The Bridge

Mom was pretty freaked out last night when she heard about the 35W bridge collapse, so I just wanted to let everyone know that we're fine. The bridge is really close to both our offices -- and to the Metrodome (Mom was particularly worried about that because it was announced that there was a Twins game last night and she thought I might be there) -- but although we do take that route to go visit friends in the Northern suburbs, it's not a road we use every day.

One of the strangest things to see has been the media coverage. As you may know, we have chosen not to have cable, so until Mom called, I didn't realize how much play this was getting nationwide. Around 10:00 p.m., M tuned into the BBC World News on public television and was amazed to see that this was the lead story -- it ran uninterrupted for ten minutes.

We've touched base with a number of folks, including a friend who called last night after seeing "someone who looks just like Mason" being pulled out of a car at the site. Another friend we talked to was in tears -- his wife uses that bridge every day and was on it earlier yesterday evening. One of the newer folks in my old department at work was on the bridge when it happened, but was almost all the way across it when the collapse began, so he was able to drive to safety. He was in before 7:00 a.m. today (myself, I think I'd take a mental health day).

It looks like anyone near a television set is going to be bombarded with this story for quite some time, so you probably don't need me to add anything more -- just wanted to let everyone know that we're okay.