tkhayes

I am 250 or so, exit weight 275, 280 maybe, both my rigs are Wings. I am therefore a 'test jumper' TK

June 17th, got tickets in Tampa, of coruse tickmaster took their friggin' $35 out of it......

http://atlanta.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx?site=39&bbb=0443&firm=13003271 fresh new look my ass, they are the same as always, bad rap with the BBB and failing to resolve the complaints. they have even more complaints now than they had a year ago, from what I remember seeing last year. bottom line is that it is pretty easy to get a good rating with the BBB, even if you have customer complaints. You just need to show the BBB that you are trying to resolve them. having a bad BBB record pretty much shows that you suck.

http://citybeat.com/archives/1996/issue237/dailybred1.html probably not the 'real' story, but the basics all the same and he is not the only one, but Andy was skydiver of the year for his actions....

good point, it is reiterated in the SIMS even under FAA Advisories - if you are in class E, (almost all of us are), then ATC cannot approve or deny a jump - and they are REQUIRED to give you traffic advisories. We have a letter of agreement with Tampa and JAX about how we will operate - once in a while they 'deny', and we occasionally have to remind them of the rules - we are in Class E, and do not require their permission. But we also appreciate the radar support we get from them, so it is a two-way street, we do not want to piss them off, so have to do a little give and take sometimes. They are not required to give us radar support and sometimes they are so busy they they drop us a little early, but they still offer the advisories, and that is a good thing to have.

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1514169;search_string=seal%20hunt;#1514169 old thread, already been 'slaughtered', and my very old reply from 2005: Re: [alana] Canada approves of killing baby seals [In reply to] shaddup fer chrissake if you do not live in the region then you know nothing about it. Yer in my backyard now ya yellers........ But seriously. Let me see, we hunted seals for 200 years, became part of the ecological order, Bridget Bardot gets on TV holding a poor baby seal and the hunt goes to shit, pelts prices plummet, and the seal hunt comes to an end. Now we are up to our asses in seals, the fish stocks are down, if not decimated (only partly due to seals), we have seals in places where they have not been seen in 100 years (looking for food) and by now everyone has forgotten about it anyway. Greenpeace execs finally confess they needed the seal hunt coverage every year to pay for the whale campaign every year and that it was not really a big problem. So after a few years, everyone gets over it. Demand for pelts starts to rise, and we start the hunt again. Let's compare - - I have no idea where the 1 million number comes from, garbage I think, the quota is quite small. - http://www.cattlerange.com/...beef/world-beef.html we consume some 10929 (1000 tonne increments, that is 10929000 TONNES) of beef every year. That's a buttload of beef. They get raised in pretty good conditions, but they die with a bolt shot through their head and we eat them, you just do not see it (and cows are ugly) - http://www.fas.usda.gov/...radecharts/pork2.gifI if am not mistaken that is 700,000 TONS of pork exported, that's a lot of pigs. I wonder how much on top of that we really eat? Raised in tight conditions and killed with either a bolt through the head or a throat slit while they are still alive. Oh yes, and they are ugly too. - http://www.meatami.com/...onandConsumption.pdf Looks like we kill BILLIONS of CHICKENS EVERY year, many of them raised in 12" cube pens and then hung by their feet and throats slit. - just got back from Belize. Guys in canoes spend their days snorkeling for lobsters that supply Red Lobster and Olive Garden, some http://www.globefish.org/...itestatid=-925680757 37000 Metric tons of lobster have been produced. You figure it out, that is a buttload of lobsters. We boil them alive (and they are ugly). Now the reality is that we eat food, some of that food comes from animals. We eat animals. For that to happen, we KILL animals, of all kinds. When I pet a deer at the zoo, it is cute and I think what a great animal that is and how cool it is to be near it and to experience it. When I line that deer up in the crosshairs. I think, what a great catch and what a load of meat in my freezer - that's going to taste really good!" I accept it for the way it is. Seals are killed quite humanely, we eat the meat, and we sell the furs (Do you wear leather shoes)? Stay away. we do not appreciate the bad-mouthing of our 'industry'. Many rely on it to make a living. If you stand outside with a sign to protest Iowa Pig farmers, then I might respect your point of view.... But I expect that is not the case. TK

there are fewer things in life as satisfying as seeing a happy dog and their owner 'clicking' that dog's tail never stopped the whole time.

