Kelly

fruce, thats nice. make fun of the guy for saying heads down... Im sure you jumped with Damo. he makes me laugh every time he says "heads down".. and his logic on it.. "there were more than one person. so its more then one head down.. its heads down" hahahaha :)

hey guys.. just to get back to the originial point of this post...... My main and reserve came in today!!!!!! whooo heee! and my drunken ass was a bit off on the colors. their watermelon, white, blackberry. and the reserve is yellow. His nickname is tweety. dont ask....

marissa, well said. youre right, it wouldnt be worth it if it didnt hurt. I'm just really feeling for Mary right now, her strength is really being tested at this moment. Lisa lived a good life, and blessed the lives of most everyone she came in contact with~ id say that was a life worth living. Im just glad that this incident happened without and injuries/ fatalities. maybe something can be learned from it... kel by the way, baggo showed up this weekend. He's okay, as we already knew. it was just really good seeing everyone from NYC in person. There were definitally more hugs going around this weekend then normal.

clay, youre right.. about the what if's. but when they guy that i knew on that load, when his girlfriend told me about the frantic phone call, well i felt really bad for her. She was good friends with Lisa Gallagher, the girl that just died at the Ranch. Shes still really devistated by that, then she gets a phone call from her boyfriend of 17 years saying he just damn near died. And in between that the planes are grounded and her buisness isnt open for 11 days. just feeling really bad for my friend. Bad shit needs to stop happening in her life.... too many upsetting events...

marc, we were all hanging out at the hall when the call went out for the retirment apartments directly across the streets.. so the duty crew responds and is on location in seconds. not two minutes later we hear them ask for a "lift assist" from county. so we radio them and ask if they need a second rig or should we just walk over? they tell us no rig, definitally gloves etc. etc. we wonder whats going on and the crew chief radios and asks us " anybody hungray?" We were halfway up the elevator at this time. The doors opened and the stench practically knocked us down. I gag my way into the room and turn the A/C on high, open all the windows and start dusting the carpet with the powder . we had to clean him up a bit before we loaded him in the ambulance. ... then theres the guy who decided to cross main street the other day and ended up getting his arm ripped off by a family driving in their car.. its amazing how much blood one person can bleed out from a single injury...

hey guys.. think about it as it was happening. all those people, at 1,000 feet, about to unbuckle their seatbelts and take their helmets off. Then the friggin prop falls off. and just so you guys know, the prop barely missed the airplane. something to due with the direction the plane was flying. if it had been the other prop we'de be down a casa load of jumpers and a 2 pilots. This is a serious thing, and it doesnt make things look good for the pilots, the airplane owners, and the drop zone. I might take it lighter if somebody that i knew wasnt on that plane and had to make a frantic call home so his friends/familly knew the truth before the rumor mill started....

fruce, i cant believe you! HAHAHA!!! that poor woman, she'll never come back to cross keys on an 80 degree day in a floor length black dress, and 4 inch spike heels!!! hahahahaha!!!!!

____________________________________________________________________________________ ucking people always gotta be 400 pounds and live on the 4 floor of an apt building that the elevator doesnt work...bastards.. ___________________________________________________________________________________ hey marc, heres a good one for ya: 300+ pound man. Living on the 7th floor. Guy falls and breaks his leg 4 days PRIOR to us being dispatched.. How is he found?? The security guard smelled him!!! The friggin guy pissed and shit himself, plus he had a rectal bleed so that had all dried up.. but was still all over his legs/sheets/feet/ass etc etc.. His socks were really tight, his legs were bloated, and the blood was pooling since he hadnt moved in days..., and ants had started to eat his dying skin (on his feet/ankles) Talk about wantin a shower after a friggin call!!!!! I couldnt take enough of em! Sometimes i wish that i couldnt smell.

