OT: September 11, 2001. Where were you?

[johnchop]

would have thought google would have some acknowledgement on their search page... nope

 

Yep. Scroll down. Black ribbon.

 

Anyway, I was at work, and saw a news item pop up on Yahoo. Internet service effectively stalled after that. A TV came on in the office across the hall. Lots of confusion, mixed reports, rumors. We were all sent home. I figured war was around the corner, and that Afghanistan would be on a short list of invasion targets.

 

My newly pregnant wife and I weren't sure what kind of world our first child would be born into (although we grew up with global annihilation as part of the zeitgeist, so...).

 

[Mogut]

oh ya... thats my browser google homepage blocking it out

 

 

[CEB]

I was driving to the office. I had just drove by the Hilton when I heard it on the radio.

 

My wife was on the phone talking to their chief legal counsel in New York who was looking out his office window and saw the 1st plane strike.

[marino]

I was right here on the forum. I mean, I was in front on my computer in Rome, checking KC, when someone posted about it. It was early afternoon in Europe; upon reading that post, I turned the TV on, and there were the images. So I was the first to respond - from Italy, strangely - to that thread. I think that during those moments, many people had the feeling that the world was changing, for the worse.

 

I would have every kind of comments to make, political or otherwise, but out of respect to dB and to the spirit of the anniversary, I'll keep silent.

 

RIP all the innocent victims of this massacre, and those ones who died as a consequence in the following months and years.

 

 

[Polychrest]

We'd just moved into a new house in the country north of Toronto, a beautiful spot nestled under one of the major flight paths approaching Pearson international airport. I was home doing some prep for work when I saw--live on CNN--the second jet hit. Shortly thereafter, the clear blue skies above emptied and our sheltered corner of the world was a quieter, far bleaker place.

[Marzzz]

I was asleep- Pacific Time Zone and this all started happening 6:00 AM local time. My first indication something was amiss was that after I woke up I had trouble logging onto AOL with my broadband connection. Just then the office manager at the clinic I worked called me and told me to turn on CNN. By that time both towers were down. The rest of the day was surreal....

 

I am a native NYer, and I remember the towers being built when I was a kid. Had been to Windows on the World, and to the observation deck where you could still see that bit of graffiti "Phillipe Petit 1974", I just always loved that place- my favorite thing to do when visiting was to walk in the plaza between the towers and just look up.

 

I knew quite a few people who worked in the WTC, and every single one of them survived the attack; most hadn't even gotten there yet, and the few in the buildings evacuated immediately. In that regard I am extremely thankful. I was just in NYC this past July for business, and made it a point to go to the September 11 Memorial. I can't find words profound enough to describe it.

 

Interesting note: On the Howard Stern radio show that morning, Gary Dell'Abate (Baba Booey) said immediately upon hearing the news "I hope that wasn't a terrorist suicide attack."

[wmp]

I was sound asleep as I often am before the crack of noon. I awoke to a frantic call from mom immediately after the second plane hit.

 

I would have every kind of comments to make, political or otherwise, but out of respect to dB and to the spirit of the anniversary, I'll keep silent.

 

RIP all the innocent victims of this massacre, and those ones who died as a consequence in the following months and years.

 

+1

 

Nothing else I have to say about this will survive.

[allan_evett]

I was living in Libertyville, IL at the time, and traveling to a friend's studio to work on some original songs; I heard about the first tower while tuned to the radio in the car.

When I reached my friend's house, she and her husband had the TV on; we watched as the plane hit the second tower. Needless to say, my friend and I did not get any work done that morning; the whole situation felt unreal.

 

My mom's aunt, to whom she was very close, had passed away early that morning. The aunt lived about an hour northeast of Toronto, and getting a flight out for the funeral wasn't going to happen. So mom and I ended up making the drive - returning Friday of that week. I remember listening to the 9/11 memorial on the radio that Friday morning - driving somewhere near Cleveland, OH.

 

 

[Cliffk]

I was here in London starting work late that morning; didn't make it at all in the end. I just sat on the floor and watched in utter disbelief as the wretched events unfolded.

