and off to work….my pens shirt was stolen and I never got earrings, so rocking a black and gold shirt and bucs earrings today

Report: DOJ Sues Apple Over Price-Fixing Scheme – Project Economy News Story – WTAE Pittsburgh

It’s a baseball night in Pittsburgh! Let’s go Bucs!

It’s a hockey night in Pittsburgh! Go Pens!

It snowed last night. Flurries only, but I still feel vindicated!

I’m going to figure this thing out…..honest…

It has been ten years.  Ten long, often arduous years.  Most of those years have been filled with challenges, not just for me but for my country.  It’s been ten years and I can still remember exactly where I was and what I was doing that Tuesday morning when the world changed.   I was the reason the wage tax office found out so soon.  It was my first temp job after college.  We normally watched the Today show and I asked if I could switch it.  I did and saw smoke coming out of one of the World Trade Center towers.  No one knew, at that point, what was going on and why on earth a plane (for that was the report) had hit the towers.  A tragic and terrible accident we all thought.  That is, of course, until the second plane hit the second tower.  I can remember watching shock as they show the plane hitting the tower.  It was no accident.  Who was doing this and why?  What else was going to happen?  Was it over?   They were talking to the Pentagon correspondent when the image shook and there were loud noises.  We saw that live.  It took a few minutes to discover that the Pentagon had been hit by a plane as well.  Reports were going out that many planes – 16, 11, etc. – were unaccounted for.  The network was reporting rumors and no one had a clue.  My memory loses track of the order of events.  I know that there was news of a plane crash in Shanksville, PA near Stoystown and Jennerstown.  I went to summer church camp near Stoystown and Jennerstown.  I didn’t understand that.  We knew by then it was terrorists, but I knew there was nothing in that area that could be considered a target.  It was mostly farm country and small towns.  I don’t know if they were looking at the first tower live when it happened, but I remember watching it fall.  I know the cameras were showing a live feed when the second tower fell.  Thousands were dead.  I knew it.  I can remember seeing images of dust and smoke and hearing the horrible sound of firefighter locators.  Well, the sound is horrible to me now.  I can’t hear it without going back to those scenes.  I don’t think we got any work done that day.  I don’t remember when the news came out about the heroism of the passengers on Flight 93, but I can remember admiring them.  They knew they were all dead and they were the first of us to fight the war on terror.  I think they were the ones who gave many courage and hope that we (and by we I mean ordinary people) all could do something to make a difference and save lives when the time came.  It saddens me to know that their memorial is not fully funded.  I also admire the first responders who went into that very dangerous situation to try to save lives.  They did save many people, but many of them lost their lives as well.  I’ve always known that they have a courage and compassion that I lack.  I admire them, but truly it was the passengers on that doomed plane who defeated the terrorists who gave me the hope that in that type of situation that I could do something to make a difference.

The overwhelming support shown by the entire country can still make me smile.  All the people who traveled both great and small distances to help New York and DC recover and rebuild.  The money that was raised for the families of the victims.  I can remember a business owner who worked in the Towers who was late that day because he was taking his child to school coming on the air and promising to give money to the families of his employees.  I don’t recall his name, but I do hope he kept that promise.  I can remember the emotions of the President and the other political leaders and all the events held to raise money to help.   We didn’t break, we got back up, and today we still stand as a proud nation.

I know that it saddens me to know that there are those who believe that the whole thing was a sham.  That our government did it intentionally.  Were things missed leading up to it? Yes.  Are those misses more glaringly obvious after the fact than before the attack?  Most definitely.  No one I know had ever considered that a jet plane would be used as a bomb instead of as someplace to get hostages.  It seems obvious now, but not then.  I was old enough then to know and remember and the common man just did not consider that.  I can not speak for the terrorists and Al Qaeda who obviously did think of it nor for the people who were employed to stop terrorism since I did not know any at the time.  I think it is a real credit to our leaders, our intelligence agencies, and our military that in the past ten years we have not had another major terrorist attack on our soil and I certainly pray that the rest of the day goes by without incident.  It is also a credit to our allies who have assisted us – many of whom have also suffered from terrorist attacks in the past ten years.  It is a battle, I know, between law enforcement and terrorists to see who can win each day and I pray that each day law enforcement wins.  Killing people may get attention to a cause, but it leaves holes in many lives.  One day another terrorist may try something similar to the attacks on September 11th and my sister or my brother-in-law might just be flying the plane or be a passenger on the plane.  I know they both would fight but as little as I see them I don’t want to lose them.  No longer will the majority of pilots and crew co-operate with terrorists since we now know that hostages and negotiations are not the number one uses for planes.  We have  the memories of the brave people on Flight 93 to thank for that.  One of my favorite songs is “One Last Time” by Dusty Drake:

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Day 1 – your favorite song
Day 2 – your favorite movie
Day 3 – your favorite television program
Day 4 – your favorite book
Day 5 – your favorite quote
Day 6 – 20 of my favorite things
Day 7 – a photo that makes you happy
Day 8 – a photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 9 – a photo you took
Day 10 – a photo taken over 10 years ago of you
Day 11 – a photo of you recently
Day 12 – something you are OCD about
Day 13 – a fictional book
Day 14 – a non-fictional book
Day 15 – your dream house
Day 16 – a song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 – an art piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc)
Day 18 – my wedding/future wedding/past wedding
Day 19 – a talent of yours
Day 20 – a hobby of yours
Day 21 – a recipe
Day 22 – a website
Day 23 – a youtube video
Day 24 – where I live
Day 25 – your day, in great detail
Day 26 – your week, in great detail
Day 27 – my worst habit
Day 28 – what’s in my handbag/purse
Day 29 – hopes,dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 – a dream for the future

Day 1 – your favorite song

This one changes all the time depending on what I’m listening to. Right now it’s “Get Back Up” by TobyMac.

One of my all time favorite songs is “Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood.

September 11, 2001 is a day I will never, ever forget.  I know what I was doing and where I was when it all happened.  Do you?

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I try not to get down and depressed.  It’s a lot easier these days with my medications.  I try not to think about the things I know worry me.  Today, well really, this past week, one of them keeps haunting me.  I’ve been trying to catch up on Facebook.  Working 12.5 hour days with 45 minute commutes makes it hard to keep up.  I have some people whose profiles I check daily (yeah that’s me – the stalker) and I always look at my top news, but I no longer read every post every day.  I always come home to 300+ new posts.  I do need to sleep sometime people!  Anyways, I’ve been checking up on people’s profiles and pictures.  Most of my friends have families – kids, fiances, husbands, etc.  Some of them I’ve seen get married (or have seen the pictures) and watched their kids grow (in pictures if not in person).  I can imagine their futures, to some extent.  *shrug*  I’m not trying to say I know what’s going to happen or that I’m detailed or anything.  I’m not that stalkerish!

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