I made a few phone calls to some of the major airlines, asking about international flights and their policies about taking my rig on board with me. Here is what I found out: United Airlines- allows rigs, and YES this has been updated policy since the NYC attack. American Airlines- the guy that I spoke to was iffy on the whole 'parachute on board' situation. I wouldnt risk flying this one. American West- No problems with bringing your rig on board. Just as long as their are no explosives in it (DUH!). They might ask you to unpack it (no problem with the main, but i explained the reserve parachutes packing requirements to her) Delta Air Lines- Very difficult. I received little help from them. I wouldnt risk this airline either. Northwest Airllines- Another iffy one. I wouldnt try this one either. US Air- straight out told me NO WAY! not that thats their policy, but its the security dept's policy. (WTF?!? all over the place) Of all the airlines that i spoke to, with the exception of US AIR, they said that it would depend on the security personelle at the various airports. They advised me that it would be a good idea to get all the necessary paperwork, plus whatever else i could get, and bring it with me. When i travel i will be bringing an article that i printed out from dropzone.com about "CYPRES ACKNOWLEDGED TO BE NON-DANGEROUS BY US D.O.T" I will also be bringing along my receipt, my log book, any papers that i recieve with the rig, and maybe a parachuting book or two. I will be trying to call ahead a few days and see if the pilots for my flight are pre-determined. I want to do this so i can try to find out ahead of time what the pilots will allow or wont allow because ultimately its the pilots choice. Remember, security is tighter. its best to call ahead and ask them to varify in writing that you have previously inquired about this. Maybe send an email and ask for them to reply in writing. When you call, get the name of the person you spoke to, the time, the day... all the info you can. Safe travels! Get those rigs on board with ya! kel

chuck, hehe. the only time i wear shoes is when im jumping. Besides the actual rig, their the first things to come off when i get in the hanger. I dont wear shoes when it rains out because as past experiences have proven, the friggin smiley face in front of the hanger gets awfully slippery when im wearing my $4.35 sandles from walmart :) about 2 weeks ago i was packing in pants (odd for me) and i was barefoot. My pants have these little bits of fabric on the inside that allows you to button them up to the outside so their shorter... well, i was talking to my friend when i was setting my brakes. I stood up to run my lines and my big left toe got caught in the pants material and i yelled (everybody turned around) and preceded to face plant onto the hanger floor. I couldnt break my fall cause my fingers got caught in my lines (which were tense cause i had a weight on them). Geeze. talk about a funny moment. See what i get for wearing pants?!?! haha Normally shoeless kelly

craig, i just wanted to bump this one back up to the top. Even though were allowed to jump now (at least most DZ's are) we still have to acknowledge the fact that we lost out on 9 (11 for us, 2 extra due to weather) money making days. Im glad to see that Kate sent this email out. She definitally came up with some good ideas. I went last saturday and brought my BEER gear. After a customized container/reserve, main canopy, Cypres, protrack, Nvertigo helmet, new goggles, teeshirts, sweatshirts, closing pin necklace, and a bunch of other things i had spent about 6,500 dollars!!!!! Geeze! in one day! my friggin 97 pontiac sunfire didnt even cost that much! The fun jumpers at our dz have been great about writing letters for the local papers, contacting the news stations, emailing congressmen and senators and investing in the dz. A large sized dz makes a few thousand dollars a day... so times that by 5 weekdays, and then add in another 300 tandems on weekends plus about 32 loads of fun jumpers from a turbine aircraft and your dz has really taken a loss. We dont know what the future has for us fun jumpers. Just because were skydiving today doesnt mean its going to be halted tomorrow. Remember, were getting ready to go to war. Help your dz out!!!!! Good post craig!

AHHHHHHHH! YEAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANKS!!!

what does this mean for those of us at Cross Keys?!?!? were located about 20 minutes from philly. THe airport is only 10-15 minutes over the bridge. Often times the jets fly low over cross keys... CAN WE JUMP!?!?!? some body answer me soon! kel

that 6 weeks will seem like 6 years.. ----------------------------------------------------------------- not really... granted, this past week has dragged by, but its also allowing me to take care of a lot of things that got neglected during the busy season. Consider this down time a benifit... go see your grandparents, paint your living room. Pull the weeds out of your driveway (or even your neighbors!) or even just hop in the car with another skydiver and head in any general direction... makes for some interesting discoveries. im getting that tatoo that ive been wanting too. figured that now is as good a time as any, so i wont have to wear shoes. dropzone closed= no work. no jumping. no jumping= no shoes. kel