[objectguru]

I was home in Burbank, CA watching it unfold on TV

[Daniel Heslop]

I had a session in a recording studio. I hadn't turned on a TV or my computer, and had no idea. I arrived and the engineer started talking about it, and had CNN on.

 

When I got home my wife somehow managed to be on the only channel on TV not covering it (W..the women's network) so she was watching re-run of coronation street.

We switched channels and basically cried all day. Later I had to teach and so many students were asking about it.

 

Ironically this morning I had a session in the same studio with the same engineer.

[DanS]

I was a world away in Sweden on a work contract. Around 2:30 PM, the Swedes started running around the building & talking about planes hitting the WTC. The other Canadian guys and I were wondering what the hell they were going on about.

That night my roommate and I watched the madness on the Swedish news and couldn't believe what we were seeing. On the phone with my wife (in Montreal) later that night, she described the reaction of my kids watching people jumping out of the building on the news.

Tough time to be away from home.

[SK]

I moved to Baltimore after working on the 71st Floor of One World Trade. I was in my office downtown when the radio broadcast was interrupted. We found someone with one of the little 7" portable TV's and huddled around her desk. I felt sick when building One fell. Many businesses closed and it was eerily quite in Baltimore. I couldn't leave the TV for a few hours. It was weeks before I learned how many people I used to work with had perished. Tried listening to the rebroadcast this morning but couldn't. I'd like to get a copy of the documentary that was released about the firehouses, though. The one that was being filmed coincidentally. Some of the best coverage IMHO.

Hey, I was right up the street from you at my Harborview condo overlooking the Inner Harbor... and yes, it was a surreal quiet, no cars moving or people out in downtown Baltimore. (And that documentary made coincidentally by the French filmmaker was pretty amazing.)

 

I never watched TV in the day, but that day I was about to have lunch and I turned the TV news on around noon... and there was a picture of smoke from an aerial view of the Pentagon with scrolling text at the bottom of the screen saying "Pentagon attacked... both WTC towers have collapsed... 4th hijacked plane unaccounted for..." Just as I read that and thought "does WTC mean the World Trade Center?", the cable TV WENT OUT. I got on the internet and it was jammed, with one news site showing a still photo of the WTC with the heading "America Under Attack" and "due to high traffic, this site is temporarily closed."

 

With no other info to go on, I tried calling people on the phone but couldn't reach anyone. Then I went to the window and noticed the strange quiet outside, and knew something big was happening. In about an hour I got a phone call and found out what was going on, and the cable TV came back on.

 

I knew someone who was driving on I-95 right by the Pentagon when the plane flew low, overhead of the traffic, and exploded into the building. That terrible day brought a lot of people together.

[MuzikTeechur]

12 years ago, I was standing before a classroom of 80 middle school band students. I had been teaching a class at another school, and missed the beginning of the tragedy. A colleague came to the door and whispered of the unspeakable horror that was happening in NYC, PA, and DC. I prayed for my nephew in the Pentagon, gathered my thoughts, and faced my class.

[SHaka40]

12 years ago, I was standing before a classroom of 80 middle school band students...

 

12 years ago, I was a middle school student. Between what had actually had happened, and what was rumored to have happened--the word buzzing through our hallways (this was before smartphones remember) was that schools had been or would be blown up--it was an overwhelming and life-changing day to be a 12 year old.

[ProfD]

I was at work here in DC on that day. Someone in the office read on the internet that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. My buddy and I shrugged thinking it was a joke. We headed to Dunkin Donut for coffee.

 

By the time we got to Dunkin Donut, the images of planes hitting buildings in NY and the Pentagon were on the TV screen. The rest of the day was surreal.

 

No cell phone service. Traffic jammed everywhere. Military installations were locked down. Nobody could leave. Folks were desparatedly trying to reach and worried about their loved ones.

 

I knew my family and friends were OK. So, I stayed at work until we could leave. Driving through the city, there was a look of disbelief on people's faces. But, in that moment, people were alot nicer to each other too. I'll never forget that day.

