** S E P T E M B E R **
** LINKS open in new browser window for convenience
* * A Day That Will Live in Infamy * *
L - 2nd plane flying into one building / R - both buildings burning, Empire State Building on left
11 September - As yet unknown terrorists flew suicide missions into the 110-floor Twin Towers in New York City and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C. -- using hijacked airliners. I do NOT plan to comment extensively on these events, nor the obvious loss of life which may logically be 10,000+.
I DO have a couple questions though. 1) how can at least 4 different hijackers take over as many planes apparently within minutes -- what happened to airport security?; 2) why did two of the largest and most populated single buildings in New York collapse, after being hit on some of the top floors -- I would assume that the foundations of these buildings would have remained intact, AND they were built to withstand even strong earthquakes -- PLUS there are reports of explosions just before the buildings collapsed suggesting that, logically, bombs were also planted somewhere at the base of the buildings; 3) just how effective are worldwide intelligence agencies in having/providing advance information about potential security risks? Did anyone have advance warning?
Potential results - MANY foreign tourists were killed; those buildings were visited by 40k+ tourists/day -- worldwide financial markets will be in turmoil, stocks will fall sharply, gold and other precious metals should rise just as sharply -- gas prices will rise almost immediately -- so-called democratic societies will pool and coordinate their anti-terrorism efforts -- certain Palestinian groups will show their delight at this tragedy, leading to....?? -- and once the perpetrators are known, the retaliation should be swift and effective/massive (I would personally forget about democratic process and just eradicate those involved as swiftly as possible!) -- a VERY sticky international political situation will develop (can you say WAR?).
I do not have a TV at home, and have been following things on the radio. I saw the first actual images and reports of the events on the television at the post office -- I cried (it is NOT something that I do frequently!) while I was giving the girl some packages to mail out, and she held my hand and looked like she was going to cry!
My sincerest sympathies go out to those who lost family and friends in this terrorist act -- and pray that the consequences will not result in any worst-case scenario.
Enough said.
16 October - Trenton seems to have become world famous! It has been a sort-of exciting place for me to live over the last decade or so. Would I ever actually elect to live here IF I had a choice? My answer would probably depend on my mood at the time of pondering that question! My personal experience has suggested to me that ANY town in the world is kewl for some reason or other. Each has its positive and NOT so positive sides. I always seem to have a tendency to see progress in ALL things -- an evolution to a better thing, person, place or time. Anything is, plain and simply, what YOU make of it -- no more and no less!
*
TRENTON
MADE 
THE WORLD TOOK
*
19 October - HOLY SHIT! I just went to the West Trenton Post office and found them blockaded by police and postal inspectors!
I was there on Wednesday, 17 October, and the nice lady who always waits on me or Bernie (he takes my stuff when I have too much to carry, which is USUAL) was wearing surgical gloves and told me she was going to the MD yesterday to see if she got anthrax. Then on yesterday's news I heard that a female at that station was determined to have the virus!
OK, so I tried to park at the empty parking lot, but a cop would not let me even though I said I just wanted to talk to some inspector in charge -- so I parked across the street at the vet's and hobbled back, past a TV crew resting on the grass with their cameras set up. I crossed the street and wanted to go over to an official looking man, but the same cop told me to go away. I motioned to the guy and he came over and I got to talk to him -- he is a Postal Inspector.
I asked him about the lady who got the disease and he said she was a letter carrier. BUT, I think I also saw her driving a postal truck not long ago, so I am thinking that it could be my nice lady, the one who held my hand when I cried when I saw the pics of the World Trade Center on the TV they have there.
Anyway, Sherlock Sonny (=me) also mentioned to the Inspector that two days ago I told the lady that I had a dream - I really do NOT dream all that much, but sometimes I do get research insights and even premonitions, some of which have actually come true! My grandmother also had this "ability".
My dream was that the anthrax was being produced at a long abandoned animal research lab just some 6 blocks from where I live. It was probably just a fantasy based on recent events, BUT two years ago, at about 3am, I drove past the place and saw a man and a lady going in the padlocked front door. I was going to call the police BUT thought, at the time, that the guy was just taking a whore into his (?) building instead of taking her home where his wife might not be so thrilled at his extracurricular activities.
I suggested to the guy, who said he was in direct contact with the FBI (HURRAY!! Hey, what coordination and friendly cooperation!), that if I were going to check out this lab, I would stake it out round-the clock for a couple days to see if anyone is still going in and out in the early morning hours - instead of just storming the place and finding nobody there. Assuming, of course, that some officials have not checked it out in the last 10 years or so! Then again, maybe it has NO connection with all this anthrax stuff.
I mentioned this dream to a couple people
on line last night, and one of them suggested that I contact the
FBI, just in case. So I went to the FBI web site and found pages
on the New Jersey area field offices -- BUT not a shittin link
to a direct way to contact them via computer! I also checked the
usual news pages and there was also NO link that one could use
to provide potential information to them! I think this is ANOTHER
VERY dangerous lack of what I consider a logical infrastructure
which would enable a potential informant with possibly useful
information to relay same to the proper authorities -- basically
the exact same thing I mention in the above link to the kboom episode! What does it take for them to get on the
ball? It would really be almost funny IF its implications were
not so basic security-related and potentially dangerous. Come
on, guys, let's see something useful resulting from all those
millions of $$$ that you are receiving!
21 October - I
slept sort of late-ish because I was up until 4h this morning,
and decided that I needed some cake or something, so I went to
the supermarket in West Trenton/Ewing, which is where I go a lot,
even though it is on the other end of Trenton. So naturally I
went by the nearby post office to see if they had a sign or something
about when they might be back in business. It is such a delightful
place, sort of small and out of the way to anyone who does not
live in that area 
. Yes, there was a sign in the window 
, and those CNN News guys were still camping out
across the street, this time with an umbrella because the day
was really sort of warm 
.
