September 11, 2001
I wrote this ~12 months after September 11, 2001. I wanted to remember what I was doing on that day when we heard about the planes.
The first I knew that something was awry on September 11, 2001 was mid morning. I arrived at the office - same time as always - 7:15. Some time in the 9:00 hour I happened to glance at my.yahoo.com - my frequent home for news. There was a one liner about a plane striking the World Trade Center. I've read about a B-17 striking the Empire State Building some time around WWII. I recall thinking that it wasn't that big of a deal. I think I tried a couple other sources to see if anyone else had more information - no one did. Within 30 minutes my boss asked if I had read anything, "No, not really" I responded. Site inquiries now just timed out. Everyone was connecting to see what they could see. I think I got one through on chicagotribune.com, but the information was about the same. No one knew much.
Someone (my boss Mark I think) bought a radio. TWenty-five of us stood around a conference table listening to the news. People came and went. We tried to do some work. I wandered into a co-workers office as the first building collapsed. I remember thinking, "How does a 100 story building collapse?"
About 10:00 our managers sent us home. We still didn't know much. II called Tracey and told her I was heading home. She said, "Be careful." Walking to the station, I thought, "Is this a target?" On the way out I met up with my friend Sergei who lived in Arlington Heights - on my train line, we walked to the station together. We talked about how many people likely died. I guessed that 5000 people worked in the buildings (turns out 50,000). In the first days, the estimate was that 6000 people died. Only 2500 people died at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941... On the 11th, and for several days after, whenever I walked by the Sears tower I looked at it, and tried to picture a plane crashing into it. How big would it be? Now, having seen the video (lots), I still have a hard time picturing it. Today, I work across the street from the Sears tower. I look at it every day and thin. Was it on the list of potential targets? Tallest building in the US. Weird.
The train was full. To capacity - every seat, and people were standing. Everyone who commuted in, was now filing out in an orderly fashon. They didn't punch tickets. Tracey remembers it being a beautiful day - I don't recall.
It was a milkrun. 55 minutes, and Sergei got off. Five minutes later I got off and walked to my car. NPR. I heard that there was a plane that crashed into the Pentagon. Both towers had crashed. People were walking across the bridges to get out of New York. They were trying to land several thousand planes anywhere they could. President Bush was in Florida, headed to New Orleans (or something). Another report came in of a plane crashing in Pennsylvania. Weird.
My phone rang 5 minutes from home. My boss Mark calling all his people. Making sure everyone was getting home ok. I thanked him, twice. Nice thing to do, totally not necessary and beyond the call. GSX had a layoff three weeks later - his job disappeared. Not related, but he was still looking more than six months later.
On the steel connection side, I heard that the steel used in the building of the World Trade Center was the first imported steel used for a major construction project in the US.
The skies were empty for more than a week. We lived 10 miles from one of the busiest airports in the world. Walking outside - you noticed it. Quiet. Once planes started flying again, it was very reassuring to hear them fly overhead.
GSX had a number of people travelling. A couple rented a car to get home from Atlanta. Another guy was in New Orleans and got on a train. Almost two days to get home to New York city. His kids had been in school on Manhattan. They didn't get back home until late that day.
Within days, the US had identified the specific terrorist organization (and individuals). We were at war VERY VERY quickly. The Europeans we had working for us at GSX shared that they thought we (the US) was being very reactionary.
Some interns who were planning on coming to the US cancelled - because of 9/11. I remember thinking, "What are we, some third world nation where you can't go around safely?" Maybe we are.
We had plans to fly to Nashville the first week in October. We went. Got to the airport 2 hours early. There were National Guardsman on duty with machine guns. I told Melinda that they were there to protect us. She was fine with it. We flew Southwest and boarded first. I sat right up facing backwards. Tracey commented that there were likely a number of relieved passengers to see a big guy sitting RIGHT THERE. Me, the last line of defense. Weird.
The first I knew that something was awry on September 11, 2001 was mid morning. I arrived at the office - same time as always - 7:15. Some time in the 9:00 hour I happened to glance at my.yahoo.com - my frequent home for news. There was a one liner about a plane striking the World Trade Center. I've read about a B-17 striking the Empire State Building some time around WWII. I recall thinking that it wasn't that big of a deal. I think I tried a couple other sources to see if anyone else had more information - no one did. Within 30 minutes my boss asked if I had read anything, "No, not really" I responded. Site inquiries now just timed out. Everyone was connecting to see what they could see. I think I got one through on chicagotribune.com, but the information was about the same. No one knew much.
Someone (my boss Mark I think) bought a radio. TWenty-five of us stood around a conference table listening to the news. People came and went. We tried to do some work. I wandered into a co-workers office as the first building collapsed. I remember thinking, "How does a 100 story building collapse?"
About 10:00 our managers sent us home. We still didn't know much. II called Tracey and told her I was heading home. She said, "Be careful." Walking to the station, I thought, "Is this a target?" On the way out I met up with my friend Sergei who lived in Arlington Heights - on my train line, we walked to the station together. We talked about how many people likely died. I guessed that 5000 people worked in the buildings (turns out 50,000). In the first days, the estimate was that 6000 people died. Only 2500 people died at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941... On the 11th, and for several days after, whenever I walked by the Sears tower I looked at it, and tried to picture a plane crashing into it. How big would it be? Now, having seen the video (lots), I still have a hard time picturing it. Today, I work across the street from the Sears tower. I look at it every day and thin. Was it on the list of potential targets? Tallest building in the US. Weird.
The train was full. To capacity - every seat, and people were standing. Everyone who commuted in, was now filing out in an orderly fashon. They didn't punch tickets. Tracey remembers it being a beautiful day - I don't recall.
It was a milkrun. 55 minutes, and Sergei got off. Five minutes later I got off and walked to my car. NPR. I heard that there was a plane that crashed into the Pentagon. Both towers had crashed. People were walking across the bridges to get out of New York. They were trying to land several thousand planes anywhere they could. President Bush was in Florida, headed to New Orleans (or something). Another report came in of a plane crashing in Pennsylvania. Weird.
My phone rang 5 minutes from home. My boss Mark calling all his people. Making sure everyone was getting home ok. I thanked him, twice. Nice thing to do, totally not necessary and beyond the call. GSX had a layoff three weeks later - his job disappeared. Not related, but he was still looking more than six months later.
On the steel connection side, I heard that the steel used in the building of the World Trade Center was the first imported steel used for a major construction project in the US.
The skies were empty for more than a week. We lived 10 miles from one of the busiest airports in the world. Walking outside - you noticed it. Quiet. Once planes started flying again, it was very reassuring to hear them fly overhead.
GSX had a number of people travelling. A couple rented a car to get home from Atlanta. Another guy was in New Orleans and got on a train. Almost two days to get home to New York city. His kids had been in school on Manhattan. They didn't get back home until late that day.
Within days, the US had identified the specific terrorist organization (and individuals). We were at war VERY VERY quickly. The Europeans we had working for us at GSX shared that they thought we (the US) was being very reactionary.
Some interns who were planning on coming to the US cancelled - because of 9/11. I remember thinking, "What are we, some third world nation where you can't go around safely?" Maybe we are.
We had plans to fly to Nashville the first week in October. We went. Got to the airport 2 hours early. There were National Guardsman on duty with machine guns. I told Melinda that they were there to protect us. She was fine with it. We flew Southwest and boarded first. I sat right up facing backwards. Tracey commented that there were likely a number of relieved passengers to see a big guy sitting RIGHT THERE. Me, the last line of defense. Weird.
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