Network Down Day

[slowfox]

At about 8.45am yesterday, contractors working on campus cut through the electricity cable that supplied the server room.

The network, unsurprisingly, went down... and didn't resurface for the rest of the day. This was, obviously, somewhat frustrating, given that all of my work is network based.

But what was really scary was that it wasn't a mechanical digger that accidentally ripped through the power line. It wasn't some guy with a pneumatic drill, or even a pick-axe.

Nope, it was a man with a spade. One of my colleagues was passing at The Moment, and apparently there was a shower of sparks and stuff (so, as an aside, it's a miracle that Man With Spade survived).

One would rather suspect that budgeting for armoured cables for the power-supply is inching up the budgetary agenda just about now...

Comments

[uninvitedcat]

So did you get a day off, or did you have to hang around in case it all came back up again at some point?

[slowfox]

We hung around until 4.30, at which point we all drifted off. The network was restored at 6, apparently, so waiting around for the remaining hour would've been pointless...

[aome]

Yikes! There was an article in the paper today about how a longtime farmer's market participant - who also maintained the grounds and buildings out of love for the place - accidentally electrocuted himself (to death) yesterday while repairing something. :(

So, what did you do all day since the network was down?

[slowfox]

Well, in the morning I was able to work on a PowerPoint presentation (even though half of it was on a network drive, I was able to pick up from where I left off, and merged the two together yesterday).

Woe - that's sad news about the farmers' market person :-( Electricity is scary stuff at times.

[linaelyn]

Oh my goodness! What a lucky break for the fellow with the spade! Frustrating to be at loose ends yourself, though. Hope things are back up and running soon.

[slowfox]

Yeah, they managed to get the network back up by 6pm, so we had full service back yesterday. It was a bit of a frustrating day, though - because we're so network dependent in our role, we don't really have much in the way of stuff to do when the network's not there... Mebbe I should have a book or two stashed away somewhere as insurance...