I found it!!! It was in the PC Office the whole time. I'm very giddy. Hehe. Hoho. Whatever.

Have lots of work to do tonight. Going to re-tape Enterprise...I'm hoping tonight's encore presentation will not have the feed problems that UPN was having on Wednesday. Also going to call home and "check-in." And of course I have homework to do as well. I would've done it earlier, but...I couldn't. Hah! So there. My traditional weekend procrastination actually had a valid reason. Isn't that special.

Some people have been clamoring for an update, so here it is.

I would normally write about the week’s occurrences, but I have only one thing on my mind right now – the location of my backpack. You know, the thing you put your books in and walk around with when going to class and such. It’s missing. I realized this about 20 minutes ago and began to have a panic attack. I’m actually still having it, because the bag is still missing.

My first thought was to re-trace my steps. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to get my days straight. I remembered working in the Cross office from 6:45 to 8 PM and I know I had it with me. I thought I worked on Friday, and Friday is the last time I remember having it with me. So, I walked out to Cross and checked the office – not there. On the walk back, I realized I worked in the Cross office on Thursday, not Friday. Silly me. So then I thought more about Friday. What did I do on Friday? Did I indeed have my bag with me on Friday, or was it Thursday I was thinking about all along? Hmm...I’m not sure.

I know I worked in the Couch Office on Friday for Natasha from 2 to 3:30 PM. Did I have it with me then? I’m not sure, because I had exactly 15 minutes to get ready for my shift (shower and all), so I doubt I remembered to bring it with me.

I had duty rounds Friday night, and I remember going downstairs to open the office up and realizing that I hadn’t brought my books (I was planning on getting some homework done) but couldn’t leave to go get them. Well, I guess it turns out that I couldn’t have gotten them, because they were already missing.

I’ve been thinking as I’ve been writing this, and now I’m pretty sure that the last time I had my bag was on Thursday when I worked out in Cross from 6:45 – 8 PM. What did I do after I worked in Cross? I went to the PC Office for the Murder-Mystery Dinner Meeting!!! I probably left it in the office. I don’t distinctly remember walking back from Cross with it, but if I didn’t, it would still be in the Cross Office. Right? I didn’t go back up to my room before the meeting in the PC Office – I went straight there. All right, so now I’m pretty sure that it’s in the PC Office. Whew, what a relief. Of course, I was pretty sure that it was in the Cross Office earlier, and it wasn’t. So maybe I shouldn’t get my hopes up too high. But the mere possibility of it being in the PC Office puts my mind at ease. At least I’ll be able to sleep, since I’ve got church in 8 hours.

I’ll have to leave Jeremy a message (maybe I’ll do that right now) and call him tomorrow and see if he can let me in there to check. Of course, the office was open on Friday, so if I left it there on Thursday it could very well be gone by now. I sure hope not.

I really hope I find it. I have homework to do! Bedtime now...more on the Case of the Missing Backpack later. Let’s pray for a happy ending.

Thought I should post my AIM info for this week before I change it.

Attack on America. We will never forget 9-11-2001. May God bless the family and friends of those lost in the attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. and the plane crash in Pennsylvania. Now is the time to come together as one nation.

Now for some reading!

Today was a day of remembrance, a day of prayer, a day of reflection. Yesterday, President Boren requested that OU oberve a moment of silence at noon today. I took part in this moment of silence as bells rang across campus while President Bush spoke at the National Cathedral. It was a sublime moment - but a peaceful moment.

Today was a long day. This morning I had a one-on-one meeting with Brooks (my supervisor) at 11:15. I woke up a bit late (10:40) and made it down to the office around 11:17 - but he was running late so I was okay. The meeting went well. After that I stayed in the office, sticking around until after the moment of silence. I then went to get a haircut (which took almost two hours!!!). After that I went with Sheila to buy canned goods for the United Way. We had almost $400 to spend, and we spent all of it. We filled an entire Chevy Caprice station wagon with food - it felt really good.

Dinner was fun as well. David Steward invited me to join him and enjoy his culinary expertice. I was a bit wary at first, but it turned out to be delicious. We also got to hang out in the FIR apartment for about two hours which was nice. USing practice was next at 9...then a trip to Borders to buy the latest book in the Star Wars: The New Jedi Order series, entitled Rebirth.

Now I'm here, writing this. I think I'll start reading my new book.

Heaven on Earth
We need it now
I'm sick of all of this
Hanging around
Sick of sorrow
Sick of pain
Sick of hearing again and again
That's there's gonna be
Peace on Earth.

-U2

Today is a day I'll never forget. To say that it will live in infamy is an understatement. My generation, on a national scale, now has a day that they'll never forget. I know I'll never forget when I found out about the tragedy.

