[OT] where were you 9/11?

[rfkellner at snet.net (Rick Kellner)]

I was on my way into Boston as the planes flew over me.  I did not know
it at the time however they basically were on my reverse course.  I had
the choice of either heading into NYC that day or Boston to take a tour
of collages for one of my children.  We picked NYC the week before and
Boston on September 11.  We did not hear about the tragedy until after
the tour concluded.  Since the planes originated from Boston and we had
no idea what would happen next, we all decided to leave Boston.  There
were very few cars on the road; all the tolls booths were wide open and
unoccupied.  The state police were sending everyone though.

On an even more personal note, one of our group's tasks at work was to
'settle' a daily energy futures account with a firm in the WTC on the
19th or the 21st floor, I can't remember which floor.  The day before
one of the guys in their office was joking with us that he 'drew the
short straw' and had to come up to Hartford for a meeting.  Hartford is
not the most exciting place unless you are an actuarial.  Well the first
plane either took out their floor or trapped them above.

I have more stories, co workers that were in the city that day at ConEd,
a neighbor that retired in June (forced out; post merger) because he did
not want to transfer to the WTC office, just wanted to say in Hartford;
however a lot of his co-workers did...

Rick.


-----Original Message-----
From: Spewey [mailto:spewey@xxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2007 3:40 PM
To: scirocco-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [OT] where were you 9/11?

Thinking about the job I had going to Canada reminded me of 2001 and 
hence what my day was like when the towers fell.  I know half of you 
hate me and are afraid to respond despite being grown men but I thought 
this might be interesting since the world changed.  Not political, just 
real life story sharing depending on your time zone or location.

I listened to the initial reports as I got ready for work at 8 am.  The 
second plane hit just as I and the ex-gf were about to go out the door 
to our jobs so I listened to the radio on my 20 minute commute.

My employer had recently completed a brand new global headquarters and I

was lucky enough to have a nouveau riche Henry Miller cubicle there 
temporarily.  There were multiple conference rooms but the main one in 
our wing (Science & Technology) had room for 60 and all mod cons as far 
as projection TV and buzz-down screen.

We all gathered and watched as the drama collapsed on CNN.  The VP was 
there right next to us lowly technicians and nobody said much of 
anything.  "It looks like a movie," I blurted with regret (but then I 
regret everything I say.)

Tuesday was my team's weekly 10 am conference call with Switzerland and 
I found my supervisor in a small room blabbing about nothing.  I told 
him the latest by drawing crumbling buildings on the whiteboard and he 
shrugged it off, muted the phone, and said he would watch it on tv that 
night.  The Swiss were largely unaware of the magnitude of events and at

the end of their day, just wanting to go home.

Luckily I had planned to take the afternoon off to go sailing with my 
buddies.  Work didn't seem doable by lunch and the ones who shrugged it 
off seemed even more surreal than the events themselves.  I got back in 
the car and went home.  My one friend was ready, he had the day off from

his fish delivery job so we went to the slacker den of the other and 
found him sitting amongst cheeto bags and beer bottles watching tv.

Got him in the car and headed south an hour to the boat.  We declared a 
radio moratorium halfway down and sailed the day away, the only boat on 
the lake, with our US flag flapping in a nice breeze.  Checked in at the

smalltown bar that night and found some very angry locals.  Went home 
and crashed.  The end.




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