So, What's New?

What's new with me is that I am sitting here watching my local news, and one of the major bridges over the Mississippi River here in Minneapolis - a bridge that I travel over all the time - has just collapsed into the river right in the middle of rush hour! It looks like an earthquake hit it! Cars are in the water, cars are still dangling on the bridge...it is unreal! I am sitting here praying for those who were trapped on the bridge, and hoping that none of my friends or family were there!

SBW? Shana? Are you guys OK?

 

I've been off line for a while. Just saw the news here about the bridge. I think Shana is in Boston. Anyone heard from SBW?

 

No, unfortunately. Here's hoping she's here soon.

 

She's OK. Just heard from her.

 

Hi guys, sorry if you were worried. I'm fine, my husband is fine, siblings and their spouses are all fine. I know a lot of people in this area, though, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that tomorrow brings no bad news.

I suppose it's selfish, but natural, to hope it's no one I know.

Some of those cars were smashed like pancakes and their drivers escaped with only minor injuries. Others, of course, weren't so lucky, but I have to say, there's something to be said for modern engineering. Two cars smashed into each other, one on top of the other, and everyone walked away from it.

I'm hoping for more good stories like that, but I'm afraid the death toll hasn't been completely counted. Several cars went into the water and their drivers probably drowned.

This is simply horrible. Like I said in the other thread, I'm not sure anyone will talk about anything else tomorrow. I'm checking my work email before I go in. I work downtown and the commute is going to be a nightmare, not for me, as I ride the train, but for a lot of other people.

 

When I was in London (when the underground was bombed) I had no computer with me and couldn't log on here. Shana may simply be out of reach until she gets back. I'm hoping so.

 

I've just seen the video footage, one that showed the actual collapse too, and it's such a terrible tragedy. It's shocking and terrifying for those in the situation. My heart goes out to all those affected by it. I hope that Shana's fiance is ok too, I believe that Shana is still on the work trip to Boston?

 

Still no report in from Shana ... ... I feel sure that she and her hubby are OK, but it will be nice to see her here again to confirm this.

What's new is that I woke up to find an email from the BBC accepting me into the beta trial of their new iPlayer service. This arrived just in time because last Saturday I managed to miss the final episope of the incredibly excellent serial Jekyll (I love anything with the fabulous James Nesbitt ... even those Yellow Pages Ads: "shut up or I'll give you another haircut!" :rotfl: ) so thanks to the new download service I can get programmes from the last 7 days on demand ... like I said, just in time cos Jekyll will be gone forever by tomorrow. Ooh ... 52% complete ...

 

In an earlier post, Shana said she was flying to Nashville on Tuesday, then to Boston, so she would have been out of the area when this happened. I believe she flies back home this afternoon, from Boston. Still, I hope that her fiance and family are also safe.

 

Yeah I was also under the impression she was away before this started. (Just back after watching the last ep of Jekyll ...I have no willpower ... I intended to clean the kitchen this morning followed by some serious gardening ... part of my back yard is attempting to compensate for tropical rainforest clearing ... darn global warming and elevated CO2 levels just makes stuff grow more ... :(

 

Are your sure it isn't just all the rain you've been having?

My back yard is drying up for lack of rain this week. And it's supposed to reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit today. :sun:

Thank goodness for air conditioners.
Thank goodness for the electricity that runs the air conditioners.
Thank goodness for the burning coal that powers the electric plants that...er...

Well, OK, I suppose if 6 billion people on the planet were all sitting around log fires in caves, the CO2 levels would still be rather high, except we'd all have lung cancer, and there'd be fewer trees. :sigh:

 

LOL ... if we still lived in caves there wouldn't be 6 billion of us to worry about our ... um ... emissions Personally speaking, I don't think that it was the move from naturally air conditioned caves to electrically air-conditioned condos that started the trouble ... it was our ancestor's decision to come down from the trees ...

 

Yeah, life was much better when we were sitting up there with the birds, picking fleas off each other.

Joking aside, I don't suppose anyone has heard from Shana yet.

 

Awww...you guys are all so sweet worrying about me and mine. Thanks for thinking of me! I updated on the "official" bridge collapse thread. My plane didn't get in till 9:00 tonight and I just got home about an hour ago. When I was in my hotel room after exploring Boston I was glued to the TV myself. Brandon actually called me the minute my plane was scheduled to land in Boston to fill me in; my parents called 5 minutes later.

Anyway; I'll update more about my trip, along with photos, later. Right now I've got some strong vertigo as I went on a whale watching trip for 3 hours right before catching my 3 hour plane ride home and I still feel like I'm either on a boat or a plane! The computer screen just isn't working for me!

 

I know how you feel Shanna .:(
I was diving in Hawaii and 2 hours later was flying back to OZ.
I got the bends in the plane and was sick for a few weeks.

Happy you and fianc Ok

 

Wow, Moon. You've had the bends? From diving in Hawaii? You should start a blog at Worldsims and chronicle all your adventures. Sounds like you've had quite a few.

Meanwhile, this weekend I've been a serious Sim addict, playing the game until my vision blurred, taking loads of ingame pictures in order to continue my story (see below.) It's August 5 and I haven't posted another chapter since July 31!

And OMG, Mrs. Crumplebottom invited Dr. Kuchenmitnussen to join a downtown outing. I was shocked when he got that phone call, so I told him to accept the invitation to see what happened. :shocked: Can't wait to tell you how it turned out. Unfortunately, I've got to write up the preliminary chapters first, and I've only just started. Excuse me, but I have to go and get started on it.

(Oh, BTW, I'm beginning to think this "What's new" thread needs to be started over fresh. It's taking a long time to load and post to it.)

 

Well, no wonder, it's 95 pages long! I'll close it and start another one.