Just a quick note - I've been a busy boy, and haven't had much time for participation recently - but will be getting back to the bboard shortly (for those of you who may have missed me, ).

For those of you following the NERC-sponsored drill today and tomorrow: while the drill officially runs from September 8th to 9th, that doesn't mean it's a full day thing. The drill actually gets into full gear about 8PM EST on 9/8 (today), and will end, for all intents and purposes, somewhere between 3 and 4AM on 9/9.

I've been invited to observe the drill (on behalf of a client) at a regional control facility in the Northeast U.S. There is supposed to be a critique of the drill at 5AM on 9/9. Hopefully, I can hang in there for the critique. Regardless, I'll post my impressions under this thread sometime in the next 48 hours.

Let's not lose sight of the fact that this "drill" isn't operationally testing any portion of the U.S. electric distribution or generation systems. It is a telecommunications exercise, and a drill to ensure that appropriate technical personnel can be dispatched in a timely manner to deal with potential disruptions.

Keep this in mind when you read the headlines tomorrow, "Electric Industry Passes Final Y2k Test With Flying Colors".

-- Anonymous, September 08, 1999

Answers

Rick,

Good luck on your personal observation tour of this drill. Now, I don't want to hear about how tired it got by 5:00 AM, because this is exactly what some of the folks in that business will have to not only deal with, but competently handle. So, hang in there, and get a taste of that situation too.

I think you are right that the media will take a small success story in a part of this industry and turn it into a "We're done!" headline. And that's the crux of the information problem we have been dealing with. Oh well.

-- Anonymous, September 08, 1999

Matt Drudge, alas, has some high-profile misinfo on this (http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch- msg.tcl?msg_id=001N6Y).

-- Anonymous, September 08, 1999

It is already 9/9/99 here, and our National grid company (Transpower) conducted a suprise communications drill at 03:00 this morning. The controller on duty here reported that all went well.

Malcolm

-- Anonymous, September 08, 1999

**Rick, you have been missed! However, I do know that the work load for most everybody involved with the Y2K issue is getting pretty hot and heavy now and will likely stay that way. I don't know if it has to do with your being away/busy or not, but I have heard from a couple of people who are still waiting for the forum password after requesting it, and another who got the first password but was never notified of the change. Should they re-submit their requests, or is this just a temporary backlog? (I was a good girl and did not give out the present password -- but I was tempted! *grin* )

**Malcolm, a "surprise" drill? Now that's what I call a _real_ contingency planning exercise, and I think it's great! To my way of thinking, a surprise drill would be much more beneficial as a preparation for any future emergency, Y2K or no. I'm glad to hear it went well at your plant, and hope it did for other Transpower facilities, too. (Or if not, that good lessons were learned for the future.) It was a gutsy move by Transpower and I'm impressed.

-- Anonymous, September 08, 1999

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Lane,

I appreciate your keeping things straight on the 9's deal. A year and a half ago when I first heard about it, I would have written the same thing as Matt Drudge. You and several others have educated me since. In time, he will be educated also.

Norm

-- Anonymous, September 08, 1999

Thanks, Norm.

-- Anonymous, September 08, 1999

Yes, Lane Core has done some real yeoman work on this 9's issue. He's too much of a gentleman to toot his own horn, so I will. Today's Westergaard features one more of his articles on the 9999 situation and is worth reading:

www.wbn.com/y2ktimebomb/Computech/Issues/lcore9936.htm

Now, Lane, since I've spilled the beans, could you do a hot link for us?

-- Anonymous, September 08, 1999

Thanks, Gordon.

T hose Dratted Nines

-- Anonymous, September 09, 1999