The Day of the Blackout
It was just an ordinary rainy morning on October 16. It was one of those mornings I struggled to get out of bed as the cooler air began to claim its ground and settle in on the valley for what I knew would be the beginnings of a soon to be long winter. I pushed through sending the kids off to school and grabbing a cup of coffee. I jumped in my car to back out of the garage and heard a kerplunk. Afraid to pull back in the garage for fear of running over whatever it was I had just run over, I hopped out in the pouring rain to see what I destroyed. Of course, a soccer ball. One I guess I must have forgotten to put away, right? Finally, off to work I went.
This gloomy somewhat backward kind of Wednesday was now underway in its ordinary fashion and then it happened—a flicker and a beep of the computer battery backup. Immediately, I panicked; praying I hadn’t lost what I was working on, but right back up the power was on and I was up and running—smooth sailing ahead.
Again, more of a flicker with a pause this time, and the power went off for a second time. I had things that needed to be done. I checked my electronics hoping the double back to back outage hadn’t harmed any of the equipment and finally, I was up and running again. I told myself it was time to get the day started.
Guess what? The power went out for a third time! Everything was off--phones, lights, computers, everything. I sat in the darkness of my office waiting for something to happen. But nothing was turning back on. I decided to venture upstairs to see just what was going on. Well, some kind of a storm was certainly happening outside, but I didn’t think it would impact productivity too much. So, I grabbed another cup of coffee and chatted a bit with my co-workers while waiting. Surely, not too much longer, I thought. I walked around a bit thinking about how I could get some things done in the dark with no equipment or phones. I will admit I was growing impatient as we were informed it could be late in the afternoon until restoration of power and even some schools were dismissing early.
This day was not turning out so well.
Our boss, Jamie Bordas, decided he was treating us to an early lunch while we waited for the electric company to restore the power. Such a nice gesture and great idea.
Off to lunch we went as a group of co-workers and a group of friends. What started as a rough morning turned out to be a fun outing. Upon our return, the light shined bright and IT had us operating as if nothing had ever happened. All was well. But, one thing I got out of today and that is one of those reminders of how lucky we are to have such a generous boss. Thank you, Jamie. Your generosity turned a miserable rainy day into a time to enhance our working relationships as friends and allowed us to take time for each other. The day of the blackout ended up being a happy one in the end.
;)