Crosskeys and us, Skydive City

thanks to everyone who came out to Flock N Dock - we really appreciate seeing you guys and gals all here, even if the weather sucks. Anyway, difficult for me to thank everyone individually, but definitely want everyone to know that we sure like seeing you here. Hope for better weather for the next one, and take care, have a safe summer. TK Hayes Skydive City

great t-shirt

half the Americans I know can't tell the difference between a Muslim or a Hindu - is it any wonder that our President does not understand the world? After all, we elected him.....

we are not having much trouble with the Y harness - we leave it looser, but we also get the student sat back in the harness after opening by getting them to hike their legs up and wiggle their butt back. that ultimately makes it easier for them to lift their legs for landing, It will also depend on the distance from the center back pad to the lumbar strap, as well as the distance from that to the legstraps, depending on how you fit the harness to your passenger. Again, if it is used 'correctly' it is not much of a change - and even if you loosen it all the way, the student still cannot fall out of the harness, assuming you use the rest of the harness 'correctly'

I am not interested in 'saving my pennies' for technology that has yet to actually be invented. 'nextgen' is nothing more than a catch-phrase - they do not even know what it is yet, yet they want to add user fees and raise taxes to pay for it? This is typical gov't bullshit driven by larger corps that hope to get fat gov't contracts to invent stuff that may not work and we will end up paying for it. I like VFR myself. see and be seen. How about instead of offering us high-end electronics that cost $10K-$500K that they instead 'approve' the $1000-$3000 devices that already exist but I am currently not allowed to fly with? If you want the best interests of general aviation, then that would be a good start. trouble is they look to the industry leaders for advice - Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Grummond, etc. Those guys are not interested in what sells for $1000. TK

dang - where? I have never seen him anywhere live

Here's another scenario - Obama wins the nomination and sometime before he gets to an election - some redneck right-wing fuck puts a bullet in him. A likely scenario, sadly, even in this day and age. TK

yaaaaaaay - maybe some of the American people will have renewed faith in the system. Since it is a civil action, can they collect damages for wastng the people's time and money with this bullshit too?

it is done with a large fluffy paint roller and some mud loike the first poster said - and no - you will never be able to match it well - just like any stucco job. It will vary depending on the type of roller, the thickness of the fluff, the type of mud, consistency of the mud, etc. Best thing is to re-stucco the whole ceiling with a new and improved stucco like popcorn or something fairly fine, that will cover what is already there.- whatever, equally a pain in the ass and just as ugly. Stucco was invented to cover up lousy drywall jobs. Smooth walls are my preference and for ceilings too. A smooth ceiling with crown molding looks way better that any stucco job. good luck with it.

rented it two days ago - definitely an oddball movie - my wife hated it, I thought it was pretty good.

a good friend of mine once said "There's a whole generation of people growing up today that do not have a clue about anything. And it is our job to take all of their money away."

only thing that bothers me is that is was a 'secret deal' like many settlements. I think USPA should not have entered into such a deal, given that we are membership based non-profit org. It should be assumed that any deals need to be made fully disclosed to the membership. period. TK

I would like to know if any has actually paid a fine yet - I see typical govt crap - make a bunch of rules that has no budget to enforce, so the enforcement becomes uneven and spotty, screwing some people while others walk away with nothing. Not much point is passign rules that cannot possibly be carried out - same as training a dog - don't call the dog to come if you can't 'make him come to you' something about 'teaching a pig to sing' I think......

just wait and see what McCain campaign generates leading up to the election sadly, I think a lot of the US voting public ARE actually stupid enough to repeat these past mistakes and believe them. TK

