Historical Events; what were you doing when...

[CGI_Ram]

I grabbed one from each decade. We all tend to remember where we were, what we were doing, when significant events occur. Feel free to add more.

Any stories to share, from these events?

1986 Challenger exploded

1995 OJ verdict

2001 World Trade Center 9/11

2011 Bin Laden killed

 

[CGI_Ram]

1986 Challenger exploded

I was in High School English class. They made this announcement over the PA. Never forget that one.

2001 World Trade Center 9/11

Big thing for me was the uncertainty. There was a little panic around me among some people, buying gas for car, etc. Pretty much watched TV all day, even though trying to work.

 

[IowaRam]

1986 Challenger exploded

I was in the Navy and we had just gotten back to our barracks and the TV was on in the common room , and they were replaying the explosion ,

1995 OJ verdict

don't remember the verdict , I do remember the white bronco chase though , we were under a tornado warning at the time , and my sister who lived in a house two houses away at the time , came over with her kids thinking we should head for the basement , but we just sat in my living room watching the white Bronco chase instead........lol

2001 World Trade Center 9/11

I was at work , in a very large building where the ceiling speakers were far apart, , depending on where you standing depended on how well you could hear the radio , a lot of confusion , probably took a couple hours before we started to figure it out , it was really the drive home from work , when I could listen to the car radio ,when they started to get more information

2011 Bin Laden killed

Don't remember this one either , I was probably at home just watching TV , when they came through with the "breaking news" , but not sure

 

[coconut]

Great idea for a thread but no time for now. MacArthur!

 

[Selassie I]

For the Challenger... that one really sticks in my memory. Back then, it was still kind of a big deal to watch the launches go up. I was able to watch the launches on clear days right from my backyard since the Cape is only about 60 miles from where I lived then. So... I was watching it from my backyard live. I ran into the house once I saw everything that looked completely different than the previous launches. I kept running back and forth from the backyard to the TV inside. I was in total disbelief.

OJ Verdict... I was in my office at work glued to the TV watching it happen.

9-11... I was in Charleston SC at a restaurant eating with my then psycho-hot girlfriend.

Bin Laden... I don't even remember. I do remember screaming with excitement. Fuck that POS.

 

[coconut]

I grabbed one from each decade. We all tend to remember where we were, what we were doing, when significant events occur. Feel free to add more.

Any stories to share, from these events?

1986 Challenger exploded

1995 OJ verdict

2001 World Trade Center 9/11

2011 Bin Laden killed

1986, Running late for a class and watched the explosion live. Remember something from mission control to the effect of "major malfunction". A real Captain Obvious.

1995, In my office when my phone lit up on multiple lines. Answered my wife's call like a good whipped hubby.

2001, At home eating breakfast and watching TV when they broke in with the first report of fire at the WTC. Watched the second tower get hit and burn while the talking heads on the TV were oblivious for a couple minutes.

2011, Heard it on the car radio.

 

[Angry Ram]

1986 Challenger exploded

Wasn't born.

1995 OJ verdict

I was 6...probably watching Power Rangers or some shit.

2001 World Trade Center 9/11

7th grade, when the actual planes hit at 8ish eastern time, I was getting ready to go to school at 7ish central.

2011 Bin Laden killed

I was at home watching tv (I think it was NBA playoffs); when I got the alert on my phone.

 

[Memento]

2001 World Trade Center 9/11

I don't have stories to share for the others, but I was in fifth grade, about to go to school when I caught the news. I saw the second plane hit, I heard the female newscaster scream, and I saw my mom cry - which is extremely rare for her.

I went to school knowing that people died, and during class, the teacher turned on the television. I saw the Twin Towers fall.

I was completely numb after that.

 

[1maGoh]

Challenger - not born

OJ - not sure, I was a child. I think I was at school

2001 - I was getting ready for school and didn't hear anything until I talked to another kid on the way in. He made it sound like it was all a weird accident. I'd never heard of the twin towers and he didn't use that term. He basically said that it was a really weird coincidence that 2 planes crashed into 2 random buildings and a third crashed into a field. He didn't say anything about the plane in the Pentagon. I didn't have a history class that year, so none of the teachers were interested in playing any footage. I really didn't learn it was a big deal until after school when I got to the bar/grill my mom worked at. I almost got my head taken off for asking what the big deal was. I was a naive child.

Bin Laden - somewhere in Texas in the Army, probably unloading another freaking connex to inventory something we'd inventoried the week before

 

[RamBall]

1986 Challenger exploded
Sitting in my car at Kofu park cutting class and smoking pot. I had this weird feeling that something important was happening, so I removed the cassette from my stereo and turned on the radio. Just as they were announcing the shuttle had blown up. I thought I might be psychic after that, but turned out I was just psycho.

1995 OJ verdict
I was working in a warehouse and the office manager called us all in to the office when the verdict was announced.


