boy asked to play a video game on the cell phone of one of the volunteers who had been searching for him. Authorities planned to take him to a hospital to be checked out. Kay Godfrey, a spokeswoman for the Boy Scouts' Great Salt Lake Council, pronounced the boy's rescue a "modern-day miracle." Brennan was found just before noon near Lily Lake, about five miles from the camp in the Uinta Mountains where he was last seen Friday. He was reunited with his parents, Toby and Jody Hawkins, and their four other children. Brennan carried no food or water, and his family had said he did not have a good sense of direction. But the sheriff said the nights had been warm, with temperatures falling only into the 50s. The area is about 100 miles northeast of Salt Lake City. Volunteer Forrest Nunley, a 43-year-old house painter from Salt Lake City, said he found Brennan "standing in the middle of the trail. He was all muddy and wet." The boy saw some volunteer searchers on horseback, but "he didn't want to come out. He was too scared. He was a little delirious. I sat him down and gave him a little food," Nunnley said. During the search, rescuers had feared the boy had fallen into a river that was swollen by heavy snow melt. The East Fork of the Bear River is within 100 yards of the road where the boy was believed to have been walking. Deep-water rescue teams searched the river, while others combed the rugged area around it. On Monday, rescuers found three socks and a sandal in the river, but none belonged to Brennan. The boys' parents also sifted fruitlessly through enough clothing collected from the mountains to fill the bed of a pickup. Among the volunteer searchers was Kevin Bardsley, whose 12-year-old son, Garrett, vanished last August while camping at a nearby lake. He was never found despite a weeklong search. "When we came off this mountain in the winter, my friends and I decided right then, if anyone came missing, we'd be there immediately," Bardsley said. AP-NY-06-21-05 15:25 EDT

check you PMs!! ...add more chocolate. you know what kind.

i was reading this thread and had to tell john and rickster about it (they're just on the other side of my cube wall). each of them got a kick out of it and both were surprised to hear that their names were mentioned in this thread. they thought it was pretty cool...and started telling stories of when they started swooping.

it's when people get pissed and fly off typing before thinking it thru....which i've been known to do once or twice. at least i'm not the only one guilty of it. carry on. this was moved to speakers corner and i really don't like it too much in here. i'm not THAT argumentative. a

hey, maybe you're right. so that's a hypocritical comment and i should take it back. i was pissed off and typed something before i thought about it. thanks for calling me out on it. maybe i should say instead that it pisses me off when people think that everyone that's in jail should be treated like shit regardless of the reason why they're there instead of taking it on a case by case basis. i'll leave that statement with an apology for the gross generalization that i accused someone else of making. at least i'll own up to it.

so what makes you think that it isn't already? if prison systems were set up to actually rehabilitate people (like alot of the european countries do.what a NOVEL FUCKING CONCEPT, eh? ) instead of shove everyone in a hole for x number of years until time served, then throw 'em back on the street without trying to get them back on the right path, then maybe things would be a bit different. also, before you jump on your big high horse about how everyone in prison should rot in hell, make sure you remember that shit next time you drive after drinking a beer...or you watch your friend do the same. a DUI can quickly turn into jail time as well and hey, maybe then you can earn YOUR keep. a huge majority of the prison population is there for drug-related non-violent crimes. so in YOUR world the people that got fucked up on drugs and ended up in jail (where in an ideal world would have NA or some other self-quit self-help program) should be viewed with the same light as the murderers, rapists, child molesters. alot of the people in jail are just that...PEOPLE..non-violent ones....you know, HUMAN BEINGS that should not be treated as fucking animals. is that a blanket statement regarding all prisoners? nope. i do believe there are some truly evil fuckers out there. but it just pisses me off to hear people like you say how they should all be miserable and hot and barely fed and should suffer. prison shouldn't be a fucking resort but it shouldn't be below the standards that humans exist, either. maybe this thinking is something that should distinguish us from the knuckle draggers, but hey, maybe that's ideal thinking as well. god bless the closed-minded people making these sorts of comments because it's that attitude that makes me sick. arlo

