11:44 AM:

The first e-mail I saw this morning was asking to make sure my family was all right, and another came right on its heels, so I figure I'd better address this here.

A plane came down in the Rockaways this morning. As mentioned here many times in the past, my family lived in Far Rockaway (in the Rockaways) for most of my life, and while they've since moved, I still have cousins and friends and stuff there.

It turns out, however, that the crash was in Belle Harbor (also in the Rockaways), a neighborhood or two over. I probably know some people in Belle Harbor, if only through the camp at which I work, but nobody comes to mind offhand. The upshot of this is that my family and friends, at least, are fine.

We now return you to the world in progress... [sigh]