Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 14:45:01 -0400
Subject: Weekend Update: September 11-16 2001

911.  The emergency call number will forever remind me of the date that
the World Trade Center was razed.  I got the news in an email from a 
friend, just as I was starting a one-on-one with one of my writers.
Soon a second email came in: the second tower was struck!  I called Joy
on the speed dial and told her to turn on the TV.  I ended my one-on-one
and went to the cafeteria where a television was already set up. Many had
already gathered.  We tried to make sense of what we were seeing on the TV
picture.  Burning holes in the side of the buildings; people trapped on
the floors above.  I wondered if people could be evacuated from the roof
by helicopter, so high in the air; 1300 feet, through boiling billows of
smoke and fire.  I thought of the repairs the building would have to make.
Then the first tower collapsed.  Stunned disbelief! No one could survive
that!, I thought.  At least the second tower had a smaller hole; perhaps it
would stand.  Then people were shown running up the street, leaving the
scene; the second tower was threatening to collapse.  There it goes!  
"Dear God in heaven!" I exclaimed aloud while some people broke into
sobs and buried their face into their hands.

Work all but stopped.  The television remained on in the cafeteria for
days after.  My boss had flown in from Oregon on Monday and was wondering
how she could get home. She ended up renting a car and two other west
coast persons started a cross-country drive on Friday.  3100 miles lie
ahead of them. I just got word that at least one of the passengers flew
home after a day's drive.  I got email from someone in India expressing
sympathy for America.  Family and friends wondered if my business trip
was last Tuesday and feared that it might have been.  My conference was
postponed until December late in the week.  I had determined to fly west
on Saturday, if the planes were running, to defy the terrorist intent to
bring this country to a halt.  We were all relieved (including myself)
that I didn't have to fly this weekend.

Slowly, we forced ourselves to try to do "normal" things while keeping
our eyes and ears glued to news sources.  I interviewed candidates for
an opening at Cadence.  Miranda, Emily, and Andrew went to Windsor
Hills Camp on Friday with the district teens to stay overnight before
climbing Mount Manadanock on Saturday.  The temperature dipped so cold
that the girls zipped two sleeping bags together, put another below
and one above and four of them climbed in to keep warm.  Andrew wore
three layers of clothes and was still cold.

Saturday started as a crisp Fall morning without a cloud in the sky.
Mandy said that one could clearly see Boston some 60 miles away from
the top of the Mount.  Joy and I took the opportunity to close the pool
and open the hot tub.  Joy remarked that it is sad to close the pool
but once it has been closed, she looks forward to Fall.  We made plans
for projects around the property involving a lot of moving of stone for
some later unspecified time.  The winter wood was delivered.  There is
a pile of it in my driveway.  One of our projects is to stack it on the
deck.

The kids got home late from their climb.  Miranda was left at the church 
to ensure that all the kids were picked up by their parents.  Rachel Long
had somehow miscommunicated with her parents and we didn't know where
they were, so Miranda finally brought Rachel to our place and they left
a message on the Long's answering machine as to where they could pick up
their daughter.  We added Ryan Magnuson to the mix because his parents
trotted off to Maine without him and he was lonely.

On Sunday, we had dinner with the Gonzalez family at their home.
I spent part of my afternoon pushing little girls in their swings.
Meanwhile, American flags have appeared on many lawns and automobile
antennas.  All news media is dominantly about 9/11 and speculations
about war and the economy.  "Higher, Uncle Mark, higher!" each girl
demanded.  Another sparkling day and the girls hadn't a care in the
world except to have me push them higher in their swings.  I grinned,
wishing I was as unaware as they, and continued to push them.

Mark
-- 
+---_-----------+ Mark Metcalfe, metcalfe@cadence.com
| c a d e n c e | Cadence Design Systems, Inc.    Phone: (978) 446-6451
+---------------+ PCB Systems Division, Technical Communications Manager