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B_Lootz

Tell your 9/11 story

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I was working in downtown Denver at the time, on the corner of 17th. and California. We'd been working through the weekend upgrading an email system, everything was good on Monday, and my bosses were supposed to fly back to SF that day. I was running late, which to be honest was my MO back then, didn't think much of it as the bosses were flying out. My phone started to blow up as I was trying to get on I-25, staff trying to figure out how to work the TV in the conference room, I had no idea what was going on. Turned on the radio to the KBPI morning show, was listening to them when the second plane hit the WTC, IIRC.

The company I worked for at the time managed/owned commercial office space. It was interesting hearing some of the internal debates on whether or not to close all the buildings down as no-one really understood the scope, there were still hundreds of planes in the air, etc. We had a slowish connection to the Internet in our office, even by 2001 standards, so we were all crowded around one computer watching CNN I think.

I was still in my early 20's, was considering joining the military, but after a conversation with a trusted mentor who happened to be the Sr. VP in Denver, I decided against it. He basically pointed out that we have a giant military and that the best thing I could do for the country was to keep working, pay taxes, and support the company. They didn't need me.. Even 20 years later, I don't know if that was the right call or not. Weird how life works sometimes.

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51 minutes ago, tailingpermit said:

Sounds like a joke Pete Davidson would tell a crowd tonight.

My 16-year-old self and Pete Davidson had a lot in common for sure.

The funny part though was that she didn’t get it at all. Like we’d all watched the towers fall over and over again by this point and she was still oblivious. I wonder if she ever asked why we spent every class period watching the same michael bay movie.

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I was living in Los Angeles in a house on a hill that overlooked downtown LA.

I'd been working for a dot com for the past two years and walked off the job two weeks before after they missed three pay periods in a row. Because I was young and unemployed, I was keeping vampire hours. I feel asleep at around 4:30am PST. My home phone started ringing a little after 6am after the 2nd plane hit the WTC. I vaguely remember being aware that my phone kept ringing and ringing. 

I finally got up around 7:30am PST to listen to my numerous voice mails. The second tower had just collapsed. My voicemails were from friends and family telling me to "turn on my TV", "OMG, you have to see what's happened in New York!" I turn on the TV and all I see is what looks like a mushroom cloud hanging over lower Manhattan. Took me a few minutes to figure out what had happened.

Spent the whole day watching the news. Finally went out onto our porch to look out over downtown LA and the a sky completely devoid of air traffic. I'm standing out there with my transgender next door neighbor who rarely spoke and we're talking about what a crazy day it was. Just then two F-15's came screaming over the top of us through the Mach headed South. Only time I'd heard sonic booms in LA except for when the Space Shuttle would land at Edwards.

My job at the dot com came back when they got additional funding. I worked there for another year and a half before I got my security clearance and went to work for the defense department. Been doing that for the last 18 years. 

9-11 changed the course of my life.

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One thing I remember is the immediate micro aftermath. A day or two later, I saw news reports of Sikhs being harassed and targeted for violence. Those dumbfcuk perpetrators did not understand that people from India (99%) and Sikhs are not Muslim nor Arab. Any one who looked "Middle-Eastern/Muslim" was fair game. One specific report I remember, two dumbfcuks from the high desert (CA), attacked a Mexican man while yelling anti-Muslim insults. I remember it because when their mugshots were shown, I thought to myself, "they looked like a pari of Dale Gribbles".

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3 minutes ago, THEUniversityofNevada said:

I was living in Los Angeles in a house on a hill that overlooked downtown LA.

I'd been working for a dot com for the past two years and walked off the job two weeks before after they missed three pay periods in a row. Because I was young and unemployed, I was keeping vampire hours. I feel asleep at around 4:30am PST. My home phone started ringing a little after 6am after the 2nd plane hit the WTC. I vaguely remember being aware that my phone kept ringing and ringing. 

I finally got up around 7:30am PST to listen to my numerous voice mails. The second tower had just collapsed. My voicemails were from friends and family telling me to "turn on my TV", "OMG, you have to see what's happened in New York!" I turn on the TV and all I see is what looks like a mushroom cloud hanging over lower Manhattan. Took me a few minutes to figure out what had happened.