[Floyd Tatum]

Just in remembrance for the victims of that day I thought I would start a thread. Do you remember where you were when the events unfolded?

I remember well. I was riding my bike to work, and listening to the Howard Stern show in my headphones. They were throwing baloney slices at strippers breasts, if I remember correctly. I know they were talking about Pamela Anderson's breasts, when someone interrupted with the news. I'm not trying to be facetious, that's just the facts of what was happening. I remember Howard saying he knew who was behind it, that it was the same guys that had done the Trade Center basement bombing in 1993, which was true in that Al Queda was behind both of them.

 

It was quite shocking to be listening to something so inconsequential as Howards show, and then be suddenly confronted with the horrendous reality of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

 

Howard is a smart guy, so he had no problem switching gears to deal with what was going on. This was just after the first plane hit at 8:45 am.

 

EDIT: The audio of Howard's show from 9/11 is on youtube, I'm just listening to it. Probably the most honest broadcast at the time. I remember watching the mainstream media at the time and feeling so frustrated, they were so constrained by professionalism and political correctness, it just seemed too homogenized. At least on that show, they spoke their mind, and Howard's comments were totally on point.

 

[Geoff Grace]

Driving through the city, there was a look of disbelief on people's faces. But, in that moment, people were alot nicer to each other too.

Man, is that true!

 

In times like that, we forget our differences and we remember that we're all in this together.

 

I'm going to hold onto that thought and let it settle in again...

 

Best,

 

Geoff

[J. Dan]

Over time we (I) forget some things. Watching the history channel and other documentaries tonight as well as having my memory jostled by things like this thread, i remember how united we were in the following days. If there was one positive thing that came out of that absolutely horrible day, it is that for a short while, anyway, we were united and inspired bynall of the heros among us. You see these fictional horror films about end of days or just tragedies where there's lawlessness, every man for himself....that didn't happen. Quite the opposite. At ground zero, normal people became heros. A nation of people with vast differences, political, religious, ethnic, and otherwise...all came together. I wish it would have lasted longer, but at least it gives me faith that when things get REALLY bad, it won't be like the movies - people really are good when everything else is gone.

[clpete]

I was heading into work in SLC listening to the news radio station. One of the DJs stopped the other to tell the news about a plane hitting one of towers. At the time I assumed it was an accident and it seemed that the news crew was thinking that also. I envisioned a small plane and someone having a medical issues or such. When the other tower was hitevery thought I had changed but still thought it was small aircraft. When I heard the towers dropped I was dumbfounded as I still had no idea about the size of the planes and the jet fuel involved. I first saw TV broadcast pictures later that day when I stopped to pick up a powered Peavey mixer head I had agreed to buy. That was a real eye opener as seeing it really made it surreal.

[uncledunc]

I was checking out of a motel in Palo Alto CA heading to the airport to fly back to Tucson after a weekend songwriting seminar. I didn't have the TV on but the motel clerk did. I ended up having to keep my rent a car and slog through the 16 hour drive back to Tucson, listening to the radio and watching the sky for mushroom clouds. It's an eerie feeling when you realize that even though we live in the USA, we're citizens of the world, and the world can be a very small place.

[Throbert]

drinking coffee before work when the news said a small twin engine hit one of the towers. When I saw the resulting video I thought, that's not a small twin engine, then I watched the second one hit and thought, we're under attack and at war.

[Sam Mullins]

I was in my office in Iowa City, but I had two engineers in my organization doing a telecom install in Jersey City. After the first plane hit I got an email with a photo they had taken from across the Hudson...saying this "this is kinda weird". A few minutes later the second plane hit and I called them and said to get a rental car and get out as quickly as possible. Telecom buildings are always terrorist targets (one of the reasons they have no windows.) We also had a facility at 60 Hudson NYC which was obviously severely disrupted.

 

On a different note: I used to live in Northern Jersey and one of our good friends used to work in the Cantor Fitzgerald WTC office which lost over 600 people. At the time of the attack he was head of the Morristown office, but lost many friends and colleagues. He said he went to over 60 funerals. He was also responsible for trying to keep business going with the remaining staff. It was a tough few years for him.

