A mini disaster

When I arrived at work this morning, I was puzzled to see a number of our administrative staff standing and talking outside in the lobby of our office building. Noting that that the hallway behind them was pitch dark except for light from the back door showing the silhouettes of our utility workers mopping up the floor that appeared to be wet, I immediately thought, not another brownout! So I went up to one of them and inquired what happened. Our secretary started relating something about a pipe bursting in one of the upper floors and office down in the first floor flooding.

It took sometime before I finally comprehended what she was talking about. Yesterday afternoon, a water pipe in one of the lab rooms in the second floor burst sending tons of water out into the lab room. Unfortunately for us, the water not only flooded the lab room there but also somehow seeped through the concrete floor then rained down onto the offices in the first floor. These rooms included the main office of our department, other smaller offices where some administrative staff had their desks and then our reading room! There all papers, documents, books, supplies and equipment (computers, printers, fax machines) got soaked. Some of the water had also seeped under doors and into the offices of some of our faculty members, including mine--but at least none of our things got wet except perhaps for things that were left on the floor like empty boxes and perhaps piles of paper to be recycled.

The damage would have been worse had not one of our junior instructors been working overtime at the office that Sunday afternoon. It was he who noticed water coming out from under the door of the main office and called security as well as our property custodian. (He even risked wading through the water and unplugging surge protectors--he could have been electrocuted because these were quickly going underwater--and equipment from the wall outlets.) They managed to shut down power to the entire building immediately but had difficulty cutting off the water supply to the burst pipe. It was more than two hours before they finally did so. But I still can't imagine what would have happened to all the offices in the first floor if the water had been allowed to flow until somebody showed up Monday morning!

Anyway, the aftermath of all this found us in the department mopping up floors, salvaging documents and equipment in the relative darkness. (The sky was overcast and gloomy all day and they didn't turned back the power on until a few hours later for fear that the electrical wirings were still wet and would cause a short circuit.) Some even joked that we might be able to apply for a calamity loan.

Quite honestly, we will need all the help we can to salvage all the damaged books, periodicals and theses that were kept in our library. The imported books will probably be saved: their glossy pages should be easy to separate once they have dried out. But it is the local books with their newsprint pages that I'm worried about. It will be probably close to impossible to separate the pages without getting them torn.

And then where will our poor students go for references? They who relied mainly on our reading room because the books at the main library are even more woefully outdated.

The battle of all battles

I didn't expect last night's Wimbledon finals between Federer and Nadal to be the epic battle that it turned out to be.

After seeing Federer fall way behind two sets to love, I thought all was lost come the third set and that the five-time champion would lose in straight sets. But I completely underestimated Federer's determination and tenacity. Having fallen asleep while waiting for the first rain delay to end, I woke up more than an hour later to find that the third set had been extended into a tie-break. And, lo and behold! Federer was up 5-2! When he took that set and then the fourth as well, that was the only time I sensed something extraordinary was happening. Aware that there would be no tiebreak in the deciding set, I felt the familiar nervousness creep into my veins: my hands grew cold and clammy and I even had to turn off the electric fan in my room even it was an unusually muggy evening. (It was also just as well that I turned of the fan; I could hear the tv better.)

Actually I found myself curiously calm throughout the first four sets. Although I was naturally rooting for him, I had no qualms about Federer losing this match. He had after all hauled in an incredible total of five Wimbledon crowns in straight years no less!--a super achievement in itself. (Personally, I'd dare Nadal to try and match that record. But I don't think so!) A sixth straight in my opinion would simply be icing on the cake, so to speak.

In any case, that last set was something. There are no words to describe it so I'm not even going to attempt to relate what unfolded during that decisive set.

As for the results I just had to feel sorry for Federer at the end. He did look so disappointed and close to tears; there was a slight droop at the corners of his mouth as he stood there on center courting during the trophy awarding ceremonies hugging his runner's-up trophy. But I felt proud of him more than ever, more than after any of his more impressive victories in the past. He refused to relinquish his crown meekly, never gave up and fought it out until the end, showing what a great champion he is despite this loss.

In fact, I find some articles about the match curiously worded. The title of one reads "Nadal steals Federer's Wimbledon crown." The use of the word "steals" seems to imply that Nadal was a thief, that he took by force what did not or does not belong to him, that Federer is actually the rightful owner of the Wimbledon crown. I wonder if the wording was deliberate, chosen by a reporter who is secretly a Federer fan. And then there is the use of the cliche "third time lucky". In a way, Nadal was lucky. It was difficult to say who would eventually triumph or deserved the title more. Both played superbly well but as matches have to go, somebody has to gain and then win championship point. Although lady luck sided with Nadal this time around, I must say that there were no losers this time around.