I've missed this....

11 months. 11 months and 5 days since my last skydive. And pretty much the same amount of time since last being in the windtunnel either. As some of you may or may not know, skydiving is a VERY big part of my life and is a hobby that i deeply enjoy now. When I left Colorado last year at the end of August, I had the plan of getting back to Michigan and basically jumping my ass off at Tecumseh. At the end of last summer, I had achieved several objectives of mine. I had gone through water training (Water training is when we learn how to survive and get away from our rigs and canopies in case we land in water, either intentionally or unintentionally), I had received my B-License, which now lets me complete night jumps, hot air balloon jumps and water landings. (There are some Dropzone's which are right on the beach). So I was progressing nicely, or at least I thought. I had learned A TON of new shit from alot of my friends and done a bunch of new jumps and exits. I had racked up 3.5 hours in the wind tunnel and was now sit-flying. Basically, I was having the time of my life.

Well, upon getting back to school, money ran out. Time became non-existent as I entered my 5th and final year and the weather was (for the most part) shitty all the time and not jumpable conditions. I hung out with everyone at Tecumseh and missed jumping, but I knew it wasn't feasible. I was also trying to concentrate on securing a job, so that as taking alot of time as I was flying all fall semester to interviews.

Winter came (after about the middle of January) and left and the season opened up again. It's not been almost 7 months at this point since I've jumped. To make matters worse (in a sense) all my friends from Colorado keep emailing me awesome pictures from the Moab Boogie or other Boogies and parties that have been happening, or stuff from the tunnel. All I can do is look and be happy for them, but insanely jealous at the same time. Because I had no jumping and no windtunnel. It was ALWAYS cold and who knew when I would've been to jump again. Now in the skydiving world, depending on your license (there are 4 from A to D), if you let a certain amount of time pass without making a jump, you have to do what's called a "Recurrency Jump." Basically this means going out with an instructor and performing basic freefall and canopy maneuvers to make sure you can fly safely and not injure yourself or anyone else. For my license, the limit is 90 days and I knew I had passed that a long time ago, which sucks.

Well, at some point, a little bit after graduation, the weather became nice again and Tecumseh opened again. Pumped to finally be able to possibly jump, I go out and party with everyone and let them know that I'll be staying in Michigan for May and June to hang out before leaving. This didn't happen. After that party, I realized that by staying in Michigan, I would be spending money I didn't have and that I also had to worry about moving across country and trying to survive my first few weeks before my job started. So once again, I was unable to jump and moved back home to PA for awhile to say goodbye to all my friends and family.

Fast forward to this past weekend. A bunch (20 to be exact) of the interns from my job are going skydiving and I'm "sponsoring" them, so I get 10 free jumps out of the deal, which is nice. I then decide that this past weekend would be the weekend I would go and start again, as I was tired of being on the ground.....seriously. Now one thing that people in the skydiving world all know is that, the longer the time between jumps is, the more apprehension and doubt that builds. Basically, you start doubting your own skill (esp. if you're an early jumper). I was a little nervous, but couldn't figure out why. This is nothing new. One of my good friends and an amazing instructor and skydiver (Jimbo at Tecumseh) told me that, "The hardest jump you'll ever make is the first one after a long layoff." And he was exactly right.... After talking to all my friends who were doing tandems and waiting, I FINALLY got to go on the last load of the day. I was unable to use my free jumps towards my recurrency, so that sucked too.

I ask my friend Brady to do my recurrency and we go up in the plane after riding the trailer and after the gear check and i'm finally on the plane. But something was happening on the way up. As I watched the earth get further and further away and we ascended into the clouds, I couldn't help but smile. All the anxiety and apprehension had drained away. I look out of the door and was so happy to be back in the air and to be a skydiver. Brady could tell and he looked over and said "Welcome back to the air, bro."

The plane ride seemed to take forever and finally the yellow light went on and the door opened. There was a group in front of us going on a sunset tracking dive, so we were next after them. The green light went on, the first group went and Brady and I assumed our positions for the exit. I was in front of him on the outside of the plane holding the bar, I look back and he nods and I count off and let go.........
In that skydive, I fly down to him and dock and do the standard left 360 and right 360 and dock again. Then it was time to see if I still had it and have some fun. Brady went into a sit and I followed suit. After my legs went a little crazy, I rolled into my sit and was stable and stayed there. Holy shit!!! After a year, I can still do this!!!!
So excited I forgot to check my altitude and I see Brady pointing and I look and we're at 5.5 K, pretty much time to break off, so we break and I track away to the south.