hey guys. talked to liz from manifest. we agreed that it would be a good idea to organize a huge cookout/party at the dz this Saturday. Its not definate yet, the details fall on me to figure out. Just wanted to drop the word that it might go on. We'll be sending out a massive email if this thing is going to fly... ah, bad analogy. So if youre not on the Crosskeys updates list, register @.... nevermind. thats not working. send liz an email at [email protected] if you dont hear from us by friday. I i'll try my best to get this thing actually happening. no gaurentees though. kel

heheheheheh! on saturday i ordered my first rig! I ordered a navy blue, royal blue and red trim Voodo. We designed it on the computer and it looks sweet!! its got white trim and on the eye of the container, where the voodo thing is, there is a little stick figure of a guy going head down. its sooo sweet. white trim going down the side (seperating the back from the sides) the canopy is a spectre 135, with a PD 126 reserve. The color is Watermelon, and a little white and blueberry. I ordered a bright main cause i jump at cross keys and all the woods around there.. if im going to cut away i want to be able to find it. this post might be a littel off cause we threw a party for a skydiver friend who was going back to Australia but changed his mind about midnight tonight! only hours before he was going to leave. so sorry if its weird post. kel

jason, awwww!!! Congrats daddy! that's so sweet, your pure enthusiam for your children. :) do your kids a favor.... copy and print your post, its too sweet not to remember . As the kids get older, and you guys are working on their scrap books this would be something real special to add in.

zennie, freeflying with other people isnt always bad... on saturday i went up on a 3 way with one VERY experienced freeflyer visiting from Australia and another moderately expereinced freeflyer (who is very current). we planned on doing a linked sit exit but then we had to switch planes and ended up with the tailgate fix. So we changed our exit to a 3 way head down exit. I've never done a head down exit, much less flown head down before, but its what these guys do on every jump. Right before we exit my friend gives me 2 instructions "we'll be moving faster, be VERY altitude aware" and "dont NO MATTER WHAT! go to your belly." so we line up in the door, the three of us holding high grips. We step out and in a few seconds were flying head down, really tight. We break off and i immediately go onto my back. Its only my second sitfly jump so its not going to go 'perfectly' and all three of us know this. the entire skydive i stayed on my back, only occasionally managing to hold a half descent sit for a second. But when i lost the sit i went to my back and just pulled my legs in. I started spinning like crazy to the left. Instinct told me to go to my belly, common sense told me thered be hell to pay if i did. So i didnt. i was spinning like crazy but still altitude aware, I played with extending my arms and pushing my bent legs down. I was in constant eyesight of the other two people, i swear i was looking like an owl on that jump. I saw them, they saw me. AT breakoff altitude, (mine being at 5,000 feet, 1,000 feet higher than them) i rolled over onto my belly. got stable, checked the airspace and waved off/deployed. The canopy ride and landing werent anything out of the ordinary. I didnt, havent, and i dont believe i will feel that this was dangerous. I knew the folks i was jumping with, I felt good about the jump (but not the tire that got a hole in it while taxying which caused us to switch planes) and i didnt have any inclination that this was something i couldnt handle. I trust my instincts, because their always there. most times its something rediculous and im being 'beyond' safety conscious... but this time was different, i had no worries. It was the last jump i'll do with Damo until January when i head out to Australia... and im glad that i went along on it. would i sitfly with my friend who has 200 jumps, most of them freefly, the same freind that i look for FIRST when i want to do a 2 way belly dive? HELL NO. She doesnt have nearly enough jumps, and i dont have anywhere near nearly enough jumps. Sometimes its more about who you jump with and everyone knowing each others limits/ abilities than it is other things. just my .02 cents

clay et all... Speaking of the pull out BOC.... its a great thing to have IF AND ONLY IF you will not be jumping in colder weather.. why do i say this? because, it can be hard enough to find your hackey with gloves on, now eliminate the defining roundness of that, and put in its place something that feels like a leg strap (or its equivilant). I was looking towards a Voodo with that option but a good friend and highly experienced skydiver (Camera flyer for IPOC skysurf) brought this point to light. I dont want a reserve ride, and i especially dont want one cause i was tugging on my harness system/leg strap and not the first part of my main parachute deployment system. remember that your gear may be jumped in all different conditions such as higher altitude, denser air, colder or more humid days etc etc (not saying that all these things effect what method of deployment you use.) kel