I always listen to CBS radio news in the car and at home, and they mentioned that ALL of the workers at this neato post office were being tested for anthrax and that they found it just about all over the place. OK, so I went to the supermarket and the nice lady there said that they used some kind of antibiotic foam on the inside of the post office to try to eliminate the spores. Hey, THAT was a detail that I did not yet hear on the radio!
So, as I was on my way back to the other
side of Trenton, it dawned on me that maybe I should get a blood
test, and since I just happened to be in the area - passed by
the really nice lake in a nearby park with gazelles or something
similar grazing alongside swans and a nice refreshing pond 
- YES, there really ARE nice spots in this city - I was then on
my way to the hospital.
I stopped into the hospital and was sort of quickly and quietly escorted into the inside emergency room area. The waiting room was full of people, but somehow I got in unusually fast. They asked me a lot of questions, nothing really out of the ordinary, but I could notice they were prepared for exactly this sort of thing. I even got a neato wrist band -- the whole works! I sort of looked scruffy, which is sort of normal for me, because I really had NO idea that I would be going there. As a matter of fact I hate hospitals and have not even gone for a checkup in some 3-4 years -- well, this was my opportunity! I got there about 14h.
They stuck me in Room 14 (which is my January birthdate!), I was asked to take my shirt and undershirt off and hang-in there -- it was cold-ish, and it took a while before anybody popped in to do anything, so I just almost fell asleep on the table thing. A couple MDs or whatever did arrive, and they asked more questions -- WHY did I want a test, HOW might I have contracted the thing, WHAT symptoms did I feel. The problem is that , although I may normally feel sort-of OK, sometimes I feel ratty -- BUT it is something that I really do not analyze, it is simply a change from my normal way of feeling. For the last couple weeks I have been feeling a LOT less energetic, have some weird headaches, and have had the chills on a couple occasions. My breathing has also NOT been what I would call normal -- all-in-all, a ratty feeling!
OK, so they took 4 blood samples -- OMG! and in fairly large little bottles -- I asked the guy if I would have anything left when he finished. The kewl thing was that I really did not feel a thing. Then they came in with an EKG machine and hooked me up. After that a portable X-Ray machine to get a chest scan. Finally a nurse to take 2 nose swabs, one from each nostril. You could almost say that I was a little surprised at all the tests, but they were certainly welcome simply because I had not had anything looked at for such a LONG time already. And I did NOT get the impression that they were being overly prying or off-the-wall in their questions, and I certainly was not treated as a potential criminal. Hey, I guess they could see that I was harmless enough.
Finally the last nurse came in, and I asked her about my EKG -- it was normal. I forgot to ask about the chest X-Ray. I mentioned that the blood pressure reading (140) was above my usual past average (120), and she said it could be the stress -- the problem is I do NOT feel stressed in any way. I mentioned the chills, and she said that my temperature was above normal. She handed me a Cipro tablet to take tonight (at midnight, since I already took an OLD one at about noon).
It is just plain synchronicity at work!
Last week I was sort of cleaning out the refrigerator and in my
medication drawer (I just usually stash whatever meds I am given
there, and RARELY take anything!) I found some OLD sample boxes
of some drug that I had NO idea what it was 
. So I did what I always do these days to look
things up, and got on the computer to do a search for CIPRO. AT
THE SAME INSTANT, I heard on the radio FOR THE FIRST TIME that
the couple cases of anthrax in New York were being treated with
the same drug! OMG! And my old stuff had expiration dates of October
1998 on them, meaning that I got them possibly a year or 2 before
that -- BUT cannot remember what for. I was almost shocked, BUT
since I was NOT feeling very well at the time, I took one (1 every
12 hours) -- and have taken 4 others thus far. The curious thing
is that I felt BETTER after taking them! (It could be just a psychological
effect -- maybe). If you do not know what they look like 
, I have included a pic (which I had to play with/filter
to try to show what each of the two, the old one and the new,
look like and have embossed on them - the old one/top has CIPRO,
and the new one/bottom has 500 on the side facing outwards in
the blister thingy). They are white, and apparently the same shape
and everything, ONLY the pattern on the silvery background has
changed -- and the expiration date, naturally!) 
.
OK, the nurse said that the test results
would be ready in a day or 2, and that they would call me if anything
is positive (I actually DOUBT that they will be positive, but
I guess we shall have to wait to see) -- AND she gave me a prescription
for enough Cipro for a week 
. I actually felt almost great as I left because
at least I had some important tests done, and all I have to do
now is go back to the oncologist for a followup exam, just in
case. That can wait, as it has for a couple years already!
I am really somewhat surprised that all of this is happening right in my small general area, AND that I might possibly be personally affected in some way. YES, some forms of anthrax ARE deadly -- others, apparently, are just annoying. Hey, the bacteria are found in the soils around the world, especially in farming areas, and cases of the infection ARE found every year somewhere. BUT it can be effectively overcome with proper treatment at the right moment. At least I found the right moment and can forget about it!
22 October - OMG!
This clip is soooooooo kewl!! It brings tears to my eyes!!
24 October - GRACIAS A DIOS!! After calling the hospital and getting transferred to another person a bunch of times, I just got a call saying that the anthrax tests were NEGATIVE -- the EKG and chest X-Rays also showed nothing abnormal! For some reason they did say that I should finish taking the Cipro (enough for this week). Now what I also have to do is NOT listen to the damn radio news reports 24/7 as I have been over the last few weeks and I should hopefully return to normal! WHAT A RELIEF!
[ * January to June - 2001 * ]
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