Re: OFFTOPIC:

CT> Not to speak of issues of how to move in and move out CT> servers!!!!!

This reminds me of a funny story, and since it's Friday, I'll share it. I once worked at a church run university, and their computer room was in the basement of their administration building. This was back in the days when main frames were HEAVY. We were moving in a new CPU. It was in a very large, heavy cabinet, and there was another cabinet bolted to it. No one wanted to rock the boat by disconnecting the two (many wires between them), so the systems people decided to move them both down the stairs together.

A hi-lo was brought in. I corrugated metal ramp was placed on the stair steps. This is like those ramps that slide out of the back of a u-haul. A single moving strap was wrapped around both components. Together these must have weighed on the order of a ton or more. Several of us, including the chief sys admin, grabbed hold of the strap. One guy got at the bottom of the stairs to steady the unit when it came down. The hi-lo operator got ready--the strap was attached to the hi-lo as well. And we shoved the unit over the edge of the ramp and down the stairs.

The unit tipped. The guy at the bottom got scared and ran like hell (good thing too), the strap broke, and the entire thing went crashing down to the floor. The poor sys admin never let go of the strap--I think he had it wrapped around his hands, and he rode on his knees all the way down that corrugated metal ramp.

The sys admin was in a lot of pain, and you could tell he wanted to cuss up a storm, but it was a religious institution, so he contented himself with dancing around silently in pain, and also with a lot of muttering.

The whole building shook when that unit hit bottom, and there were two nice dents in the floor for years afterwards.

I was lucky. I got away with rope burns from the strap being jerked out of my hands. We were all lucky, actually. Someone could easily have been killed.

Best regards,

Jonathan
mailto:jonathan_at_gennick.com Received on Fri Dec 08 2000 - 11:00:09 CST