my home dz is skydive cross keys

marissa, hey, did i ever thankyou for getting us 15,500 back in the end of june? It was my graduation dive from AFP and YOU GOT ME EXTITALTITUDE!!! THANKS!!!! :)

marissa, you put it perfectly, in words and in perspective. Thank you for the wake up call... I needed it. kel PS- i believe that all of our friends from NYC are safe. We've heard from will, from Mike Brinton, from Baggo(donuts), from Janice, from Timmy, ... the list is long. But over the last few days weve heard from everyone (at least we think we have). It took until today to get in touch or have heard that somebody got in touch with somebody... hope this eases some of your worries.

to everyone: its now 7:11 pm on tuesday here on the east coast. Ive written sangiro an email last night, and now its my turn to talk to you guys... I woke up today at noon. I didnt finally get to bed until 6am, when the 'relief' crew came on and i could be done taking ambulance calls. Last night at 1am my partners returned from NYC. The looks on thier faces mirrored mine, but only more pained. They did what was asked of them, and luckily for their own spirits and emotional well being they didnt see the worst of it. 3 of my partners were called to the 'front line', only 5 blocks from the WTC buildings. I listened as they told stories of sitting around, waiting to go in. Of finally being called in, and driving around, trying to find thier patients. Their patients were the most seriously in need. There werent any around. Which means one of 2 things : either they already got to the hospital, or they were already tagged 'black' (meaning dead). IN a mass casuality incident people are triaged, and those who are already dead, or will likely die soon are given least priority.. THose who are critical and stand some chance of living are catagorized as first prioritiy. then there are the walking and wounded. Over 2,000 walking and wounded were taken to a local park where they were dispersed amongst the hospitals in surrounding areas, including NJ. Im feeling frustration and dispair and pain because i didnt go. when you can provide help, and you are capable of getting there but you dont its not an easy thing to deal with. I dont think my Res. Captain realized what that desicion was going to do to me. It was a matter of 'lets go' you stay and help leo get the rescue truck out there if youre called in. when my partners got home last night i went home to one of their houses, to my friend kevins house. Kevins on military leave from the squad right now. hes only been home since friday, but when the tragedy occured yesterday he was one of the first people at the ambulance hall. we gave him a uniform and a pager, and put him on an ambulance to NYC. We've always been good friends, since we were 14. So when he got home last night with everyone else I was a bit more worried about him. we sat around as a family, us squad members. They talked, we listened. we talked, they listened. What their return made me realize is that i didnt have to be there to be having a hard time. Sunday night i went to bed with plans to skydive on monday morning, but fate would see diferently. Now today, after the past 24 hours of stress, i didnt want to see anything on the tv. I havent read the papers, i havent watched the news. I turned the radio on in the car and heard one word in regards to this situation and turned the radio off. my friends started conversating about it, and i left. so why, when this massive tragidy is going on, can i turn my back? well, unlike the majority of america, i had to be involved. In the 21 months ive been a voluneer its become a part of me, its in my blood. When you have to rely on national news programs to give you updates, and trying to reach your partners on a radio or cell phone, when any update makes you more aware of what your job is, and you still have folks right in front of you that need your immediate help, well, all that can get a bit overwhelming. Ive got feelings i have to deal with, and hearing the bickering and arguing going on inside these threads and nationwide, i wonder in amazement what position those folks are taking. In this tragedy there are countless groups of people all experiencing different things. Think about Marc, whos best friend/ fire fighter is still missing. I asked my partners about him last night ,and they gave me a small shimmer of hope, along with a dose of reality. Think about those people who live in the tristate area. I myself have 3 friends who we still havent heard from, and we believe were there, in the WTC buildings yesterday. Think about those people who live outside this 'area' who can only hope and pray their loved ones are okay. No way to get to NYC from California right now. Think about the immigrants who are just innocents, victims like you and me and all the people who call America their home, their the ones who are feeling the heat and hate and anger of a nation, but they are the innocents. think about each level of involvement in this attack on america, and think about the individual people on each of those levels. The feelings that my partners who went, and those of us who stayed back are similar. And that realization has made me more aware of what people are going thru on ALL levels. I thank God for that realization. It was 6am before i finally got to sleep this morning, and as i climbed into bed for the 3 time my body and mind, my heart and my soul ached for rest. but it wouldnt come. I felt drained, but the exaustion had come about 4pm the day prior, and i was now well beyond any chances of actual rest. Yesterday afternoon i went to my friends house (she lives behind the ambulance hall). Her roomates mom, who i am pretty close to was there. I went to see my friends, because they had been in NYC just that morning but made it home safe by a mere 2 hours. I saw their car around 9am as i rushed to the ambulance hall, so i knew they were okay. It was a few hours before i could actually get the chance to hug them, and hold them, and feel the relief of knowing that they were okay. My friends mom, who i effectionately call 'mom' is a religous woman. Mom walked me out to my partners truck (my transportation yesterday) because i had to get to the hospital to pick up supplies. We stopped short, just a few feet from the bumper. "pray with me" was all that she had to say... For the first time since i graduated in May of 99 I actually prayed. We stood there holding hands, resting our heads against eachothers, praying and pleading for peace and comfort, mourning those lost. She prayed that my partners would be safe, she begged that i be left behind but that if i was to go to NYC she asked that i be blessed and remain safe. in broad daylight, in the middle of a parking lot, I let go of all that i had and cried in the arms of somebody that i care deeply about. Its all about realizing what truely matters, and in this instance we learned about human love, about what it means to be an American or a friend to America. This tragedy has stripped away all that is supperficial, and has called many Americans to stand up and join hands. Lets not drop a hand, the person next to us just might need it.

