Holding on by a thread

Connected. That word describes our society right down to the letter. On a typical day I have the ability to make phone calls, both on landlines and cell. I have the ability to send emails all over the globe, connect to websites with wealth's of information. Info from anyone on the planet. I have the ability to send messages instantly to computers and other phones directly from my cell phone or computer. Connected, communication any time any place. Or at least we think so...

I'm often reminded how fragile our "infrastructure" really is. Not long ago all of LAX air traffic was shut down because one network card, in one computer malfunctioned. Today a similar situation took place in Sparta. Was it of the same magnitude as LAX. Well to the people of Sparta, maybe it was. Around 9:00 am this morning i was doing some work in the office when i noticed my instant messenger went offline. This is not uncommon, so i reboot our router. As the router rebooted i reached for the office phone to make a call. All three lines were dead.

The rest of the morning was spent with people, but yet i think we all felt someone isolated and alone. Lack of communication in the information age immediately begins the wondering process. What the heck is going on? As minutes turned into hours i began to see the magnitude of the situation. Not only was my office down, but so was every BenLomand customer in Sparta. Sure we are a small town. A small town that is almost completely dependent on BenLomand for communication. Restaurants unable to receive calls, unable to place credit card orders, doctors office not able to see patient records (aka cam) 911 centers unable to receive emergency calls. You fill in the blanks and you can see how bad it was. You might say, well everyone has cell phones. True, but as it turns out the main Verizon tower for the city has its fiber lines fed by... you guessed it blomand. So verizon was out also. AT&T seemed fine, because the iPhone became the hub of all communication in our office. Turns out that wasn't much good because everyone else i needed to speak with had either benlomand service, or was a verizon customer. You may say what terrorist act could take out the entire city?

Well it turns out that fiber cable from Mcminnville feeds all our communication to the Sparta Benlomand hub. Today a log truck accidentally clipped said fiber cable and whoosh. The black out. Days like today make me want to go buy a generator and make sure we have lots of fresh water on hand just in case. You never know when something crazy like this will take place. I think i'll spend some time tonight checking our batteries in flash lights and checking the heady emergency plan. Just in case next time its something besides communication, like water or power.