Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
for those of us looking to give blood or donate monies:

http://www.redcross.org/donate/give/
enter your zipcode for your local red cross

http://www.redcross.org/donate/donate.html
to donate money
  

    
So glad to hear everyone's okay, I never realized before today just
how many people I know in New York.  Also just like to say to ignore my
post about an explosion and Dayton.  It turns out it was two sonic
booms and a brush fire so everything is apparently all right.  whew,
ack, all jumpy.  
  

    
uisgejack makes a good point: it may not be possible to give blood today at
your crowded blood center, but the Red Cross is certainly going to be able
to use your $5.
  

    
My office is on the 8th floor of an 11 story building on the banks of
the Potomac about two hundred yards upstream from the Pentagon.  One of
my coworkers was on the phone with someone in NY (we do a lot of
business with/for companies in NY) when the first plane hit the World
Trade Center.  A few of us got the local news on the only television in
the office by twisting together an antenna out of jumbo paper clips. 
We were watching when the second plane hit the WTC.  After that, nearly
everyone else in the office came to watch; many of my coworkers are
from NY and still have family there.
     So we were all gathered around the TV watching the news reports
in the conference room (on the back corner of the building, facing the
Pentagon, giant windows making up the two exterior walls) when the
plane crashed down the street.  Only a few of us saw it; we're so used
to planes flying by on their way in and out of Reagan National Airport
that we largely ignore them.  We all heard the impact/explosion(s),
though.  And what seemed like only seconds later, the news announced it
to the world.
     Most people evacuated the building, figuring that it was unsafe
to be inside it as it is (a) the tallest building in the area next to
the Radisson, (b) next to the Pentagon, and (c) right next to the power
plant that allegedly powers most of the Capitol.  Everyone's
cellphones ceased working.  Landlines worked for calling out, but many
people were unable to call in.
     I and some friends decided to go up onto the roof to check out
the damage.  (The doors to the 11th floor -- the mechanical/maintenance
level -- were locked for once, but, nuts that we are, we managed to
send the freight elevator up there with two people in it who then
climbed around and opened the door for us from within.)  It was unreal.
 The smell was very strong.  The smoke was very black and we could
make out flames here and there.  Sometimes, when the smoke thinned here
and there, we thought we could make out what was left of a plane wing
poking up from the rubble, but I tend to think that we were just seeing
things.  The buildings maintenance workers climbed onto the roof a few
minutes later and we stood around and talked grimly about the damage. 
Eventually a supervisor came up and kicked us off of the roof.  So we
returned to the conference room to see the footage of the towers
collapsing.

Which is a long way of saying: it's been a very strange day but I'm
safe and sound. (Just in case anyone remembered that I live in the D.C.
area and was worried for my well-being.)  I hope that all of you and
yours are safe and sound as well.  (And, a confession here, fangeek
that I am, as I mentally went down the list of people that I knew who
might be effect by the days events, I thought "I hope Mike didn't have
a Pentagon field trip or anything today.")
  

    
Also consider giving blood in the next week or two; the supply will be
needed (and for those of us on the West Coast, the eastern Red Cross
hasn't yet asked for the western blood supply).

And yeah, Mike, your comments about BBC News make perfect sense.

-Kelly, still sorting it all out and getting in touch with friends...

DanG just slipped in... and wow. I can hardly imagine witnessing
something like that first hand, altho I know an awful lot of people did
just that today. I'm glad you're okay.
  

    
It's going to be so hard to take the kids to school tomorrow, and just
trust that I'll get them back...
a miraculous act of faith for me on an ordinary day.
  

    
p.s. - Every time one of the F-15s roared loudly over the building,
everyone tensed up and ran to the windows, wondering if a hijacked
plane had come for us.
     Miraculously, my coworkers were all able to get ahold of their
friends and loved ones before we left and there did not appear to be
any fatalities among our extended circles.  A large number of people
missed their flights or called in sick today, it seems, and so were out
of harms way.  So that's happy news.
  

    
Bandwidth slowed to a crawl following the two World Trade Center
crashes.  We couldn't get cnn.com or abcnews.com and msnbc.com came up
only one out of eight times or so, not including the video clips which
wouldn't come up at all.  Before perfecting our paperclip antenna, I
was trying with little success to get some current information from the
terminal in the conference room.  Eventually it occured to me to
search for NY webcams.  There was one on the 57th floor of the WTC, but
it was (obviously) down.  I found quite a few that were up, though,
and we watched the NY skyline from multiple angles at one frame per
minute for a while.  It was quite surreal.  In an amusing twist, one of
the webcams I consulted was the MTV cam which TRL points out their
window at the sidewalks below.  Not surprisingly, teens waving signs
proclaiming their love for N'Sync were noticably absent from view
today.
  

