When the OldTools List Goes Down

The OldTools email listserver is somewhere at Cornell University. I've heard that it is on an aging PC and I imagine that it is somewhere in the bowels of an old building there. In my minds eye I see a dusty PC sitting on a cart, shoved into the corner of a hallway. Every once in a while the machine goes wonky and the list goes down. Suddenly, several hundred seriously tool-addicted Porch denizens are cut off from each other. The virtual silence is deafening...

Subject:     Re:  Is anyone there!?
Sent:        12/9/98
From:        TomPrice@aol.com
To:          Old Tools

Clarke wrote:

>AM I missing something or has there been a hardware problem?

Hardware problem. Yep, the list was down. 

Funny how I react to the periodic list outages. I'm usually a bit numb at 
first. I sit at the computer and spasmodically trigger downloads and 
nothing comes out. "Dry hole" I tell myself. Yep. List is dow-n-n-n. Yep. 
No more friendly beep from my aging Mac when more ballast from the Porch 
arrives. No more SWMBO standing at the basement stairs and announcing 
"You have Mail" in that AOL-announcer voice of hers. Nope. Quiet descends 
on my little corner of the East coast. "Well that's just fine" I tell 
myself, "That's just FREAKING FINE."

I take to the shop like a wounded animal returning to the lair. I fixate 
on some project and pour my energy into it. [This time it was renovating 
the ancient Shopsmith I snagged this summer. This was a lot like 
refurbishing a huge Stanley plane. Gonna use it for a lathe.] I get out 
my Galoot toys and have at it. Periodically I return to the computer and 
try another download. "Dry hole", I say. Yep. Tapping the screen does not 
help.

I cruise Ebay and look at the auctions. I call Steve Reynolds at work. 
"Looks like the list is down" one of us will say. "Yep, it's down" we'll 
say in unison, "Dead as a doornail." If the flea market is open, I'll end 
up there wandering around in a distracted manner. "List is down" I'll 
announce to no one in particular, "The List is down-n-n-n-n." The vendors 
try not to stare at me.

This time of year, the flea market is closed and garage sales are few and 
far between. I'll sit in the car in the driveway with my Galoot hat on 
slowly tapping the steering wheel with a rusty auger bit. "Zee List eet 
eez down", I'll mutter over and over, "Eet eez down, down, down-n-n-n..."

Finally, when I have given up all hope, the computer murmers softly and I 
can hear 40 or 50 messages ticking onto the hard drive. The computer 
beeps and yes, I Have Mail. Suddenly the air seems a few degrees warmer. 
"The List is back", I casually announce to SWMBO. She rolls her eyes and 
pats me on the shoulder. "That's nice" she says. "I'm glad for you." 

List is back. Hot damn.
****************************
Tom Price (TomPrice@aol.com)
Will Work For Tools

Back to The Galoots Progress

Last revised on 6/6/99