Sunday, September 11

9/11

I was riding the USU shuttle bus up to campus. The radio in the bus was on and suddenly it was very quiet. The bus was packed...as many people standing as sitting...but all of the sudden the light-hearted chatter fizzled and we started really listening. When I got to campus, students were gathered around the tvs watching the news...I stayed and watched for a bit and then headed to class. I'm still grateful I missed the live coverage of the second plane hitting.

Our professor walked in with a cheery welcome and asked us all what was wrong...we were surprised she hadn't heard anything and we all at once started talking to fill her in. As a class we processed our thoughts (this is the benefit of being in a social work major...we process a lot). I remember the next professor (who was teaching some kind of global class...) trying to be calm but sounding anything but as she told us how things would be okay and how we as a nation would recover from this. 

Don't remember much about the rest of the day...except that I felt scared...and older. I thought "if you wanted to wipe out a bunch of people at a time, a college campus would be a good way to do it..." but then quickly thought "but I'm in Utah...we're not exactly the most interesting target." Watched the news most of the day...

Anyway. Tenth anniversaries are big I guess. I've been trying to figure out why, maybe because it's been long enough to see change and progress, but short enough to still really feel the impact. I still feel it. Surprises me how much I do, considering how far I live from NYC and how the events of that day did not affect my life nearly as much as they did the lives of hundreds of thousands. But I guess it affected all of us in terms of realizing how vulnerable we are...how evil some people can be...and how fragile life is.

In 2009 I went to NYC with Mom, Linds, Kim and Suz. We had a great trip...while there we went to ground zero. There wasn't much to see because the fences were too high to see over...but we did walk to St. Paul's cathedral. 

There were candles lit and signs hung...but the ones that got me were cards and drawings like this one:

I love the response from Joe...a real fire fighter...

On another one, a child had written these words in alternating red and blue marker:


 "We really love our country, thanks for helping the people. We want                                     to punish the terrorists. Thanks for helping clean up the city.                                                                               I hope you get the job done and you get to go home to your family."

Yep...I was just riiiiight crying there in St. Paul's. 

Anyway. I'm surprised at how much I've cried in the last few days. For some reason, I feel like it's not warranted...like I wasn't close enough to it all to care that much....but...I do and I cried when I read from cover to cover the 9/11 special edition of Time. I cried when I watched this: "9/11 Boatlift", a youtube video about the water rescues that took place that day. I sighed when I found out Areta flew home yesterday...and is not flying today. Because...just in case... (She did tell me the airport and her flight were both pretty much empty...someone from the news interviewed her and got video of her hugging her sister goodbye before she got back on the play to head home). And I'm wondering how my buddy from this flight is doing today, on his birthday.

I don't know that I'll ever be able to watch footage of the firefighters...rushing in as everyone else was rushing out...without feeling so much gratitude swirled in tears rise up. There is evil in the world, but there is so much more good. And for that, I am grateful.
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Saturday, September 10

Googleplex and Stuff

  • Washed my car today. BY HAND. Didn't think to check the weather. Yep, rain tonight and tomorrow. Nice. At least I burned some calories. Bodybugg will be happy.

  • Almost chose today as the day I start my life of alcoholism...due to being in my office (today is Saturday...so this was the first problem)...attempting to enter info into Quickbooks. Shane, the friendly "video tutorial" boy promised to have me "on the road to saving time, saving money and being more organized in no time" but mentioned nothing about sending me towards a dark and dangerous road. Shane, you let me down. (Reader: I did not drink alcohol).

  • I love when my clients teach me things...including definition for the word "googol"..."it's the biggest number ever...and bigger than the one after that...like...you can't ever get that big. It's the highest number there is. But after that." So, in case you didn't know where "Google" got its "googol".... 
  • Googolplex: the number 10 raised to the power of Googol...see, I'm good at math
  • And if you're thinking "sounds like "googol" was invented by a 9-year old," you're right. No wonder 9-year olds today are smitten with the word.

  • Did you know you can blend 2 cups of cottage cheese with a Hidden Valley Ranch packet and thus drastically increase the amount of vegetables you eat in a week? More math for you.

  • I started swimming. I'm a swimmer....or...at least I have the swim cap, goggles and ear plugs to make it seem as if. But I will tell you this: having goggles drastically reduces the amount of time a swimmer spends pulling arms out of/off of floaty lane lines and/or cement pool walls. Definitely worth $13. Apparently the nice linear tile design at the bottom of the pool is not just for looks...and if you can actually SEE, it will keep you on "the straight and narrow" so your fellow pool mates won't wish you would just drown already.

  • There is such thing as Aqua Zumba. It is pretty magical. And Maria M. is changing my life one little "cupid shuffle" at a time...on land and in the sea. That Cupid, he's single-handedly bringing back line dancing...at least for all those who believe in Zumba.

  • And on that note....(kinda), I still really want to participate in a flash mob. Maybe like this. (Just remember, it's not "shorty hot pocket...") If I can't BE in one...I'd at least like to SEE one... This one was local...WHY wasn't I at Tempe Town Marketplace that day?!?!

  • I think that is all for now. I'm sure you've been sufficiently enlightened...