A Remembrance

On September 10th, 2001 I was working in Toronto, Ontario for EF Foundation for Foreign Study.  I'd spent the better part of the summer in Canada finding homes for high school aged foreign exchange students.  It was a monumental effort to find homes for every student and required several weeks of long days and nights of work.  Around 10pm that night we found a home for the last student.  We were relieved and elated and in the mood to celebrate.  We went out to several bars and had more than a few drinks.  I fell into bed in the early morning for a few hours of sleep.  I was scheduled fly to Boston later that morning.

I awoke shortly after 8am on September 11th, severely hungover, to a crystal blue sky and a cool, crisp day.  I sloppily packed my suitcase and trudged toward our Bloor Street office.  I stopped at a Starbucks shortly before 9am oblivious to what had occurred just minutes prior.  Exhausted and bleary-eyed, I was simply focused on going to the office for a few hours and catching a taxi to the airport to finally go home.  When I got to my desk, I logged into my computer.  AOL Instant Messenger automatically logged me in and at precisely 9:09:31am a friend sent me a message, "YO!"  

This was when and how I learned that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center.  There was no television at the office for me to watch.  The internet was jammed.  Cell phone service to the US was spotty at best.  And office phones soon began to ring steadily with calls from all over Canada and from EF offices all over the world wondering about the status of students who were slated to travel that day.  I was, for a time, the only person there to field those calls and was confined to my desk.  The only information I was able to get about what was happening in New York, DC, and PA came from the instant messages I was getting from my friend.  As you might recall, there were a lot of false rumors being reported; much of the information being provided was sketchy.  I remember when he told me that a tower had collapsed.  I couldn't begin to comprehend what that even meant.  Collapsed?!

It wasn't until later that evening when I finally got settled into my new hotel room that I saw the footage of what I'd been hearing about all day.  Surreal doesn't begin to describe it.  Even today words fail.  I obviously didn't fly to Boston that day.  I was grounded in Toronto.  After several days I was allowed to fly to Montreal from where I took a bus to St. Albans, VT.  Crossing over the border into the United States we had to disembark from the bus and show our passports to the border agents stationed there.  There were soldiers positioned out front with automatic weapons.  From St. Albans I took an Amtrak train to Springfield, MA.  As the train rumbled south through rural Vermont, there were American flags draped from nearly every house and every car I could see.  Those flags unlocked my pent up emotions and I wept both with the joy I felt in being back in my home country and for the magnitude of the collective sadness.  From the train station I took a taxi to a rental car and finally drove home to Boston.

What follows below is the verbatim transcript of the instant message exchange (complete with swears, off the cuff speculation, and typos).  For privacy, I've changed my friend's name to "Friend"):

Friend (9:09:31 AM): YO!

Friend (9:09:39 AM): you see news

DaveRing1969 (9:09:40 AM): you rang!

Friend (9:09:44 AM): yeah

Friend (9:09:50 AM): you see nyc news?

Friend (9:10:00 AM): two planes crashed into world trade ctr

DaveRing1969 (9:10:01 AM): you rang?

Friend (9:10:12 AM): yes

Friend (9:10:16 AM): find a tv

DaveRing1969 (9:10:27 AM): no!

DaveRing1969 (9:10:32 AM): when!

Friend (9:10:37 AM): 15 min ago

Friend (9:10:43 AM): you must find a tv

DaveRing1969 signed off at 9:15:11 AM.

DaveRing1969 signed on at 9:15:53 AM.

Friend (9:26:55 AM): yo

Friend (9:27:02 AM): cnn says that one plane was from bos

Friend (9:27:06 AM): 767

Friend (9:27:36 AM): AA

DaveRing1969 (9:35:19 AM): shitting me?

DaveRing1969 (9:35:22 AM): hijacked?

DaveRing1969 (9:35:25 AM): shit.

DaveRing1969 (9:38:37 AM): more updates - I got nothing here - cnn 

crashed - too many hti,s I suspect?

