So this morning, as I do most mornings, I stumbled out of bed and beelined it to my office, where I do my lengthy early-morning round of various Internet things … check my personal and TWU e-mail, check the TWU Web site, peruse the latest on Blackboard, make my blog rounds (hey Gary, gimme something new, would you? and don’t even get me started on Julie …), you know, the usual.
I noticed on the library science listserv, cassandra, an e-mail from someone saying the TWU Web site was down … which immediately sent me to see for myself, and sure enough, it was asking for a login to get to the homepage. The homepage! Given that I hadn’t been on the server in a couple of days, and certainly wouldn’t have applied login security to the entire TWU Web site, I figured that it was someone in ITS doing something and that they’d most certainly get it fixed.
WRONG. On my way to work, I got a phone call from someone in my office who had been fielding numerous phone calls from all manner of TWU people, including (this is rich) the HELP DESK — yes, the people employed to fix problems, staffed by a division of IS people — asking when the Web site would be up again. My coworker called me on my cell phone and said, “Um, Liz, you coming in today? ‘Cause everyone’s panicking about the Web site.” I was, at the time of her call, about three minutes away… and I know it was three minutes, because I called the help desk immediately after her call and sat on hold for three minutes. The guy told me ITS said it was my fault and I was the person who would be fixing it.
I stormed into my office, literally in a tizzy, and saw my phone line was blinking (meaning someone was on hold). I answered and it was the head of ITS calling to find out what the problem was. We both logged onto the server and discovered it was an automatic OS update last night that triggered some reset security settings. “We’ve seen this before,” he said to me. [evil thoughts censored]
Meanwhile, I was reading a note left on my desk by the aforementioned coworker. It read: “TWU homepage is down. People are in a panic. Aaargh!”
It’s now 9 a.m. and I feel I’ve had my share of stress and excitement for the day. Is it quittin’ time yet?
[Not only is it not yet quittin’ time, but today’s a practicum day. {sigh}]