» Thursday, September 13, 2001

» Bomb scare

Yesterday, we had another scare. Mo and I were watching tv in our apartment (down the street from the Empire State Building), when we heard a quiet "ding ding ding". It lasted only for a few seconds, and normally we would have ignored it; except the recent terrorist attacks made us skittish. We stuck our heads into the building hallway where a bunch of neighbours were on their way down to find out what was happening.

Mo joined them while I waited in the apartment. Not two seconds after they left, I heard shouting on the streets. I opened the window and saw that the streets had been blocked off. What's more, the police officers were shouting "Run... move move move! Get off the block now!". I could see people running in the direction away from our building.

SH*T! My heard started racing and I tried not to panic. I started gathering up all the important things. Wallets, passports and cell phones. Mo came back into the apartment and informed me that it was a bomb scare. The police dogs had found a 'suspicious package' in the Empire State Building. We both headed down the elevator. (Yes, on retrospect, it probably isn't safe to use the elevator in a crisis).

It stopped at a few floors, but it wasn't until we reached the fourth floor that we heard the police evacuating the building. Apparently, the alarm system wasn't working properly and the police were going floor by floor to evacuate. I was very dissapointed by how unprepared the building management was. As we reached the lobby, the police officers started yelling at us to run. I think they were more panicked them we were. But then again, they had to make sure we were safe.

We met some people from our building who we stayed with throughout the event. One way an older lady who had been just about to go to sleep. In her haste, she through a dress over her nightgown and walked out holding her shoes. We walked with her to make sure she would be alright. We also met up with another gentleman who lives just a few floors below us. Our little group stayed together until we were in the designated 'safe zone' (2 avenues away). Then we retreated to a pub to wait things out.

Shortly afterwards we received the all clear. It was a false alarm. Relieved we headed back to our building. The four of us exchanged phone numbers with promises of future dinners together and said good-night.

It's funny. I've never really talked to anyone in my building beyond the polite hello and how is the weather. It's a shame on me that it takes a horrible scare like this one before I meet my neighbours.

My nerves were still shot for hours after we got back to the apartment. Suffice to say, I didn't sleep well. In fact, I haven't slept much since Tuesday.

» 08:01 PM EST [No Comments] [Link]

» Wednesday, September 12, 2001

» I'm not sure what to say...

It's the day after the terrorist attacks on the WTC. I woke up this morning to go to work, unsure of whether the work place was open or not. I looked outside my window and saw that everything was strangely quiet and calm. The usual street traffic of blaring horns and large crowds of people were missing. It felt more like 6am on a Sunday morning, than a Wednesday morning rush hour. It's too quiet. The only thing that punctuates the quiet is the occasional siren. For all the times I've complained about the noise and crowd... I miss it and I want it back. It's so eerily calm, you know something is not right.

I still don't think that what happened yesterday has sunken in for me yet. From where I was midtown Manhattan, I witnessed the burning of the twin towers. And then several hours later, saw the gapping hole filled only by a cloud of smoke and ash, where the familiar towers should be.

I feel stunned and sad about the events. And I am thankful that I and everyone I know is safe. I have friends who witnessed what happened first hand. I can't even imagine how they must feel right now. When I talked to my friend this morning, she was stunned, shocked, disturbed, sad, thankful... and even more emotions than can be expressed through words. She can't turn on the tv, open a newspaper or even go outside because everywhere she turns, it's all anyone is talking about. And she just wants to escape the memories of it for a little while. I feel helpless because I don't know what to say to comfort her. And I just feel so powerless to do anything to help anyone. The best I can do is join the hundreds of people waiting to donate blood.

If there's something good that I can say came from this event... it's that New Yorkers and people in general have astounded me with their goodwill and kindness. New Yorkers are normally a detached species who like to mind their own business. But yesterday, everyone pulled together. People risked their lives to save others. I am impressed by the way the emergency crews handled things so well. Each and everyone a hero. It made me realize that for all the evil in the world, there is still more good.

I'm not sure what to write here. I'm speechless to express what I want to say. It makes me ill to think of how many people lost their lives yesterday. I feel like I was too close to what happened yesterday; yet at the same time, things are so quiet and calm over where I am in midtown, it feels almost like the attacks happened to a completely different city.

» 12:11 AM EST [No Comments] [Link]

» Monday, September 10, 2001

» Ick ick ICK ..!

Friday August 31, 2001 and Saturday, September 1, 2001 are two days which will forever live in my memory. They are two days which personify just how dirty New York City can be.

