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Hey gang!
Wooo, is it a FUN day here in NYC!
At about 4:15 PM the lights in my office in Midtown started to flicker, and then the computers all started to make some hideous grinding noises. Seconds later, out go the lights, and freakier still, the phones cut out.
Oh, the mayhem that ensued as an office full of people had their computers blip off, losing precious, precious data! The screams of the tormented were loud, I tell you.
Anyway, since cellular reception was nil (a doubly upsetting thing), we basically sat around listening to a barely-calm security guard over the loud speaker yelling at as to "REMAIN CALM! DO NOT PANIC!" He would then mumble curse words to someone while the speaker was still on...
The power came back up briefly for a few minutes, and later on I realized this must have been backup generators to get people out of stuck elevators. I was able to get through on the phone to my folks, but it cut out in mid conversation again. I could just hear my mom going nuts when that happened.
Shortly before 5 PM the building announced that the generator for emergency lights was only good for an hour, so we had to leave. Great. So down the emergency stairs we went. The reminiscence to those images of the WTC stairwells wasn't lost on us, nosirree.
Outside, thousands milled about outside Penn Station, and cars jammed everything, bumper to bumper. A friend I work with who lives near me walked home with me. I didn't see a single cop anywhere, not even a traffic cop. We walked downtown down the middle of Broadway along with hundreds of others. On 23rd street, we witnessed city workers helping people out of an escape hatch from the subway, people who had been stuck in those horrible, hot cars.
I found my roommate outside our apartment, she was terrified. I'm now at my friend's place, who has a laptop and dial-up modem that is working. We have some beer and water. Looks like a fun night ahead...
Cheers!
Wooo, is it a FUN day here in NYC!
At about 4:15 PM the lights in my office in Midtown started to flicker, and then the computers all started to make some hideous grinding noises. Seconds later, out go the lights, and freakier still, the phones cut out.
Oh, the mayhem that ensued as an office full of people had their computers blip off, losing precious, precious data! The screams of the tormented were loud, I tell you.
Anyway, since cellular reception was nil (a doubly upsetting thing), we basically sat around listening to a barely-calm security guard over the loud speaker yelling at as to "REMAIN CALM! DO NOT PANIC!" He would then mumble curse words to someone while the speaker was still on...
The power came back up briefly for a few minutes, and later on I realized this must have been backup generators to get people out of stuck elevators. I was able to get through on the phone to my folks, but it cut out in mid conversation again. I could just hear my mom going nuts when that happened.
Shortly before 5 PM the building announced that the generator for emergency lights was only good for an hour, so we had to leave. Great. So down the emergency stairs we went. The reminiscence to those images of the WTC stairwells wasn't lost on us, nosirree.
Outside, thousands milled about outside Penn Station, and cars jammed everything, bumper to bumper. A friend I work with who lives near me walked home with me. I didn't see a single cop anywhere, not even a traffic cop. We walked downtown down the middle of Broadway along with hundreds of others. On 23rd street, we witnessed city workers helping people out of an escape hatch from the subway, people who had been stuck in those horrible, hot cars.
I found my roommate outside our apartment, she was terrified. I'm now at my friend's place, who has a laptop and dial-up modem that is working. We have some beer and water. Looks like a fun night ahead...
Cheers!
good to hear you are doing alright... better drink those beers before they get warm!
@ reds
ACK!
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