Some of my memories of the World Trade Center

-February 26, 1993 - I remember coming home from school and noticing that none of the stations on the TV worked. It was dark outside already, and it was darn windy. I assumed that the wind had simply disconnected the antenna on the roof - again. I logged onto AOL and the headline on the Welcome screen was that a bomb had gone off at World Trade Center. Unfortunately, I could not put 2+2 together because just a week before and for some reason I assumed that it was referring to that World Trade Center. It wasn’t until I saw the newspaper the next day that I had learned what had happened.

-August 1999 - I rememeber the time my manager (Alland Sy) at Dresdner (75 Wall) dispatched me to meet up with a friend of his at Cantor to borrow a Fluke Network Tester (an awesome device, btw) to help diagnose a problem on the network. It was 4pm in the afternoon, just baking outside, and I had to walk over to the WTC. I took all the indoor shortcuts that I could, but by the time I got there to meet his friend by the giant bank of ATMs, I was sweaty. Rush hour had begin, and it was super ultra crowded, but fortunately I was able to find him. Though I can’t remember his name, I wonder if he made it. I wonder the same about a lot of people I encountered those 3 summers and winters I spent working on Wall St.

-January 7th, 1999 - I was going to an interview for Sapient, which was in Hoboken. My plan was to take the PATH train over from the WTC… so I got a ride from my dad into Manhattan. As a result, I got to the WTC at 8, but my interview wasn’t until 10:30am (the PATH train ride is like 10 minutes at most.) I walked around the World Trade Center complex (it was horrifically windy, as it always was there) before deciding to settle in a caf? where I ended up watching the opening day of the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. A historic moment.

-November 28th, 2000 - I interviewed for Lehman Bros for a banking position in the Marriott Hotel at the World Trade Center. Waiting in the lobby, I thought to myself “Wow I can’t believe they finally finished fixing it up from the bombing.” Later that night, my dad met up with me to take me to dinner and I ended up walking from the hotel, into the concourse of the WTC. It was kind of eery passing by the empty banks and banks and banks of the 103299 elevators, and all the security turnstiles. It was so quiet! Later that night, I stayed at the hotel - one of the best hotel stays I ever had -with a great view of the West Side highway. Just enough din of traffic so I could sleep. I still have the card key for that room. The next morning I flew out to interview at Microsoft.

Around this date, I always wonder what would have happened if I had worked at Lehman at the World Financial Center instead of Microsoft in California. Would I have been one of the unlucky ones who would’ve perished by accident?

-July 2001, I met up with a friend for lunch at the World Trade Center. I got there with plenty of time, and end up shopping a bunch at the mall, including BR, and Borders. I went up from the concourse and saw the giant ass line of Tourists (with a capital T) waiting to go to the observatory floor. I thought “Sheesh, I’ll just go some other time.”

Just some memories.