BoogieBob

Low: Remembering the prolonged shock and disbelief that I felt almost exactly five years ago while staring at one particular post on these forums which stated that Paul "Raff" Rafferty had passed away. High: Remembering how fortunate I am for having Raff as one of my skydiving instructors. Remembering the overwhelming impression he made on me. Remembering how I always enjoyed skydiving with him on my AFF dives since he was always right next to me offering encouragement and instruction. Remembering the many, many things that I learned from him during the very short time that I interacted with him, only some of which pertained to skydiving. Remembering that, if Raff had that much impact on me in such a short time, he must have touched many lives with his remarkable talents. Paul Rafferty is certainly missed. But his profound impact on my life is warmly appreciated. I'm sure there are many people who have gained similar benefit from being fortunate enough to interact with Raff. He may have died, but I'm certain that his impact on the world lives on strongly.

Today I deviated slightly from my usual driving route in my car. For the first time, I stopped at Paraclete XP wind tunnel. Today is the first time I've ever been near a wind tunnel. I didn't try it out. I watched some other people using it. I was pretty sure I knew what I was going to see on the observation deck. It will probably look like people in freefall except that they happen to be in a flight chamber, right? Wrong. Well, not so much wrong. More like severely impressed by what I saw. I haven't jumped since 8/28/2005. When I did jump, even on training jumps, the frame of reference (or lack thereof) made it difficult for me to perceive the severity of my poor skydiving ability. I rode the elevator to the third floor and saw the 16.5 foot flight chamber. There were several young people (age 8-12 or so?) in the wind tunnel area along with an "older" guy (maybe early 20s?). As I expected, when I got off the elevator I saw two people in the flight chamber. One was a very young person and the other looked like an instructor or something like that. To me, it got pretty wild after watching for a minute or two. The control and precision of the instructor guy was amazing to me. The control he displayed was remarkable. Sometimes he would spiral around the tunnel and disappear up into the tunnel shaft with the "client." Then he'd fall back down and stop a few inches over the mesh floor, all the while maintaining control of the client. After that, four or five young people (ages 8-12?) got into the tunnel. I noticed that the instructor guy didn't follow them into the tunnel and also noticed that the chamber "driver" left the windspeed up around 120mph instead of backing it down to 80-90mph like he did for other small people. After about 10 seconds I realized why. These young people were extremely good in the tunnel. They performed various maneuvers and amazed me with how precise they were in their movements. Sit-flying, flying on their backs, "running" up the side of the tunnel...lots of things I couldn't even begin to imagine doing. Maybe it's observing from a fixed frame of reference that impressed me so much. In my skydiving experiences I was lucky to be able fall from the plane to the ground. The precision of the instructor guy and those four young people was way more impressive than I thought it was going to be. Very nice place to visit. I was amazed at the skill level I saw today.

High --> Driving my car with the top down on this brisk Saturday, including my usual stop at Raeford DZ which was unusually vacant today except for a few motorcyclists who had stopped by thinking Aviator's might be open (it wasn't). For some reason I found myself thinking of some skydives I've made in the past. I haven't jumped for over two years but I thought about how I always enjoyed AFF jumps with Paul Rafferty. I remembered my Cat-E skydive where he delayed his exit to watch my diving exit and front flip. After my front flip I remembered turning my head back toward the plane to look for him following me. To my surprise, he wasn't on his way down to me, he was right next to me. Doing jumps with Raff was always made me feel like a better skydiver than I was. His personality made me feel good. I also felt good because he would compensate for all of my errors and stay right with me the whole time. It made me feel like I was doing better than I was. He compensated for all of the chipping, sliding and other errors I was making. Raff may be physically removed from us now, but I'm fortunate to have interacted with him. I'm also fortunate to interact from time to time with other people who are not removed from us yet, including another instructor of mine who often takes time to speak with me even when I don't often feel that I'm worthy of anyone's attention or interest. Low --> It is Saturday. Ordinarily that is a good thing and it still is; but, in my mind I realize that tomorrow is the end of one my favorite holidays. Thanksgiving is a nice long holiday without the intensity of Christmas. But at least it is still Saturday. I'm enjoying it.

Don't worry about it. At least you didn't jump into a new car and THEN realize you didn't want it. Your discipline is impressive. By the way, new cars aren't always better. I've got a 1998 Ford that I bought at CarMax with 86000+ miles. Most incredible car I've ever owned. One of my friends calls it the 'sexmobile' lol. I won't go into that. Good luck in your car search. When it's right, it'll be right.

High: Went to Raeford to check out some skyjumping action. Low: Didn't see Chuck Blue there. High: Glanced through my jump log and saw the attached. Low: Thought about replying to this thread and what it means to lose people who made a sincere difference in your life.