this is very true. it's up to us to research and verify information that is put out. i learned an incredible amount of information pertaining to liver disease from some of the top specialists in the world (mayo clinic jacksonville, gastroenterology/hepatology dept) when my mother was diagnosed with hep c in late oct 98. she died in august of 99. those guys (and the mayo clinics) are just off the hook. as of oct last year, they have performed over 1000 liver transplants since the recent inception of the transplant dept in feb 1998. they had the transplant time down to 3.5 hrs according to dr steers (who is the director of transplant services there). these guys know there shit and they were happy to feed me as much info as i could possibly absorb because i took a proactive stance and made myself knowledgeable about the disease and the options. anyway, i just wish people knew how much of a difference they can make by becoming involved in their own healthcare of the health of others. i've included an article below regarding the mayo clinic and their incredible achievements the past few years. i would HIGHLY recommend these guys to anyone. blues, arlo ===================== Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville Monday, October 25, 2004 A Jacksonville milestone: 1,000th liver transplanted at Mayo Clinic Additional Resources For appointments or information, call the Transplant Center at (904) 296-5876 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday. E-mail: [email protected]. Learn more about Mayo Clinic Jacksonville: Becoming a patient Department of Transplantation Services Liver Diseases and Transplantation Program News releases JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Oct. 25, 2004 -- Mayo Clinic surgeons marked a special milestone in the operating room at St. Luke's Hospital yesterday when they completed the 1,000th liver transplant in a program born less than seven years ago. The patient is a 26-year-old woman who suffered from cholestatic liver disease. She is doing well and recovering in the hospital's Liver Transplant Unit. When the liver transplant program opened in February 1998, 15 transplants were projected for the first year. Instead, the team transplanted 54 livers, and the program has been breaking records ever since. Only 16 out of 122 active liver programs have reached the 1,000th transplant milestone. Today, Mayo Jacksonville's liver transplant program is among the top five in the country and the largest in the Southeast based on annual number of transplants. The median waiting time to transplantation at Mayo Clinic is the shortest in the nation at just 1.7 months. For example, in 2003, 171 liver transplants were done at St. Luke's. Typical liver programs in the country transplanted between 16 and 67 people in that same period, according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (www.ustransplant.org). Experience, skill, teamwork and a willingness to evaluate every potential donor have led to the program's growth and success. "Our program's success is due to the steadfast dedication of our team," says Dr. Jeffery Steers, surgical director of the Mayo Clinic liver transplant program. "The level of service we provide to our patients and organ procurement agencies in terms of our availability and responsiveness falls in line with our commitment to our patients. It takes a tremendous amount of sacrifice in the personal and professional lives of everyone associated with this program." Mayo Jacksonville transplant surgeons have been at the forefront of innovative procedures, including multiple-organ transplants and the rare domino transplant, where a diseased but functioning liver from one critically ill patient is transferred into another while the first patient receives a donated cadaveric liver. Yet patient survival rates at St. Luke's liver program are better than predicted. Registry data show that 88.23 percent of St. Luke's liver transplant patients were alive one year after transplant, compared to an expected 85.4 percent based on the patients' characteristics. The national average is 86.37 percent. Mayo's 3-year patient survival rate is the highest of all liver programs in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Patients with chronic, progressive liver diseases such as hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver, are candidates for transplantation when no other effective medical or surgical treatments exist. In 2003, 5,671 liver transplants were performed in the United States, but the need for donated organs far exceeds the supply. More than 17,000 Americans are currently waiting for a liver transplant. In addition to liver transplantation, Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville offers bone marrow and all other major solid organ transplantation: heart, lung, kidney and pancreas. Mayo Clinic, with sites in Rochester, Minn.; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Scottsdale, Ariz., is the largest provider of transplantation in the country, performing more than 1,000 transplants annually.

hepatitis C accounts for the largest percentage of liver transplants. other liver diseases come in behind that. livers infected with hep c can also progress to cirrhosis (another reason for transplant) and then hepatocellular carcinoma. if cancer is found in the liver of a hep c patient, then the transplant is totally dependent upon the progression of the liver cancer. if it is "only" a small spot then they may transplant. if it is infiltrated into more than some percentage of the total liver volume or located too close to the portal vein, they will not perform a transplant. what this article is saying is that where before, they'd say no, now they are saying it's possible. so short story long: cancer of the liver is usually a DETERRENT to receiving a liver transplant. liver disease is the major reason why transplants are performed. hope this helps you understand a little better. sorry it wasn't more clear. :) arlo

