Being "On Call" for work is a strange thing, especially in my particular area of IS. I work in Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence. These systems aren't particularly "mission critical," as it were, which means that if they aren't available, people are inconvenienced in their work, but the company doesn't start losing money immediately.
First, the really silly part about being on call: all the text pages that say something to effect of "Everything went fine! Just wanted to let you know that the regularly scheduled 3AM backup ran just fine... again... for the 74th time in a row." Arg. How about you ONLY tell me when something goes WRONG!?
The other part of being on call is that you get to verify and sign-off on the work that administrators are doing to the systems managed by our group. Typically, this means making sure the database administrators are doing what they're supposed to be doing -- changes to database tables, permissions, etc. Now, here's the odd thing. We do these changes ONLY on the weekend, and sometimes ONLY in the middle of the night. Take tonight for instance, here I sit at 12:30 AM, waiting for a DBA to make some VERY simple changes to database views. My wife is sitting next to me wondering:
Why couldn't they do this at a reasonable time of day?
Why does my husband have to "check out" their work?
Why do they have so many conference calls?
It's not like you're a surgeon, on call for something important.
She's absolutely right. But, even though we're not a "mission critical" system, the 6,000 some users of our system still expect to have it up and running while they're working.
I do agree, though, that it's pretty silly that I have to sit and check every little thing that the DBAs and SAs do. If something weird does happen... then call me. Or, just wait until Monday so that someone can fix it at work. (Other people come in before me, so they can fix it.) ;-)
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Monday, June 13, 2005
Pics, Boston, MIT
I didn't realize that the Boston area has more than 50 universities and colleges! Wow! Anyway, we just got back from a trip to Boston for Sarahlynn's work. Grandma Lester came with us for fun! And we all had a great time. Pictures are already online. ;)
And all that after being gone for a couple of days on my own business trip to Informatica World 2005. I think Boston was more fun!
And all that after being gone for a couple of days on my own business trip to Informatica World 2005. I think Boston was more fun!
Friday, May 27, 2005
Forgiving Newsweek
Google News - Korans were mishandled
Shouldn't we all be forgiving Newsweek for the treatment and misguided blame they received? I think Sarahlynn had it right in the first place.
Shouldn't we all be forgiving Newsweek for the treatment and misguided blame they received? I think Sarahlynn had it right in the first place.
Monday, May 23, 2005
Site Seeing
We all know that Google Maps now can display satellite images of the location you're mapping. Today's cool site is http://www.googlesightseeing.com. They've got all kinds of interesting things that are captured by the satellite imagery that Google Maps uses:
Like a military bombing/firing range:
http://www.googlesightseeing.com/2005/04/13/b-bomb/
Overlapping season in Utah:
http://www.googlesightseeing.com/2005/04/23/overlapping-seasons/
The martian landscape of my old stomping ground, Wyoming:
http://www.googlesightseeing.com/2005/05/13/mars/
Is it any wonder they chose Wyoming to film parts of Close Encounters of the Third Kind:
http://www.googlesightseeing.com/2005/04/12/devils-tower-wyoming/
And parts of Starship Troopers:
http://www.highways.info/highways/Wyoming/photo_23906.html
Like a military bombing/firing range:
http://www.googlesightseeing.com/2005/04/13/b-bomb/
Overlapping season in Utah:
http://www.googlesightseeing.com/2005/04/23/overlapping-seasons/
The martian landscape of my old stomping ground, Wyoming:
http://www.googlesightseeing.com/2005/05/13/mars/
Is it any wonder they chose Wyoming to film parts of Close Encounters of the Third Kind:
http://www.googlesightseeing.com/2005/04/12/devils-tower-wyoming/
And parts of Starship Troopers:
http://www.highways.info/highways/Wyoming/photo_23906.html
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Geeky Stuff
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Event Horizon
Ellie achieved a new milestone today on her journey from toddler-hood to little-girl-dom. She used the potty!
We're not interested in pressuring Ellie to learn how to use the toillet. Kids with Down Syndrome often potty-train late, and we don't want there to be any stigma around going to the bathroom. But, Ellie's developing some regular habits and is showing some awareness about pottying. So, we decided to get her a potty chair.
Sarahlynn found a great one! It's all wood with a plastic pot, and has a book rack on one side and a toillet paper roll holder on the other. Everything a kid needs!
Tonight, Ellie was showing signs of need to go, so I put her on the potty. She acted like it was perfectly natural, took care of business, even picked up the book next to her and handed it to me to read to her!
