I've Been Rushed Off My Feet...

Hah! My Mum used to say that after her once-in-a-month four-hour stint at work ;)

Strangely enough, when my sister began working at the same place, she said, "Well, it's not really all that busy..." :)

Yesterday morning: Beavering away on the specification and development of an interface between an invoicing program and the main system.
Yesterday, 1pm: Given someone's CV to review. My boss has ended up in another meeting at the same time as he had scheduled someone to come in for an interview, so first thing Friday (today), I'll need to do the interview instead.
Yesterday, 2pm, before I had read much of the CV or finished eating my lunch: I end up on an urgent "Customer Down" sort of problem. My boss needs to leave at 4pm today, so he can't go to the client's to help (or at least to show face). The person who was previously dealing with the problem was off this afternoon to take his partner to go with his partner to a neurological specialist (fair enough).
Yesterday, 3pm: We decide it makes sense for me to go to the client's. Oh, by the way, the IT Manager at the client? My wife.
Yesterday, 4pm-ish: I have arrived on-site. The "detailed instructions" that Hewlett-Packard have provided us do not help. I e-mail back and ask for the advanced "Level 2 Engineer" to call me back urgently on my mobile.
Yesterday, 4:30-7pm: Much waiting for the Indian HP engineers. Whilst I do believe that at least one of them dedicated his time to us, it's still frustrating just waiting. Some of the waiting was on the phone listening to silence, some on hold, and some waiting for a call back.
Yesterday, 7pm: HP engineer goes home, recommending reinstalling the server operating system from the recovery CD, and the data from the last tape backup (which is a day out of date and it would be preferable to recover the more recent data) (In fairness, it would have been around 10pm in India).
The HP engineer told me twice that this situation "cannot happen". Thanks for that. One small, possibly teeny tiny point... It has happened ;)
Yesterday, 8pm: I have successfully regained access to all 650gigabytes of data.
Yesterday, 8:50pm: Confirmed that everything is working correctly and that all data is available. Initiate backup to tape to ensure the last day of data is also backed up immediately (Despite the fact this should happen overnight anyway, I wanted to SEE it start ASAP).
Yesterday, 9pm: Wife and I leave. I have invited her back to mine to grab some food. She had been planning on having today off to go up to her parents, but due to these problems hasn't been allowed Friday off, "just in case".
Wife tells me she is thinking of moving away from here, buying a 'mobile' (albeit fixed) home, and taking a "gap year". I say I understand - whilst I'm happy in my job and with my location, I have at times over the last few months contemplated the idea of taking an extended leave of absence and doing a simple, every-day sort of job.
Yesterday, 10:20pm: Wife heads home.
Yesterday, 11:45pm: I'm knackered, but decide to go for a shower now, rather than have to worry about it in the morning.
Today, 00:10am: I look at the clock on my phone from upside down and think, "Oh bugger, is it 1am?... No wait, it's 12:10am. Ooh, that was pretty fast for me!"
Today, 00:40am: I head to bed.
Today, 08:20am: I have made it out of bed and am dressed. It took me a little while to figure out what shirt to wear - none of the ones I had really wanted were clean (I'd been planning on doing a wash last night, but it was a bit late by the time I got in). I wanted to look smart for the interview and as we'd have a prospect in.
Today, 08:20am: I decide to have some *gasp* breakfast (a Pop Tart and a glass of milk), and bump into Roses on Messenger (I am mildly surprised that, following her Britney moment she is alive at this time of morning).
Today, 09:02: Arrive at work. Talk to people regarding events of yesterday. Check status of the server (it's good). Write up notes.
Today, 09:40am: Pick up CV to look at. Hear, "Oh look, that must be the person you're interviewing looking for a space in the carpark, Monkfish".
Today, 09:50am: Have glanced through his CV and am talking to him in my boss' office (My bosses are in the Conference Room with a prospect). Confirm that he doesn't really have any actual programming experience, as we suspected from his CV (fair enough, it's a trainee position, but we'd like evidence of *something*)
I tell him he doesn't really have enough experience of doing any actual programming (e.g. roughly none). Advise that, if it is something he wants to do (he sounds like he means it, but I see no evidence of an interest beyond what he has happened to do at college), he should stay on at college longer and move on to the next course (he is coming to the end of a BTEC First Diploma thingy), or spend a little of his own time learning how to program. Mention that VB.NET Express Edition, for example, is available for free from Microsoft, and there will be plenty of free online tutorials and guides. Mention that evidence of ability to program would be good (e.g. I brought a disk filled with sample programs that I had written alone with me to my interview when I came here). Suggest he is welcome to re-submit his CV to us in, say, a year's time if he wishes to do so.
Today, 10:20am: Resume writing up notes from yesterday. Assist someone regarding development for another client. A meeting is deemed necessary. Attend meeting, attempt to mediate between two people who speak a slightly different language ;)
Make tea (Prospect and one boss do not want any, but the decorator does. Ponder whether we have enough mugs left for the rest of day, ponder whether we have enough milk for the rest of the day - put on dish washer early. Discover prospect is just leaving, so dishwasher probably didn't need to be on - one boss is popping out anyway to get more paint for decorator - warn him of milk situation)
Today, 12:30pm: Can't really be bothered to get back to this interface development. Investigate (and fix) a relatively minor bug, at the same time as chatting to someone on Messenger to find out why he's "SO PISSED OFF" (it started when he only got 30% in a Maths exam...)
Today, 1pm: Piss off to pub. Have sausage, mash and beans (£7.45! £7.45!!! but only other realistic option is a "a burger" at £6.50). It's my round too (six beers), so pay on credit card.
Today, 1:40pm: Have another half as it seems a little slow today.
Today, 2:20pm: Back at office. Not feeling worky really.
Today, 3:00pmish: Eventually decide to write a blog post... ;)
Today, 16:09pm: I write this line! :)

Right. Back on with some development :)