Where were you when ______________ happened:

I spotted this in another journal - I pulled out the items I remembered and decided to blog them.

The Death of Diana  - I was at a science fiction convention in the now defunct Adam's Mark hotel. A male friend and I were headed back to a room to chat - we passed the bar which showed a picture of an auto accident on tv - we both thought it was the local TV news. We went into the room and turned on the TV, thinking we'd catch Saturday Night Live. Instead we heard Brian Williams talking - it didn't sound good for Diana and I remember a few minutes later we heard she'd died.

John Lennon's Death - I was at college. I didn't find out until the next morning. I think I found out via the intracampus e-mail system - logging on to the old DecWriters (paper terminals).

The First Gulf War - My ex and I had just moved from MA to my MILs house in Staten Island in January 1991. I was upstairs putting together a wardrobe in the guest room when someone (my ex or perhaps my MIL) called upstairs that a war had started. I continued doing what I was doing though.

9/11 - I got up, it was a beautiful late summer day. I was dressed slummy as I had jury duty in Hackensack, NJ that day (and not communiting to my consulting job at 130 Liberty Street (the Deutsche Bank building). I got there and they weren't letting us read the papers due to some big trial. Someone who was listening to the radio (I think Howard Stern) said a plane crashed into the WTC. People continued to hear things via radio or cell phone. They wouldn't let us turn on the TV. I did go into the hall and tried to call my dad in Florida as he knew I worked near the WTC. I couldn't get through on my cell phone. I ended up calling my MIL on the pay phone and then having her call Florida. They finally released us around 10:30, although at that time they said it might not count as a day of service for jury duty (they ended up counting it). As I was waiting to leave the parking lot, I heard the second tower fall on WPLJ-FM on the radio. I could see the smoke from behind the Shoprite supermarket near me as I went home and heard all the emergency vehicles go by on the Rt 80 overpass. When I got home I e-mailed everyone/every list I knew that I was safe - I didn't know who knew I worked in NYC and who didn't.

 The Challenger Disaster - I was working for Wang Laboratories in Lowell, MA. I was coming back from an aerobics class and someone said something about the Challenger. I figured the launch was delayed again. I think I had a radio at my desk at that time and spent the rest of the day listening to the details. I remember watching Regan's speech that night and thinking he did a good job. We got a lot of coverage locally about it as Christa McCaullife was a NH native and worked in MA.

The Day After Tomorrow - I saw this when I was in college. The pub (we had an on campus pub) showed it live on the big screen TV they had. Just the other day I saw the DVD of this in Shoprite and it brought back this memory.