Our thought are with Massachusetts

For the last four years, going on five now, Daisy and I have traveled to Salem, MA each fall. The streets of Salem are as familiar to us as an old friend, and when we finally see the first highway signs emblazoned with little pilgrim hats when we cross the Connecticut/Massachusetts border, it always feels like a homecoming for us. We often refer to ourselves as partial-year residents of Massachusetts, never as vacationers or tourists.

I arrived at the gym here in Pittsburgh about 15 minutes after the bombs went off in Boston. I didn't have the radio tuned to a news station on my way there, so I was unaware of what had happened until I got to the gym floor and looked up at the TVs suspended above the cardio area.

Because of our close connection to Massachusetts, I felt personally connected to the events unfolding onscreen in ways that I haven't felt during some of the tragedies that have befallen our country since 9/11. Even as I was heartened to see spectators and runners alike dashing toward the fallen along with the emergency workers, I felt deeply stunned by the attack.

Although there is no one in Salem that Daisy and I know on a very personal level, I can name at least a dozen people that we see and talk to each and every year in Salem who I was suddenly afraid I might see being whisked away in a wheelchair on the screen in front of me.

Salem is about an hour's travel time from Boston by the ferry and less than that by the train, and many Salem residents work in Boston. I knew it was quite likely that many of those residents that we pass on Salem's streets and in its parks each year were participating in the race and were in the crowds cheering the runners on.

Although it took us some time to find words the words to express ourselves after this tragedy, Daisy and I wanted to make sure everyone knows that our thoughts are with all of the people who experienced yesterday's bombings firsthand, wherever you are from - Massachusetts or another state or another country altogether. We wish you a smooth recovery. To those that lost someone dear to them, we offer you our tears and prayers to you.

The whole country stands with you, Boston. May you find peace again soon.

Penn and Daisy

Leave tattling for the kids: a Gear Box Theory re-post

Earlier today, I posted to my other blog, Gear Box Theory, about a situation that recently came up in the tech world that I feel regards appropriateness, in speech when in public, posts when on Twitter, and how we react to such things. I think it's worth repeating, so I'm reposting it here.

From Gear Box Theory: "Just another lesson in how being a tattle-tale on Twitter can get you fired"