 

[Maarkr]

I was an air force refueling pilot and head of war plans, briefing for a flight that would launch in a couple of hours. Someone came in our briefing and told us about a plane that hit the WTC. We just had another refueling mission launch earlier, and as we watched, the second ac hit the tower. I went into the Command Post and had the Battle Staff convened, as we started getting message traffic putting us into a wartime posture. Our crew that was airborne ended up refueling fighters over the city, and since all air traffic was halted, they were refused landing everywhere... they eventually landed at a base that threatened to shoot them down, but they were out of gas... they then started an around-the-clock refueling/fighter air patrol for months over the city that I flew for many hours, monitoring every flight into the city.

[Outkaster]

I was asleep- Pacific Time Zone and this all started happening 6:00 AM local time. My first indication something was amiss was that after I woke up I had trouble logging onto AOL with my broadband connection. Just then the office manager at the clinic I worked called me and told me to turn on CNN. By that time both towers were down. The rest of the day was surreal....

 

I am a native NYer, and I remember the towers being built when I was a kid. Had been to Windows on the World, and to the observation deck where you could still see that bit of graffiti "Phillipe Petit 1974", I just always loved that place- my favorite thing to do when visiting was to walk in the plaza between the towers and just look up.

 

I knew quite a few people who worked in the WTC, and every single one of them survived the attack; most hadn't even gotten there yet, and the few in the buildings evacuated immediately. In that regard I am extremely thankful. I was just in NYC this past July for business, and made it a point to go to the September 11 Memorial. I can't find words profound enough to describe it.

 

Interesting note: On the Howard Stern radio show that morning, Gary Dell'Abate (Baba Booey) said immediately upon hearing the news "I hope that wasn't a terrorist suicide attack."

 

I remember when they were built as well and looking down at the financial district below in the 1970's.

[MoodyBluesKeys]

I was at home that day, and started monitoring television before the second NY strike. I was (and still am) fuming with the attack, and hoping strongly for an overwhelming military reaction from the US. I had been a contract instructor for Novell and Microsoft, and had taught in a training center in the WTC before, so I knew some people personally who were likely in the buildings.

 

I won't say more and get into the political area - except to say that the best defense is a very strong offense - having others fear to attack one. However, I'm not even sure that would be a deterrent to those who choose to believe that such actions are needed for their own success in eternity (but it could significantly reduce the number of such people).

 

 

[Sospiri]

I was just a couple of months short of retirement in the UK and planning to move to PA at the end of the year. I never made the move, but for other reasons. Our only source of news in the office was the internet, which had become dreadfully slow as we attempted to check out CNN and umpteen other sites for more details. The huge amount of confusion lingers in my mind and I was just thankful that I had always lived in locations that were largely immune from such disasters. I hope that remains the case for the rest of life and for the lives of my friends and family too.

[orangefunk]

I had just started my PhD and was doing late nights hacking around with strange computer languages...

 

woke up around lunch time turned on the TV and thought I was watching a promo for Die Hard...

 

Hard to believe it was 12 years ago.

[KenElevenShadows]

I was driving to work while listening to the radio. The radio DJs were really flustered. They said that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center. I figured it was a small plane. Then I heard it was a large jet. That did not seem right. Then the second plane struck. Then I knew 100% for sure that it was terrorists.

 

The first thing I thought of was the people I knew who lived in New York -- my aunt, uncle, and cousins. They lived in nearby Brooklyn, but you never know. They might have business in one of the towers that day. But fortunately, no. I thought of some of the people that I knew from the internet who lived in New York.

[yannis D]

I was in the Air France lounge in Paris airport. A stunned air steward informed me about the collapse of the first tower. Then i saw live on TV the second one being hit. Then i had to board. I was so scared 'cause, although we knew some terrorist attack had happened, nobody could really told us details. It was a horror flight, looking at passengers and try to guess who looks suspicious. When i reached home, i stood by the TV almost all night in total disbelief. I knew the future would never be the same again