Hercules
08-15-2003, 11:47 AM
Hi everybody,
As many of you know, I work in New York City. My office is located on 61st and Madison Avenue. However, I live in New Jersey. The following is my tale of struggle and endurance thru the most physically draining day of my life. For a note, you'll be happy to know I did get my cardio workout in
At around 4:00, the lights in our building went dead. The fire alarms went on, and after some debates, we grabbed our bags and walked down 9 flights of stairs, to the street below.
What we saw was incredible.. It was like every person, in every building, in all of New York City decided to just... come outside. After a head count, we had a few disaster recovery protocols that we were running thru (none of which I was privy to), we were free to leave. Most of my work darted across the street with my supervisor leading the charge into the bar... "Get the beer before it's warm!" I walked in and had some water with them and we BSed for about 20 minutes. At that point I figured I'd start making the wonderful hike from 61st street down to 34th street where New York Penn Station is, so I could get in line for a train back to New Jersey.
Walking down Madison Avenue was the most awe inspiring thing. You'd think that there would have been looting and pillaging but really... it was just a mob scene of people that given the circumstances, was quite calm. Normal, everyday people started to help out by directing traffic and allowing for pedestrians to pass. I got onto a pay phone (they carry a charge thru the telephone lines) and made a collect call home to tell my folks I was fine and I don't know when I'd be home. Oh yea, my cell phone didn't work.
It was really amazing. When I passed Herald Square, it was really where the 'shock and awe' set in. It's my first real memory of New York City, and so to see it completely blacked out, and taxies and cars trying to weave their way thru PEOPLE, it was a mess. I saw THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of people just in the middle of the road. I swear it's like you saw a scene from Calcutta India but 10 times worse (Discovery Channel :thumbup.
Finally, I made it to New York Penn Station. I finagled my way to the front where the entrance was. A man with a blowhorn was informing us that "Ladies and Gentlemen, there is a state wide power outage. There are no trains running at this time. It is suggested that you find alternative methods of transportation." Given the fact I'm a total wiseass I made it my business to express that alternative methods of transportation are hard to come by, if you can't use your phone, can't get money from a bank, and can't take a cab because the traffic was obscene. So about 10,000 of us just sat and waited. Eventually a cop rolled by and on his blowhorn told us "If you're waiting to go to New Jersey, the Port Authority is sending buses there on 41st and 8th"
So again, I walked. Now it's prudent at this time, I should probably tell you I've been very motivated in working out, and that this was my first week back in the gym. Fortunately for me as well, my body tends to get very sore when I'm 'getting back into it.' Just keep this in mind when I tell you the day before this, I did a hour and a half leg workout and that morning my legs were pretty sore. It's about 6:30 right now, and I've been walking for about 2 and a half hours.
I make it to the Port Authority. I thought it was a mob scene on the street... that was NOTHING. In an alley about say... 1/4 mile long, there were every number of people you can imagine there. It was really insane. There were three port authority workers trying to get people organized... imagine three people organizing 10,000+. The rest of the port authority workers were sitting on a stoop on one side of the alley, literally just laughing at all us 'sheep.' Needless to say, people weren't the most pleased about that.
Finally, a bus starts to come. I was about a quarter a way down the alley, and when people saw that bus my feet never moved, but I found myself quickly scurring to the bus without any effort but a lot of pressure on my body. People banging on the bus doors, begging to be let in. People lying about them "I'm feeling sick!" trying to get on.
A few busses came in like this, constantly harassed by the public. People were scared and it showed in their faces, and you could see that no sense of calm was going to come to them. Myself, still in awe at the mob scene, well... I had a big smile on my face and I couldn't help it... it was a truly awesome sight.
