So, I am still recovering from 2 very long, extraordinary, and stressful days.  And I am sure that more are coming my way.  Here’s what happened:

Sunday, I get to work at like 6:30 AM as usual, and the day is pretty typical.  We worked on a few projects, and then got down to working on just one.  This particular project had a Noon deadline of Monday, so it was pressing that we stay and do everything we could to get it done.  Hours ticked away, and we made progress.  We got all of the little pieces together and began working on putting it all together at about 4:00 AM the next day.  I am beginning to get tired, but I was happy that we were almost done.  Then all hell broke loose.  The database was not forming correctly, and the load files (files used to create a database) evidently were not created properly.  We were running out of time, and this database needed to be complete and in Washington D.C. by Noon.  So in a last ditch effort, we packaged up the ENTIRE production and copied it over to a Hard Drive.  I booked the first flight to D.C. and headed that way.  At this time, it is 7:30 and I had been going string for 25 hours non-stop.  We get the Hard Drive ready at around 7:55 and we leave for the airport.  I get through security at 8:25 and the flight was scheduled to leave at that time, so I RAN through the concourse to my gate in time to watch the plane pull away from the crosswalk thingy.  I FREAKED OUT!!!  I called the Project team in D.C. and let them know that I would be on the next flight (11:05) and to expect me at the airport at 1:45 their time.  I grabbed some breakfast, took a break, and waited for the flight.  After I landed in Baltimore, the limo took me to the Deloitte offices in D.C.  I met a colleague, Ritchie, in front of the building and he brought me in.  We got the hard drive to their labs so the data could be retrieved.  As we continued working, we were informed that the Hard Drive was EMPTY!  My heart fell into my stomach.  At this point, it is 3:30, which is WAY passed our deadline, and the data was still in Nashville.  It was prolly the biggest OMG moment I have had.  Luckily, they decided to perform a file transfer as I was on the way to make sure they had SOMETHING.  That finished up just in time.  Well, as I was there, I heard them talking about a few issues that we had already encountered earlier in the day, so I helped them on those, and we had to push my flight back from 5:25 to 8:20.  At this point, exhaustion was setting in as I had been running solid for 38 hours.  The driver picked me up from the D.C. office and I headed back to Baltimore to catch my flight back to Nashville.  I arrived at 9:30.  Thankfully, I had a short nap on the flight.  The minute I sat down, I was out.  I was awakened by a flight attendant 15 minutes out of Nashville and he asked if I would like a drink and asked why I looked so tired.  He was cute, so we talked for a few minutes, but he had to get to his seat because we were about to land.  Stephen from work picked me up from the airport, and he dropped me off at the office to get my car.  I went in for just a few minutes to say hi and drop off some stuff from D.C. that they asked me to deliver, then I drove home.  I got home at about 10:30 and immediately showered and passed out.  I had never been so tired in my life, and I had never stayed up like that.  I am still pretty exhausted, but I didn’t want to sleep all day because I needed to go back to Nashville and vote.

I hit Nashville today fully expecting to stand in a long line to vote…  and there was NO line!  Yay!!!  I voted.  GoBama!!!

-=brett=-