Some Trivial and Not-So-Trivial Stuff

Yesterday wasn’t the time for political point-scoring exercises or personal reflections on the order of “where were you on 9/11,” and I tried to refrain from doing either. Successfully, too, I might add. I may be old-fashioned (ed: may?), but I considered yesterday as a day for remembrance, sorrow, and quiet reflection. But today’s another day.

I’ll give the Loony Left a demi-pass today, primarily because I don’t feel like revisiting some of the tripe I read yesterday simply to retrieve links. Instead, I’ll refer you to Outside the Beltway’s collection of comments on, and links to, some of that Lefty tripe, just in case you're interested. I know most of you aren't, but still... Mr. Joyner and I read mostly the same stuff and generally had the same reaction: “can’t you just let it rest for one day?”

And now the “where were you?” story. I emerged from BART’s Montgomery Street station, three stories underground, just after 0600 hours and began the short walk to 44 Monty and work. With an interim and usual stop at Starbucks, of course. I was one of about three people in line in Starbucks when an older man came in and said (announced is more like it), loudly, “They flew a plane into the World Trade Center in New York!” A simultaneous chorus of disbelieving “NOs!” came from customers and baristas alike. “It’s true!” the man said, “I just saw it on TV!” We all went silent. I paid for my coffee and croissant, exited Starbucks, entered my building directly next door and took the elevator five stories up to work in our Site Operations Center (SOC).

The SOC is manned 7x24 and is the only life in our offices that time of day. The night shift was finishing up their work, completing logs, and generally just being busy. I was greeted with the usual banter but cut it short. “Put CNN on!” I said to one of the SysAdmins sitting in the front row, “…and put it on the big screen.” Fifteen seconds later the four night-shift guys and I were watching the Twin Towers burn. Incredulously. Silently. I heard someone murmur “Holy Shit!” It was somewhere around 0630.

The next hour and a half was a blur, interrupted only by those horrific moments when we watched the towers fall. The day shift began arriving, and our VP of Operations (my boss and close friend) burst, and I DO mean burst, into the SOC about the same time. The outgoing night shift supervisor, the day shift supervisor, my boss and I all put our heads together and began implementing the disaster recovery plan, which essentially transferred all operations from the SOC to an off-premises location. The incoming day shift began packing up to leave for the off-premises location. We worked out a communications strategy and then sent folks on their way. The outgoing night shift was put on notice to check in late in the afternoon to find out whether they were to come in or remain in disaster recovery mode. The VP and I remained behind in the SOC to “hold down the fort” and take any calls that might come in from clients. We didn’t need to bother…it was the quietest day I ever spent at work, period. We didn’t receive a single client call all day.

Later on, sometime around mid-morning, our CEO made the decision to send everyone home and shut down business for the day. If that sounds strange, consider the fact that we were located in SFO’s second-tallest building, after the Trans-America Tower. We considered ourselves to be a prime target if there were to be any follow-on strikes. And in the atmosphere of fear and uncertainty that was 9/11/2001, I think the decision was a good one. By 1000 hours there were only three of us left in our facilities.

The only other significant thing I remember about the day was taking a call from TSMP sometime in the late morning. I thought that was pretty strange, as we weren’t generally on speaking terms at that point in life. But we spoke for about ten minutes, another indication of just how extraordinary 9/11 was. I don’t recall a single thing that was said.

And that’s how I spent 9/11/2001. It was a long, sad day.

Where were you?

Reader Bec provided this link (Reasons for Optimism, Part V) in the comments to yesterday’s post, and it’s superb. Shrinkwrapped is a very good blog; I don’t go there nearly often enough. The many, many links within “Reasons for Optimism” point one to excellent essays and other points of view on the War Against Radical Islam. I confess right here I haven’t read them all as yet. But I will. Thanks, Bec!

You know I don’t like Keith Olbermann, Dear Reader. I’ve made that plain enough in the past and have linked to Olbermann Watch at least twice in recent memory. Well, Krazy Keith’s irrational and over-the-top comments last evening managed to draw the ire of Ann Althouse, who is about as moderate as they come. Ann methodically and accurately skewers the Odious Olbermann for his mixed metaphors, turgid writing, and insipid delivery. She’s actually better at it than Johnny Dollar.

Today’s Pic: Inside the SOC. Yrs Trly sitting with two of my shift supervisors, along with a SysAdmin leaning in to speak with us. April, 2002.