(edited for clarity) in a nutshell: clinical studies have found that people receiving a liver transplant during stage 3 hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer) have 5-yr surgical outcomes as good as people who have had a liver transplant due to reasons other than liver cancer. so if you know someone that has liver cancer for whatever reason, give them this article. most clinics will only transplant stages 1 or 2, so you may have to put your head down and push. it's better than not doing anything at all. blues, arlo p.s. this came out last month but i missed it. ===================== Review ST. LOUIS, May 16-Five-year surgical outcomes for patients with stages I to III hepatocellular carcinoma seem equivalent to those of non-cancer patients, a finding that may open liver transplantation to more patients. In a study by investigators at Washington University here, only those patients with stage IV disease had poorer post-transplant survival, Jeremy Goodman, M.D., and colleagues reported in the May Archives of Surgery. "The present study confirms the success of transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma in early-stage disease, and adds to the growing body of evidence that stage III disease may also be successfully managed with transplantation," wrote the Washington University team. Although early experience showed a less than 50% one-year survival rate among patients with liver cancer who underwent transplantation, a team at Italy's National Cancer Institute published data in 1996 indicating that liver transplantation could be effective at treating small, unresectable hepatocellular carcinomas. Those patient selection criteria essentially limited the procedure to patients with stage I or II disease. The guidelines, dubbed the Milan criteria, were subsequently adopted by UNOS, the United Network for Organ Sharing. Currently, the five-year survival rate following transplantation in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma is 61.1%, "which is presumptively attributed to improved patient selection," the St. Louis team wrote. "Furthermore, there are now reports of success after transplantation in individuals whose tumor burden exceeds the Milan criteria." To test this idea that patients with stage III might do as well as those with less advanced cancer, or even as well as matched patients without cancer, the investigators looked at a cohort of 51 adults with cancer out of a series of 635 who underwent liver transplantation at their center over a 17-year period. They compared the results with those of 153 matched controls without cancer who also underwent transplantation there. Median five-year survival for all patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (stage I-IV) was 48%, compared with 65% for controls (P = 0.7). But when patients with stage IV disease were excluded from the analysis, the five-year survival rates were not statistically different between the patients with or without cancer. Among patients with stage III disease, the one-, three- and five-year survival rates were 78%, 78% and 65% respectively. In comparison, the survival rates for non-cancer patients were 74%, 63%, and 59% (P = .44). In contrast, one-, three- and five-year survival rates for patients with stage IV disease were 59%, 29%, and 26%, respectively. "This retrospective review of our experience with liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma supports the use of this treatment modality for patients with early-stage disease," the authors wrote. "Furthermore, patients with stage III disease had outcomes similar to those with less advanced malignancy as well as to non-hepatocellular carcinoma matched controls. On the basis of these findings, we support the expansion of special priority for liver transplantation to those with stage III hepatocellular carcinoma." They acknowledged that the study did not look at the possible effects on outcome of pre-transplant adjuvant therapy, and that the retrospective case-control design means that controls might not be well matched to cases.

what type of cancer does your friend have? shoot me a PM and i'll tell ya what we did for my mom including nutrition, medicine, and personal care. good on you for being there for your friend because your friend needs support and help with things he may not ask for. take care and don't forget to PM.... arlo

i read something about this several weeks back. i think each side had a valid point. there may be more harm than good by going in and replacing the pacemaker, so please just read it for information to talk to your doctor about. thanks! arlo ================================ WASHINGTON (AP) - Heart patients using implantable defibrillators that have been recalled need to contact their doctors to determine what to do, the Food and Drug Administration recommends. Guidant Corp. announced Friday that it is recalling three types of defibrillators that can develop an internal short circuit and then fail to deliver a shock when needed. Implantable defibrillators are intended to sense an irregular heart rhythm and shock the heart back into correct beating. The FDA said it "is not making a recommendation on whether individual patients who have one of the Guidant devices should have it removed and replaced." That decision needs to be made by the patient and his or her doctor depending on the individual situation, the agency said. Replacement of the defibrillator may pose a risk. The FDA advised patients: If you have not already been notified, contact your doctor to determine if you have an affected PRIZM 2, CONTAK RENEWAL, or CONTAK RENEWAL 2 device. Continue to keep your regular doctor appointments. If you feel an electrical shock from your device, immediately contact your doctor. If there is an audible "beeping" from your CONTAK RENEWAL or RENEWAL 2 device, immediately contact your doctor or go to the nearest emergency room. Beeping may mean that your defibrillator is damaged. "FDA's first priority is patient safety. We want to ensure that all patients who may be affected by this problem are notified and seek appropriate medical advice from their physicians," Dr. Daniel Schultz, director of FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said in a statement. Defibrillators covered by the recall are the Guidant PRIZM 2 DR, Model 1861, manufactured on or before April 16, 2002; CONTAK RENEWAL, Model H135, manufactured on or before August 26, 2004; and CONTAK RENEWAL 2, Model H155, manufactured on or before August 26, 2004. 06/17/05 15:16 EDT

i would NOT jump my rig in this country if the date on the reserve pack data card indicated >120 days from last repack. The reason for this is simple: there's no way i would put my pilot's license at risk because of my forgetfulness or oversight. they keep us in the air and they count on us to be responsible enough to keep up with the repack date. that's the least we should do for them. my reason has NOTHING to do with the operation of the canopy. that being said, i would absolutely PREFER my rig be packed at MOST every 6 months simply because the more "actual" repacks you have, the more wear and tear the canopy receives. there are studies that reflect this. i believe it was a belgium military group several years ago that conducted extensive research on this. keep in mind this would change due to extenuating circumstances such as water landings, seeing creatures crawl into my reserve tray, etc. but the "requirements" set forth by the FAA specify 120 days. mine will reflect 120 days. speaking of....SALLYYYYYYYYYY!