With the Convocation now over at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg (six hours drive from me), I decided to pull out the laptop, sink into my sofa, and think out loud...

- I can't remember how many kids were slaughtered at Columbine High School, in Denver, Colorado. The last count here was 30. The number goes up as the wounded die in hospitals. Yesterday, the number of dead climbed at a fast rate. I kept my radio on.

- I do not know what laws exist on their campus. I do wonder if any students with legal weapons and legal conceal/carry permits were armed and anywhere near the shooting. I also wonder if the tragedies are causing any debate over the self-defense issue. Clearly, the campus police cannot be everywhere every moment, even if prepared.

- This mass killing was "abstract news" for me (since my wife and I had no direct connections to anyone there) - until I took myself out of intellectual mode, took myself back to age 18 on my campus of Colorado State University, with my friends in Ellis Hall Dormitory, and imagined just one, good, close friend among those killed. The emotional sadness then washed over me. It is the only way to break from the "Age of Information".

- Here in Virginia, while running errands, I've watched "us". People who normally would not think of getting intimate, let alone personal during the normal day, are looking you in the eyes and asking if you "know" anyone at Virginia Tech... which is code for "Has anyone you loved been killed?" The bank teller asked, the grocery check-out woman asked and said she regretted the killer was dead - because she wanted him to live long, tortured life in a cold cell. The hardware store woman and I talked about it. I even received an email from an acquaintance in England - had I lost anyone?

- I wondered how many young bodies were being flown out of state for funerals. The Tech campus is closed to classes the remainder of this week. Counseling services, etc. are being offered, but there's another story here:

A team of people were needed to photograph every hole blown in every wall, desk, head or chest, from every angle. Once that was done, another team came in to clean up what was certainly a horrific mess. Another team must come in after them to get all the building, equipment, and furniture damage repaired or replaced...leaving no visual reminders. I have mixed feelings about this.

Morticians are trying to make bodies "presentable" for those who insist on open caskets for the funerals of their loved ones.

Parents, siblings, children, and friends are helping choose coffins while still in a daze from yesterday.

Some students are feeling a huge mix of relief and guilt that they were slower at finishing exams, which kept them from leaving their second floor classroom sooner, and becoming one of the first-floor targets.

Some students are completely shaken, having always assumed they were SAFE in that small town on that small campus in that rural area of Virginia. This sort of nightmare was assigned to "those big cities".

My deepest sympathies to those who remain behind.

Ronn.