Technology and Chinese New Year
February 1st, 2012I really shouldn’t have been in the office. Fresh off a long weekend. Fresh off a little rest and relaxation. I shouldn’t have been in the office working through emails, voice mails, and overall issues.
But it is part of the job…implied or not.
But something seemed strange walking away from the desk. The lights that were normally on during the weekends were off…and others not normally seen were decidedly on.
In the evening twilight, it was a bit surreal.
Writing it off as an issue of the heat outside (the temperatures were in the 90’s F), I made my way to the elevator…which was exceptionally slow…again, the lighting gave a pale luster to the darkened news screens on the wall.
Something just seemed amiss.
Our office building is at the heart of the Southbank area of Melbourne, right along the banks of the mighty Yarra River. Melbourne is Melbourne due to the waterway. It was the source of freshwater - an old reef kept saltwater from flowing upstream. While also a major source of transportation - that same river created a natural turning basin where the sea and the river combined to spin ships around and turn them back out to sea. The eastern side of the Yarra was the traditional sight of the factories that made Melbourne an industrial center for Australia.
Now, with it’s mighty high rises and headquarters, including our neighbor down the street the highest building in the Southern Hemisphere, the Eureka Tower, it is one of the commercial capitals of the world…with bars, offices, and high rise apartments.
And the building that I was in was part of the heart of that complex, part of the mighty Price Waterhouse Cooper Complex.
Which is why the lighting issues seemed so strange.
It made it even more strange as I walked through the open air corridor that lead to the river and the waterfront. The normally bustling places of business - the Subway, the McDonalds, the fancy restaurants…were all struggling to say the least.
The heart of the modern city…was experiencing a power failure.
Subway and the 7-11 had signs written in big bold letters…”Cash Only.”
McDonalds Closed.
The big steak house was also just flat out closed, but the manager and staff were outside arguing with customers as to why they couldn’t just not serve them, but not even seat them. They just didn’t know if they would have power.
As I walked through the open air Chinese New Year market only a block away, where you wouldn’t know if you had power or not, it stuck me the ridiculous of it all.
While the mighty buildings would be shuttered and the standard places of business closed, the Mom and Pop shops serving Dim Sim and Spring Rolls to celebrate Chinese New Year would go on, not only unaffected…but oblivious to the problems.
Technology be damned. We’re celebrating Chinese New Year.














