A few blocks from our office sits a Westin Hotel that on September 10-11 hosted the Forecast 2002 Conference of the Steel Service Center Institute. A couple of the programs addressed construction and other topics relevant to the PHC industry, so I dropped in for a few hours with a mind toward reporting on those predictions.
Right after the tubular panel on the morning of 9/11/01, the moderator told of stupefying events unfolding in New York and announced the rest of the conference had been canceled. Everyone headed toward a TV set in the lobby, some breaking into a half-trot. About every fifth or sixth person whipped out a cell phone. They were the only ones talking. The rest of us stood in somber silence with eyes fixed on the TV screen looking at what resembled a clip from one of those Bruce Willis cop flicks, except the airplane and familiar building were sickeningly real. A woman in the group started sobbing. This was bad. This was unprecedented. This was like Pearl Harbor, I thought, as did so many others.