The campus was levied by the first genuine raging tempest of the winter season, causing electricity to be cut from 6:15-10 a.m.
     Classes were cancelled, trees were uprooted, and Dorothy & Toto darn near rode through the rain clouds to the land of Oz. Life as we know it returned to normal by lunchtime, though, thanks to the poncho-clad diligence of local Pacific Gas & Electric workers, who weathered the storm to restore our beloved Kansas … I mean Skyline, to full- functioning capacity.
     With wooded debris free-flying throughout parts of San Mateo and San Francisco counties, the Bay Area was innundated with power outages, according to PG&E spokesperson Paul Moreno.
     “The peninsula was hit very hard throughout the storm,” Moreno said. “Crews were out around the clock.”
     The malfunction was indeed out of the hands of Skyline’s Buildings and Grounds Department, with the power being cut somewhere before the preliminary transponder.
     The transponder is the main “delivery point” which provides an influx of 12,000 volts from off-campus power lines maintained by PG&E. According to Moreno, Skyline receives electricity much like a factory or a refinery, in the sense it is fed through the one main source.
     This source is located at the southwestern end of the Skyline track at the easternmost side of campus, according to Skyline’s Senior Maintanance Engineer Tony Gulli.
     “Electricity ‘T’s’ off after the transponder,” Gulli said, “and goes up to Buildings and Grounds, and building 1.”
     From building 1, he said, power channels into the main switch gear and is circulated around the campus.
     “Once [the transponder] goes down, the whole campus goes down,” Gulli said.
     The transponder — which resembles a large, green storage shed — distributes approximately 277 volts throughout campus for lighting, 200 volts for plugs and outlets, and 480 volts for air conditioning, ventilation, and elevators, according to Gulli.
     Only Child Care Services are routed from a different source, though it too was without power the morning of Nov. 7.