Friend (9:40:10 AM): ok

Friend (9:40:15 AM): yes...hijacked'

Friend (9:40:27 AM): "significant fire" at pentagon

Friend (9:40:30 AM): cause unknown

DaveRing1969 (9:40:36 AM): one was AA 767, what was other?

Friend (9:40:38 AM): looking at lots of smoke from the area

Friend (9:40:43 AM): not sure of other plane

Friend (9:41:00 AM): also...reports of fire on the mall in dc

Friend (9:41:12 AM): white house has been evacuated

Friend (9:41:19 AM): bush is in fla

DaveRing1969 (9:41:21 AM): on the mall?

Friend (9:41:25 AM): yes, the mall

Friend (9:41:32 AM): so here's synopsis

Friend (9:41:42 AM): 2 planes crash into wtc

Friend (9:41:47 AM): big fire at pentagon

Friend (9:41:55 AM): reports of fire on mall in dc

Friend (9:42:01 AM): white house evacuated

Friend (9:43:09 AM): getting reports taht a plane crashed in to 

pentagon

Friend (9:44:18 AM): reports are sketchy, but people are saying 

that "something"...possibly a helicopter...crashed in to pentagon

Friend (9:44:45 AM): HUGE amounts of smoke in dc

DaveRing1969 (9:45:10 AM): jesus

DaveRing1969 (9:45:12 AM): fucking scary

Friend (9:45:16 AM): crazy

Friend (9:45:32 AM): stay in canada

DaveRing1969 (9:45:34 AM): any news where the AA flight was bound for?

Friend (9:45:37 AM): no

DaveRing1969 (9:45:38 AM): no shit.

Friend (9:45:42 AM): nyse closed for day

Friend (9:45:56 AM): all air travel in us has come to a halt

Friend (9:46:03 AM): no planes flying today

Friend (9:46:07 AM): you may be stuck

DaveRing1969 (9:46:17 AM): ALL air travel?

Friend (9:46:26 AM): all us airports are closed right now

Friend (9:46:43 AM): all bridges and tunnels in to/out of nyc 

also closed

Friend (9:46:50 AM): this is tom clancy shit

DaveRing1969 (9:46:52 AM): Jeuss

DaveRing1969 (9:46:55 AM): Jesus

Friend (9:47:19 AM): all flights cancelled for 7 hours

Friend (9:47:32 AM): it may be extended beyond that

Friend (9:48:04 AM): this is unbelievable

DaveRing1969 (9:48:15 AM): freaky

Friend (9:48:29 AM): no tv's there?

DaveRing1969 (9:48:34 AM): every site I try to access is down.

DaveRing1969 (9:48:42 AM): yeah, one canadian station.

