The new normal

Another storm, another power outage. Seriously, ComEd? A hundred years in the Upper Midwest and you still haven't gotten this figured out yet? Today's was the oddest and most frustrating yet. Only about half the circuits failed, so the emergency generator didn't kick in. But the lights were flickering, so we powered unplugged our machines to protect against surges. We couldn't have done much on them in any case, since IT powered down the servers for much the same reason, so we didn't have connectivity or even local access to our ILS software.

I spent the time well. A couple of Francophone colleagues were chatting away, so me and another learner joined them for a little impromptu language practice. I distributed the "Sindhi Sweets" from Chandigarh that another co-worker had brought in. (Anyone know what mewa means in this context?) And then I settled down with a displaced "cousin" temporarily housed in our department and he told me all about the archival work he does at a non-profit. All I had to share in return were second-hand tales of mollpeartree's research exploits.

Just minutes before I began my afternoon shift, we got the all clear. Patrons began to filter in (I fielded at least four calls asking whether we were back up yet) but we stayed at about half the level of occupancy compared to last week. The crotchety old bastard was back again, but allowed himself to be shooed away. (Still, took down your name and sent it to my boss, Mr Dicko Smoko!)