Remembering...
Sep. 11th, 2003 12:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prowler1971So, a friend of mine wrote up her memories of a couple of years ago. And I started thinking about what I remember. For those who dare not read on...
People of my parent's generation all remember where they were when Kennedy was assassinated.
Sept 11, 2001 was a day that I hope I will always remember where I was.
It's not very clear to me now. Some of the details are sketchy. I was still working for RCN in those days (two years ago). This was before technology stocks took a nose dive and the stock market's artificial inflation would end. This would be blamed on the attacks, but I saw it happening before then. It was just a convenient scapegoat.
Anyway, I had been doing maintenance the night before. That meant being up at 2am and working until sometime between 3am and 6am. Generally after an all night maintenance, I would sleep late and work from home. I did the maintenance from home too.
I woke up, and as I often do, I turned on the computer, logged in and jumped onto the private IRC channel we often used to communicate at work. I don't recall what time it was, but when I logged on to the channel, there was a lot of commotion. I manged to read through enough scroll back to find out an airplane out of Boston had crashed into the World Trade Center. I quickly turned on CNN. I became the eyes and ears for everyone who didn't have an immediate news outlet. Shortly thereafter, the second plane hit. Suddenly it was clear... this was no accident.
I watched the news and communicated what I knew to the people on the channel in Massachusetts and Virginia... just miles outside of Washington, D.C.
And then the a plane hit the Pentagon. Then the fourth crashed.
It was all so surreal. I'd normally makes jokes about anything and even I was speechless in this tradgic moment.
A co-worker got on line and asked what was going on, he was just waking up. "Look out your window!" was the reply. He lived in Arlington and could see the Pentagon from where he lived. I thought of my friend Nick who I had seen (for the first time in years) on my last trip to Virginia. He also lived in Arlington. His work might have had him in or near the Pentagon. Probably not, but what did I know? I could call him. Phone lines were down.
The panic had set in. People couldn't reach their loved ones. Everyone waited to see the passenger list and the people in the buildings. Footage of NYC and the bloodbath. Footage was being shown of the second plane crashing into the World Trade Center. Video of people jumping to their death rather than being caught in the flames.
Then the building collapsed.
There would be no survivors, that was clear.
Every once in a while there was rumor of someone found alive. A group of firefighters found hidden in a Chevy Suburban. What an ad that would be! But it was just a rumor. Nobody was being found alive. You had to make an appointment to give blood. I hadn't given blood since college. And now I needed an appointment. I started to think, "If I need an appointment, they probably don't need my blood all that bad." Turned out, they didn't need anyone's. It was all going to go bad. If there are no survivors, there's no real need for blood.
Did I know anyone on the planes? It was flying out of Boston. No. I didn't. But there were some minor celebrities on the plane. The CEO and founder of Akamai, a friend of a friend. I'd almost gone to work for them. A former Boston Bruin. And several other people who were almost celebrities. It was mind boggling.
I sat at home dumbfounded. One of our customers, a problem customer, was a major hospital in NYC. What if something went wrong? I fully expected to be dispatched to be on site in case something went wrong. That wasn't one of my duties, but I could see them wanting someone who wouldn't need to escalate on site. It was even talked about. In the end, it seemed silly.
I didn't travel for nearly a year after. Not due to fear of flying. But budget cuts came, less travelling for work, and that's about all the travel I did. Then I was laid off. I've flown roundtrip once since. To Maryland during the sniper scare. Some people on the plane didn't like my jokes.
Oh yeah. Today is my cousin's birthday. In 2001 I forgot. In 2002, I remembered, and my own mother didn't believe me. This year, how could I forget? If I had his address, I'd have even sent his card on time.
People of my parent's generation all remember where they were when Kennedy was assassinated.
Sept 11, 2001 was a day that I hope I will always remember where I was.
It's not very clear to me now. Some of the details are sketchy. I was still working for RCN in those days (two years ago). This was before technology stocks took a nose dive and the stock market's artificial inflation would end. This would be blamed on the attacks, but I saw it happening before then. It was just a convenient scapegoat.
Anyway, I had been doing maintenance the night before. That meant being up at 2am and working until sometime between 3am and 6am. Generally after an all night maintenance, I would sleep late and work from home. I did the maintenance from home too.
I woke up, and as I often do, I turned on the computer, logged in and jumped onto the private IRC channel we often used to communicate at work. I don't recall what time it was, but when I logged on to the channel, there was a lot of commotion. I manged to read through enough scroll back to find out an airplane out of Boston had crashed into the World Trade Center. I quickly turned on CNN. I became the eyes and ears for everyone who didn't have an immediate news outlet. Shortly thereafter, the second plane hit. Suddenly it was clear... this was no accident.
I watched the news and communicated what I knew to the people on the channel in Massachusetts and Virginia... just miles outside of Washington, D.C.
And then the a plane hit the Pentagon. Then the fourth crashed.
It was all so surreal. I'd normally makes jokes about anything and even I was speechless in this tradgic moment.
A co-worker got on line and asked what was going on, he was just waking up. "Look out your window!" was the reply. He lived in Arlington and could see the Pentagon from where he lived. I thought of my friend Nick who I had seen (for the first time in years) on my last trip to Virginia. He also lived in Arlington. His work might have had him in or near the Pentagon. Probably not, but what did I know? I could call him. Phone lines were down.
The panic had set in. People couldn't reach their loved ones. Everyone waited to see the passenger list and the people in the buildings. Footage of NYC and the bloodbath. Footage was being shown of the second plane crashing into the World Trade Center. Video of people jumping to their death rather than being caught in the flames.
Then the building collapsed.
There would be no survivors, that was clear.
Every once in a while there was rumor of someone found alive. A group of firefighters found hidden in a Chevy Suburban. What an ad that would be! But it was just a rumor. Nobody was being found alive. You had to make an appointment to give blood. I hadn't given blood since college. And now I needed an appointment. I started to think, "If I need an appointment, they probably don't need my blood all that bad." Turned out, they didn't need anyone's. It was all going to go bad. If there are no survivors, there's no real need for blood.
Did I know anyone on the planes? It was flying out of Boston. No. I didn't. But there were some minor celebrities on the plane. The CEO and founder of Akamai, a friend of a friend. I'd almost gone to work for them. A former Boston Bruin. And several other people who were almost celebrities. It was mind boggling.
I sat at home dumbfounded. One of our customers, a problem customer, was a major hospital in NYC. What if something went wrong? I fully expected to be dispatched to be on site in case something went wrong. That wasn't one of my duties, but I could see them wanting someone who wouldn't need to escalate on site. It was even talked about. In the end, it seemed silly.
I didn't travel for nearly a year after. Not due to fear of flying. But budget cuts came, less travelling for work, and that's about all the travel I did. Then I was laid off. I've flown roundtrip once since. To Maryland during the sniper scare. Some people on the plane didn't like my jokes.
Oh yeah. Today is my cousin's birthday. In 2001 I forgot. In 2002, I remembered, and my own mother didn't believe me. This year, how could I forget? If I had his address, I'd have even sent his card on time.
