The Trip to Columbus
Friday started off like any other Friday. I took Tyler to school, stopped at Burger King and got myself a bite for breakfast, and drove to work. Weather was a little peculiar but all the forecasts said it wasn’t going to be bad. Following my arrival, chatting with my boss for a few minutes, I headed into my office to review e-mail and voice-mails, check on my primary areas of responsibility, do a walk-around, fill up my cup with soda, and carry-on with my morning. Glancing down at my laptop clock it read 11:30 and at that moment everything changed and it wasn’t for the better.
I was on a conference call and a coworker kept trying to get a hold of me. As typical, especially when I’m on the phone, I’ll ignore the call based upon the importance of the call I’m on. He walked to my office and informed me of the problem at our Columbus, Ohio location. The server, which runs Microsoft Windows Server 2000, was getting a blue screen of death (BSOD). While not always bad, BSODs either mean two things, you’ll be really busy or someone screwed up and you’re going to be really busy (the ultimate no-win situation). I called the office in Columbus and verified the error; it was the infamous STOP 0×0000007b INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE.
Microsoft is horrible about error messages, especially this one. It’s extremely vague and doesn’t clearly articulate the root of the problem. Even to get to this error Windows has to load what is called a boot loader. What does the boot loader do? It tells Windows where to find Windows. It sounds stupid but it is very functional-if we step back about ten years to the dark ages of technology. Simply put, modern computer technology understands that the first drive in the computer is likely to be the drive all the files will be loaded on. In the case of the server in Columbus, the boot loader (more specifically, the boot sector) got corrupted due to an erroneous write by the disk controller during a shutdown of the server (more on why the server was shut down in a later entry).
I stood up, walked to my boss’s office and said, “Family meeting.” My boss and another manager sat down with me and I told them the bad news. We discussed it in detail and the bottom line was either we have the server shipped to my office or I go to Columbus. We called our associates in Columbus, gave them their options, they weighed them, and made the decision to ship me instead of the server. Why, you may ask? It’s simple economics. Shipping a fifty-five pound Dell server on FedEx for delivery on a Saturday would cost upwards of $500. To have the server back in Columbus by Monday would require a counter to counter shipment via an airline which would be upwards of $1000. If you’ve ever seen baggage handlers at airports you know what goes into the belly of an aircraft doesn’t always come out looking as pretty (or in the same shape). $1500 plus the possibility of damage, too great a risk, especially following Easter weekend where many businesses shutdown on Good Friday.
All necessary approvals were given, flights found, and the booking of a $911 flight between Denver and Columbus was booked for that evening (my departure time was in six hours at this point). Routing, Denver to Las Vegas, Las Vegas to Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh to Columbus which would get me in at 9:30am Saturday. I called Jessica to let her know I was going to Columbus that night, she wasn’t very happy, she complained a little, I did tell her I’d be back Saturday night. Any other weekend she’d shrug it off but this was Easter weekend. I got home, Jessica and I talked for a minute, and she got the idea of finding me a better route to Columbus. She did. Denver to Las Vegas, Las Vegas to Columbus. The trip was $200 cheaper. I called my travel agent and she rebooked the flight. Jessica left to get some shopping done and got back home at 6:10. It started to snow.
I gave everyone a goodbye kiss, got in the car with just my laptop bag (no point in a change of clothes), and headed down the road to the freeway. Everyone was driving cautious and slow on the freeway, interchanges, and merging, let’s just forget about that. Halfway to the airport I noticed I was running out of gas, pulled off the freeway, put $20 in the tank. Back on the freeway and apparently people started to figure that the snow wasn’t sticking, it was just flurries, no sense in being slow for no reason. I made it to the airport in about twenty minutes with an absolutely easy time finding a parking spot. I headed up to the USAir counter, tried to use a kiosk to get my ticket, it said I didn’t have one. Went to one of the remaining humans that help you check-in but was told that since my flight is on United I have to go to the United check-in. Ran across the terminal to get to the United humans. Tried to use a kiosk but it also said I didn’t have a ticket. Talked to a human, she said that I indeed had a ticket and she printed it and I headed to security.
Denver International Airport has one of those luxurious air-sensor machines where you walk into it and it blows puffs of air on you to see if you smell of explosives. Some people opt for it, some people are made to go through it, I chose to use it. Why? No line! I walked over there, stepped inside, was puffed, was permitted to exit, and was then told I had to go through a magnetometer to see if I carried any knives, weapons, or anything else not already revealed by the puffer. Off with the shoes.
