5 years ago, i remembered i was working hard into the night with Yewyeen (if she can remember!) on trying to get tons of artwork released into the system that i was working in at that time.

As that was just about when the current operating system was just about to be released, the volume of work was really overwhelming at a time when there was only the two of us. Some other colleagues were also working late into the night doing the operational coordination activities for the product groups and the supply chain folks.

Being a ADD guy that i am, i was doing some web surfing on the usual news sites (none of these RSS feeds, the digg/reddit/technorati portals then) and right on the main pages across the websites was a common picture of a building admist smoke.

It was almost at that same time that Mamiko, another colleauge that was working late, came storming into the lab and said that the WTC was on fire and it was caused by a plane that crashed right into it.

There was so much confusion and work did stop for a while. Trying to view videos off CNN and the major news portals were pretty unsuccessful, since it was the destinations that probably the whole wired world was trying to connect to at that time. Then we realise the futility of us just talking about it, and we went back to work.

In the weeks to come, there were several other impacts to the operational work. Initially, part of my work scope contined on since we had an electronic means to transfer bits around, but that was further impacted due so network issues and the unrealistic volume that needs to go through the pipe. Eventually, the planes were allowed to fly out from USA and I recalled having to rush down to the airports and hotels in Singapore in the early morning to get bits and tapes from Redmond colleagues and direct the hand-delivered stuffs to the supply chain. How cool and nerve-wrecking was that!

There was a point in that period where i wondered why we were even bothered about continuing on with the release. Guess the world was more resilient than i thought, or just unconcerned from afar?

Since then, on a personal level, things have changed so much.

I'm no longer working in Singapore; Sharon and I are finally staying together after years of marriage; i've became a grand-uncle (of 3!); and for the first time in many years, i realized that i cannot stand working with idiots! It must have been the time in the army and the 2.5 years of exposure to incompetence at the highlest level that numbed me to it. Perhaps i need to go back into the army for a while.

Wait... i didnt just think of that! No way!

Time just flies so fast.....