I'm officially, now, one of those parents...
We're not interested in pressuring Ellie to learn how to use the toillet. Kids with Down Syndrome often potty-train late, and we don't want there to be any stigma around going to the bathroom. But, Ellie's developing some regular habits and is showing some awareness about pottying. So, we decided to get her a potty chair.
Sarahlynn found a great one! It's all wood with a plastic pot, and has a book rack on one side and a toillet paper roll holder on the other. Everything a kid needs!
Tonight, Ellie was showing signs of need to go, so I put her on the potty. She acted like it was perfectly natural, took care of business, even picked up the book next to her and handed it to me to read to her!
I'm officially, now, one of those parents...
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Question and Answer
Here are Sarahlynn's questions for me:
1. If you could wave a wand and get rid of Ellie's Trisomy 21, would you do it?
It took me a while to figure this one out, but the answer is "yes." I had to reconcile the idea that I have absolute, unconditional love for my daughter; but I still would want her to be different if that were possible. It's a paradox, but it works.
It's kind of like this commentary I heard on NPR yesterday. It was talking about the similarity between quantum physics and the nature of love. The commentator was explaining that one part of modern physics is the statement that when you try to picture the motion of an electron around the nucleus of an atom, you have to accept that the electron is moving around the nucleus in all possible paths at the same time. That makes it impossible to predict with certainty where the electron will be at a point in time. His corollary in love is that love looks and feels like all other emotions at the same time. Love is part admiration and part frustration, part envy, part pride, part comfort, part fear, etc. Interesting.
2. What is your favorite thing about yourself?
Right now, I'd have to say my problem solving and analytical skills. But really, that's just because I had two coworkers pump up my ego today. My boss's boss told me the really smart college kid we just interviewed was someone that he wanted me to mentor and turn into another me. And then another coworker made an "I'm in awe" kind of comment as I was helping him do analysis and research to figure out how some of our code works and what the related data really means.
3. What do you miss most about where you grew up?
Mountains. Even the little dinky one behind my parent's house.
4. What's the monster under your bed?
AAAHHH!! There's a monster under my bed?? Is that like "the monster at the end of this book?" Or the monster under Opus's bed? Really, though...
- That I won't be a good enough dad or a good enough husband.
- That I'm no where close to as smart as I think I am.
5. What's the best book you've ever read?
The Mythical Man Month
You know, I'd rather name a fiction book, but this book is both very educational and enjoyable to read... So...
------
The Official Interview Game Rules
1. If you want to participate, leave a comment below saying "interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you five questions - each person's will be different.
3. You will update your journal/blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
1. If you could wave a wand and get rid of Ellie's Trisomy 21, would you do it?
It took me a while to figure this one out, but the answer is "yes." I had to reconcile the idea that I have absolute, unconditional love for my daughter; but I still would want her to be different if that were possible. It's a paradox, but it works.
It's kind of like this commentary I heard on NPR yesterday. It was talking about the similarity between quantum physics and the nature of love. The commentator was explaining that one part of modern physics is the statement that when you try to picture the motion of an electron around the nucleus of an atom, you have to accept that the electron is moving around the nucleus in all possible paths at the same time. That makes it impossible to predict with certainty where the electron will be at a point in time. His corollary in love is that love looks and feels like all other emotions at the same time. Love is part admiration and part frustration, part envy, part pride, part comfort, part fear, etc. Interesting.
2. What is your favorite thing about yourself?
Right now, I'd have to say my problem solving and analytical skills. But really, that's just because I had two coworkers pump up my ego today. My boss's boss told me the really smart college kid we just interviewed was someone that he wanted me to mentor and turn into another me. And then another coworker made an "I'm in awe" kind of comment as I was helping him do analysis and research to figure out how some of our code works and what the related data really means.
3. What do you miss most about where you grew up?
Mountains. Even the little dinky one behind my parent's house.
4. What's the monster under your bed?
AAAHHH!! There's a monster under my bed?? Is that like "the monster at the end of this book?" Or the monster under Opus's bed? Really, though...
- That I won't be a good enough dad or a good enough husband.
- That I'm no where close to as smart as I think I am.
5. What's the best book you've ever read?
The Mythical Man Month
You know, I'd rather name a fiction book, but this book is both very educational and enjoyable to read... So...
------
The Official Interview Game Rules
1. If you want to participate, leave a comment below saying "interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you five questions - each person's will be different.
3. You will update your journal/blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
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