Superior Producer in better days...




Superior Producer sinking in December 1977...

Three more...

Here are some pictures of the Superior Producer wreck...

Finished up the advanced open water certification yesterday...discovered during the Peak Performance Buoyancy dive that I suck at peak performance buoyancy.   

Likely will complete the wreck diver specialty next...maybe even rescue diver.

Stuffed.   

Well, I'm open water certified. 

On our last dive, we saw a large school (60+) of tarpon about 20' below us.  What an impressive sight! 

Up next is advanced open water, which will occur in about two weeks.  We'll get to dive a wreck called Superior Producer, and a night dive among other things.  Can't wait! 

Had my first open water dive today...went to a depth of 40' for 41 minutes.

The scenery was simply phenomenal.  I was blown away by the colors, the variety of underwater plants, and the myriad of fish.  Most of them could've cared less that we were there.  I had expected all of them to give us a very wide berth.  We did have a videographer film our dive which was very cool.  The DVD will be ready on Monday.  I can't wait to see it!

Finish up the open water cert tomorrow, and then will press on to the advanced diver course in two weeks.

Thanks again for all the tips!

This is great to hear. You think you see colors now, wait till you do your first night dive - that really brings out some colors underwater.

+1.  All the critters that come out only at night are pretty damn cool.  The only annoying thing will be the continual "Jaws theme" soundtrack running continuously through your head.

Great.  Thanks, jerk.   

Had my first open water dive today...went to a depth of 40' for 41 minutes.

The scenery was simply phenomenal.  I was blown away by the colors, the variety of underwater plants, and the myriad of fish.  Most of them could've cared less that we were there.  I had expected all of them to give us a very wide berth.  We did have a videographer film our dive which was very cool.  The DVD will be ready on Monday.  I can't wait to see it!

Finish up the open water cert tomorrow, and then will press on to the advanced diver course in two weeks.

Thanks again for all the tips!

How old are they?  What titles?

Have you tried offering them up here for at least the cost of shipping?

Out of stock.

Wow...many more responses than I expected.   

As an Independent Duty Medical Technician on flying status, I'm well-versed in pressure equalization when going to altitude...just not the opposite way.  From what I understand, you need to valsalva way more often diving than you do flying.  It'll take some getting used too.

I'm quite excited about starting.  I'm a strong swimmer, and don't have any irrational fear of diving.  I need to dig around online though and attempt to find a reasonably priced underwater camera...   

Good thing my wife back in OKC doesn't read these forums.   

I'm TDY (temporary duty) with the Air Force down in Curacao right now, and have the opportunity to get a PADI certification (Open Water and Advanced).  I signed up today, and will take the course starting at the end of the month.

Any advice for a newbie?    

I'm not by any means intimidated by building a replacement rig.  I'm just concerned that if I somehow screw up a portion of the installation and/or damage a component that I'm stuck having to buy a replacement part.  Plus, I'm not getting any younger, and my eyes aren't what they were 5 years ago.  I'm in the middle of finishing my bachelor's degree, I've got a crap load of work to do to prepare 300+ airmen for deployment to UAE, and I've got an 8 year-old who enjoys playing with me.

I appreciate that there are those that relish the thought of building a rig themselves...I'm just not one of those folks anymore.  

[Here's what it looks like essentially from Newegg (not all items are identical, and some are not included like the liquid cooling).]

Here's what I'm looking at now through CyberPC:

BLUETOOTH:None
CD:LG 22X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Dual Layer Drive (BLACK COLOR)
CD2:None
CAS:Apevia X-Dreamer 3 Mid-Tower Gaming Case w/ Side-Panel Window & Temperature Display (Black Color with Red Ring & Red LED Fan)
CASUPGRADE:12in (Red Color) Cold Cathode Neon Light
CS_FAN:Maximum 120MM Color Case Cooling Fans for your selected case  (Red Color)
CPU:Intel® CoreT i5-750 2.66 GHz 8M L2 Cache LGA1156
FAN:Asetek LCLC 120 Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan (Extreme Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA)
FREEBIE_RM:None
FA_HDD:None
FLASHMEDIA:None
FLOPPY:None
HDD:Single Hard Drive (1TB (1TBx1) SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
HDD2:None
IEEE_CARD:None
KEYBOARD:Xtreme Gear (Black Color) Multimedia/Internet USB Keyboard
MOUSE:XtremeGear Optical USB 3 Buttons Gaming Mouse
MODEM:None
MULTIVIEW:Non-SLI/Non-CrossFireX Mode Supports Multiple Monitors
MONITOR:None
MONITOR2:None
MOTHERBOARD:[CrossFireX/SLI] EVGA P55 TR Intel P55V Chipset DDR3 Socket 1156 mATX Mainboard w/ 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, USB2.0, SATA-II RAID, 2 Gen2 PCIe, & 2 PCIe X1
MEMORY:4GB (2GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Module (Corsair or Major Brand)
NETWORK:Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
OVERCLOCK:No Overclocking
OS:Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit Edition)
POWERSUPPLY:700 Watts Power Supplies [+36] (XtremeGear SLI/CrossFireX Ready Power Supply)
PRINTER:None
PRINTER_CABLE:None
RUSH:NO; READY TO SHIP IN 5~10 BUSINESS DAYS
SOFT1:Free 60 Days Microsoft® Office® 2007 (Words, Excel, Access, Power Point, Outlook + More) - Microsoft Windows OS Required
SERVICE:STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
SOUND:HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
SPEAKERS:None
TEMP:None
TVRC:None
USB:Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
USBHD:None
USBX:None
VIDEO:ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB DDR5 16X PCIe Video Card [DirectX 11 Support] [+115] (Major Brand Powered by ATI)
VIDEO2:ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB DDR5 16X PCIe Video Card [DirectX 11 Support] [+190] (Major Brand Powered by ATI)
VIDEO3:None
VC_PHYSX:None
VC_GAMES:None
WNC:None