2001 World Trade Center 9/11
Was working at Food4Less and 1 of the vendors asked if we had heard about the plane that hit the Trade Center. We went to the break room and turned on the TV just in time to see the 2nd plane hit the 2nd tower. Living in CA and not far from Lawernce Livermore Labs, everyone was speculating that that would be where the attack on the west coast would happen, and that we would all be killed by radiation. Thankfully that didn't happen. But it was still a sad day for all of America.

2011 Bin Laden killed
Not sure where I was when it happened but I remember hearing it on the news.

 

[RamFanInPC]

2001 World Trade Center 9/11

The most significant of these to me and forever etched in my mind is 9/11.
I worked at an Air Defense Sector as part of NORAD and we were in the middle of a wartime exercise. I just got off of a 12 hour mid-shift at 0630, came home, had some breakfast then went to bed. A little while later my wife came in and woke me up saying, John, a plane just crashed into one of the Twin Towers. Half asleep and not thinking there could be much to it, i told her it was probably nothing and went back to sleep. She came back in a short while later saying, John, a second plane just crashed into the other Tower, at that moment i knew something was not right and immediately got up. Spent the next few hours like most people glued to the TV and seeing some terrible sights, the worst being people jumping out of windows to escape the fire. Of course the exercise was cancelled and we were on 12 hour shifts for the next 4 years. Never forget.[/QUOTE]

 

[Akrasian]

I grabbed one from each decade. We all tend to remember where we were, what we were doing, when significant events occur. Feel free to add more.

Any stories to share, from these events?

1986 Challenger exploded

1995 OJ verdict

2001 World Trade Center 9/11

2011 Bin Laden killed

1986 Challenger, I was in a small town store looking for furniture, and they also had TVs blaring, when it happened.

1995 OJ verdict - I had a small store in a mall in New Orleans, and everything stopped when the verdict was announced. And then the racial divide became apparent, as every African American cheered and everybody else was crestfallen.

2001 World Trade Center - after a hard time, I was staying for a few days with my parents, and my Mom came in and told me about the attacks. I did not appreciate it initially, though once I did I ended up posting online much of the night, as well as doing searches for some old loves I hadn't thought about for years.

2011 Bin Laden - this just didn't affect me near as much as the others. What did affect me was 2005 Katrina. I lived in New Orleans for many years, and one of the reasons that I accepted a job offer thousands of miles away was Hurricane Georges in 1998, which veered off at the last second, which would have been far worse than Katrina. I was so thrilled at the initial Katrina reports, that the worst case didn't happen - then some barges that had been blown loose broke through the levees, and my old neighborhoods were flooded, with fewer casualties than Georges would have had, but still a huge number of dead. Still, I knew many who lost most of their possessions, a close friend's son who was a deputy had to wade in chemically infused water for 3 days, then got bussed to a small town called Hammond and dumped there with basically no support even though he had chemically burned feet. He finally made it to the airport, flew to his parent's house in Phoenix, and within a week found a job in a local police agency. An amazing amount of talent left New Orleans within weeks of Katrina.

 

[bluecoconuts]

1986 Challenger exploded

Just a little before my birth.

1995 OJ verdict

Was living in Ireland, had no idea who he was, didn't watch, didn't really care.

2001 World Trade Center 9/11

Watching with my family (in Ireland) was a bit of a shock, even if I didnt really know anything about it, I knew it was really bad. Asked my dad if we (Ireland) would be going to war too, but he said no since Ireland enjoyed staying out of fights. I decided if I ever went to America I'd fight for them, ended up doing just that about 4 years later.

2011 Bin Laden killed

Celebrating with a few friends from the military. We had heard through the grapevine that there was rumor of a potential op to get him, so when they suddenly cut to a pending announcement like 3 days after we heard that we went to a bar together, had them switch the channel and celebrated when it was announced. Spent many months chasing phantoms around the Afghan-Pakistani boarder, collecting random bits of possible evidence for intelligence agencies and groups, likely all useless, but it was nice to know he got what was coming.

 

[Dodgersrf]

Challenger
I was in Psychology class in High School. We turned on the TV as soon as we heard about the explosion and watched it in disbelief as they replayed it.
That launch was a bigger deal and well publicized due to the fact that Christa McAuliffe (school teacher)was making the trip.

OJ.
I was on my couch watching the unbelievable happen.
WTF!

911
I was at work when we heard about the 1st plane. We were glued to the constant coverage when the 2nd plane hit. Absolutely horrific.
It still fells like it happened yesterday.

Bin Laden
I was at a bar with some friends when the bartender shouted "they killed Bin Laded"
We all stopped what were were doing to watch the reports.
The whole place erupted in cheers.

 

[RhodyRams]

1986.. . Had taken a road trip to Quincy Market in Boston the day before with GF at the time, Michelle , and we were still in her friend's apt nursing hangovers when the news broke.

