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CTyankee

(63,771 posts)
Tue Mar 22, 2016, 08:24 AM Mar 2016

DFW: if you are reading DU now, please check in and let us know if you are allright!

We had a nice exchange about Brussels when I was getting ready for trip there. I know you are based somewhere near there and travel a great deal for your work. I hope you were not at the airport at the time of the bombing.

36 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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DFW: if you are reading DU now, please check in and let us know if you are allright! (Original Post) CTyankee Mar 2016 OP
K n R. 1st DUer we thought of this am. 7wo7rees Mar 2016 #1
I thought of him, too unc70 Mar 2016 #2
He travels a lot for his work and goes to Paris frequently. CTyankee Mar 2016 #3
Kick for exposure NV Whino Mar 2016 #4
Want to hear from BelgianMadCow as well malaise Mar 2016 #5
Maybe do PM's to them as well...if the login, they should see the new mail indicator. SoapBox Mar 2016 #6
Among the people I have thought of this morning as well.... Bluenorthwest Mar 2016 #7
K&R smirkymonkey Mar 2016 #8
yes, I hope you are ok DFW my friend! nt steve2470 Mar 2016 #9
K n R. nt 7wo7rees Mar 2016 #10
Wel, he's based in Dusseldorf, Germany KamaAina Mar 2016 #11
Thanks, KA. He was very helpful to me when I was "curating' my Belgium trip... CTyankee Mar 2016 #12
I just got done messaging DFW on Facebook! He is OK. CaliforniaPeggy Mar 2016 #13
Thanks, Peggy! Glad he's OK! What a relief! CTyankee Mar 2016 #14
Thank you. nt msanthrope Mar 2016 #15
thank you for the info, Peggy, you and he are two of the best! steve2470 Mar 2016 #16
+1000 a la izquierda Mar 2016 #18
Thank you Peggy. It is such a relief to know he is OK. 7wo7rees Mar 2016 #17
Thanks heavens he is okay. blue neen Mar 2016 #21
Thanks for posting this. Great to hear he is ok. Nt karynnj Mar 2016 #22
Oh good. MissB Mar 2016 #24
thank you! renate Mar 2016 #30
Hey DFW-- panader0 Mar 2016 #19
good lord Skittles Mar 2016 #20
Been thinking about DFW. Thanks for this thread, & Peggy for checking in. We have DUers everywhere Hekate Mar 2016 #23
X1000 and then more. 7wo7rees Mar 2016 #25
Thank you all for posting. I am touched by all this. DFW Mar 2016 #26
I hope you'll consider staying. DUers really value your insights from where you CTyankee Mar 2016 #27
I sent you a PM nt steve2470 Mar 2016 #28
DFW you and your family are much loved. Go away if you must but please check in every now and then. 7wo7rees Mar 2016 #29
It's not that I felt I must go. It was strictly voluntary DFW Mar 2016 #31
Give DU another try at end of July JustABozoOnThisBus Mar 2016 #32
I probably will. I just got from Paris an hour ago. DFW Mar 2016 #35
"...huge karma debt,..." OriginalGeek Mar 2016 #33
Do what you need to do, and I can't believe the way you've been treated here. Boomerproud Mar 2016 #34
Oh, I can believe it! DFW Mar 2016 #36

7wo7rees

(5,128 posts)
1. K n R. 1st DUer we thought of this am.
Tue Mar 22, 2016, 09:09 AM
Mar 2016

Hope he is OK and checks in.
Quite sure though his is probably very busy.
Thoughts and prayers......

CTyankee

(63,771 posts)
3. He travels a lot for his work and goes to Paris frequently.
Tue Mar 22, 2016, 09:42 AM
Mar 2016

He rated the hotel I had booked and told me it was great (I got a great deal on Travelocity). Gave me tips on places to eat near our hotel on Grand Place.

Brussels is second only to Paris in beautiful Art Nouveau design throughout the city but it's a slog to visit them all. It was a great trip.

Jeez, now that I think about DFW I get nervous. He could very well have been in that airport, given the regularity of his travel...