Excellent! Believe me I know the power of driving around in a Stang Vert. It's been almost a year since I bought my car and I still can't get over that Stang Vert feeling.

High(s): Shot decent videos from my car while driving to the DZ. Shot video of multiple good-natured skydivers landing at Raeford. I took some time to think about and appreciate the people around me (ty MissMae). I made that PD210 my biotch when I stood up the landing after talking with Chuck yesterday about canopy control. Ate an awesome tasting cheeseburger at Aviator's after my jump, washed down with a couple of Mich Lights. Low: Didn't see Chuck or Katie today (I always look for you two.)

45 jumps (including 1 tandem jump) 2 years in sport 130 pounds without gear Canopies (# of jumps): Navigator 240 (9), 220 (8)

I went to the dropzone at 7:30 this morning, talked with Chuck Blue for a bit and rented a NAV240 in a Dolphin container for a jump with Chuck. I had a stable exit followed by some practice turns. Chuck and I connected, broke off for 360s and then reconnected for some "spinning" (I don't know the terminology, it reminded me of a samara falling from a tree). The grin on Chuck's face had me wondering which one of us was having more fun. For me, the above would have been incredible enough by itself. What really enhanced the whole thing was the fact that it had been 1 year, 5 months and 1 day since I'd last made a skydive.

High: Having fun with my cat (Sam) who is a relatively new addition in my condo. Low: Remembering that I inherited Sam as a result of my best friend's death just after Thanksgiving.

I think you might wanna do the internet thing and search for the car you really want. I saw my car on the 'net at the CarMax.com site...had to pay 'em $400 to get the car to Fayetteville, NC from where it was (Indianapolis, IN)....but I think it was worth it. When the pic of the car popped up on the screen I knew it was the one. I had to be kinda mean to the CarMax people to get my way.....but screw it...I wanted THAT car...and I got it :) ltdiver, don't settle for anything....get what you want...something that makes you feel really good. You've had that feeling before so I'm sure you know what it feels like

Ouch!! Glad to hear that you are doing better physically now. That musta been quite a jolt. I can't imagine how I'd feel if that happened to my car. And, will do on the revving sounds. Keep your ears open. It's raining here so I got to enjoy some nice revving power-slide action in a couple of corners when dropping 2nd...you may have heard that ;) I know you still miss your car, but a lot of people I know would kill to have a 2005. Enjoy it!!

I was thinking about a MAC 2.5" Flowpath Catback for some sound. I dunno, '98 GT got a factory rated 225hp at the flywheel...but it's my first V8 car (and first convertible) so I'm still all into lovin' the whole experience so far. Maybe in the near future I'll get the catback. I gotta figure out what the hell is throwing the P1443 low/no purge flow MIL. A shop replaced the charcoal canister. MIL came back on. I replaced the purge flow sensor today while I was "working." Also got a gas cap, but they gave me a '99-'02 cap...no worky...gotta go back and get the RIGHT one tomorrow. Only things left are EVAP lines, purge flow valve and the vapor vent valve over the fuel tank. If I throw enough parts at it I might actually get the P1443 resolved. Other than that, it runs great. In Bishopville, SC, if you are heading East on I-20 and get off the interstate you come down a nice rounder that is ripe for second gear. Best part is you get to go under the overpass of I-20....sounds great in second as it's taching up....about 3500 under the first lane overpass then 4500 under the next with large throttle angle...gettin' mad reverb from the intake and the car sounds just beautiful. I love the sound.

wee> BMC gatherings abound. No, it's not late at night at the Food Lion which I kinda gathered is what you were thinking. Actually, just this past Saturday I drove down to Chesnee, SC for a benefit cruise-in. The admission to the car show was an unwrapped toy at least $10 in value to benefit the needy kids in that area. It was a great event. Lot's of nice cars and, most importantly, lots of toys and money generated to help out some needy kids in that area. Maybe soon I'll link up some pics of other meets so you can see many Mustangs parked together. It's beauty. ltdiver> That's a nice looking Stang. SN95 (maybe FOX4 if it's a '94 or '95 with the 302). Why are you sniffling about it though? It looks great. The shine on the hood looks fantastic. AggieDave> Come on man...personally I liked the avatars of you either swooping or the head shot. Thanks for 'shopping up my pic...it actually doesn't look too bad like that....but I'm smelling fried rice in it lol.

High: Thinking about people that aren't here (as we know it) anymore, but who changed me by instilling confidence. Low: Waking up this morning and seeing fourteen empty beer bottles on the counter as a reminder of what kind of day I was going to have.