1995 married to the ex...she was still at work.. her future ex husband (cop who did patrol in the mall she worked at) was kind enough to escort her home. I moved out 3 week later lol

2001 .. was at work tearing off a nasty roof.. tough tough tear off with pitch paper which makes you itchy..unseasonably warm that day.. when wife called my cell, then my mother, then my brother.. didn't answer any calls until the boss called 4 times in a row. Then the whole crew gathered around the am radio in the company truck to listen to reports coming in. Boss man got there and told us to wrap it up and go home to our families after getting the roof water tight. Spent the next few hours in front of the TV with my old Motorola cell phone in my hand trying to call favorite aunt in NYC


2011.. really not sure on this one

 

[Selassie I]

Damn... you guys are making me feel old. I was a Freshman in college in 1986.

 

[FaulkSF]

Challenger - In elementary school library watching it via a tv on the cart. U remember those? Usually meant it was raining or a substitute teacher was running the class. Very young and heart breaking as a teacher was part of the flight crew.

OJ - Working and going to school full time. Couldn't believe verdict.

9-11 Mom called me while I was getting ready for work and watched it on tv as the 2nd plane hit. Very sad.

Bin Laden - watching tv. Remember they panned to the Phillies game where they chanted USA USA!

 

[Juggs]

1986 Challenger exploded
I was less than 2 years old.

1995 OJ verdict
4th grade. I remember all the teachers being pissed odd and shocked. They announced it over the intercom system

2001 World Trade Center 9/11
11th grade. I remember coming to school in the morning and my friend Kyle saying “did you about the dip shit that crashed a plane into a building?” Then heading there was a second plane. As soon as the final bell rang for 1st period, the principal came over the com and told all students to go to certain areas of the school to watch live coverage. I went to the library and we all watched in awe. No school work was done that day.

2011 Bin Laden killed
I can honestly say, I don’t remember

 

[snackdaddy]

1986 I was sitting at my desk at work. My boss always had this news station on and we heard it on the radio. I saw the footage when I got home.

1995 again, same desk same boss listening to the verdict on the radio. We thought "You gotta be kidding me!"

9/11 I was working with corrections. My shift started at noon. I was up around 6:00 AM because I had to take a quick drive to the Bay Area to pick up my oldest son. Its about a two hour drive. We had the morning news on. We saw the coverage of the first plane. While they were covering it the second plane hit. A studio guy asked the reporter on the scene if he thought it was intentional. The reporter seemed irritated at the stupid question and said "Of course it had to be intentional!"

Then on the drive to the Bay Area we heard on the radio about the other planes and we thought "What the hell is going on?" Our youngest son was with us and he was crying. Scared something bad was going to happen to us. It was an eerie drive that morning. When I got to work the prison was on lockdown.

Bin Laden, well I can't remember so I guess it wasn't as significant. I probably saw it on the news when I got home. I typically watched the evening news at that time.

 

[RamFan503]

Challenger - I was installing carpet in a house. They had the launch on the TV so we stopped to watch with the home owner just exchanging some inane banter. I said something to the effect of "That doesn't look right." as the NASA guy kept announcing the steps of the launch as if nothing had happened. I remember it taking a while before they seemed to actually realize there was a problem though it seemed pretty obvious to me.

OJ - I don't remember anything about what I was doing during the verdict. For the slow speed chase with the infamous Bronco, I was at a bar with a bunch of friends to watch the NBA finals.

What was really weird was that we were in LA for Christmas in '94. My uncle was a former business partner of Al Davis and had several season tickets to the Raiduh games. He invited us to go to the game on Christmas eve that happened to be Joe Montana's last regular season game. Well, we're all sitting there waiting for the game to start and here comes James Gardner walking down the Coliseum steps in an old Raiduh jacket. The dude looked like he just crawled out from under a bridge. Then... about ten minutes later, OJ comes walking down the steps and sits next to Gardner. It was a little surreal.

The Twin Towers - I had just arrived at my office and my secretary had the TV on. The first plane had hit the tower and as I stood there in disbelief, the other plane hit. We all stood and watched - stunned. Nothing got done that day. We all watched the events unfold and nothing else seemed to matter much.

I don't remember where I was when Bin Laden was allegedly taken out. Sorry to show my tin foil hat here but I still question the idea that we buried the body at sea under the guise of honoring Islamic tradition (which it didn't) with no pictures of the body aside from some ridiculously hazy picture taken during the raid and the CIA sealing all DNA evidence under a rule that allows them to avoid the freedom of information act. The excuses just don't add up to me.

I have no doubt the Navy Seals did their job and took out who they were told was Bin Laden. The rest just smacks of a cover up. My guess is that Bin Laden died from Kidney failure in some cave. Sorry - that's what I believe.