The universe is out to get me (proof)

[dsrtao]

I and my minion just deinstalled a router. It had been serving as the entry point for a T1 line that had been decommissioned some weeks ago, and now it was time to stop sucking down watts.

On my way out of the closet, I stop at a user's desk. "Hey, did I just kill the Internet?" I joke.

tappity-tap-tap... "Yes."

Sure enough, Google wouldn't come up and he couldn't ping the outside world. How could this be? We just removed a router that by definition couldn't be used to get anywhere. Any problems should have shown up weeks ago when we brought down the T1. The universe hates me!

Then it turned out he couldn't ping anything, even the default router. Well, that didn't change. We located his outlet number, went to the wall panel, traced it down to the switch... which was right under where we pulled the router. And his ethernet cable was wobbly in the socket. After we replaced that cable, all was better. All the other cables were good.

What were the odds that I made the joke to the one person who was actually affected? The universe, it is perverse.

Comments

[dlevey.livejournal.com]

The universe might be perverse, but in this case it was *good*.

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

You did ask him the question at the exact moment when it would do him the most good, with the least effort for you.

The universe is kind, but not clear.

(You can't kill the Internet. But I, at my current job, could come fairly close....)

[dsrtao]

Many were the times that we would joke about the power of the fully armed and operational DDoS.

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

"We pwns yr data. Pays us moarz." :-)

(I have sometimes wondered what would happen if my employer decided to tip the balance against virus writers and evil web pages.)

[dglenn.livejournal.com]

Remember, God is an iron.