Friend (9:48:43 AM): overloaded

DaveRing1969 (9:48:51 AM): fuzzy - no cable

Friend (9:49:20 AM): cnn now reporting that it was a plane that 

crashed in to pentagon

DaveRing1969 (9:49:32 AM): a big one

DaveRing1969 (9:49:36 AM): I don't like this

Friend (9:50:15 AM): capitol bldg being evacuated too

DaveRing1969 (9:50:28 AM): feel violated

Friend (9:50:40 AM): no shit

DaveRing1969 (9:51:28 AM): going to check outy tv

Friend (9:51:30 AM): now they're saying that at first white house 

evacuation was orderly (like one of their frequent bomb threats)...then 

it became somewhat

panicked...secret service ordered people to run

DaveRing1969 (9:51:37 AM): keep posting updates if you get stuff

Friend (9:51:40 AM): aiight

Friend (9:55:17 AM): huge cascade of smoke from wtc

Friend (9:55:31 AM): can't tell what the hell is happening

Friend (9:55:46 AM): just got report of fire at state department

Friend (9:56:17 AM): part of south tower of wtc has collapsed

Friend (9:56:20 AM): apparently

DaveRing1969 (9:56:53 AM): jesus

Friend (9:57:34 AM): south tower of wtc collapsed...not all the 

way to ground, but

Friend (9:57:49 AM): it looked like one of those building 

implosions on discovery channe

Friend (9:58:03 AM): too much smoke, debris, dust to see anything

Friend (9:58:23 AM): watching replay  of collapse

Friend (9:58:27 AM): indesribable

Friend (9:58:31 AM): unbelievable

DaveRing1969 (9:59:05 AM): any mention of how many people died in 

Oklahoma city and are they talking about the same scale here?

Friend (9:59:34 AM): not much talk of that....it's basically a 

lot of cluelessness.

Friend (9:59:41 AM): no one's sure what's going on

Friend (10:00:11 AM): chicago's sears tower evacuated

Friend (10:00:30 AM): south tower of wtc may not exist after today

DaveRing1969 (10:00:41 AM): fucking crazy

Friend (10:01:32 AM): 2 people jumped from south wtc just before 

it collapsed

Friend (10:01:53 AM): cop guessed that there were at least 200 

people on ground before collapse

Friend (10:02:32 AM): 1 inch thick ash on streets of nyc near 

wtc...dust everywhere

Friend (10:02:35 AM): looks like volcano

DaveRing1969 (10:02:50 AM): speechless

Friend (10:02:53 AM): people are covered w/ dust....

Friend (10:03:10 AM): me too

Friend (10:03:16 AM): so are newscasters

Friend (10:03:17 AM): crazy

Friend (10:03:27 AM): you should see these people in nyc

Friend (10:03:31 AM): totally covered

Friend (10:03:36 AM): w ash and dust

Friend (10:04:25 AM): wash dc is in a ready for attack 

state....circling f-16's

Friend (10:04:32 AM): army on street

Friend (10:04:34 AM): w/ guns

Friend (10:05:10 AM): you there?

Friend (10:05:55 AM): aa flight 11....bos to lax....745

Friend (10:07:23 AM): "great deal of activity near supreme court"

Friend (10:07:25 AM): unsure

Friend (10:07:46 AM): TONS of smoke from pentagon

Friend (10:08:11 AM): pictures from manhattan are 

un-fucking-believable

DaveRing1969 (10:08:13 AM): yeah

Friend (10:08:16 AM): looks like war zone

Friend (10:08:36 AM): you reporting this to anyone

Friend (10:08:38 AM): else

DaveRing1969 (10:08:56 AM): listening to stuff on radio

Friend (10:09:15 AM): have you seen any pictures yet

DaveRing1969 (10:09:20 AM): no

DaveRing1969 (10:09:25 AM): none

Friend (10:09:31 AM): yahoo...has pic of wtc

Friend (10:10:38 AM): reports that a third plane caused the wtc 

collapse

Friend (10:10:53 AM): try to find howard stern on radio

Friend (10:11:25 AM): just got report of explosion on capitol hill

Friend (10:12:03 AM): chaos

DaveRing1969 (10:12:20 AM): dumbfounded

Friend (10:14:14 AM): hancock bldg, pru, one financial ctr 

evacuated

DaveRing1969 (10:14:16 AM): yahoo down

DaveRing1969 (10:14:22 AM): every number I call is busy

Friend (10:14:25 AM): yep

DaveRing1969 (10:14:26 AM): total chaos

Friend (10:15:12 AM): reports that 7 planes were hijacked this 

morning...only 3 are accounted for

Friend (10:15:20 AM): that's big speculation though

DaveRing1969 (10:15:25 AM): my god

Friend (10:17:22 AM): there are going to be thousands dead

Friend (10:17:58 AM): many nyc hospitals already full

DaveRing1969 (10:20:13 AM): thanks for keeping me posted

Friend (10:21:14 AM): still can't see wtc tower through smoke, 

but peopla are saying it has collapsed almost to groung

Friend (10:21:17 AM): ground

DaveRing1969 (10:21:28 AM): the whole thing?