lets take a minute to breath... sometimes something bad happens and people dont know how to react. Anyone else even remotely able to read one thread can see all the bull crap going on here today... some people arent being considerate or even humane. but then again, we are on the defensive. we have been personally attacked, and the last thing we need to do is seperate and isolate ourselves. Im not making excuses, but please take into consideration that some folks dont know how to deal with tragedy.. so they vent in negative manners. I dont know how some of these subjects came up today, but I WANT THEM ENDED NOW! there are more serious matters at hand. THere are more thoughts that should be occupying our minds. We have folks to pray for, and souls to remember. I have to go and run ambulance duty now, covering a whole lot of the surrounding towns. I have fellow squad members, close friends and loved ones that are right in the center of this tragedy right now. But instead of worrying about them i have to protect and give medical care to the people in front of me. Its called prioritising, and its what ive got to do. imagine how people in my shoes feel... just a few seconds shy of going to NYC to help those most in need. I know theres a reason why i wasnt sent. but it is upsetting. I just know that theres a reason why. Im needed here ,but i could have helped there. Not being able to do what you do, well, thats not easy to deal with. So lets drop all this bullshit, and send our thoughts to those who need them. lets not waste a breath on stupid shit. There are innocent folks who need us to send our love and sympathy. THere are REAL VICTEMS OUT THERE!!! just try to say a prayer or have a moment of silence for each individual person killed today, that should occupy you for a long time to come (can you get my message?)! Its time to prioritise, and this shit isnt on my list. I turn here for some support... what do i find instead? im disgusted. and sangiro, can you delete the threads that need it?

an update of sorts: EMS service providers throughout the tri state area are in route to NYC as we speak . The two ambulances from my squad, along wth my friends and fellow squad memebers are about 1 hour away as of the last report. The building that colapsed today came down onto a lot of EMS vehicals. Hundreds of firefighters were reported to be in the buildings when they collapsed. Let us just pray for the victems, for the witnesses, and please please please pray for the safety of my freinds. Were somehow managing here in South Jersey. we have 1 ambulance covering about 80 square miles. Ive spent the morning cordinating efforts and offering mutual aid. This is tough. lets all pull together. kel