CH217: Mad Rush

So...for the past 60 hours, I've only had 5-6 hours of sleep. Last Monday, I spent about 20 hours working on a project. Yesterday, I spent close to 22 hours.

Unfortunately [technical mambo jargon], the second phase of the project which was to import a database experienced several issues which I was only able to figure out far too late into the timeline. Apparently, SQL server 2008 R2 was designed to eat up a lot of physical memory in order to cache sh*t it needs. I initially suspected a memory leak because of the presence of java processes and been wondering why the memory used by active processes does not correspond to the memory used. Blah blah. I had to reconfigure the amount of memory my SQL server uses to reduce the impact on other processes - particularly the java and R3load processes that requires storage and memory to perform the import. So...yeah, I missed my target delivery.

But, on the lighter side of things, when I agreed (to try and complete the project before I fly off to Europe), I only had a small buffer of 3 hours. And that's way past blown given the technical issues experienced. I would have completed the delivery with a conservative estimate of 4-5 days though - including troubleshooting buffer.

The project was handed to me Friday afternoon (about 2 hours before work ended). And since I didn't have Internet access at home, I couldn't be bothered using my data plan to perform the downloads and the connection we were tapping on to (freeloading on an unsecured network) was intermittent, I only had Monday to start on the project.

So I may not have finished it, but I believe I made a lot of mileage in terms of delivery given the short notice. It's not my fault the project manager was not made aware of my planned leave haha. 

At the moment, that's my data usage. Inclusive of downloads for amazing race and survivor - 1 episode each that will be less than 600 MB.

It was an exciting race against time. The pressure was exhilirating! :) As I tweeted, it's been over 2 years since I last worked long hours - much less straight 20+ hour days. So, it was a very much welcome distraction I guess before I fly off to Europe. Because of this last minute assignment, I wasn't able to review and plan for anything logistics related for my vacation. I only have the outline and anatomy of how the vacation will be. Maybe I'm just too tired at the moment to worry and be anxious. What's running in my mind is que sera. I may have just the outline of a vacation at the moment, but that's how the story will be formed - with the adventure into the unknown...in the streets of Madrid, in the magnificence of Barcelona and the wonders of Lisboa!

I CANT WAIT! :)

But for now, I need to finish my client visit and later rush back home to complete my packing, shower then finally off to the airport!