Monday, November 27, 2006

Another Crappy Campus Blackout

Here I am unnecessarily taking refuge in my parents' house.

Last night, the power went out all over campus. Again. Although this doesn't happen often in the absolute sense, it's still intolerably frequent as far as campus-wide power outages are concerned - whether or not it is planned by Plant Operations. I think it's because UBC is stubbornly maintaining their own power utilities, rather than using the apparently more reliable municipal power grid. I guess it's the University desperately trying to establish itself as an independent community where knowledge can flourish...all sponsored by Coca-Cola.

Well, so much for that idea; this is the second time this has happened to me, and at the worst time. It's snowing and cold outside, and the last thing we need is our lighting and heating dying on us. Once again, the building right across the parking lot from me, which runs on the city power grid, is bright, warm, and laughing at us.

This morning, I realized the power was still dead because I woke up to sub-zero temperatures. Thank God I took that candlelit shower before bed, as the hot water was surely gone by the morning. Without power to the computer or the internet servers, I had nothing else to do but roam around outside. With the campus shut down, it was a ghost town out there and the perfect opportunity to take some scenic photos of the white landscape without annoying people getting in the way.

When I came back after a highly productive photography run, the power was still dead. With little hope that power will be restored before the campus residents die of hypothermia, I decided to bus all the way back to my parents' house to ride out this infrastructural disaster. The bus was well away into the trip when my neighbor called me.

The power went back on.

Go figure. These two words pretty much sum up my life. Upon hearing the news, I felt like the whole campus held a huge party after I left. These kinds of things happen so often and so consistently that I would not be wrong to think that power was restored because I left campus. Yeah, that's it. I selflessly and stoically left campus so everyone can have their power and heating back.

I took it for the team.

Snowy forest in front of the SUB
More powdery white stuff than a celebrity house party.

2 Comments:

Blogger Wabisabi said...

A gorgeous picture. Would you mind terribly if I forwarded it to friends ?

By the way, Sic Transit Gloria Mundi has moved. You may wish to update your bookmark to:

www.whatthethundersaid.info

Fri Feb 23, 05:28:00 AM 2007  
Blogger Cosmic Ocean said...

No prob. The link for the photo should be on the page.

Sat Feb 24, 01:27:00 PM 2007  

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