It’s 04:49 here at the khaosx global HQ data center, and I’m awake.
Specifically, I’ve been awake since 04:39, which is about two hours ahead of my normal wake-up. I’m on call this week, and got a page out from the ever-helpful EON system, and had to come downstairs, ack the page (didn’t make it in time and got the second page, for those of you in the cheap seats), and find out what’s going on. Usually, it’s a specific type of problem that my team handles, but this time was a little different.
My way-too-awake correspondent had gone to the restroom (which kinda irritated me), and I got passed around to another person also having a problem. BINGO – not my issue. This was an issue for another team, and I couldn’t provide any help beyond wishing them good luck and pointing them to the correct resources.
My initial reaction was that this nonsense really pissed me off. I mean, c’mon dude, get it together and figure it out. The 04:30-06:30 time frame is the worst time to be paged out. It pretty much means that I can’t go back to sleep. I’m awake now for the rest of the day. As I was walking upstairs to start the coffee maker, I noticed my rifle laying on my bench, asking for a cleaning. I also remembered that I need to do some backups this morning to prepare for an OS upgrade I’ll be doing today.
By the time I got to the top of the stairs, I had changed my perception of the situation. Yeah, it’s 05:00 and I’ve lost an hour and a half of sleep, but I LOVE the quiet time of the morning. For the next hour and a half, nobody will be up or bothering me. I can finish cleaning my rifle. I’m watching Tech News Today, and reading my news feed. I might even get in another episode of Star Trek. I’ve got good coffee, and I’ll have some bacon and an egg for breakfast. I’ll be way ahead on my day when 6:30 rolls around and Shelby wakes up and needs some Daddy-time.
So, rather than be pissed off at someone who was just confused about a problem that was preventing him from working (which is a stupid waste of time – not his fault and just a mistake), my reaction to seeing the things I needed to get done changed my perception to “Wow – I just got a gift”. I’m awake and earning. I’m going to get some stuff done early and be ahead of the game.
Time to go get some coffee and get moving!