Spent the whole day watching the news. Finally went out onto our porch to look out over downtown LA and the a sky completely devoid of air traffic. I'm standing out there with my transgender next door neighbor who rarely spoke and we're talking about what a crazy day it was. Just then two F-15's came screaming over the top of us through the Mach headed South. Only time I'd heard sonic booms in LA except for when the Space Shuttle would land at Edwards.

My job at the dot com came back when they got additional funding. I worked there for another year and a half before I got my security clearance and went to work for the defense department. Been doing that for the last 18 years. 

9-11 changed the course of my life.

Sounds like you lived in the Echo Park, Silver Lake area of L.A. Lots of dot-commers lived in those areas, then. I think Montecito Heights also had a concentration of dot-commers.

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6 minutes ago, DoubleBlueGold said:

Sounds like you lived in the Echo Park, Silver Lake area of L.A. Lots of dot-commers lived in those areas, then. I think Montecito Heights also had a concentration of dot-commers.

Silver Lake. Before it was trendy. The hilltops were pretty nice, but there were chop shops at the bottom of the hill. We could almost walk to Spaceland.

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19 minutes ago, THEUniversityofNevada said:

Silver Lake. Before it was trendy. The hilltops were pretty nice, but there were chop shops at the bottom of the hill. We could almost walk to Spaceland.

Caught lots of great bands there. Mainly local talent, but also a few big names. Their free Monday nights were fun.

Technically, SL was  trendy then. It became noticeably trendy when gentrification followed, soon after.

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Raise a glass to the passengers in Flight 93. They probably didn’t even know each other’s names, yet they all came together and figured out what was happening and were determined to stop it. 

We’re all sitting in the dugout. Thinking we should pitch. How you gonna throw a shutout when all you do is bitch.

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15 minutes ago, thelawlorfaithful said:

Raise a glass to the passengers in Flight 93. They probably didn’t even know each other’s names, yet they all came together and figured out what was happening and were determined to stop it. 

Todd Beamer who said, "Let's Roll" while leading the charge to take back Flight 93 went to Fresno State. They are all heroes.

0918_FootballVBoise(Weir)6081.jpg.91934a8a511e3532b39599f1988bbacb.jpg

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12 minutes ago, ridgeview2 said:

Todd Beamer who said, "Let's Roll" while leading the charge to take back Flight 93 went to Fresno State. They are all heroes.

Damn right. They were the first Americans to fight back, knowing they were doomed. They even waited until the plane wasn’t over an urban area. Thinking of others right until the end. Let’s roll

We’re all sitting in the dugout. Thinking we should pitch. How you gonna throw a shutout when all you do is bitch.

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13 minutes ago, halfmanhalfbronco said:

Heroes.

 

https://vault.si.com/.amp/vault/2001/09/24/four-of-a-kind?__twitter_impression=true 

The pieces of the puzzle started to fit. Somewhere near Cleveland
the passengers on Flight 93 had felt the plane take a hard turn
south. They were now on course for Washington, D.C. Senator Arlen
Specter (R., Pa.) believes the plane might have been headed for
the Capitol. Beamer, Bingham, Burnett and Glick must have
realized their jet was a guided missile.

The four apparently came up with a plan. Burnett told his wife,
"I know we're going to die. Some of us are going to do something
about it." He wanted to rush the hijackers.

Nobody alive is sure about what happened next, but there's good
reason to believe that the four stormed the cockpit. Flight 93
never made it to Washington. Instead, it dived into a field 80
miles southeast of Pittsburgh. All passengers and crew perished.
Nobody on the ground was killed.

We’re all sitting in the dugout. Thinking we should pitch. How you gonna throw a shutout when all you do is bitch.

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If you haven’t seen “United 93” I would suggest that all of you watch it at least once. I haven’t been able to revisit it in a long time as it’s a tough watch. A powerful and emotional film that follows the events of the day in real time without the Hollywood aggrandizement even though it was made by a Hollywood studio. Kudos to Paul Greengrass(one of the underrated directors today) for implementing a cinema verite style that almost feels like a documentary; a wonderful tribute to the individuals on that flight and those that lost their lives that day. They even got some of the major players from that day, such as FAA head Ben Sliney, to play themselves. 

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