Friend (10:21:37 AM): all flights to us diverted to canadian 

airports

Friend (10:21:54 AM): yes, the whole thing

Friend (10:22:32 AM): explosion at capitol bldg

Friend (10:22:39 AM): possible car bomb at state dept

Friend (10:22:43 AM): again,

Friend (10:22:51 AM): these are all unconfirmed reports

Friend (10:23:07 AM): this is pearl harbor

Friend (10:24:47 AM): watching replay of collapse...it appears 

that the bldg doesn't exist anymore

Friend (10:24:59 AM): holy shit

Friend (10:25:06 AM): BOTH towers have now collapsed

DaveRing1969 (10:25:16 AM): what?

Friend (10:25:27 AM): world trade center is down

Friend (10:25:32 AM): both

Friend (10:26:05 AM): this is unfucking believable

Friend (10:26:08 AM): incredulous

Friend (10:26:24 AM): both towers are absolutely gone

Friend (10:26:28 AM): out of control

Friend (10:26:47 AM): lower manhattan entirely consumed by 

dust/smoke

Friend (10:27:07 AM): gimme a call

Friend (10:27:10 AM): this is crazy

Friend (10:27:48 AM): that second tower entirely collapsed on 

itself...exactly like a planned demolition

DaveRing1969 (10:28:08 AM): wow

Friend (10:28:13 AM): call me

DaveRing1969 (10:28:13 AM): calls not going through

Friend (10:28:16 AM): fuck

Friend (10:28:37 AM): yeah...i can't get you either

Friend (10:28:46 AM): do you have a toronto #?

DaveRing1969 (10:29:15 AM): 416-927-7505x230

Friend (10:29:17 AM): there seem to be a lot of sirens around the 

cambridge area too

Friend (10:29:59 AM): nothing going through

Friend (10:30:33 AM): fyi...50,000 people work in wtc

DaveRing1969 (10:31:47 AM): what time did the first/2nd plane hit?

Friend (10:31:56 AM): ap is reporting car bombing at state dept.

Friend (10:32:13 AM): i think at about 8:45, then 9:05 ish

Friend (10:32:23 AM): my dad called me at about 905 to tell me

DaveRing1969 (10:33:03 AM): right

Friend (10:33:17 AM): just got report that a 747 went down in 

pennsylvania

Friend (10:33:20 AM): very unconfirmed

DaveRing1969 (10:33:32 AM): ok

Friend (10:33:45 AM): we're going to have to nuke someone for this

Friend (10:33:51 AM): this is going to change our lives

DaveRing1969 (10:33:52 AM): tons of cell phone towers were on top of WTC

Friend (10:33:57 AM): right

DaveRing1969 (10:34:02 AM): it already has......

Friend (10:34:06 AM): radio towers too, etc

DaveRing1969 (10:34:09 AM): fee; socl

DaveRing1969 (10:34:14 AM): feel sick

Friend (10:34:18 AM): me too

DaveRing1969 signed off at 10:34:21 AM.

DaveRing1969 signed on at 10:34:53 AM.

Friend (10:34:59 AM): dude!

DaveRing1969 (10:35:07 AM): no shit

Friend (10:35:27 AM): so...you don't have much work to do today?

Friend (10:36:29 AM): apparently plane that crashed in to 

pentagon was 737

DaveRing1969 (10:36:35 AM): well, yes and no - no placing kids - again 

we finished, but many were to fly, so have to figure out what happened.

DaveRing1969 (10:36:42 AM): or what will

Friend (10:36:50 AM): breaking news

Friend (10:37:03 AM): pentagon is monitoring second suspected 

hijacked plane

DaveRing1969 (10:37:32 AM): wonder if they would shoot it down to 

prevent worse happening>

DaveRing1969 (10:37:33 AM): ?