Upon opening, the realization of why I do this and why I want to stay in this sport hit me. I had missed this so much and forgot what it felt like and how free you were. It is something I pride myself on being a part of, especially as one of the few black skydivers. From this point, I know I'm officially just beginning my journey as a skydiver. No more interruptions or having to wait for weather. No more having to miss out on boogies or cool shit because of money or school. It's gonna be awesome and its my goal to become an awesome Freeflyer*.

Anyways, I land and walk over to a trailer with another guy who jumped named JC. Brady says "Great skydive man!" and my friend Kartik asks me how it was, and I tell him, "Man I've missed this, but it feels good to be back."

Now that I have the windtunnel and here in CO they jump year round, I don't see myself becoming uncurrent anymore...in fact I'm gonna make sure. But i'm excited that I have a permanent place and I don't have to worry about leaving. Just another great realization that I'm on my own and this is my life now.

*Oh, if you like to see what sit-flying or freeflying is like, go here:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=64suH8U9Ros&mode=related&search=

A subtle realization

Edit: This is a long post...but bear with me, as alot was going through my head this weekend.

Now that I'm moving into 4th week of work and being here almost a month, things are starting to sink in very subtly and it's usually when I'm doing something completely unrelated. Well this past weekend, I got a chance to go rafting down the Royal Gorge (http://www.whitewater.net/images/shot_of_day_royalgorge.jpg) for the 4th time and in between rapids and looking around at the awesomeness of Colorado landscape, wheels started turning in my head.

Oh and I'll post pictures of our boat "maximizing the splash" and going through some of my favorite rapids such as Sunshine Falls, Sledgehammer, Wall Slammer, Spikebuck Rapids, Three Rocks (where I got thrown out), and Boat Eater.

Anyways, as I was saying, it is starting to sink in that I'm actually here and this is my life. Now yes, I've been here for a month and I should realize that, but certain things about it still don't seem real. My job for example, in essence, I still feel like I'm an intern and that I'll be leaving at the end of the summer. But while floating down the Arkansas River with adrenaline pumping at full blast, I realized that this is the real thing now. Yes, I know that careening down a river, going through Class IV and V rapids shouldn't really have you thinking about your life and work, etc., but in between the chaos and trying not to fall out (again), it gave me a chance to reflect on some stuff.

As an intern, during the past 3 summers previous, I was given certain projects and things and i was able to contribute to the programs I was working on with my colleagues. I had a sense of "I actually contributed" or "I was in charge of that area of testing." But, I never really had a thorough understanding of how my work went into the entire test phase and integration of the two spacecrafts as a whole. Now, being here as a full-time employee, the tables have turned a little bit. I am now (or at least people are referring to me) the EPDS Test Engineer. Basically what that means is that for the spacecraft that we are going to be building, integrating, and testing for the next year or so, I am in charge of the entire Electrical Power System. I am the "Power guy." I'm sure you're thinking or maybe not, but at least I thought, big deal right? It's just a title. It didn't really occur to me until this weekend what my position really means when I talked to the guy who is the I&T (Integration & Test) manager (and a good mentor to me). He told me that I am the person who knows not only the entire specifics of powering the spacecraft on and off, but I know where every signal goes, when it supposed to be there, the telemetry that comes out, how things move, etc, etc. I also learned that when our project launches, I'll be in California at Vandeburg AFB (I mentioned this earlier) as the front man running the power system.

Now why does this seem like a big deal? Well, I thought that only older or senior/project engineers would get to do this. I'm essentially the youngest person in the I&T group and to be put in charge of an entire subsystem of a spacecraft is huge. Anything that goes right or wrong with the power system is my responsibility. I am in charge of almost 6000W of power running through the spacecraft at any point in time and I have to know where that power is going to and if it is too much or too little. Every connection, every signal, every cable connector, and each piece of hardware that pertains to EPDS is my responsibility. So as my boat went powering through Sledgehammer rapid this past weekend, I realized this and said, "Wait...I'm in charge of what?!!?"

