Since then, I've had asthma attacks, increased sensitivity to the smell of electrical fire, and worse allergies. But who knows if they are related.

I never think of the shapeless arm I found on the sidewalk, or the fireman coughing up blood in the planters in the hallway of my building. Except at times like this, when I take a moment to remember.

I recently found this image online - that shows my morning six years ago, rather well.

1. That's my old apartment building. Luckily for me, my room was on the other side from the World Trade Center. They were finding body parts in and on the room/roofs in some parts of the building for a very long time.

2. That's where I was, shortly after the first plane hit. Burning paper, glass, and whatever else were still falling all around. I got hit by something that burned my leg - probably a piece of metal (it made a sharp noise when it hit the ground).

3. That's where I was right before the second plane hit. It occurs to me now for the first time, that out of sheer luck I was near the South tower while debris from the North tower was falling, and near the North tower when the South tower was about to be hit.

4. Of course, that's where the south entrance of the South tower was.

If you have a moment, please walk through the day with me, and remember...

Not the anger, the fear mongering, political circus that surrounds us today, but remember the futility, the loss of innocence, lives of family and friends, the heroic gift - small and large - of people everywhere.

Remember that people dropped everything and went to the aid of others.


Remember that other countries rallied behind us, the Wronged Victim whose innocent lives were lost.

Read the letter recounting the moving event by a Sailor, at Snopes.com

I remember thankfully the firefighter who led us out as we evacuated. The woman on the subway who asked me if I was alright, few days later, when seeing that I was covered in white ash. The friends and family who called to offer me a place to stay. My friend who walked with me everyday, all day, as I walked around downtown looking for a way to get back in - in search of my Cat. The ASPCA officers that climbed 14 floors in the dark with me, to look for my cat. I thank the powers that be, that I am still alive, and remember once more, that I need to get busy Living.

My photojournal of the day.

Someone should tell the guy that he needs to program his new LED Sign.

I just realized that one of my domain names I've been using off and on, one that I'd purchased years ago originally, had expired a while back without me noticing.

Turns out, I forgot to update my email contact info at the registration company, and I never received the expiration notice as a consequence. DAMN.

I just tried to hit the domain, and realized it's now pwned by a f*$!-er domain squatting company, and just a bunch of Ad links are showing up. I'm not even going to name the site here, because a link or hit to that page only gives the f*$#er money.

It's my own carelessness that got it expired, but really. If it was someone who wanted it to use it, that's at least their gain. This a-hole probably just saw that this domain is indexed in google, has history of hits, and swiped it just to squat on. ARRRRGGGH.

I woke up, and it was raining. Which meant that the cat was scared, and was rolling over my foot as I tried to brush my teeth. The birds were still asleep, because it was dark.

I grabbed my umbrella, and walked out side. As I step out to the street, under the umbrella, two empty cabs come down the street. That's rare, and I took it as a sign. Rain, and empty cab, just as you walk out the door - it must have been meant for me.

But this is New York, and the uglies remind you of it at just such opportunity. People ran out ahead of me and snagged the cabs from right under my nose. Bastards. I now had lost the desire to walk, and was standing there with no cab, in the rain.

Then, a stretch limo pulls up. The driver asks me where I'm going. I tell him, and he says "no problem, just pay me what you want". Weird. But hey, it's a short ride, how bad could it be. So I get in, telling him I'll give him $10 (probably a $5 cab ride, so it was a generous offer, but still less than what livery cars would demand). "That works", he says.

So I get to ride to work in this nice fancy limo. Turns out, he actually is a private chauffer for some rich old dude, but since the boss didn't need to be picked up for another hour, and he was going my way, he figured he could make some extra cash. "Of course, if I got caught, I'd be in trouble" he told me, "but who doesn't take a little chance to make extra cash, right?".

Hey, works for me.

After I got to work I realized I missed a huge opportunity there - I should have gotten his cell phone, so I can call him when I want a ride. If his boss wasn't needing him then, I could have my own private limo... oh well.

So. That's how the day started. The day ended with Lexington Ave blowing up.

My personalDNA Report

Went on a trip to Georgia, to see the world's largest aquarium, and the World-of-Cocacola, which is closing on April 7, 2007. Had to see it before it closed! The new one is opening next to the aquarium later this year, so I'll have to go back someday to compare!

Yaarr!

iPhone trademark owned by linksys - they just came out with their own iPhone a few weeks ago, must have been licensed to Apple.
On top of that, Apple changed its name to Apple, Inc. - eliminating the Computer. That would probably mean they also licensed/settled with the apple music name, which had been the big litigation and reasons behind iTunes not having Beatles tracks. Now they do, and they have the Apple name to use, apparently.

The Settlement long ago, was that Apple computer won't use the apple name in selling music... obviously that had to be re-negotiated. I'm sure the Beatles got a hefty payout for Apple to get to rename...

Then there's Cingular. Apple pissed off Cingular and motorola in the past, when Motorola's iTunes "enabled" phone came out (and apple basically torpedoed it). But Apple must have given Cingular a lucrative deal - for them to be in on this Not MVNO, but an "unique" arrangement where they are tied in on a multi-year basis.

Apple brought in Google and Yahoo at once too, AND Yahoo is providing PUSH email to the phone for free.

The "convergence" here is not technology (phone, music player, and pda) but rather providers and companies....

Note they did not show off a Calendar PDA function - I hope it is there.
They call the "iChat" like SMS thru Cingular - unclear if iChat works over WiFi networks too (probably not, Cingular likely put a block on that one, too bad) I am curious to see how this plays out in the weeks to come (before June launch).

Internet browsing works seamlessly over EDGE and WiFi automatically. So you can surf on your local hotspot. It has OSX widgets. BUT not sure about skype. You'd think they would have mentioned ability to install more widgets, or use VOIP over WiFi... but they didn't. Probably because Cingular killed that. That would be a shame. It should be freely switchable. Skype widget for OSX does exist, so it would have to be specifically blocked by Apple not to be able to use Skype when it has the internet capability built in.

Finally, I am not sure why they didn't put the camera up front, to allow for VIDEO phone or video chat.. you'd think that's where it goes logically.

No mention of Games, but presumeably yes, since it is the next-gen ipod. The video looks great, on widescreen. That alone makes it worth the item.

Combined with the AppleTV box, it will stream iTunes video and movies to your TV. iTunes can be watched on your phone. This location shifting... begs the question why Apple hasn't bought TiVO. Apple TV is missing the big part of what it should have - the input from cable/broadcast, and recording. Time-shifting from broadcast, AND place shifting to computer - TV -ipod-phone and APPLE would be all over the household media...