Friend (10:37:43 AM): in this case, they might have to

DaveRing1969 (10:38:12 AM): my mom is on the phone

Friend (10:38:24 AM): hi susan

DaveRing1969 (10:38:26 AM): sister with daughter at school

Friend (10:38:31 AM): fuck

DaveRing1969 (10:39:04 AM): john is at his school

DaveRing1969 (10:39:13 AM): nephew

Friend (10:42:03 AM): large plane crashed just north of 

pittsburgh, earlier this morning...confirmes

DaveRing1969 (10:43:05 AM): earlier?

Friend (10:43:19 AM): not sure what time

Friend (10:43:39 AM): 2nd aircraft circling pentagon

Friend (10:43:53 AM): at least one f-16 there now

Friend (10:44:04 AM): 60 foot section of pentagon has collapsed

Friend (10:44:11 AM): where earlier plane crashed

DaveRing1969 (10:45:33 AM): what the fuck

Friend (10:46:30 AM): stern is decent to listen to if you can 

find him

Friend (10:46:39 AM): playing a lot of local coverage

Friend (10:47:01 AM): watching different footage of wtc collapse 

now

Friend (10:47:07 AM): speechless

Friend (10:47:22 AM): wtc does not exist anymore

Friend (10:48:29 AM): hearing reports that pittsburgh crash may 

not be related to all this

Friend (10:48:35 AM): i can't imagine how it's not

DaveRing1969 (10:49:32 AM): in some way.

Friend (10:49:56 AM): right...they're saying if not directly, it 

may have something to do w/ air traffic control system

Friend (10:50:40 AM): you must see these buildings 

collapse...it's straight out of hollywood

DaveRing1969 (10:50:55 AM): I am sure I will -

DaveRing1969 (10:50:57 AM): eventually

DaveRing1969 (10:51:08 AM): I nearly started crying talking to my mom.

Friend (10:51:24 AM): i've gotten choked up a number of times

Friend (10:51:35 AM): i sort of wish that i was at srs right now

Friend (10:52:11 AM): fuck

Friend (10:52:30 AM): this is putting a little crimp in my 

"attack"

DaveRing1969 (10:53:47 AM): attack suspended

Friend (10:53:54 AM): breaking news

Friend (10:54:03 AM): a united airlines flight has crashed at 

camp david

Friend (10:54:15 AM): in vicinity of, or at camp david

Friend (10:55:54 AM): heads of state, primary officials of us are 

being moved, hidden, etc

Friend (10:56:39 AM): giuliani on

Friend (10:56:52 AM): just urging people to get out of ny

Friend (10:56:58 AM): especially south of canal st.

Friend (10:57:21 AM): wish you were here

DaveRing1969 (10:57:35 AM): yeah dude

DaveRing1969 (10:57:36 AM): wjere

DaveRing1969 (10:57:42 AM): where is Andy

Friend (10:57:45 AM): he's here

Friend (10:57:47 AM): called in

Friend (10:57:59 AM): said that people at vw were just watching 

tv anyway

DaveRing1969 (10:58:01 AM): how do they get out of NY?

Friend (10:58:22 AM): basically he just instructed people to go 

uptown

Friend (10:58:29 AM): can't get out of nyc

Friend (10:58:49 AM): see any pics yet?

Friend (10:59:02 AM): are you getting info anywhere other than me?

DaveRing1969 (10:59:04 AM): no dude, I am also working

DaveRing1969 (10:59:11 AM): figuring out what's going on with our kids

DaveRing1969 (10:59:19 AM): radio and you

Friend (10:59:23 AM): nice

Friend (10:59:38 AM): cnn now has titles:  America Under Attack

Friend (10:59:45 AM): Fox too: Day of Terror

Friend (11:00:38 AM): breaking news

Friend (11:00:47 AM): hijacked plane circling Dulles

Friend (11:01:06 AM): reports are now that 8 planes have been 

hijacked...5 accounted for

Friend (11:03:52 AM): news;

Friend (11:04:09 AM): camp david attack/crash is not true

DaveRing1969 (11:04:41 AM): it's hard to feel relief.

