Chef Jim Posted May 20, 2008 Posted May 20, 2008 I almost died on my vacation to Tortola last week. The obit was going through my mind at the time. "Local Orange county man dies as jeep plunges 500 feet off a cliff in a remote area of the West Indian island"
Just Jack Posted May 20, 2008 Posted May 20, 2008 I almost died on my vacation to Tortola last week. The obit was going through my mind at the time. "Local Orange county man dies as jeep plunges 500 feet off a cliff in a remote area of the West Indian island while trying to roll a big fattie" Fixed it for you.
DrDawkinstein Posted May 20, 2008 Posted May 20, 2008 helpful tip to prevent drowning: if caught in a riptide, rip current, rip taylor, whatever... do NOT attempt to swim in the direction of land. youll just exhaust yourself and drown faster. swim PARALLEL to shore, along the beachfront, until you are out of the current. youre welcome.
stevestojan Posted May 20, 2008 Posted May 20, 2008 Stoj,great you bought the book(that was me who recommended before), but just remember a basic tenat of the book is that once you have the final butt, you will not look at not smoking like giving something pleasurable up(the happy ending), but rather getting something far greater, the freedom of not smoking( having a friend with benefits and not paying for way more than a happy ending)!!!!! BTW, I would have never quit on a weekend if i was not old and married with kids But just to be serious for a minute, if after reading the book you still think you will be "giving something pleasurable up" , I would highly suggest delaying your quit day and re read the book. Your mind has to be 100% convinced you are not giving something up for his method to work, and work it will!!!!! I do think I'm in the correct mind set. I truly don't look at it like giving up something. I do, however, wonder how the pangs are going to be after a few beers. . . the exact time when it would be easy to say "!@#$ it, I'm having one". But, I do have drinks every friday after work, so there's no better time than now to give it up. I may re-read the book, however.
gmac17 Posted May 20, 2008 Posted May 20, 2008 if caught in a riptide, rip current, rip taylor, whatever... do NOT attempt to swim in the direction of land. you'll just exhaust yourself and drown faster. swim PARALLEL to shore, along the beachfront, until you are out of the current. I thought that was pretty common knowledge, but I guess when it actually happens you probably are instinctively fighting it. horrible.
plenzmd1 Posted May 20, 2008 Posted May 20, 2008 I do think I'm in the correct mind set. I truly don't look at it like giving up something. I do, however, wonder how the pangs are going to be after a few beers. . . the exact time when it would be easy to say "!@#$ it, I'm having one". But, I do have drinks every friday after work, so there's no better time than now to give it up. I may re-read the book, however. Brother, they gunna suck, no way around that!!! Just remember they will pass,and that little monster goes away pretty quick. Also,you will get drunker for some reason. I say its because you drink your beer when normally you would have a drag off your smoke, but my sister thinks its something chemical in cig that keeps your buzz a little lower. Either way, be prepared for it and even if you normally drive home, make sure you have a backup plan.
Fan in San Diego Posted May 21, 2008 Posted May 21, 2008 Thats what I was thinking as well, but it implied they got the guys out pretty quick. Maybe I just didn't read it right and they were under for a period of time. I have never been in a riptide, but we are at VA Beach quite often, and my kids have been well instructed what to do if they get "caught and the water is taking them away from the beach' You can't swim against a rip tide, you should swim parallel to the beach and when you finally get out of it you can swim into the shore. They must have panicked, tried swimming against the rip current , tired quickly and had no gas left to swim in.
ExiledInIllinois Posted May 22, 2008 Posted May 22, 2008 Current. Rip Current. Tides are vertical displacements of water, currents-horizontal. Mixed with an undertow (where it pulls you under) and it can get nerve racking... Most people will panic in that situation... Even if it doesn't pull you under, once you start getting far away from shore people will panic and fight it and try to swim straight back and get tired... Then drown. Rip currents are pretty narrow bands... Isn't the rule of thumb to do like Eryn said and relax and let it take you... You can usually swim perpendicular to the current (parallel to shore) and break free... Then swim to shore. Sorry for these guys and their family!
ExiledInIllinois Posted May 22, 2008 Posted May 22, 2008 Now for everyone's dam safety lesson for the day... Stay away from dams too! No matter how small! Or I will yell at you on the speaker! The Drowning Machine
Tcali Posted May 22, 2008 Posted May 22, 2008 I went to high school with them. We were on the swim team together. one word for you........purgatory.
Tcali Posted May 22, 2008 Posted May 22, 2008 Anybody know these guy's? http://www.bradenton.com/local/story/619279.html I was in the pacific ocean north of san francisco one time...knee deeep about 70 feet off shore when I felt this tremendous force against my legs.I knew it was some kind of a strong current.And I knew that I couldnt let myself fall or I woulda been dragged out there. I tensed and didnt/couldnt move for about 1 minute(felt like 5 minutes).Then the pressure finally went away and I carefully trudged onto shore.I then proceeded to warn every single person on the beach.A lot of the people just kinda brushed off what I was saying---but at least I told them.Hopefully they took some heed. If I were out in the water just slightly farther and had been in slightly deeper water I would have been carried out there. YIKES.
