Are you feeling better now about things...?

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My brother-in-law asked me this question at xmas dinner yesterday... Feeling better about things now... hmmm...? with a smile.

I started buying extra stuff about a year a go, got a safe, extra water, extra food, cash, 1st aid stuff, batteries, flashlights, the logical stuff. My husband likes to kid me about it in front of people, oh yes he says, we have enough food and water for the whole neighbor hood and their dogs...

No, i said, I feel about the same. Am hoping things will work themselves thru. Oh, my brother-in-law says, like he's not sure what to think or say now.... i guess i'm one of the poor misguided fanatics.

As Mr. Yourdon says, i know what i know. I have been a software engineer for about 14 years. Jumped from cobol and assembler on the mini computers to client server and now to the web platforms. We just discovered one of our units forgot about an older version of PVCS configuration mgr they had all of our the Database DDL in last weds. We migrated to MS VSS, but somebody forgot to tell the DB guys. Asked Intersolve for an overnight shippment of the current version so we could update, lickety split. We are in the fortune 500 club. We are hunkering down in the bunker watching for some major computer virus assaults, besides the general software boo boos.

And we are pretty good, silly oversite on our part. I wonder how the average guys are sitting. We'll be watching our syndey, japan, and european offices do the roll. I don't expect the world to come to and end at all. Just 1,000's++ of quirky problems, all contributing to to interesting kaos for 3 to six months. Don't feel any different now about it than I did a year ago, who knows what will happen??? We know some things ain't going to work!! ...except am wondering why so many others are "feeling better about it" now - so what's changed except maybe a big American group hug by the news media...?

Nothing that I can see from my end... :(

Gaurdian Angels will be on overtime for the next few months... did you here about the terrorist with the explosive ready-mix in his trunk they caught at the WA/Canadian border? Seattle is in my neck of the woods which was his first stop... am wonder how they possibly could have caught that guy without a little angel help...????

That's going to be our trump card out of this... i'm thinking.. ;)

God bless y'all and Happy New Year, give those guardian angels a help out when ya can... I will if you will, pro bono. ;)

-- KaliHE (KaliHE@hotmail.com), December 26, 1999

Answers

My credentials. I have a BA/MS in computer science. I've been writing software and managing projects for 20 years. I am a Y2K skeptic.

But ... I'm stocked up. I may be a skeptic, but the *fact* of the matter is that this thing is unknowable, no matter what your credentials or experience. So my family has enough food, water and energy to last 3 months. I wish it were more.

Plus, I have a very nice shotgun which I know how to use.

My bet is that y2k won't be so bad. But it could be bad. In fact, it could be disastrous. The possibility is there, so I've been prudent.

Plus, by "y2k" I mean the computer bug itself. Society is a different question. I think it is a VERY high likelihood that there will be major terrorist attacks very soon. Maybe catastrophic terrorist attacks. Anyone who follows the world news knows the logic of this one. We might ride out y2k just fine, but if NYC gets nuked then it won't matter, will it?

On that fine note I retire into my bunker.

-- csman (csman@sorrynospam.org), December 26, 1999.


We set up a relative with a water barrel and pump. She refused to let us fill it for her. She'll fill it Friday. We set her up with a camp stove and fuel. She refused to let us show her how to use it. She'll learn when she needs it. We gave her a "bush box". She didn't listen to our instructions for using it. She'll figure it out. We gave her a gas can as a reserve so she can get to our place in an emergency. She doesn't believe in using gas cans. She'll fill her car on Friday. We gave her food. The only reason she has the food is because we carried into the house and refused to carry it back out. We gave her lanterns and fuel for them. She'll fill them and get them ready Friday. We warned her that problems could begin sooner than Friday at midnight. She said she would be at a late-night church function on Friday.

She wouldn't let us do the things that would make her very well prepared. She wouldn't let us show her anything. Another relative down her street has no preps and plans to go to the first relative's house. Another relative is visiting from a large city whose water system is known to be non-compliant. When I tried to encourage her to fill some water bottles, she stared blankly. The first relative urged me to "give it up, she never listens to anybody". (Where's the sitcom laugh track?)

No, I don't feel any better...if these people are typical, a simple winter ice storm will be a major problem for them apart from any y2k problems.

-- helen (sstaten@fullnet.net), December 28, 1999.


Actually, no. I don't feel better... I watch so many people in denial, and even avoiding non-Y2K bad news...so much economic fantasy in the stock markets...

It is sort of like when I was on ski patrol...if you get out of balance, and let yourself fall properly, you are very unlikely to hurt yourself. But if you get out of balance, and fight to stay upright, and still go down, it will often be a lot worse, with more injury. Our stock markets cannot avoid the fall...and are making the eventual fall much worse.

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), December 28, 1999.


Can't see any reason to feel better on the whole. Any unexpected progress we may have made since I first started seriously worrying about this a year ago seems to be more than cancelled out by the general lack of preparation. I really thought the community would have taken responsibility for itself so that we would be better prepared to ride out whatever comes our way.

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), December 29, 1999.

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