The point is, is that I am now a part of something much bigger than I ever thought I'd be a part of. (yeah i know I just ended a sentence with a preposition, sue me.) It's not just a "project" for school anymore where I get graded or if i don't do my part, then we get delayed a bit and get some points taken off. If I don't do my part, I will make not only myself look unreliable and not responsible, but even worse, I'll make my team and my manager and my company look bad to our customers. Without a properly running power & distribution system, our satellite is no more than a giant metal box with some cool shit attached to it.

Wow. This is big. I've never stepped down from a challenge though and I'm sure as hell not gonna start now. There will be ups and downs, but I'm ready for it. I'll keep everyone updated on the progress of it all too.

And off topic, out of 6 rafting trips, I have never been thrown off the boat until this weekend. It wasn't even in the middle of a rapid, it was after....in a calm shallow section when our boat hit a small rock and tossed me and my friend Pam, who was behind me, into the water.

This weekend was amazing! In one way, it was because I love rafting and the trip was sweet and the other in how it made me realize just how big and important my part is in relation to the project as a whole.

I'm excited to see what exactly the next year has in store for myself and my job.

Overall....not bad

Here is a question people at work, friends of mine, and family keep asking me. "How does it feel to be done with college, to be graduated?"

I quickly answer that I can't tell the difference. Why? Because I'm still broke.
Yep. That about sums it up. So for those who don't know, I started my new job here at Ball Aerospace on July 2nd. Unfortunately, I came in on a pay week, so I'd have to wait until July 20th (this coming Friday) to get paid....Ugghhhhh....

Do you know what that means? Ok, basically this. I didn't have a signing bonus because Ball has an amazing relocation program. They moved ALL of my stuff, and my car, and paid for me to live in a hotel for 2 weeks BEFORE the moving truck got here, paid for all my meals and my flight out here. So yeah, I can't really complain there. But in being here, there is still a TON of stuff I need for my apartment. I have to register my plates, get a new license, EAT, pay bills already (stupid comcast and my energy bill) and a I may have gone to the bars a few times in Boulder and Denver. So yeah, all I keep doing is spending money for stuff I need (alcohol is a need) and I'm not seeing any back. But that will all change Thursday at midnight.

As far as everything else, I love it here. It has rained maybe twice and every now and then we'll get an afternoon thunderstorm which is cool to watch with the mountains in view. It has been incredibly hot....it was 101 yesterday and today it's 100 but there is no humidity or hardly any if there is, so that's a definite plus. It's still weird for me to actual say this is my home now, because it all seems so surreal, but I'm liking what I've experienced.

My job is going well too. I'm working in the Systems Integration and Test Group here at Ball in Civil & Operational Space. I'm gonna be working on a project called Worldview 2 and I'm in charge of the Electrical Power and Distribution System (EPDS). Ok, what that means for the non-technical people is that I'm in charge of everything relating to electrical power with this satellite, which is a pretty big job, but I'm pumped about it. I also learned yesterday that when this satellite is ready (hopefully Winter of 2009) and we go to launch that I get to go with it along with some other engineers to Vandenburg AFB to do more testing and get it ready for launch. That should last 2 - 3 months....so hell yeah!!! You can read a little about my project here: http://ballaerospace.com/page.jsp?page=82

So everything seems to be going well so far....but Murphy's law remains in effect.

First Post

Ok, so this is my first try at this whole "blog" thing. I have Derek Coatney and Dan McGraw to blame for this...haha

Anyways, basically I'll try to write in here at least once every week or so and talk about my life pretty much. I've gotta be at least somewhat interesting...haha

As far as a small update for now, I am in my third week of my job at Ball and I really like it. I will get into specifics a little later about what I work on. I am really loving Colorado but it is damn hot here. Today it was 102 degrees.....really?? I definitely didn't think it got THIS hot here, but whatever..

After living in a hotel for 3 weeks and numerous delays with my stuff on the moving truck, I FINALLY moved into my apartment this week. It feels really good to have a place of my own and it's definitely growing on me. I've already started getting billed for stuff, so there's money I'll lose. I will get my first actual paycheck this Friday, which will be a WELCOME change to being broke...haha.

As for now, I'm just giving this a try and if the blog works out, I'll continue. In the meantime, I'm gonna keep exploring Colorado and doing everything I possibly can to get settled and enjoy my new life. I'll probably give my first official update in a few days as to how everything is progressing. Until next time...peace out everyone.

If you have any comments, hit me up....