    
I've been in a daze all day, suddenly realizing how many of my friends
are living in NYC and DC. I *think* I've heard from them all, or of
them all. It sets me feeling a little bit better, but it still doesn't
seem real at all. And I'm worried I might be forgetting someone... At
any rate, I'm glad people here seem to be alright, and that Margret,
Rocky, Lucy Anne and Andy are accounted for.

Examples of things that made the day unreal (keeping in mind that I
work 2 blocks from Union Square):
- I drove to San Francisco and experienced no traffic. The parking
garages were over half empty.
- The store opened up as usual (almost), then closed 15 minutes later
as soon as we could confirm to the head store that there were no people
on the streets to come in and shop.
- The population of homeless on our street doubled (usually about 15,
now about 35) because of the evacuation of Civic Center & the Business
District. Usually 5-10 ask for change. Today no one did.
- There was almost no line for the cable car.
- There seemed to be more police/security/traffic directing people
than tourists, in the heart of Union Square.
- People weren't in a hurry.
- There were no CalTrans crews anywhere that I went... 

And while I've always set aside a special place in my heart for the
Transamerica building (my grandpa helped with the electrical
engineering on it!), after today I think that other people may find it
a little more special too.

Glad to hear that everyone here seems to be okay. I wish the best for
your loved ones and hope that you hear soon from those who are still
missing.
  

    

About the CalTrans crews:  the news crawl on the TV said that all CalTrans
work had been suspended.

And, a special conference, g attack has been set up, consisting of linked
topics from all the conferences on the WELL where this is being discussed.

There's a check-in topic there for those who live in the area to let
everyone know you are okay.
  

    
E-mail from Jouni:

Dear God.

Just got home from work when World Trade Center got hit.

First thought was that this must be a movie or something.

Second was that I hoped all of you were OK.

Strength to you all...

Can't figure out anything else to say...

only that I love you all...

Jouni
  

    
Dan Guy--glad you're OK, I was thinking about you and wondering where
you were in DC.  That was awfully close!

My friend-and-future-roommate was, I'd THOUGHT, perfectly safe, as she
does use the Pentagon metro/bus stop on the way in from Alexandria,
but gets to work at 7:30 am.  But she called around noon to tell me
that she was at the station, taking a friend of ours to Reagan Nat'l. 
They must've just pulled out of the station when the plane hit the
Pentagon.  They ended up being evacuated out of the airport and walking
to Crystal City, and somehow making it home.  Thought I was going to
have a heart attack when she told me she was that close, when I'd
thought she was safe and sound.  

My mind is still off the hook.  
  

    
DanGuy: I'm so happy you're okay.  I can't imagine having watched that
live.

Kelly and all: UCLA Blood and Platelet Center says that west coasters
_are_ helping by donating blood, because it keeps the west coast
hospitals fully stocked, and allows the Red Cross to route all
available blood supply toward the east coast, where it's needed. 
However, many centers are flooded, so call ahead for an appointment, if
possible.

Thanks to all our foreign friends for their emotional support.  

Words utterly fail.
  

    
I think everyone's minds are off the hook.

We are pretty silent here.  

My speaking voice has dwindled to little more than a whisper.  I have
to force myself to speak in an audible voice.  

I had no idea that something like this would have such a huge impact
on me.  Sigh.  
  

    
E-mail from Kathy Li:

In case anybody's getting frustrated in their attempts to donate to the Red 
Cross by their webserver load, you might wanna take a look at Amazon.
  

    

Yes- Red Cross at this point needs money even more than it needs blood. I'm
going to donate as soon as I get home from work.
  

    
Pamela, unfortunately I'm inelligble to give blood anymore. *shrug* It
sucks, there's nothing I can do about it. Financially, sigh. I'll see
on Friday, after I get paid. 

I'll be getting getting my disaster response certification renewed,
and after that I'll be joining one of the Red Cross Disaster Response
Teams...

... I'm pretty tired today. I think it's just drained, from worrying
about everyone. Found out pretty late last night that our sisterinlaw
avoided death by oversleeping... Had she gotten up on time, she would
have been in the World Trade Center at the time of the attack, and
likely would not have made it out alive.

So, yeah. So far everyone I know is okay. I'm thankful.

Hope the rest of you are getting in touch with all of your loved ones,
too...
-Kelly
  

    
Yup. I just did the Amazon.com red cross donation, as all of my family
are ineligible to donate blood (it's an english thing, I'm afraid --
we were all in the UK during Mad Cow time).

My old friend Geoff just e-mailed me his page of photos... some of
them really brought it home to me, more than the news footage...

http://www.notkin.net/disaster.htm
  

    
I was at the home of a friend with a couple of other friends late last
night, and he asked about giving blood.  "If you've spent any time in
England they won't let you donate," I had to tell him, since he couldn't
possibly fake a convincing American accent.  (Though he has two entirely
distinct English accents, standard and Norwich.)