That Friday was my last day at work before I began my week long vacation. I was looking forward to spending a relaxing vacation of home cooked meals and doing absolutely nothing. Well, I was right about the home cooked meals but totally wrong about the 'doing absolutely nothing' part. But that's another story I'll tell you some other time.

I was sitting at my desk, trying to get everything tied up before I left. Some of the guys came into the room stumbling and laughing. They kept talking about how gross the mens washroom was, and how things were trying to crawl up their leg. Things being cockroaches.

Now, it's not unusual to see roaches in NYC. Particularly, on the streets near the garbage that gets piled up every night. But, it's not nice to hear about it in the building where you work... and only a few doors down from the room that you're in.

Still, I thought that the guys must be exaggerating. They were claiming that dozens of huge roaches were crawling on the floor of the mens washroom. And not only that, but attacking them. Come on, I said. It can't be that bad.

Do you want to see?, they replied. We'll make sure that no one the coast is clear, and then you can go and see for yourself.

So I did. After they signaled the all clear, I cautiously entered. The first thing I saw was a huge squished roach by the wall. Eww...

Then I saw another crawling up the side the opposite wall. THEN I realized that there were at least a dozen roaches, from 1-2 inches long running around on the floor.

Suffice to say, I got out of there fast...!

Still, I insisted standing outside in the hall, cockroaches don't attack. In fact, if there's one thing I learned from an old episode of the X-Files, roaches don't even like the feel of humans. And they'll wash themselves after coming into contact with us. While, I lauched into my convincing argument, a roach ran out from under the door and ran right towards my foot. I squealed and retreated. Apparently, the X-Files was wrong.

Ick ick ick!

--

If the episode with the roaches wasn't enough, Mo and I awakened on Saturday morning to the sound of 'drip... drip... drip...' coming from the bathroom. He opened the door to find a small pool of grimy water on the floor, dripping down the walls and from the ceiling. The ceiling was caving in slightly in one area, which gave an indication that it wasn't someone's bathroom leaking into ours, but a pipe leak.

Since it was the long weekend, no one could work on it until Tuesday. The resident handy man did what he could; which was nail a tube to the ceiling to run the water out the window. It did the job, and it kept the bathroom from turning into a swimming pool. I was just so glad to be out of there. I don't know what I'd have done if I had to spend the long weekend liviing with that bathroom.

When we came back last night, I was relieved to see the problem fixed. You could see on the ceiling, the lumpy plaster and repainting job where they had cut out and resealed the ceiling. That doesn't bother me at all though. What does both me is that the grout between the wall and floor tiles are a grimy rust coloured. I used to think we had the nicest, cleanest and newest looking bathroom on the island. I mean it was so bright and white and pretty! Now, I feel ill just looking at the walls. It feels to me like our beautiful bathroom was defiled.

Oh well, Mo talked to the building management to have someone clean the grout between the tiles. I don't have much faith in the job they'll do. So Mo and I have stocked up on every kind of cleaner known to man. My plan is to completely slather the bathroom with sanitizing agents and then hose it all down. I hope it works. I want my bright, clean bathroom back..!

» 03:02 PM EST [No Comments] [Link]

» Thursday, August 30, 2001

» Cross your fingers for luck

Remember how when we were kids, we used to cross our fingers for good luck? Well, when I was a little girl, and I wanted something to really happen, I'd cross my legs, my arms, and all the fingers on my hands for good luck.

Of course, now that I'm all grown up, I know that crossing your fingers for good luck is just a superstition. Logically (after all, I am a computer scientist), it had absolutely no bearing on the outcome of the event. It must be at least 15 years since I last crossed by fingers.

All morning I've been working on a piece of code that has been really frustrating me. Everything I tried didn't work. Finally, I made one last attempt. If this didn't work... I was going home (or at least to lunch). So I crossed my legs, my arms and all the fingers on my hands just like I did when I was little.

It worked like a charm.

Maybe there is something to those childish superstitions. Next time I take a walk, remind me to step over all the cracks that I see in the sidewalk... just in case.

» 01:52 PM EST [No Comments] [Link]

» Tuesday, August 28, 2001

» I'm Green!

Somehow, through following a series of links to links to other links... I found myself taking this colour test. I'm green baby!


Green

You're green, the color of growth and vigor. Good-hearted and giving, you have a knack for finding and bringing out the best in people. Green is the most down-to-earth color in the spectrum — reliable and trustworthy. People know they can count on you to be around in times of need, since your concern for people is genuine and sincere. You take pride in being a good friend. For you, success is measured in terms of personal achievement and growth, not by status or position. Rare as emeralds, greens are wonderful, natural people. It truly is your color!

» 01:01 AM EST [2 comments] [Link]