Fasten your seat belts, boys, it's gonna be a bumpy ride

So here's what happened on campus this afternoon, in about the space of two hours:

1. Walking out of my 2:10 class, my TA Nora and I notice that there are a huge bunch of people on the Quad. I say to Nora, "What's going on? Is there a demonstration?" (See #2 for why I might have thought this.) Another student who was going by in the other direction overheard me and said, "Tree branch." Indeed, the very large tree in front of my office building had a very large branch toward the top fall right off. And, since it was during the changeover between classes, someone was hit. Taken away in an ambulance, but thank goodness it was only one person.
2. At 4:00, the entire AU faculty met to discuss the current situation concerning AU President Ben Ladner, blown open earlier this week in a Washington Post story (emailed to me by two alumni within five minutes of each other). I would rather not comment in this kind of public forum concerning my personal response to the issue -- but I will say that I agree with my colleagues at the College of Arts and Sciences and the decision we have all come to. (You AU folk who read my blog are welcome to email me if you'd like to know my opinion -- off the record, natch, for you journalists...) UPDATE: It appears the story is already out at the Post, so now you know what I think. :)
3. Leaving the front of the building with my colleague Eric, we passed the remnants of the fallen tree. We then saw a a fire truck out on Nebraska Avenue. I joked to Eric, "Did your car spontaneously combust again?" He said, "You know, it's possible!" I assumed it had something to do with the tree or something -- and then we saw the blown-out windows of a Reston limousine bus, which had indeed burned up and blown apart. I still have no idea whether said bus was, in fact, heading toward DHS (which is only a block away) but all of Nebraska Avenue got shut down right during rush hour.

All sorts of craziness. At least it finally rained after a month of dryness!

(Tomorrow: More Xan's pics!)