As I stood this morning in the Network Operations Center (NOC) of Autodesk’s Data Center, which felt more like the bridge of the Enterprise than the 24/7 worldwide monitoring station for all Autodesk servers, I glanced at the silent TV screen tuned to the FOX news network (“so that we can monitor world events [that may impact the data center],” I was told) and saw that America’s Homeland Security Advisory System had reached the second-highest level: orange (just below severe/red). I seemed to be the only one of the group who was at all concerned and realized how appropriate my locale was for watching this bit of news. I was in a highly secure building surrounded by folks trained in disaster recovery. Of course, they’re folks who are good with software, hardware, and data, not terrorist attacks, but it somehow felt appropriate.
Then I got to thinking about the fact that tomorrow is the first anniversary of 9-11. We’re all on our toes. How could we not be? For anyone who was old enough to remember that terrible morning, it is a day we’ll never forget. And our enemies, the faceless and cowardly terrorists, know that, too. Even if there really is no repeat attack planned for tomorrow, lest we forget that important lesson of one year ago: the root of the word “terrorist” is “terror.” The primary objective of terrorists is to instill fear. And if we let that get the best of us, as so many writers wrote during the past year, then the terrorists have won. I’m sure that they’re taking advantage of the heightened state of alert and are using that to spook us as much as possible.
I do feel safe knowing that America will be on her toes tomorrow. But just in case, I’m going to avoid national landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge.
On a much lighter and somewhat related note, yesterday I ordered my first-ever vanity plate for the WRX — with the new “We Will Never Forget” license plates.
Today I blocked two sets of 12 rooms at both the Courtyard Marriott and Holiday Inn Express in Poughkeepsie for the wedding. The rates seemed a bit high, so I’m also going to look into the Poughkeepsie Grand, where I’d like for Jen and me to stay in one of their 2- or 3-bedroom jacuzzi suites.
