Where were you during Y2K?

[hipshot]

Ended up with a killer toothache and Dr. Gave me pain meds that knocked me out, wife woke me up about 11:45 to watch the ball drop on TV, when it dropped all 3 kids were whopping and yelling and she was sitting in couch yelling, I was right next to utility room where breaker box was so I couldn’t resist and hit the main switch and it was totally black and silent for about 10 seconds before I turned back on, got a good funny cussing out before I went back to bed

 

[AKguy1985]

I was 15 I didn't do anything special. My girlfriend at the time said her and her parents were going to sleep in the same bed that night in case the world ended so they could die together.........

 

[L.C.]

I was where I am now.

 

[Gadsden]

At work...

 

[cmc tom]

Was living in north Dakota, 80 miles south of Canada border. Everyone scared about no electricity, no heat, no travel at midnight. I said that occurs 3-4 times each year, always prepared.

 

[docohm]

I was in the new Central Control Room at the Conoco Ponca City Refinery, the largest refinery in Oklahoma. We had just spent about two years and lots of $$$$$ upgrading several of our old computer systems so they wouldn't have the dreaded Y2K problem. And yes, they WOULD have had a problem if we hadn't updated them. We spent many weeks going through all the systems in the plant to see which ones might have a problem and which ones wouldn't. I know of many other engineers that did the same thing at their plant. THIS is why there wasn't a Y2K problem, many many man hours and lots of $$$ was spent to make sure it wasn't a problem. I'm a retired Instrumentation Engineer. I think I went home about 2 AM after management was convinced there wasn't going to be a problem.

 

[Parks 788]

I was out with some friends (couples) and had been married for just several months. We were out at a bar/nightclub in Newport Beach, CA. Lived about a mile and a half away. we were drinking pretty heavily but most of what i remember about that night was the stumble home. Not sure why but I remember it was a fun time but the "walk" home was what stood out most. Not sure why though.

 

[dennishoddy]

I was in the new Central Control Room at the Conoco Ponca City Refinery, the largest refinery in Oklahoma. We had just spent about two years and lots of $$$$$ upgrading several of our old computer systems so they wouldn't have the dreaded Y2K problem. And yes, they WOULD have had a problem if we hadn't updated them. We spent many weeks going through all the systems in the plant to see which ones might have a problem and which ones wouldn't. I know of many other engineers that did the same thing at their plant. THIS is why there wasn't a Y2K problem, many many man hours and lots of $$$ was spent to make sure it wasn't a problem. I'm a retired Instrumentation Engineer. I think I went home about 2 AM after management was convinced there wasn't going to be a problem.

I was at the OG&E power plant 18 miles south of you as a control systems and instrumentation tech. As there was zero interface with our control system to the internet, we had zero issues with reliability after that date.
Some of the big wigs at corporate went nuts though with reports of "chips" in the bearings of turbines and other equipment that would not see the upgrade and shut the system down.
No matter we sent them information that our bearings only had thermocouples to record temperature and vibration that are normal trips, they didn't believe us. (Read about the 3 mile nuke disaster when they didn't trust their I&C techs.) It caused that disaster.
Computer systems had zero connection to the internet with multiple firewalls as well, but they didn't understand that either.
So, we sat in the lunchroom with our spouses dining on pizza and soft drinks, coffee or water until around 3am and went home making double time. Easy money I'll take any day.

 

[dennishoddy]

I was out with some friends (couples) and had been married for just several months. We were out at a bar/nightclub in Newport Beach, CA. Lived about a mile and a half away. we were drinking pretty heavily but most of what i remember about that night was the stumble home. Not sure why but I remember it was a fun time but the "walk" home was what stood out most. Not sure why though.

Some on here have been in that same situation!

 

[OKNewshawk]

I was working at Adelphia Cable in Toms River, NJ, part of the crew for the local origination channel, Adelphia 8. We did a 30 minute local newscast Monday through Friday and we switched positions every day. One day, I could be a news photographer, the next day, an editor, the day after that, I could be directing the newscast!

New Year's Eve was on Friday that year (1999.) Toms River held a non-alcoholic celebration called First Night each New Years Eve and I always volunteered to cover it for the newscast--I couldn't resist the overtime. I was out with a reporter and we traveled from one venue to another, as venues were spread across the township. When we had some downtime, I tried to catch Peter Jenning's coverage of the historic change of the calendar on ABC. The night ended with fireworks over the Toms River.