Remember 9/11.

[WRXtranceformed]

Here is a little story few people know outside of my parents and the young lady i was dating at the time.

I was talking home from my 7am Master thesis class. I walked past a dry erase board in the dorm and saw "A PLANE HIT THE WTC." I broke out in a run down the hall to my room... popped the TVs on, fired up my computer and my roommates computer...

i watched in horror. glued to the TVs and searching for a web site that was streaming the FDNY/NYPD radio traffic.... there are such sites. I wasnt going to class the rest of the day, no matter what. my good friends father worked at the pentagon and he and i were trying to contact him and talk over the computer to make sure his father was safe and sound.

My girlfriend (from NYC) came running in the room and we used every phone we could find to try to reach her parents. She finally did get a hold of them... her mother had to walk from down town to floral park (bronx ny).... there were no trains, traffic was backed the hell up... everyone was on foot.

The next day i got a phone call. One i'll probably never forget. My roommate Keith... from the year before... had passed away during the 9-11 attacks. Keith was an EMT for FDNY. According to his mother, his truck was the second called to the building, and the first to arrive. He died in the first building that fell; i'm sure in a stair well trying to get someone out of the building.

I remember when he used to call. his parents gave him so much shit for racking up tons of bills to go to JMU for a degree... only to come home and fight fires. His parents now run a foundation in his name to send fire fighters to college.

Keith you are gone but not forgotten buddy!