Timeline ET:

8:46 AA 11 hits WTC North Tower
9:03 UA 175 hits WTC South Tower
9:37 AA 77 hits Pentagon
9:59 South World Trade Center tower collapse
10:15 UA 93 crashes in Shanksville, PA
10:28 North World Trade Center tower collapse

I don’t recall what time I woke up this day but I know I was heading into the NetIQ office in Houston, TX early since we (Laura, Chrissy [my-Ex], and I) were working on hands on demo for trade show. So I was driving when the first plane hit WTC North at 7:46AM CT. A minor news report was made that a small plane hit the tower and nothing much was made of it. Then at 8:03AM, when I was just pulling into the parking lot the second plane hit. By this time there was a bit of chatting about if the first plane was a small or larger plane and how a pilot could hit the WTC tower on such a clear day.

When the second plane hit the tone quickly changed. I when into the office and into the game\TV room, which was setup to work on the hands on lab that day with my good friend Laura Bell. This room had a big screen TV and there were probably already 30 people in there watching CNN. This room quickly began to fill and all work started to come to a halt that day. The news was replying the limited footage they had at that time over and over and as they got new footage or interviews those were added to the stream. When the third plane hit the Pentagon at first I believe it was stated that a bomb had gone off there. This was still a very high state of confusion and disbelief, but by now it was clear these were no accidents.

Then the first town fell; now there were maybe 50+ people in the TV room and a few people were trying to go ahold of friends in family in the NYC area or who were traveling that day. At this time I was still traveling about 60% of the time and we had many co-workers around the world traveling this day. On of my co-workers had a brother who worked on the 110 floor in the WTC towers, he was trying to call all friends and family to see if anyone had spoken to his brother. But I don’t think anyone was getting through to NYC since phone lines were tied up or down.

The entire crowd was very quiet at this point and in a state of shock, some people were sitting on the couches and floors with a very blank look on their face. I don’t recall anyone crying or getting overly upset yet, just a state of shock. I don’t recall any news of the Shankville flight going town until a bit later. At 9:28 AM CT the second tower fell and it felt like the air in the room had been taken own and this force was pressing down on you. Most people were now in the TV room, maybe 150 people, and many were sitting on floor, leaning on the walls, and each other.

I don’t really recall much else from that day besides the endless news and replays of the towers being hit and falling. The next day we found out that my co-worker’s brother had stayed home that AM with the best migrate of his life.

I’ve tagged a few friends who shared this memory with me, I don’t really recall who all was in the room at NetIQ that day. If you were please comment on this post, even if you weren’t you are welcome to comment with your memory of the day.

Detailed timeline of day:
http://www.911timeline.net/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_for_the_day_of_the_September_11_attacks

History around what lead up to 9/11: http://www.wanttoknow.info/9-11timeline25pg

Also posted on Facebook here