This morning I woke up late, around 9:40 AM. I quickly showerd and dressed, and didn't touch my computer at all. I managed to get out of my room around 10:10, the plan being to stop at Couch Express for some coffee. As I left my room and entered the elevator lobby, I ran into a resident from 10e. He asked me if I'd heard about the World Trade Center collapsing. I looked at him incredulously. It was a story I couldn't even make up in my wildest dreams, and as we rode down the elevator, I kept wondering how much crack he was smoking. When the doors opened on the first floor, I immediately noticed how loud the TV in the lounge seemed but initially paid little attention to it. I made my way to Couch Express and got my cup of coffee. As I headed back to the north doors of Couch on my way to my 10:30 class, I noticed that not only was the TV loud but there was a crowd of people gathered in the lounge. My curiosity got the best of me and I got closer to the TV so I could watch too. Much to my amazement, I saw on the television what I thought I'd never see - a 110-story building collapsing. My mind filled with thoughts, my stomach became uneasy, and I found it difficult to tear myself away from the news coverage. After five minutes of standing there with my mouth hanging open, I decided that I should get to class.

The walk to Gittinger was eerily quiet - no one was talking or even making eye contact. It seemed as if everyone was grieving for our fellow countrymen in New York and Washington. There were so few people walking to class that I briefly thought that classes had been cancelled but I then realized that I was already five minutes late and attributed the lack of people to that. I entered Gittinger 338 and saw a room full of somber faces. My professor was there, so I assumed that class was still on, but then figured out that he had no intentions to continue with class. We were dismissed and I made my way to the Union because I'd heard that they had the news on in Meacham Auditorium. I ended up sitting in Meacham from 10:45 until 11:40. At that time I made my way to my noon class at Sarkey's. That class was not cancelled, but my 1:30 English class (back in Gittinger) was. At that point I made my way back to Couch to watch more news and catch up on what I'd missed. My 4:30 class was cancelled as well.

At 4:45 I called home...everyone was ok. We talked for a while. Dinner with Steve (and the Chad) happened around 5:15. Chad and Steve followed me to my room after dinner and we watched more news. After they left I moved to my bed, got comfortable, and watched NBC news. Somehow I managed to fall asleep around 7; Anna Wong woke me up around 9:30.

My emergency floor meeting at 10:30 went well with most of my residence in attendance. Now I'm continuing to watch the news, but I do have some homework to do. Maybe I'll get to work.

Attack on America: A Day We'll Never Forget

My promise did not come true.

The weekend is only half over and I've already had all the fun I can handle. Yesterday was Orange Peel at OSU. Went up to Stillwater with Tono, Steve, and Cliff. Our trip was plagued early on by dire predictions concerning the weather. Apparently a line of stroms was forming to the west of us, from here all the way to Kansas (probably farther north too, but I'm no meteorologist so don't take it out on me if I've got the facts wrong). So anyway Tim and Chad were going stormchasing and Tono (and Cliff) were intersted in going with him. Had this happened, Steve and I would've had to drive up to Stillwater on our own, with Tono and Cliff meeting us at Lewis Stadium for the concert. Another issue that complicated the situation included the real possibility of a weather-related cancellation of the concert. The problem with that was that we wouldn't know if it was cancelled until we got there.

Well, as it turned out, Tono and Cliff didn't go stormchasing and instead opted to wait with me until Steve got off work around 4 PM. At that point we made last-minute preparations (ATM visits, getting maps for possible stormchasing if the show was cancelled) and then went to the Conoco Travel Center at the corner of Lindsey and Classen to gas up and purchase foodstuffs for the drive to Stillwater.

The drive itself wasn't bad with no traffic and not too much construction once we got out of the OKC I-35 corridor (which is always under construction, apparently).We made good time and luckily encounterd no inclement weather on the way there. We arrived at OSU around 6:00 and drove around for a while trying to figure out where to park. Instead of parking in one of the open lots designated "Staff Only" (where, incidently, everyone else seemed to be parking), we parked in some church lot and paid $5 for the honor of doing so. What can I say, other than that we're suckers.

At that point we got in line...it was maybe 6:15 or so. The line was rather long and the clouds looked menacing - rain and other cool atmospheric phenomenon were not far off. Even I could tell that much. At 6:30 (the designated time to "open the gates"), the line started moving and we eventually made it into the stadium structure itself. Because of the weather situation, no one was allowed to go out into the stands so everyone milled around inside the stadium. We staked out a spot near one of the entrances to the stands which was also conveniently near an elevated walkway leading to the upper level of the stands. The elevated part was open underneath, created a nice sheltered area perfect for sitting/standing. This will become important later.

We stood there for a while and then - the rains came. Now the importance of the ramp becomes apparent - it protected us from the rain and, a little later, some very small hail. Soon after an announcement was made that the show would be delayed a half hour.

In the end, the show's start was delayed a full hour and the line-up was switched around - David Spade was first, followed by Sister Hazel and then Blues Traveller. Highlights of the performances include David Spade not sucking as bad as everyone had feared (he still wasn't that great, but at the very least mildly amusing), Sister Hazel doing the two songs that I wanted to hear and an unexpected cover of The Police's "Everything She Does Is Magic," and Blues Traveller being cool (with the exception of their extremly drawn-out songs - enough already!!!).

Made it out of there pretty late and drove straight back to Norman. Stopped at IHOP and had some food/coffee. It was yummy. Stayed up late last night watching "Witness" with Harrison Ford, a movie I'd never seen before. I fell asleep before getting all the way through it, but I do remember waking up several hours later and hearing (and seeing) "What Lies Beneath." It must've been Harrison Ford night!

Homework calls. More later. Good night!