Disconnected

After about 20 minutes of trying to settle into our first train on our way to Brannenburg, I was eager to work on my energy conservation assignment with the hope that my partner, Scottie, and I would finish it before getting on the next train. I plugged in

my laptop, pressed on the power button, and waited. This was the start of what would be a frustrating 15-20 minutes of panic. Upon turning on my laptop, I was hit with the unnerving realization that my computer did not properly shut down the last time I used it, and therefore needed to be restarted. Anxious, I tried my best to stay calm and not concentrate on the fact that I had damaged my laptop, or worse, lost my notes from the last time I worked on my documents. Unfortunately, it was the latter. I opened Word to find that the notes I had taken from my research on wind turbines never saved. Scottie, quick to the rescue, helped me recover the files and I was finally able to relax, or so I thought. Scottie and I, along with the other group doing a project on energy conservation, Olivia and Rachael, had put the majority of our notes and information on a shared google document so that we could all work simultaneously. Thinking that we would have somewhat decent Wi-Fi and more than enough time to work on our assignments, there were no fears of anything going wrong. This was a mistake. The train’s Wi-Fi did not come on and the four of us quickly became concerned that it never would. Our first instinct was to ask Myers if it would just take a moment for it to come on, or for our electronics to pick up on it, but he said that because Wi-Fi on trains was a new concept, it might not work for every train. With that information, we concluded that we shouldn’t rely on Internet on public transportation, even if they claim to have it. We also decided we probably shouldn’t have everything important saved on the Internet, and should always have things saved on multiple platforms to stay on the safe side. Needless to say, I don’t think any of us will be making this mistake again.