PRICE:  $1145 (free shipping, to boot)



Here's what it looks like essentially from Newegg (not all items are identical, and some are not included like the liquid cooling).

APEVIA X-DREAMER3-RD Black / Red Metal ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail                                                                                    $ 60
Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor - Retail                                                                  $200
Western Digital AV-GP WD10EVDS 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive                                                                         $  90
EVGA 120-LF-E650-TR LGA 1156 Intel P55 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail                                                                                       $120
OCZ Gold 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G16004GK - Retail        $102
GIGABYTE GV-R577UD-1GD Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Retail (x2) $340
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Full - Retail                                                                                                                                   $185


Total (roughly) through Newegg:  $1097


$48 bucks for them to build it for me?  No brainer...

Thoughts/suggestions?

I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it.

I'm about to lose control, and I think I like it.

Thanks for the link, CeeKay.  I'm liking what I'm seeing there.

That $350 difference is worth the time I don't have to put into the build process, the troubleshooting process, the binge-drinking process due to the troubleshooting process not working...you get the picture.   

LOL.   I thought maybe you were a stuttering certified nursing assistant.   


Congratulations!

Assimilation.

I built the one I'm on right now 5 years ago.  I purchased everything through Newegg, and while the purchase process was incredibly smooth, I'm just not sure I have it in me to build another one.  Sometimes when you get older, it's worth it to just let someone else build it for you. 

I guess the biggest piece of advice I need is regarding a mobo/processor combination.  I've been using AMD products for years and have never had a problem.  But again, I haven't paid attention to advances and am not sure who really has the better product, if anyone. 

I'm also partial to NVIDIA, but I've heard really good things about ATI lately, so that's up in the air, too...

Primarily, where online to buy and hardware recommendations...budget of around $1000.


Thanks in advance.

if i remember correctly, they only sold the USB version for a very short period of time before they disappeared.  they spent more of their time trying to sell inferior USB-based designs, then pulled the plug on the Sidewinder brand without much support for the USB version of the original design.

Well, if it's rare, then I'm jacking the price up!

ONE MILLION DOLLARS!   

I had one of these back in the day, but don't remember it being USB.

They were.  I still have two of them.

I've got one for you.  PM inbound.

Silly rabbits, picking against the Cards.

Someday you'll learn.   

Good game.  Go Favre

The Packers scared the crap out of me.  Their resilience against a 17 point deficit was amazing.  I thought they were destined to win after they battled back.

But I am happy the Cards won.  

Hot damn.   

I can't tell you how much it pleases me to see the Packers sent packing...

GO PACKERS!!!!

How 'bout those Cardinals?   

Can't remember, are you a Cards fan?

Oh, yes.  Ask PeteRock. 

GO PACKERS!!!!

How 'bout those Cardinals?   

7th place.

Last time I invite you bastages to my league.   

Arizona finally gets over the double-digit win hump since moving to the Valley in 1988.   

probably going to hell for this one:

 <the img>

Not cool.  

Wow.  You are quite the prick, aren't you?

I too have been thoroughly enjoying the podcasts, and purchased the book from lulu.com a few days ago.  It should be showing up on my doorstep the beginning of next week.  I even started rewatching the first season of TNG in preparation. 

Anybody catch Wheaton on The Big Bang Theory back in October?  Wil plays himself, and that's all I say about it.  If you can find it on Hulu or something, it's worth a watch. 

probably going to hell for this one:

You obviously have no one in your family afflicted by Parkinson's, do you?   

If you did, you wouldn't find this funny...like me.   

I thought it stood for "f*ck my life". I like my interpretation better.

And if you haven't seen this website, you're missing out on some hilarious reading. 

Go get a commission in the military.

Jerk.

Now you're making want to reinstall.   

US Air Force, 1984-Present.

I'm freakin' ready to retire.   

Da Shatner Funk

Axis of Awesome - Titty Bar