Sept. 11 was probably one of the longest days of my life. When "Sept. 11" happened, I was working at a out of town trade show at the San Diego Convention center. That morning as I was leaving for work, I heard something about a plane crash but didn't pay much attention. Slowly, the news trickled in, and we were able to bring a radio to connect to the outside world. Soon, we were flooded with calls from exhibitors who wouldn't be able to attend the trade show. We had a lot of people back out of the trade show that day because they couldn't travel (a lot of them were coming in from the East Coast). There was no way it would be canceled although all everyone wanted to do was go home and be with their families. My co-workers and I were stuck in the convention center in downtown San Diego, near numerous naval bases, and everyone was scared that something was going to happen. One coworker was friends with someone in a nearby military base, and it was confirmed that the convention center was on the list as a potential target. That was pretty scary. I went back to my hotel and could not escape the images on the television. It was too disturbing for me...It was scary being alone that night, away from family and friends.

The next day, we received a bomb threat at the convention center, and had to evacuate. We were stationed near the marina, and waited there for probably 20 minutes until they told us we could go back in. Some people didn't, some people did. I did go back in. A lot of us were pretty shaken. All I wanted to do was go home and get away from all this. A couple days later, I was able to go home. That surely was the longest week of my life (does time pass a lot slower in San Diego or what?).

I will be going back to the San Diego Conv Center next week, and I will never forget what happened there last..