Blackout!
This morning, the power on campus went off about 8:15. I got a call driving in to work that the power in Reynolda was out and that everything was super dark on the 3rd floor. I got in, and sure enough, it was plenty dark - and the AC was obviously not on. Today is in the high 80s. *sigh*
Of course, nothing works - no lights, no AC, no fan to keep cool. Our laptops work, but you have to run off battery. Nothing will print, since they need power, etc.
So at about 9:15, our team decided to do an offsite meeting at Cloverdale Kitchen over breakfast. We got back to the office - still no power - and I began hearing rumors that a squirrel got fried in a substation downtown and that’s what caused the power outage. That rumor is still unsubstantiated, I might add.
Power came back on a little before 11, so all was not lost. But it was a very strange way to begin the day. And it was a reminder of how tied we are to electronics, especially email. I kept waiting to get an email from Kevin Cox, our director of the news service, who is the official spokesperson for things like this. But had to settle for voicemail, alas.
Our power went off, too, where I work in Alexandria, VA, at Virginia Theological Seminary. I am a tech support person and therefore somewhat responsible when this happens. In fact, it happened two times on June 4th and the power outage essentially continued all work day of June 5 as well. I guess your WFU support folks are more on top of things. Tomorrow is 6/6 and the 42nd anniversary of our (first time) graduation on the quad: congratulations Beth Pirkle (spouse since 1967), Elaine, Lu, Mike and Gordon, classmates.
- Thursday, June 5, 2008 6:42 pm