Yay. The power went off over much of campus for a little while. But the emergency power came on. Of course, the computers don't really like the emergency power. Thus, they get all upset and go into a sort of catatonic state. Very interesting to observe.
I get back into my room after eating lunch, and notice that all the lights on my computer are blinking wildly. Since this is the point where I am forced to go to work, I turn my computer off and head over to Longview Hall.
Most of the rooms are dark, except for a couple of classrooms that flatly refuse to admit they have no power and manage to have their lights on anyway. The students are milling around in halls, wondering whether class is canceled, while the professors are milling around in the halls, jockeying for the rooms with lights. I wander into the labs and notice that one computer is still on. How, I do not know, but it is. It's probably to stupid to realize that it's supposed to have no power.
After a few minutes, the lights flicker back on, and a collective groan rises from all the students. I spend about 10 minutes power-cycling all two-thirds of the computers in the labs, as they're apparently stuck in sleep mode. I then proceed to fix the paper jams in the printers, and everything is running merrily again.
It could have been worse, though. We could have had a situation like there is in this little town in Sicily.
And now it's time to play games and goof around for the next two hours, until I can get back to my room and see if my computer still works.
Posted by Ardith at April 8, 2004 01:05 PM | TrackBack