Wacka Posted May 22, 2008 Posted May 22, 2008 Now for everyone's dam safety lesson for the day... Stay away from dams too! No matter how small! Or I will yell at you on the speaker! The Drowning Machine It doesn't have to be a large dam. There is a guy (was in his early 20s) that is buried very near my father's grave. He drowned in a kayak on Buffalo Creek in West Seneca. The dam he went over and got caught in the "drowning machine" was under 5 ft high.
ExiledInIllinois Posted May 22, 2008 Posted May 22, 2008 It doesn't have to be a large dam. There is a guy (was in his early 20s) that is buried very near my father's grave. He drowned in a kayak on Buffalo Creek in West Seneca. The dam he went over and got caught in the "drowning machine" was under 5 ft high. Was it the little wier type thingy off of Clinton behind the collison place (towards Union near 14 Holy Helpers)... Can be accessed by Birchfield nature area... Used to be called Island park I think (burned way years ago). ?? We used to fish that area of BFLO creek... I suppose it can get flowing really fast during high water events... In the summer we would walk the creek botton under Union road... Sometime "spear" fish the suckers...
DC Tom Posted May 22, 2008 Posted May 22, 2008 one word for you........purgatory. That would be a step up from my expected destination.
Steely Dan Posted May 22, 2008 Posted May 22, 2008 I went to high school with them. We were on the swim team together. Dude, its not mmmmppphhh, funny to laugh, mmmmppphhh, at other peoples, mmmmphhhh, deaths!! You're, mmmph, sick!! LOL Well, on day 11. Just think, 200 less cigs in my lungs, thats gotta be a good thing no? And really using that Easy Way method, not really jonesin at all. Little pangs every now and then, but nothing major. I quit 4 years ago now. I used to down almost two packs of those things every day. Took me two attempts. On the first, I stopped for about 6 months. I was driving home at night and passed a 7-11 or some such store. They had a sign out that read 'Marlboro lights 2.25 a pack.' I thought to myself, "wow, what a great price! I should buy some!" Well, that was that. I tried again about a year later. Just stopped. Cold turkey. Haven't smoked in four years now. I still get the odd cravings, though. Usually it's while drinking a beer or while sitting on the back porch drinking a cup of coffee. The hardest part about stopping was the mental piece. While at work, I'd always say to myself "I'm going to finish this piece of code, and then I'll go grab a smoke." It was almost like a reward system. When I made the decision to go cold turkey, I still did the same thing in my head.... but no reward! I still hung out with smokers. I didn't want to hide from them all and then fall off the bandwagon once I got a whiff of it. I used that damn gum the first time. That didn't work at all. While I'd only smoke one or two a day, I still kept my blood full of nicotine. The second I spit the gum out, I'd want nicotine from somewhere.... doesn't so much matter where! I've never smoked but I have friends who quit and here are some tips from them. Get a jar and put a little water in the bottom and then put in some cig butts. Everytime you want a smoke open the jar and inhale that should make you think twice. Also figure out how much money a week you were spending on smokes and put the same amount into a jar every week. Think about what you plan to buy as a treat for yourself a year from your last cig. one word for you........purgatory. Look, if I can't laugh at their deaths then I can't laugh at DCTom's death and that aint gonna happen!
DC Tom Posted May 22, 2008 Posted May 22, 2008 Look, if I can't laugh at their deaths then I can't laugh at DCTom's death and that aint gonna happen! I'm just glad you'll be thinking of me. It's good to have friends. I've lost three family members since February. May as well try to look for humor in it...because death's going to get each one of us some day, and getting cringingly histrionic over it isn't going to change that.
Wacka Posted May 22, 2008 Posted May 22, 2008 Was it the little wier type thingy off of Clinton behind the collison place (towards Union near 14 Holy Helpers)... Can be accessed by Birchfield nature area... Used to be called Island park I think (burned way years ago). ?? We used to fish that area of BFLO creek... I suppose it can get flowing really fast during high water events... In the summer we would walk the creek botton under Union road... Sometime "spear" fish the suckers... I'm not sure exactly which one it was, but it was one of those weirs. The spring or summer after my father died, I noticed a new grave nearby. It had a temporary marker. The guy was young an dthe date rang a bell. It was the guy that had drowned a few weeks earlier. This was in 91. I geocached in Birchfeld a few times. Last winter, last summer (the creek was low then and you could walk on the bed), and the winter after the October snow (many trails were closed with the downed trees)
Ned Flanders Posted May 22, 2008 Posted May 22, 2008 I've lost three family members since February. Did you look under the couch?
DC Tom Posted May 22, 2008 Posted May 22, 2008 Did you look under the couch? Of course not. They wouldn't fit there...
AJ1 Posted May 22, 2008 Posted May 22, 2008 Mixed with an undertow (where it pulls you under) and it can get nerve racking... Most people will panic in that situation... Even if it doesn't pull you under, once you start getting far away from shore people will panic and fight it and try to swim straight back and get tired... Then drown. Rip currents are pretty narrow bands... Isn't the rule of thumb to do like Eryn said and relax and let it take you... You can usually swim perpendicular to the current (parallel to shore) and break free... Then swim to shore. Sorry for these guys and their family! Caught in a rip at Kure Beach, NC in '67 while stationed there in AF. Didn't know about swimming parallel. Did my best Johnny Weissmuller straight at the beach. Did about a 440 to gain 100 yards which was just enough. While in water thought next stop was Spain. If I hadn't have been 20, likely would have drowned that day.
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