Dear NEDs,


         When "da Feeeeesh" beckons a subscriber to post, who can say 
"No!"?  Feeeeesh is referring back to the days before the SE stood for 
"Sydney and Elsewhere."  While I'm always amazed at what Dr. Ling can find 
in the archives, I'll bet he can't find anything from when my ISP was 
"mischa.net."

>>When I logged in the usual LISTSERV archives of scuba-SE, I
>>was shocked to see 50 NEW posts, a variety of unfamiliar
>>subjects!
>>
>>Then I noticed the posts were numbered from 1 to 50!  And the
>>YEAR was wrong.  :-)
>>
>>It was then that I realized I had type the date for "from" in
>>the "to" box, so that LISTSERV was listing the first 50 of
>>the 21,966 posts in scuba-SE since February 1988.
>>
>>It took many months in 1988 for scuba-SE to reach the 50th post.
>>This was one of the earliest scuba-SE posts, by our famed nurse-
>>shark tail puller that I thought was of some historical interest
>>today.
>>
>>
>>On Tue, 22 Sep 1998 20:02:51 -0500, John Nitrox <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> >Dear Lisa,
>> >
>> >
>> > You may not have noticed this, but SCUBA-SE is a fairly quiet list.
>> >If you would like to know lots of things about diving quickly,
>> >you would be well advised to join Scuba-L where you can expect
>> >about 40 posts a day, many of which will answer your questions.
>>
>>Until the May Massacre of 2001.   Now it's deader than a doornob
>>in Alcatraz except for a hurricane spike.
>>
>>
>> > As for me, the best place to dive is the South Pacific, but I have
>> >neither the cash nor the time to go there, so I go to the Caribbean
>>
>>John was stashing away his cash for retarrment travel!

         Well, I didn't get as much cash stashed as I would have wished, 
but going to OZ next fall is still in the cards for us.  Maybe it's just a 
chance of seeing the god-like Strike and the Krazy Kiwi in their native 
environments that has captured my imagination.

>> > Sometimes I dive alone, but mostly I dive with small, neutrally
>> >buoyant, self-sufficient women that are comfortable in the water
>> >and like taking photographs.
>>
>>NOW I know why John took an immediate crush on Viv in Coz99NEDfest
>>-- invited Viv to his Chicagah penthouse for a week before
>>releasing her on a stretch-limo to O'Hare airport to fly south
>>to the slums of da Feeesh neighborhood.

         To know Viv is to have a crush on her, and as I recall she 
lingered even longer with the Large Nassau Grouper's family than she did 
with mine before the '99 NEDfest.

>> > Assuming you're not married,
>> >it's not a  bad idea to date mostly divers if you are interested
>> >in diving.
>>
>>That's John's words of wisdom to Lisa.  I would have said marry
>>someone who would let go the float in water, learn how to snorkel,
>>and would be willing to take a plunge into the abyss because you
>>tell her/him s/he would love it ... eventually.  :-)

         I'll admit that's a good start, but it's even more comforting to 
see a "Diving Is Life" sticker next to the "Do I Right" and "GUE" stickers 
on the white van of a potential spouse.

>> >  In my personal opinion you definitely shouldn't dive alone until
>> >you have done at least fifty dives, and in my capacity as a DM
>> >for a well known training agency, I'll tell you never to dive alone.
>> >(After 50 dives, the death rate for divers goes down significantly
>> >if they don't take up cave diving, wreck diving, or some kind of
>> >tech diving.)
>>
>>John forgot to mention DEEP solo diving.  :-)

         Hmm, well if I add a foot a year by the time the time I get as 
deep as the Feeeeesh, I'll be older than he is now and spending my time 
with those hot twins, the heliox sisters.

>> > Avoid diving
>> >with young, inexperienced men because often times their courage and
>> >curiosity exceed their knowledge and abilities..
>>
>> From my observational experience, I would say it's excellent advice
>>and the excess of courage and curiosity over knowledge and skills
>>is NOT limited to only young, inexperienced men.
>>
>>John fell short of citing my slogan, which was known by many by
>>then, because I ranted on it every chance I had,
>>
>>"Know YOUR limit (limitations) and dive WITHIN them".
>>
>>One rule fits all.

         The older I get (more mature?), the more I stick to the Feeeeesh 
rule. Now I don't even want to hear about a dive that will "test your 
skills."  Cave diving... these days I can read books about cave diving 
without worrying that I might get tempted to learn how to do it.

>> >Well, that's about as
>> >avuncular as I get, I hope to see you on Scuba-L.
>>
>>Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggghh!!

            but keep in mind that I posted this two and a half years before 
things went south.

>> >Don't pull the nurse shark's tail,
>>
>>Just for your Scuba-L mention, the nurse-shark tail got a good
>>YANK!  :-)
>> >
>> >
>> >John
>>
>>Eleswhere, John mentioned that he was looking forward to moving
>>to the SE (for his retirement) within "10 years".  This is almost
>>8 years from that time, John!   There're houses for sale in our
>>Choo Choo subdivision quite often.  Want to take a trip down and
>>start looking for better pastures than Chicagah?

         Unfortunately, I'm still looking forward to moving to the SE 
within "10 years."  I just hope that by the time I get there I won't be 
wearing fins and using a walker at the same time.


DPTNST,


John