I arrived at the gate, boarded the aircraft (Airbus A320), got comfortable, plane started, went through the deicers, and we took-off. The flight was pretty boring, a little bumpy, but overall good with even a good landing. Las Vegas, in my opinion, is boring. The lights, the city, nothing about it excite me. The airport with all its slot machines is rather tacky with the D Terminal being fancy with A and B terminals remnants of the 1960s. I headed towards the B Terminal (which happened to be on the other side of the airport) and had to clear security again. Since I didn’t have a ticket for my Las Vegas to Columbus flight I needed to get a boarding pass. I went to a kiosk; it said I didn’t have a ticket. Went downstairs to the ticket counters (where the humans exist) and the kiosks there told me the same bad news. I spoke with an agent (after fifteen minutes) and she explained the problem. She handed me a boarding pass, I headed back upstairs, cleared security, and ran, without shoes, to my gate. I had twenty minutes to spare.
Food was very important; I hadn’t had anything since my Burger King breakfast. I called Jessica, told her everything was fine and that I was getting some food. The gate attendant told me that the plane starts to board 30 minutes prior to departure. I called Jessica back, asking, “What time is it?” My BlackBerry doesn’t auto-set the timezone which means that my time on the phone was an hour ahead. I had an hour and thirty minutes before my departure. Relief set in. I ate peacefully, called Jessica, my parents, browsed the Internet, and was lazy. Boarded the aircraft (Airbus A321 with leather seats), took my shoes off, sat back, and dozed off. I cannot stand seeing people’s system trays in Windows being filled with useless programs that hog resources (commonly installed by computer manufacturers). A gentleman sitting one row ahead of me to the left had this problem. I wanted to get up and explain the problem but felt humor in knowing that it took six minutes for his brand new Dell to finish loading and his DVD movie to start (another minute later).
I landed in Columbus at 5:50am Saturday. Left the terminal and headed to my car rental. I texted Jessica, she responded. My response to her message was, “Why are you still up?” She responded with, “Couldn’t sleep.” All the years of me traveling and she still can’t sleep, amazing! She really does miss me. At least someone does besides my kids. The car rental stands were all staffed, except for mine. I waited twenty minutes. She finally arrived, we chit-chatted for a few minutes and I got my contract. I headed upstairs to my car-a Pontiac Vibe. Apparently my definition of a midsize car and Alamo’s definition are two different things. I took it, drove out of the airport and got some breakfast.
While eating at Bob Evans I got directions on my BlackBerry to the office (which included landmarks). I departed thinking it’d be about twenty minutes. An hour later I went through one snow squall, approximately sixty miles, and, I almost forgot, a speeding ticket (82 in a 65). The sheriff asked me, “I clocked you doing 82. How fast do you think you were going?” I responded, “Apparently 82, would it matter if I say 70?” He laughed and continued writing the ticket. $130 fine for going 17 MPH over the speed limit ($7.65 per MPH, sometimes I really do hate calculators). I asked for directions. He gave them to me. They were wrong.
I called the office fifty miles later. I was thirty miles away and very frustrated. After arriving at the office, we talked and laughed about the whole morning. I was only a “few” minutes late (I planned on being there at 8, I got there at 9:30, no one cared as it was a pretty light Saturday with only two people on staff, plus, the server was dead anyway). Started working, had the server up by 11:45. I got some lunch while the server did diagnostics. Came back twenty minutes later, did some more testing that took until 1:45. Had the office staff do some testing, all worked out, left the office at 3:38. My flight departs at 5:35 so I had ample time.
The return was a quick fifteen minute drive. I returned the car, headed into the airport to get my ticket. Stupid kiosk said I didn’t have a ticket. A pretty attentive (she was pretty and attentive) and nice agent asked if she could help. I told her that none of the kiosks would give me a ticket. She didn’t believe me, after she checked on her computer she figured out why, printed me up a ticket. I asked for an exit row but was told I’d have to pay $39 for it. I laughingly told her I was poor. She asked if I worked for an airline. I said, “Kinda.” She found me a better seat and told me that I couldn’t tell anyone about what she did. I thanked her, wished her a Happy Easter, and departed for the gate.
The flight home was three hours; I slept most of the flight. My seat was an exit row (Boeing 737-500) with no seat in front. I got to stretch! Being 6′5″ and having the ability to stretch is wonderful. The landing was through the clouds, snow, a little ice, but strangely no bumps. Following my departure from the airplane and getting to the parking structure for my car I headed to pay for parking. The parking girl was out of register tape. I backed up, went to another stand. The drive home was without incident though I did make two stops, one at a gas station for a soda, the other to Sam’s Club for eggs and milk.
I got home, everyone was happy to see me. We talked, laughed, it was very enjoyable. The trip was quick, successful, and filled with Murphy’s Law moments. Ohio won’t be forgettable thanks to the server and my speeding ticket.