Friend (11:04:50 AM): faa is getting repeated reports of hijacked 

planes

Friend (11:05:44 AM): typically, at 11am est, there are 4000 

flights in air over us...at this moment, there are under 100...many 

being diverted to canada and/or

ordered to land immediately

Friend (11:06:05 AM): fighter jets circling lower manhattan

Friend (11:06:29 AM): flying very high

Friend (11:08:18 AM): hmm...my phone has switched to analog mode

Friend (11:12:37 AM): boston seems to be shutting down

Friend (11:12:48 AM): city and state workers being sent home

Friend (11:12:56 AM): financial district being evacuated

Friend (11:13:08 AM): umass boston, harvard univ cancelling 

classes

Friend (11:13:31 AM): barricades placed at uss constitution

DaveRing1969 (11:14:42 AM): right

DaveRing1969 (11:14:54 AM): wow?

Friend (11:14:59 AM): yes, wow

Friend (11:17:10 AM): hearing reports of explosion at embassy 

suites near battery park

DaveRing1969 (11:19:57 AM): getting lots of calls from HFs

DaveRing1969 (11:20:10 AM): Saunders

Friend (11:20:26 AM): saying what?

DaveRing1969 (11:21:47 AM): It's entirely possible it will take a good 

week to get everything back to normal, if that is possible.  Never 

before has there been a mass

grounding in the US.  Judging by what happens after a snow storm and 

that is one or two airports top, this is going to take a very long time 

to clean up.  There will be

planes in the completely wrong places. Not to mention the pilots will 

be getting into rest time issues.

This could take a month to clean up, so no I think that Vancouver is 

being a little dreamy.

Brian

Friend (11:22:22 AM): right

Friend (11:22:40 AM): you better get used to yyz

Friend (11:22:54 AM): probably a better place to be than here

Friend (11:23:09 AM): no car bomb at state dept

Friend (11:25:19 AM): breaking news

Friend (11:25:38 AM): police are reporting a plane flying up 

potomac river at high rate of speed

DaveRing1969 (11:25:49 AM): commercial?

Friend (11:25:55 AM): unknown

Friend (11:26:00 AM): just a report

Friend (11:26:36 AM): i can't fucking believe that the wtc has 

collapsed

Friend (11:27:07 AM): jesus

DaveRing1969 (11:27:22 AM): what happens now?

Friend (11:27:35 AM): gotta figure out who did it

Friend (11:27:39 AM): then retaliate

Friend (11:27:44 AM): war?

DaveRing1969 (11:28:17 AM): draft?

Friend (11:28:27 AM): if it's from middle east...we will probably 

crush them...and then own them...long run: gas prices go down

Friend (11:28:33 AM): draft...naah

DaveRing1969 (11:28:39 AM): why not?

Friend (11:28:41 AM): don't need that anymore

DaveRing1969 (11:28:45 AM): why not?

