Late Night

Yesterday I had to work late into the night. It was the first run of some computer software I am in charge of at work. Last year our first run did not go well. I had planned to have a dry run during the day last week. However the customer did not want that. They just wanted it to run normal time. Thus, I had to work the night shift.

Momoko was still hungry after dinner. We sent the kids out to pick us up some Chik Fil-A. I got a spicy chicken sandwich. The rest of the family got assorted chicken meals. After the late evening snack, I went down to the basement to do my work. The first call in was set for 9:45pm.

One problem with working the night shift is that the computer operators are a bit slow. The A-Team gets to choose their own hours, and they usually choose the day shift. The first job of the night ran in a few minutes. The second job took a few hours. We were still there at midnight, and the second job kept going on and on.

The only consolation was that the computer operator who works the graveyard shift is actually very good. My second job finished around 12:30am. Somehow my manager came onto the call and was anxious for the third job to complete. I told him that we had been monitoring this thing for a few hours, so he could chill for a few minutes and let the third job complete.

The third job completed within the hour. My manager asked me a few questions that I answered. Then some other mid-level managers started to pipe in. I quickly shut them down. I was not in the mood to listen to their questions at 1:30am in the morning. I got to bed around 2:00am. My best decision was to let the team know I was going to sleep in the following morning.

By the time I started my work day the next day at noon, there were a lot of other problems to deal with. At least my software ran well the first time. I was glad to have had the extra sleep and a lazy morning. Tomorrow I finish up some new work I have been coding. Then I go off for a week full of training! My annual week of training oh boy.