There's something about knowing what you're looking at was seen directly by
a friend's eyes.  There's someone on the Well who lives in an apartment
directly kitty-corner from the latest building to start to collapse, an
apartment he was in with his girlfriend to collect a change of clothes and a
few objects just hours ago.  Knowing that a friend's apartment could be the
next domino--
  

    
Red Cross is relaxing the rules on donating... they're accepting blood
from higher risk people, but marking it "untested, for emergency use
only" with a bit saved back for testing at a later date.
Cam & I are both going to give as soon as it's not backed up ( a sign
today said, "four hour wait"); he gets rejected usually for "exposure
to blood", as he's a martial artist, a parent, and lives with a
woman... well duh he gets exposed to blood, every parent/husband
does...
and I'm chronically anemic (beta thalasemia, a variant of sickle cell
anemia), so they've never taken mine, but hopefully will now.
I've always felt bad that they wouldn't take my blood for such a
trivial reason, it's not like I can pass it on (well, genetically) or
anything, and if I make that choice to be a bit more anemic for a
while, I'm an adult. My father gave regularly, and I would too, in
spite of a tear-wrenching needle phobia...

Neil, you ain't right. England during Mad Cow, eating raw eggs, flying
to Europe this week...
Don't you Brits have that self-preservation instinct?
  

    
Went this afternoon to donate blood. Showed up at 4, was told it was a
two- to three-hour wait. Filled out the paperwork, went to do a bit of
shopping, made and ate dinner. Hurried back to the center at 6, only
to sit there for an additional two and a half hours to get called in.
Fortunately, I had my trusty copy of American Gods to keep me company,
at least until the young lady seated next to me asked me, "Whatcha
readin'?" at which point I handed it over. Ten pages later she hands it
back to me, writes down "American Gods -- Neil Gaiman" in her
notebook, and tells me, "I have GOT to have that book." So that was
nice.
  

    
I'm out, tried donating and discovered I had hepatitus C, which
disqualified me.

I saw rescue crews on TV this evening at the Pentagon.

I heard some ranting on KPFA.  People are calling in and talking to
Wendell Harper.

I also saw a Democrat Senator call for a change in the way the nation
reacts to security issues.
  

    
Got the following email from my dad--he cc'd me to a reply to a couple
of members of the 83rd Entry of Halton (RAF technical school)--and
wanted to share:

It is such an awful situation. I also got a call from John Gardiner
today. The 83rd always stick together. Guys, after seeing those
pictures I keep thinking about the V.1's, and their aftermath, always
in the back of my mind. I was in Sussex in 1944, just 4 1/2 years old
and I can still see them on the way to London, and hear them, with the
flame coming from the ramjet, like it was yesterday. And then the
American troops in their trucks that summer, on the way to Normandy,
who showered us little boys with sweets and gum. Then for years
afterwards, going on the train through the East End and the bombed out
buildings and rubble-here we are, all in our 60''s and we do not, and
cannot, forget these events created by evil, hateful people like those
who attacked yesterday. These pictures from New York were just like
that. No one should ever have to experience such things.

My American friends and relatives never saw WW2 directly and this is
truly their baptism of fire-their friends, their relatives, their
fellow citizens in the inferno. I saw it all live on the TV-it was
impossible to believe. My closest colleague is from Brooklyn- he is
down here on business and his wife and 2 children of 6 and 8 are there
and the phones are not working. Maybe email, but we are not sure. I
have  an American flag in front of the house and tried to give
blood-there was a 3 hour wait. I had to get back to the phones because
we have 10,000 clients in Europe and the rest of the world and are
trying to solve their immediate and our future problems.

Above all I was amazed at the fortitude of the people there. No panic,
trying to help their fellow human beings, no color, race or religion,
just Americans helping each other and many risking their lives to do
so. The last news is that there may have been 20-30,000 casualties in
the towers and the shopping centers below. No official reports yet. The
Gov't is avoiding all casualty reports, and I agree.

Thank you and all in the UK for your thoughts at this difficult time.
The villains will not succeed. 

Your friend

Patrick
  

    
You have Hep C, Lenny?

I'm not going to try to donate before next week, when I'll probably check to
see if Dennis the apheresis chief needs platelets or plasma.  I did go to
amazon.com, where I discovered you could donate as much as $100 to the Red
Cross with your credit card now.
  

    
For anyone wanting a direct link to send their donations to Red Cross
through Amazon.com, here it is:

http://s1.amazon.com/paypage/PKAXFNQH7EKCX/104-0739107-9053500

squeaks, who thinks she'll overpower her fear of needles sometime next
week.