Dear Google, Can I Have My Calendar Back Now?

Thursday, July 17th, 2008 by Andy Beal

Dear Google, Can I Have My Calendar Back Now?

You may experience difficulty accessing Google Calendar during the
hours of 1:30 pm and 4:30 pm PDT, today (July 17th). For each affected
calendar, this should last approximately 15 minutes.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your
understanding.

That’s the message you’ll find at the Google Calendar Help center.

It’s currently 5:50 pm PT–an hour and twenty minutes after the timeslot–and my calendar is completely blank.

Now, before anyone comments “what do you expect for free,” keep in mind that I pay for Google Apps and, as a consultant, I kinda rely on my ability to schedule client appointments.

Google, can I have my calendar back?

UPDATE: It’s 7:20 pm PT and a rather vague response on the Google Calendar Group:

We’re aware that a very small subset of people may be seeing an empty calendar, but rest assured that your data is safe. The team is working on a fix.

No apology, no explanation as to what the issue is, nor a timeline for when the data will be back. My response included:

What are we looking at? A few minutes, hours, days, weeks? Do I need to ask Viacom to get a judge to hand over my calendar entries, before I see them again?

UPDATE 2: 12 hours in, and my Google Calendar is still completely empty. Google, this sucks!

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14 comments on “Dear Google, Can I Have My Calendar Back Now?”

Utah SEO Pro Says:

July 17th, 2008 at 8:57 pm

Ouch. Hopefully they lost their search data on everyone too.

Utah SEO Pro’s last blog post..Advanced Keyword Research for SEO
Tiffany Says:

July 17th, 2008 at 11:25 pm

Is it the time for us back to manual organizer ?
Web Marketing Man Says:

July 18th, 2008 at 1:29 am

That’s why I still keep an old fashioned, old school A4, page a day dairy. I also like to doodle, and a computer interface just doesn’t lend itself to that!
Jasper Says:

July 18th, 2008 at 4:10 am

Probably fixing an exploit found with Google Calendar:

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/oops_google_calendar_flaw_expose s_any_gmail_users_real_name

Yeah we should never rely using online diaries, but it makes life so much easier.
Warenwirtschaft Says:

July 18th, 2008 at 4:30 am

I agree with Web marketing Man. But mine is A5 and easier to carry. And it is much easier to use than an online-tool because my desk is much bigger than my screen! And i can use it where i have no internet connection at clients.
Goran Web Design Says:

July 18th, 2008 at 7:45 am

I use Google’s service as my diary and appointment scheduler. Love the text message alerts, it makes time management much easier. Downtime is a no-no though, especially when you’re ultra reliant on it.
SEO I-COM Says:

July 18th, 2008 at 7:57 am

I use google calendar sync to sync up my google and outlook calendars. in that way even if GCal is down I can still add appointments and sync later.
Cynthia Says:

July 18th, 2008 at 8:37 am

lol.
I never knew that google has a calender function.
I hope, they will give you yours back-and I will make one by myself now
Ashley Says:

July 18th, 2008 at 8:58 am

I think it is too bad for google
cocca Says:

July 18th, 2008 at 2:17 pm

Why do you think that this is too bad for google?
Its not looking so bad-on my point of view.
Goran Web Design Says:

July 20th, 2008 at 6:34 am

My diary is there, phew. I think they need to implement some sort of backup facility. My business life is on-line and I do not back it up at all.
Lea Says:

July 20th, 2008 at 9:20 am

Oh, all deleted.
I have a calender since 1 months and I am very satisfied with it.
MB Web Design Says:

July 20th, 2008 at 9:27 am

Tremendous! According to GCalendar I have a completely free upcoming week! I’m off on holiday.
SEO I-COM Says:

July 22nd, 2008 at 12:07 pm

@Goran Web Design yes you can back up your Google calendar to outlook using Google Calendar Sync – http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?hl=en-ie&answer=8 9955

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