This went on for about another two or three hours. I can't recall really. I'd say at around 9:30 I found myself pushed to the end of the alley, where the busses were "supposed" to load up. Of course, that wasn't the case. Thru the night, I was using my sarcasm to the people that were so allured into hitting the door on the bus and screaming at the bus drivers that were trying to bring them home. I can say this without a doubt, at least in New Jersey... some women are *really* violent and mean when they are not in the right mood. I got scared just looking at them.. they wanted to kill somebody.
So in effort to keep high-spirited, I mentioned in my sarcastic tone to the people hitting the bus and yelling, "Yea, that will help ". A girl not far behind me joined in my chants and it was a group of us yelling our sarcasm back to the people that had no patience and no appreciation. In between sarcastic remarks, this girl and I just chatted, and I found her to be really sweet and suprisingly, to appreciate my sarcastc tone that other girls hate so much, so I was happy when I got her number
Shortly thereafter there was another 'push' from the rear of the crowd and I got separated from the little 'group' I was in and found myself being scurried down the street, out of the alley. After one quick left and right, you could see a line of busses forever. They just didn't stop. Busses waiting to take us all home. Busses for us all. And there beside them, New York's Finest (Police) were standing and getting the job done, and getting it done well. This all while the majority of the Port Authority workers were sitting on their asses and literally laughing at us all.
By 11:45 I found myself on a bus to the Meadowlands en masse with the rest of the people waiting. After getting to the Meadowlands, the Salvation Army greeted us all with water and pointed us to the Contintental Airlines Arena to use the bathroom and such. By the time we got to the Meadowlands, there were hundreds of busses lined up to take everybody to different places in New Jersey. I hopped on a bus to Newark Penn Station, and from there, took a train to my local train stop.
The time when I got home was 1:30.
People constantly were screaming about how it was the worst night of their life... but even with my very sore legs, I had seen and experienced what most people will just see on TV, and been part of history. I saw people that didn't how how to cope, and how people coped. I saw how NY's Police Department really earns their paycheck. And I saw how 99% of the Port Authority workers should be fired. I got a girl's phone number, had a lot of laughs, and got out of work early. I got to skip work today too.
So the worst day of my life? No... just the most memorable.
As many of you know, I work in New York City. My office is located on 61st and Madison Avenue. However, I live in New Jersey. The following is my tale of struggle and endurance thru the most physically draining day of my life. For a note, you'll be happy to know I did get my cardio workout in
At around 4:00, the lights in our building went dead. The fire alarms went on, and after some debates, we grabbed our bags and walked down 9 flights of stairs, to the street below.
What we saw was incredible.. It was like every person, in every building, in all of New York City decided to just... come outside. After a head count, we had a few disaster recovery protocols that we were running thru (none of which I was privy to), we were free to leave. Most of my work darted across the street with my supervisor leading the charge into the bar... "Get the beer before it's warm!" I walked in and had some water with them and we BSed for about 20 minutes. At that point I figured I'd start making the wonderful hike from 61st street down to 34th street where New York Penn Station is, so I could get in line for a train back to New Jersey.
Walking down Madison Avenue was the most awe inspiring thing. You'd think that there would have been looting and pillaging but really... it was just a mob scene of people that given the circumstances, was quite calm. Normal, everyday people started to help out by directing traffic and allowing for pedestrians to pass. I got onto a pay phone (they carry a charge thru the telephone lines) and made a collect call home to tell my folks I was fine and I don't know when I'd be home. Oh yea, my cell phone didn't work.
It was really amazing. When I passed Herald Square, it was really where the 'shock and awe' set in. It's my first real memory of New York City, and so to see it completely blacked out, and taxies and cars trying to weave their way thru PEOPLE, it was a mess. I saw THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of people just in the middle of the road. I swear it's like you saw a scene from Calcutta India but 10 times worse (Discovery Channel :thumbup.
