Technology Free Office Days

We arrived at work on Monday to find no phones, no internet, no access to material stored on the server, and some unusual error messages about unrecognized users.  At first, we didn't think much about it--several times a year, our system goes down, although usually we can access part of it.  But on Monday, we couldn't even use programs like Microsoft Word, and we couldn't access our e-mail from a distance.

We found out that the Ft. Lauderdale campus was experiencing the same thing, so we thought it was a multi-campus server kind of issue.  But by the middle of the day, we found out that it was some sort of cyber attack, and yesterday, nothing had been restored.

I am amazed at the ways that our faculty invent work-arounds.  We're near the end of the term, so much of the work left to do is hands-on work in the lab.  It still surprises me how much that work needs some computer access, and some of that access works better when the network is up.  But even if it's not, there's some other ways.  Most of us have been teaching long enough that we remember how to teach with markers when we can't use our PowerPoints.  And we're still using paper textbooks for the most part.

My work has ground to a halt.  I do have some of the documents stored elsewhere, and I could edit, but I'm waiting just to see what happens.  In the meantime, I've got a lot of reading done.

A few months ago, I got the graphic novel adaptation of Octavia Butler's Kindred, but I found it hard to read it the way I would a traditional novel.  But on Monday, I finished reading it in the morning.  I needed to stay on campus through the afternoon, so I picked up The Handmaid's Tale; as I had driven to work hearing about the fall of Afghanistan, I had thought about that novel, and it was in the office, so why not?

It was interesting reading the two of them on the same day, interesting to read two different texts that are essentially about the same process of how humans adapt to situations that seem unthinkable at first.  Both novels hold up well, but in fact, I'd go beyond that.  They have a timeless kind of quality, and both authors show such skill and talent that most narratives never approach.

Yesterday I came to the office late, because we had a Microsoft Teams meeting at 9:00.  This situation has reminded me of why a smart phone might be a good tool to have, but I don't have one yet.  And even if I did, my fellow campus directors haven't been able to access Teams on their smart phones, so I wouldn't have taken the risk yesterday, even if I had a smart phone.  Yesterday afternoon, I read The Close, Chloe Breyer's memoir of a first year at seminary back in the late 90's.  When I checked it out from the library, I loved it so much that I bought a copy.  Reading it again, I'm not sure I need to keep it, although it was one of the books that made me yearn for seminary.

Does it still make me yearn for seminary?  Perhaps.  Or just to be so young and unencumbered again.

But I am not young and unencumbered.  Let me finish getting ready to go to the office to see what the situation is there.