DTOXX

OK, I fly home in two days and have a few Rials left. The duty free has Blue Label at a great price but I have never "sampled" it. Anyone had Johnnie Walker Blue Label and is it worth it? (I feel really stupid asking a bunch of skydivers if they like alcohol ) ------- D.T. Holder SIMstudy

I have no excuse Sunny. I will try harder in the future to predict your every want and need. Did you apply the 5 second rule to the poptart on the floor? Did the poptart land frosting side down? If it did not that means they put the frosting on the wrong side. ------- D.T. Holder SIMstudy

Take any male skydiver home, promise to show boobies if they get your poptarts. I am here to help! ------- D.T. Holder SIMstudy

Damn that funny. I said flare out loud just the other day when landing in an ATR-42. Dirt runway lined with old barrels. ------- D.T. Holder SIMstudy

Did everyone hear that. Sunny loves me! Ok, its a rather long line to be standing in but its worth it. ------- D.T. Holder SIMstudy

For reasons we will not get into I have had traffic school 4 times. Twice in person and twice online. First online course allowed you to go as fast as you could. It also allowed you to open the entire California DMV code in a seperate window. I swear I was finished in 25 minutes. The second was timed. I would read, surf the Internet in another window, read, and so on. Yeah its boring for 4 hours but it beats 8 hours in person... ------- D.T. Holder SIMstudy

Oman airlines - yesterday. (pilot with broken english) "Gentlemen, we are now Lekwair, please take your belongs. If you are not wanting Lekwair then stay aboard. Thank you. " The plane goes somewhere else before returning to Muscat and I guess women are not allowed onboard? ------- D.T. Holder SIMstudy

Very cool.

no no no... That is just wrong. ------- D.T. Holder SIMstudy

((((((((((((((HUG))))))))))))))) ------- D.T. Holder SIMstudy

LOL the bleeding edge is just after the cutting edge. ------- D.T. Holder SIMstudy

I have personally given up on building my own machines. Yeah yeah in the past it was fun. I could get the latest and greatest (with respect to my budget) and had fun putting the machine together. Now however the market changes so fast that you will NEVER be able to keep pace with the bleeding edge. Unless of course you have an extra room in your house where you can throw all of your 3 week "old" video cards, processors, ram strips... This coupled with the fact that prices will continue to decline makes spending excessively and option that is not for me. Determine what you want the machine to do. (gaming, video production, whatever) and purchase the components that your system would get the most out of. Example: a gaming machine would have wicked fast video, but not capture capability, and a fast processor. The size of the HD would not be an issue however. A video machine would have a HUGE HD, video input, and a fast processor. Once you have the component(s) then go to a mainstream company and get a box that is slightly upgradable. Do NOT spend extra money on a box that is overtly upgradable because, as stated above, the technologies changes too fast and the prices fall even faster. My last "upgrade" was with Dell. I ordered a machine with a processor I could live with and sufficent ram. I then took my video card out of the old machine and "upgraded" the Dell. ------- D.T. Holder SIMstudy

I LOVE that skit. Over the years I have incorporated the quote of "My stick to certain types of skin." into my list of automatic responses. ------- D.T. Holder SIMstudy

The last time I had something ending in "tum" worked on I walk funny for a week. ------- D.T. Holder SIMstudy

Sweeeeeet.

Congrats... Welcome to a live of saving for your next jump. ------- D.T. Holder SIMstudy

Well I am no longer in Ecuador, I am in Qatar. Sometimes it not all that cool working for a worldwide company. They tend to send you "worldwide"... ------- D.T. Holder SIMstudy

I saw tooooo much of the Bonfire in that clip... ------- D.T. Holder SIMstudy

I am betting a nice long foot rub and she is back... ------- D.T. Holder SIMstudy

Hey Ed, I take it you mean off Santa Barbara? I worked off shore for a bit but not in a real rotation. You should talk to Corky at Skydive Taft. We was off shore for a long time and can tell you about it. If the pay is good I say do it... ------- D.T. Holder SIMstudy

I have great respect for women on martial arts. I don't know how many times I have had MY ass kicked in the studio but in my defense... OK I just got beat.

I agree with much of the above. There are certainly places in the US, the UK, and elsewhere that I do/would not feel safe. Personally I am not petite and feel I could take care of myself in a fight. This would do nothing for me if they have a gun however. Ecuador switched to the US dollar and in doing so they de-valued their currency as the date to change over approached. What was worth 8000 Surce (I think thats was the name) became 1000 Surces worth in US dollors. On top of this the governement held all bank accounts at that time. The amount you had in the bank depicted the amount of time the government held the money. Some people are still waiting. I was told over lunch, at a Tony Roma's, that the average income in Quito is $130 per month. I don't think I know anyone in the states that could live on that. These two factors have raised crime to new heights in the city. I paid careful attention on my drive to the hotel last night. Within 2 blocks I saw roughly 8 security guards. These are paid by businesses to keep the peace in front of they store/hotel/restuarants. These are NOT your average US security guards I would like to add. About half were armed with hand guns and I saw one rifle. (could have been a CAR15 or close to it) While some in the office think this is overkill (no pun intended) it is obvious that Quito is taking security serious. The security here is just short of Bogata but thats another story... ------- D.T. Holder SIMstudy

It is my understanding that it is very unsafe. I was told over lunch today that the average income in Quito is $130 PER MONTH. There are many people on street corners offering to shine your shoes, sell you stuff (sun glasses, socks, "a date") While riding from the airport I saw a group of kids about 12 years old "breathing fire" at a traffic light for tips. This was a NO SHIT THERE I WAS moment to say the least. This is their equivalent of people offering to wash your windshield for a tip. (which they also do here). I am also told however that the city is far safer than the rest of the country. I am FORBIDDEN to travel outside of the city unless I have an armed escort. I will get to experience this first hand next week. ------- D.T. Holder SIMstudy

I am here on company business working with the local IT and HES departments. I have been told I will not do the following: Travel in the city alone after dark. Travel in the city alone in the day. Take my laptop in public. Take my cellphone in public. Drink the water. In order for me to get to the office (which I swear is two blocks away) I have a driver. There is an armed guard at the office entrance, (outside), a card reader to enter the lobby door,a guard inside the lobby, a guard on the elevator, and a final card reader to enter the corporate offices. ------- D.T. Holder SIMstudy

LOL too funny. I am in Quito until the 22nd on a programming project. I say party with DT. Here are some pics of Quito I took yesterday afternoon and this morning. http://www.skiosk-esd.com/ecuador/ ------- D.T. Holder SIMstudy