SoapBox

(18,791 posts)
6. Maybe do PM's to them as well...if the login, they should see the new mail indicator.
Tue Mar 22, 2016, 11:07 AM
Mar 2016

Just a thought.

 

Bluenorthwest

(45,319 posts)
7. Among the people I have thought of this morning as well....
Tue Mar 22, 2016, 11:22 AM
Mar 2016

I like Brussels and always enjoy his posts.

 

KamaAina

(78,249 posts)
11. Wel, he's based in Dusseldorf, Germany
Tue Mar 22, 2016, 05:14 PM
Mar 2016

but yeah, he gets around. We had a similar scare when the Germanwings flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf went down last year. Turns out he's taken that flight in the past.

CTyankee

(63,771 posts)
12. Thanks, KA. He was very helpful to me when I was "curating' my Belgium trip...
Tue Mar 22, 2016, 05:19 PM
Mar 2016

He had a great knowledge base of Brussels.

It was a nice trip. Bruges Madonna, Ghent Altarpiece...what's not to love...

CaliforniaPeggy

(149,308 posts)
13. I just got done messaging DFW on Facebook! He is OK.
Tue Mar 22, 2016, 06:19 PM
Mar 2016

Here's part of what he said:

I saw subway cars I usually ride in, completely demolished, burned to a crisp and torn to metal shards

Tell those who asked I'm touched and humbled that they remembered me enough to bother to ask, and I thank them for their thoughts






CTyankee

(63,771 posts)
14. Thanks, Peggy! Glad he's OK! What a relief!
Tue Mar 22, 2016, 08:13 PM
Mar 2016

I hope he goes on DU and tells us about the experience. It sounds like a searing time for him and I'm glad he's fine.

7wo7rees

(5,128 posts)
17. Thank you Peggy. It is such a relief to know he is OK.
Tue Mar 22, 2016, 09:50 PM
Mar 2016

He should not be surprised at being loved and cared about. He has been a part of DU for far too long!
Thank you again and please send him lots of hugs.

Hekate

(90,202 posts)
23. Been thinking about DFW. Thanks for this thread, & Peggy for checking in. We have DUers everywhere
Tue Mar 22, 2016, 11:36 PM
Mar 2016

So glad to hear DFW is okay. Anybody else?

7wo7rees

(5,128 posts)
25. X1000 and then more.
Wed Mar 23, 2016, 12:57 AM
Mar 2016

DU is the best.

Most of all is lots of love to DFW and all his friends and family.

DFW

(54,057 posts)
26. Thank you all for posting. I am touched by all this.
Wed Mar 23, 2016, 08:22 AM
Mar 2016

Though I left the account open for future reference, I have basically left DU. I just didn't think it was worth a big announcement with the usual wordy farewell and accompanying fireworks display, so I did a quiet fade about a month ago.

Peggy told me about this thread, and I am not so unmoved as to ignore it.

I WAS scheduled to go to Brussels yesterday, but due to the short workweek--Friday is a holiday in most of Europe--I decided to move a Friday trip to the Utrecht area in Holland up to Tuesday, and do Brussels today (Wednesday). By the time I got to Utrecht, the news was all over. I called all of my friends in Belgium, and none of them had been adversely affected, fortunately. Most of them knew someone who was, however. Belgium is not a big country. Needless to say, they advised me to let my Brussels appointments go this week, and that is advice I will be heeding. They said there were long security lines everywhere, including the train stations. Air travel in and out of Zavantem will probably be disrupted for a while, and the airports of Antwerp and Charleroi are tiny provincial facilities incapable of handling the immense intercontinental traffic of Zavantem (Brussels airport). I suspect that Schipol (Amsterdam), Köln/Bonn and Düsseldorf here in Germany will be used as alternate landing destinations, and busses/trains will bring people the rest of the way to Belgium. Köln to Brussels is usually only a two hour drive (three, if you intend to find a place to park your car legally).