Finally, I made it to New York Penn Station. I finagled my way to the front where the entrance was. A man with a blowhorn was informing us that "Ladies and Gentlemen, there is a state wide power outage. There are no trains running at this time. It is suggested that you find alternative methods of transportation." Given the fact I'm a total wiseass I made it my business to express that alternative methods of transportation are hard to come by, if you can't use your phone, can't get money from a bank, and can't take a cab because the traffic was obscene. So about 10,000 of us just sat and waited. Eventually a cop rolled by and on his blowhorn told us "If you're waiting to go to New Jersey, the Port Authority is sending buses there on 41st and 8th"
So again, I walked. Now it's prudent at this time, I should probably tell you I've been very motivated in working out, and that this was my first week back in the gym. Fortunately for me as well, my body tends to get very sore when I'm 'getting back into it.' Just keep this in mind when I tell you the day before this, I did a hour and a half leg workout and that morning my legs were pretty sore. It's about 6:30 right now, and I've been walking for about 2 and a half hours.
I make it to the Port Authority. I thought it was a mob scene on the street... that was NOTHING. In an alley about say... 1/4 mile long, there were every number of people you can imagine there. It was really insane. There were three port authority workers trying to get people organized... imagine three people organizing 10,000+. The rest of the port authority workers were sitting on a stoop on one side of the alley, literally just laughing at all us 'sheep.' Needless to say, people weren't the most pleased about that.
Finally, a bus starts to come. I was about a quarter a way down the alley, and when people saw that bus my feet never moved, but I found myself quickly scurring to the bus without any effort but a lot of pressure on my body. People banging on the bus doors, begging to be let in. People lying about them "I'm feeling sick!" trying to get on.
A few busses came in like this, constantly harassed by the public. People were scared and it showed in their faces, and you could see that no sense of calm was going to come to them. Myself, still in awe at the mob scene, well... I had a big smile on my face and I couldn't help it... it was a truly awesome sight.
This went on for about another two or three hours. I can't recall really. I'd say at around 9:30 I found myself pushed to the end of the alley, where the busses were "supposed" to load up. Of course, that wasn't the case. Thru the night, I was using my sarcasm to the people that were so allured into hitting the door on the bus and screaming at the bus drivers that were trying to bring them home. I can say this without a doubt, at least in New Jersey... some women are *really* violent and mean when they are not in the right mood. I got scared just looking at them.. they wanted to kill somebody.
So in effort to keep high-spirited, I mentioned in my sarcastic tone to the people hitting the bus and yelling, "Yea, that will help ". A girl not far behind me joined in my chants and it was a group of us yelling our sarcasm back to the people that had no patience and no appreciation. In between sarcastic remarks, this girl and I just chatted, and I found her to be really sweet and suprisingly, to appreciate my sarcastc tone that other girls hate so much, so I was happy when I got her number
Shortly thereafter there was another 'push' from the rear of the crowd and I got separated from the little 'group' I was in and found myself being scurried down the street, out of the alley. After one quick left and right, you could see a line of busses forever. They just didn't stop. Busses waiting to take us all home. Busses for us all. And there beside them, New York's Finest (Police) were standing and getting the job done, and getting it done well. This all while the majority of the Port Authority workers were sitting on their asses and literally laughing at us all.
By 11:45 I found myself on a bus to the Meadowlands en masse with the rest of the people waiting. After getting to the Meadowlands, the Salvation Army greeted us all with water and pointed us to the Contintental Airlines Arena to use the bathroom and such. By the time we got to the Meadowlands, there were hundreds of busses lined up to take everybody to different places in New Jersey. I hopped on a bus to Newark Penn Station, and from there, took a train to my local train stop.
The time when I got home was 1:30.
People constantly were screaming about how it was the worst night of their life... but even with my very sore legs, I had seen and experienced what most people will just see on TV, and been part of history. I saw people that didn't how how to cope, and how people coped. I saw how NY's Police Department really earns their paycheck. And I saw how 99% of the Port Authority workers should be fired. I got a girl's phone number, had a lot of laughs, and got out of work early. I got to skip work today too.
So the worst day of my life? No... just the most memorable.