[xml-dev] Message received from New York

[Ken North <ken_north@compuserve.com>]

There have been some e-mail bouncebacks so I thought it appropriate to post
this bit of good news to the list.

Many persons on this list have come to know Stewart Quealy from attending or
speaking at Java and XML conferences in recent years. StewQ, his wife and
baby daughter live near the World Trade Center. Their phone service is out
and Internet access is intermittent, so this notice will give comfort to
StewQ's friends.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Ken,

We are safe but we literally live only four blocks
from the world trade and the situation here is
certainly something to witness.  Yesterday, our
apartment literally shook twice (my wife said it was
worse than the tremors she experienced growing up in
Los Angeles).  There is no phone service or tv or cell
service (DSL is up and down).  Currently,  outside our
window, it looks like it has just snowed as everything
(no exaggeration) is covered with a thick layer of
dust and debris.  There are literally hundreds of
burnt pieces of paper and documents strewn all over
the street (some have the address of the World Trade
Center stamped on them) that travelled several blocks
in the blast.  The scariest part was shortly after the
second tower collapsed yesterday and the sky went
completely black for nearly 10 minutes with people
running for cover in the street.  One man rang our
buzzer for help to get out of the smoke and we let him
in (he was caked in soot and coughing terribly for an
hour).  I can see the hospital across the street from
our apartment (NYU downtown hospital) and there is
still a steady line of people waiting to be admitted
along with police, ambulances, and camera crews.  It's
like a bad Bruce Willis movie...scary, scary
stuff...My dad works a few blocks down at one wall
street and his building was evacuated yesterday right
before the second tower fell (he said he could see
people jumping from the world trade about every five
minutes from his office window).  There is no
transportation in Manhattan below 14th street and
everything is closed.  Once the dust settles we will
probably move uptown for a few days to my parents in
the village as the debris is considerably less up
there.

-stewq



========== Ken North ======================
ken_north@compuserve.com KenNorth@email.msn.com
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Ken_North
2604B El Camino Real, #351
Carlsbad, CA 92008-1214
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