Fun At RPI

Life at RPI is always an adventure, because the place seems to be a perpetual SNAFU. Today we had a rather nasty set of storms pass through, and one of the transformers got hit by lightening, taking out power to the majority of the residential campus. I was in my room at the time, and got to experience the whole thing first-hand. This is the second time this academic year we've had a transformer blow - the first being when someone tried to fix their toilet and instead flooded the building.

Personally, I love blackouts, so it wasn't too big a problem to me. It has elicited some interesting anecdotes, though. For example, the maintenance guy was telling me that, when it happened, one of the students came out to complain to him that his lights had gone out. The guy politely asked him to notice that the hallway he was standing in was rather dark, too. I'm not sure, but I think the complainer was probably an engineer.

Also, in the "I wish I was a fly on the wall" category, as I was walking to the Student Union (where I'm writing this), I passed a campus tour on its way up to show off the dorms. Apparently, no one told the tour guide the lights were dead. I almost wish I'd followed and watched.

The power will probably be on later, when I get back there. How disappointing - RPI's a lot more fun when things go wrong.