Reality Check, was Riding t-loads, and other dangerous stuff.

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Christopher Boden by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <chrisboden-at-hotmail-dot-com>

Um, guys.....hang on a sec.....

I know a lot of people think I have a "Cavalier" (I love that word, lol) 
attitude to safety, or that I'm a Daredevil, and I wanna set the record 
straight.

I'm a wus. Yup, big one. It's kept me alive for many years, and will for 
many more. A healthy mixture of fear and respect for electricity is why I do 
this, and not chemistry.

With Electricity I can stand 30' away and push a button (Or pull a string:) 
), I like that aspect.

I've had a Large share of injuries, and I've learned from every one. I've 
paid for carelessness, and ignorance as I learned new things. Rock is very 
unforgiving, fortunately, the human body is. Before some of the younger (Or 
older) of you start going out and being "Brave" (stupid) I want you to know 
a few facts.

1. Before I do ANY stunt, I research it throughly. I'm not a Daredevil, I'm 
an addict, I like adreniline. I don't drink or get high, my rush is fear. I 
like being in control of something that's out of control. I spend weeks or 
months working on something serious before I try it. Before I did my first 
free climb (Climbing without ropes or protective gear) I had 4 years 
experiance on Plastic (Gyms), and Rock. Before I luged A SINGLE TIME I built 
my OWN luge from scratch, designed it, researched it, and worked out 
everything so that I could know all the aspects of how it works. My first 
Luge topped out at 30MPH and was deadly unstable. My new Luge is 7' long 
(first was about 5' or so) and you can sleep on it at 50MPH it's so smooth.

2. KNOW THE CONSEQUENCES! and be prepared to live with them. That's what 
kept me from doing the Tesla stunt. I simply wasn't prepared to live with a 
worst case scenerio.

I've broken my arms, legs, ribs (3 at the spine, 4 in front), orbits, skull, 
nose, jaw, fingers, toes, wrists, knee (right), dislocated my shoulders, 
sternum and patella (kneecap), completely removed a fingernail 
(hacksaw...that hurt). I've had Gravel-Eye (Welder's Flash), had a heart 
attack at 18. Been the first person that I've ever heard of to sink (not 
just crash, sink) a Formula Atlantic racecar (there was a pond in the middle 
of the track). I know what it's like to fall and land on TOP of a tree, and 
also what it's like to dirt so hard that you leave a dent. I've burned ALL 
the hair off my head and arms (1st-2nd degree burns, and blue flecks to 
boot, my idiot brother tossed a can of spraypaint into the bonfire and I 
hadn't noticed until it was about half a second too late). I have less than 
16 of my original teeth (but a whole BOATLOAD of Implants). I have a fake 
knee, shoulder, and 9 pins throughout my body (Not counting the screws for 
the teeth). I've spent over a year of my life cumulative in a hospital for 
one reason or another, 9 months in a wheelchair, and 3 months on crutches. 
I've had casts in Blue, Green, White, and Pink (I like the blue the best), 
and so many stitches that for anything under an inch I do it myself. I own a 
pair of WELL stocked Jump-Boxs (1 at home and one at the lab) with 
everything I could legally use for almost any crisis short of an M.C.I. of 
some sort.

I've set my parents' kitchen on fire (Mom was happy, she got new cabinets), 
Drained their pool (learning about siphons.....forgot about it and left for 
the weekend....soil-erosion can work magic in a couple days with a couple 
old bits of 4" plastic tubing and a good sized above-ground pool). I've 
destroyed MONTHS of my dads work in a 1 second mistake made at 160+ 
MPH...and have him give me another car to do it again, and again, and again 
(He sold more than I broke, so it was ok.).

The worst moment of my life was watching my Dad sit on the front step crying 
as they loaded me into the back of a cruiser. I'd go through all the 
injuries again to go back and take that one back. Some hurts you can't get a 
pill for, letting my Dad down was the worst, Boot Camp (I was a juvenile) 
was a close second.

I've made a LOT of dumb mistakes. Ones that, if I had throught it through 
FIRST I probably wouldn't have done. This is why I don't spend much time in 
ER anymore, it's called Growing Up a bit. Stupid Hurts.

Now I'm trying to help the kids here in town. Giving them a place to learn 
and tinker without the CONSEQUENCES of a Hard Knox education.
That's what the Geek Group is for, a place to learn and play, without pain.

That's why I posted the question to the List in the first place. I didn't 
know how to do it safely. Instead of just thinking it out, scrwing it up 
(I'm not that smart, I'd have made a mistake) and getting a very newsworthy 
flaming death. Growing up is realiseing just how stupid you are, wisdom is 
knowing where to look up the info you need :).





duck




Christopher A. Boden Geek#1
President / C.E.O. / Alpha Geek
The Geek Group
www.thegeekgroup-dot-org
Because the Geek shall inherit the Earth!


_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn-dot-com