Friend (11:28:49 AM): we don't fight on the ground anymore

DaveRing1969 (11:28:57 AM): right

Friend (11:29:13 AM): it's a small organization that's 

responsible for this

Friend (11:29:21 AM): we'll be able to beat them easily

Friend (11:29:51 AM): cnn talking about a "catastrophic" loss of 

life

Friend (11:30:42 AM): some retired army general saying that we 

will go to full-scale war based on this

Friend (11:31:10 AM): helicopters patrolling air space over wdc

Friend (11:31:24 AM): lots of smoke still coming from pentagon

Friend (11:31:59 AM): occasional news helicopter over our apt

Friend (11:32:02 AM): many sirens

Friend (11:32:36 AM): not sure if there's more sirens than usual, 

but they're definitely more apparent

Friend (11:34:26 AM): breaking news

Friend (11:34:58 AM): UA is concerned about flight 175...bos to 

lax...UA is unaware of status of that flight

DaveRing1969 (11:35:17 AM): how is this reported

Friend (11:35:18 AM): UA flight 93 from EWR to SFO crashed near 

PIT

Friend (11:37:16 AM): breaking news

Friend (11:37:27 AM): getting very preliminary reports

Friend (11:38:02 AM): of islamic jihad group accepting 

responsibility based on us policy in middle east

DaveRing1969 (11:40:27 AM): if I don't reply, I am working, but I read 

everything you write

Friend (11:40:37 AM): logan airport briefing just started

Friend (11:40:46 AM): cnn and everywhere else carrying it

Friend (11:51:43 AM): UA flight 175...bos to lax....has gone 

down--says cnn....unsure where

DaveRing1969 (11:53:04 AM): fucking psychos

Friend (11:54:15 AM): out of control

Friend (11:54:33 AM): andy and i are hoping that steve martin was 

not on one of those lax bound flights from bos

Friend (11:54:43 AM): he was in bos yesterday

Friend (11:55:16 AM): second lost aa flight, #77, was dulles to 

lax

Friend (11:55:26 AM): us/mexican border has been sealed

Friend (11:55:53 AM): not sure if there's a specific reason for 

that, or if it's just part of national crisis plan

DaveRing1969 (11:56:34 AM): you know, I know you can't prevent psychos 

from killing themselves on shit like this, but you'd think that we'd 

have prevented 'some of

this' and if we did know, you'd think that Bush wouldn't be in 

Sarasota, FL.

Friend (11:56:38 AM): cnn reports that all principals of us gov't 

are safe

Friend (11:57:08 AM): i don't see how plane could crash in to 

pentagon

Friend (11:57:49 AM): i was in dc when ok city was bombed...as 

soon as it happened there were fighter jets circling city...and 

everything was closed...i was

evacuated from union station

DaveRing1969 (11:58:32 AM): I recall

Friend (11:59:01 AM): pataki on cnn now

Friend (11:59:07 AM): 'course he's in albany

Friend (11:59:17 AM): he doesn't have much info

Friend (11:59:25 AM): no one seems to have any info

DaveRing1969 (11:59:36 AM): sears tower hit?

Friend (11:59:45 AM): i haven't heard that....you?

Friend (12:00:09 PM): it was evacuated quite a while ago

DaveRing1969 (12:00:10 PM): inge heard on dutch website -

DaveRing1969 (12:00:13 PM): maybe wrong

Friend (12:00:37 PM): no...i haven't heard that yet...but i still 

don't know where that UA 175 went down

Friend (12:02:17 PM): us joint forces in VA have put the atlantic 

fleet (our largest military fleet) under threat condition 

"delta"...that's the highest threat

condition....that's what the military goes to when they perceive an act 

of war

Friend (12:05:58 PM): giuliani says "tremendous number of lives 

lost"

DaveRing1969 (12:06:22 PM): how many can it be?  how many thousands?

Friend (12:07:00 PM): i'd say it has to be at least 10?

Friend (12:07:09 PM): 50,000 people work there

Friend (12:07:14 PM): in wtc

Friend (12:08:50 PM): disney world evacuated

Friend (12:09:08 PM): it seems that the country may need to be 

shut down

Friend (12:09:11 PM): as a precaution

Friend (12:09:37 PM): i can't reiterate how surreal it is to see 

nyc w/o wtc

Friend (12:15:00 PM): 92 people on board aa flt 11

DaveRing1969 (12:15:30 PM): right

Friend (12:20:02 PM): everything now starting to close in 

bos...like a snow day

Friend (12:20:52 PM): my mom left her car downtown...said 

financial district and south station were crazy

Friend (12:22:06 PM): streets of nyc look like (or worse than) 

every bit of violence you've seen in israel

Friend (12:22:45 PM): unbelievable