>>>The original 9/11 was a normal day for me at first. I was still married and living in the city of Chicago, working from my basement office. My wife called from work and said you should turn on CNN. I turned it on and watched a replay of the second plane turning sideways and hitting the second tower.
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>>>My younger daughter was in 3rd grade and was going on a field trip to downtown Chicago. I got in the car and drove over to her school so she didn't go. It was still unfolding and downtown Chicago was a not unlikely target. (The Sears Tower was evacuated many times in the aftermath). They had already called the trip off. I gave Emily a hug and went back home to watch TV coverage for about the next two days.
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>>>Among the related memories is the candle lighting that Friday. Everyone was supposed to light a candle outside. It sounds sappy but I did it, as did most of my neighbors. The next day at soccer before every game the commissioner, an older guy named Josef who immigrated here from Austria, had everyone come out to the center before the game and hold hands.
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>>>That Sunday's football games were rescheduled. Baseball shut down for several days. When it resumed the New York Yankees were here to play the White Sox. They were given a long ovation when they took the field. Joe Torre, who was managing the Yankees at the time, said it gave him a chill to be cheered on the road because they were from New York.
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>>>It was a horrible, horrible event but it brought us together like nothing has since.
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>>>What were you doing?
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>>http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/transactsql/thread/cbf2f33a-d054-4853-a42f-abbe7e4cdb41
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>Yesterday I met a couple who are now living in Charlotte, NC but were both working in the WTC on that day. Her story was much more traumatic than his. She ran outside after the first plane hit and the ground was littered with body pieces already and then the glass started falling and killing folks on the street. That is why many ran back inside. Also the entire area shook like huge earthquakes so many of the adjoining structures were weakened. Not much in the stories in the media or reports about that unless I've missed it or overlooked it (or chose to forget after reading or hearing it). I would expect almost anyone in the area at the time to suffer some type of PTSD and other health issues (from the many carcinogens in the air)

"Ask your father to pass the salt" <g>. Fair enough, I guess I deserve excommunication, at least temporarily. I hope it's only temporary.

The best account I have seen of 9/11 is a documentary that aired on HBO not that many months afterward. It was called "In Memoriam." The DVD is evidently no longer released but you can get new and used copies dirt cheap. Highly, highly recommended. I doubt we will ever have a better historical record of what happened in New York that day.

http://www.amazon.com/Memoriam-New-York-City-11/dp/B00006BS70/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1284303149&sr=8-1