The basic message, is yes, I managed to dodge another bullet. I always seem to have last minute changes in plans when bombs are scheduled to go off somewhere. I missed getting blown up at Frankfurt by a day a couple of decades back. When a fire broke out at the Düsseldorf airport 20 years ago and dioxin fumes killed a couple dozen people in the terminal I usually fly in and out of, I had blown off travel plans that day at the last minute to bring our daughters and a few of their friends to an amusement park in Holland instead, as they had the day off from school.

I am probably building up, in the words of the fictional Nicholai Hel, a huge karma debt, one that I will have to pay in spades some day. Yesterday was not that day.

To each and every one who asked/inquired: I am humbled by this, and my gratitude goes out to you all.

CTyankee

(63,771 posts)
27. I hope you'll consider staying. DUers really value your insights from where you
Wed Mar 23, 2016, 09:37 AM
Mar 2016

see the world. You help us get a broader view.

If you take a brief respite and come back, you know you have friends here who care about you...

7wo7rees

(5,128 posts)
29. DFW you and your family are much loved. Go away if you must but please check in every now and then.
Wed Mar 23, 2016, 09:34 PM
Mar 2016

Last edited Wed Mar 23, 2016, 10:33 PM - Edit history (1)

Take care. You are missed. There are no words, ljust you and all your loved ones, your friends, your colleagues are all in our thoughts and heart.
Peace.

DFW

(54,057 posts)
31. It's not that I felt I must go. It was strictly voluntary
Thu Mar 24, 2016, 06:06 PM
Mar 2016

I'll check back periodically. It's just that the bile and evil sentiments had come to dominate the home page and most of the discussions to the point where there weren't enough posts that seemed worthwhile participating any more. Then a post of mine got (deliberately, to my mind) misinterpreted as comparing Bernie Sanders to Hitler, and hidden for that reason, and that did it for me. This has become Karl Rove's board, and I am perfectly content to wait until the primaries are over, Rove's surrogates are gone, and we can concentrate on the main goal again, i.e. making sure there is a Democrat in the White House, and that he (or she) keeps their eyes on making things better, not more complicated.

I deeply appreciate (and am frankly amazed at, in a very positive sense) the sentiments like yours. It's not like I was ever a major player on DU. Your posts are the reason I'll be back some day.

I was in Paris today, by the way. The Gare du Nord looked like an armed camp, and there are now security checks (in and out) at the train station just like the airport--something for which the train station was never designed. But Brussels is on everyone's mind, and no one objected. I'll be back in Brussels next week. I do not intend to become debris on the side of a wall just yet.

JustABozoOnThisBus

(23,283 posts)
32. Give DU another try at end of July
Thu Mar 24, 2016, 06:13 PM
Mar 2016

Once the Democratic convention is done, and a day or two of gloating and moaning is done, thing should settle down considerably.

Glad you're safe, and hope the "high-security armed camp" look is not the new normal for Europe.

DFW

(54,057 posts)
35. I probably will. I just got from Paris an hour ago.
Thu Mar 24, 2016, 06:34 PM
Mar 2016

And it WAS a high-security armed camp.

Goethe's "Zauberlehrling (Sorcerer's Apprentice)" has now become reality: Die ich rief, die Geister, die werde ich nun nicht mehr los. The spirits I have summoned, I can no longer be rid of them.

--from another Bozo on this bus!

OriginalGeek

(12,132 posts)
33. "...huge karma debt,..."
Thu Mar 24, 2016, 06:22 PM
Mar 2016

If I was the guy keeping score, you'd be so far ahead just on the basis of your posts here you'd be a karmillionaire. That's not even counting the people you affect in real life.

I can't imagine there's any scorecard in the multi-verse that has you behind. You have improved this world and I thank you for it.
Be well!

Boomerproud

(7,890 posts)
34. Do what you need to do, and I can't believe the way you've been treated here.
Thu Mar 24, 2016, 06:33 PM
Mar 2016

Please let us know how you are when you can. You are very valuable to us, especially now.

DFW

(54,057 posts)
36. Oh, I can believe it!
Thu Mar 24, 2016, 06:42 PM
Mar 2016


I don't have exclusive privileges--there have been plenty that have preceded me in that regard.

I'll see whats going on after the convention:
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