As far as Canada goes and how they would have handled my surgery - here's an approximation of what would have happened. I would have received the same priority service in ER with a broken neck- a X-Ray & CT scan probably, but I doubt I would have gotten an MRI without a long wait, perhaps weeks. I would have received the same surgery in the same timely fashion, the problem is that the doctors would have performed it without seeing an MRI - some would argue that this is a huge problem, but MRI technology is fairly recent and spinal fusions were done before MRI's too. I would have received good hospital care and be sent home in the same amount of time. Physical therapy would probably have been sparse, many clinics are private and the gov't spends only so much money, but at least they would have taught me the exercises to do, and sure, I might have to go to the YMCA if i really want to help in my own recovery. (which I did here anyway) I would have received follow-up care as well, but in the USA, I got a set of X-rays every month for the first 3 months - in Canada, i expect that might have been less - perhaps one set during the healing process to make sure the grafts were taking. What I would NOT have had to do is: - receive bill from a company saying I owe them money and that my insurance company denied my claim. Like the ambulance, the radiology, the surgeon, and several from various businesses that operate at the hospital. All of which are actually covered under my plan. - then I would NOT have to write the insurance company and ask why they denied my claim (referencing the time/date of service, the company name, the invoice number, reference number, the amount and the line item) - receive a reply from the insurance company in 30 days stating that they had reveiwed my claim and decided that it was correctl processed and they do NOT have to pay. - then write a SECOND letter asking them to show me WHERE in my policy did it states that they did not cover said service or fee (again referencing the time/date of service, the company name, the invoice number, reference number, the amount and the line item) - then wait 30 days again to receive a letter stating that they had gone ahead and paid the claim. I did this process so many times for so many bills that rolled in that i actually created my own 'letter 1' and 'letter 2' form letters with blanks so I could easily just write in all the numbers, dates etc. I had to create a filing system sorted by both vendor and claim numbers to keep track of it all, and in the process, sure a couple things got dropped. a $300 radiology bill and a $65 bill got through the cracks and I did not find out until I went to buy a stove at Best Buy (3 years later) and was denied due to bad credit. I got a credit report the other day, and depending on what company, those items are still there, FUCKING ME EVERY TIME I GO TO GET A MORTGAGE OR LOAN, even though i have now paid them, and contacted the credit reporting agencies with the correct information. But I am not able to sue the credit agnecies for getting a high interest rate on a mortgage - they would say it is 'my problem' Now ask yourself if everyone out there is able to follow such a process. everyone is capable of having an accident, few are capable of dealign with the consequences. The current system is the USA is fucked beyond - and radical change for the 'good of the people' might be a start. God knows this government has done NOTHING for the people - but loads for large corporations. - which by the way is seldom 'good for the people' TK

and there is an easy fix for that - in a 'Canadian' system, the rules can change too - i.e. we don't do pregnancy tests, especially in ER's - you can buy one at rite-aid. Just like in Canada, they do not do plastic surgery, dentistry, eyeware, etc under the health plans than exist. I am not suggesting a universal system that covers everything all the time. I am not even against co-pay s and deductibles. I am tired of paying HUGE FUCKING AMOUNTS OF MONEY and getting fuck-all for it. TK

The broken neck cost about $80,000. About $5000 out of my pocket, a trashed credit report and literally 5-6" of paperwork that I had to manage. back then I was paying about $180/month for insurance. Now I pay $750 in a group plan because I could not get a private plan if I wanted one (they would exclude ANYTHING to do with my spine as a pre-existing condition). So I will be in a group plan for the rest of my life, paying whatever they ask, since shopping around has produced NO relief. last year our rates went up by 22% 'just because'. My doctor thinks I am fully recovered. obviously the insurance companies think i am still some sort of risk since I am 'fully recovered' I bet the overhead that the insurance companies produce outweighs the government bureaucracy that would exist in a govt run system. just my guess. 10 years ago, I would have (and did) chosen the US system over the Canadian system. Today it has broken down into a pay-more-for-less system that does not work. Today i choose a govt run universal healthcare system for the simple fact that what we have IS ACTUALLY BROKEN. politicians talk about fixing it, but no one does. At least in a universal system, EVERYONE would have access to it, less fighting, and probably no less level of service than we are receiving now. I am even for a dual system, keep private hospitals as well - the ich are going to use them anyway, regardless of the free stuff. Canada is so afraid of going to a 2-tier system, they think is will be a problem, which makes no sense, since they effectively already have one - the rich Canadians fly to the USA and pay cash for procedures rather than wait in Canada. Finland has a 2 tier system that appears to work pretty well - I hear no one going out to the world to see what else is there - everyone only compares the US to Canada. And so many americans think the Canadian system is a complete failure, but like I said earlier, NO canadians would give it up (except those that can afford private care already on their own.) TK