Finally, after 2 testing cycles (read: trial and error/hit-or-miss), after loading close to 1 million records in total, after arduous validation and reconciliation process (read: counting other people's money and making sure I didn't lose/misplace/overlook/forget even one cent), after so many defect resolutions (read: cleaning up a lot of mess) after so many e-mails sent, finally...
...it's show time.
Getting some rest turned out to be a slightly complicated matter. The combination of restlessness, eagerness (and a slight reluctance, to tell the truth) created a level of anxiety that prevented me from getting a proper sleep. After trying for about one and a half hour with no success (the best I got was half hour of restless sleep), I got up and took a shower. Went out and about to find dinner, and was thinking bout whether or not I should pick up some DVDs to watch during that long weekend (there will be a period of time where I'd be doing nothing except stare at the PC screen nursing a program, and to have a more entertaining distraction during that time would be a really good thing) but thought that maybe I'd be too nerve-wrecked to really pay attention to such entertainment. So, scratch that.
Had a long conversation with Ma back home through the telephone. Was telling that I might be pulling an MIA on her during the weekend (in other words, I might not be returning her messages). After talking bout lots of stuff with her, I got myself ready to go to the office. Brought a pack of Nescafe Ice coz I know I'd be needing 'em, along with my med bag just in case the whole validation/reconciliation process would be giving me headaches or other medical maladies.
Show started at 12 midnight on that Friday night/Saturday morning. The early data prep and early reconciliation/validation took me about 6 hours to complete. After testing, identifying potential issues, and sending the necessary e-mails I went back to the apartment to get some needed sleep. The best I got was 2 hours. Woke up feeling slightly refreshed (better than nothing, right?) I went back to the office at around 12 noon on that Saturday. While waiting for the other team to clean up their mess, I decided that picking up DVDs might not be such a bad idea after all. Went out the the nearby mall and got myself an original season 1 of the HEROES series. It was worth it.
It took quite awhile for the other team to finish up cleaning their mess, and the next part of my show could only start just around 9 pm and we were already behind schedule. What followed was a hectic period of data transformation, validation, and load preparation that got me working non-stop for almost 12 hours until Sunday morning. Good thing I got some nap in the clinic while waiting for the other team to finish. Since we felt that it was not necessary for us to baby-sit the loading program, me and my boss went back to the apartment to get some more nap. This time I got close to 4 hours.
When we went back to the office after the 4-hour nap, we realized how much of a bad idea it was not to baby sit the loading program. Some smart @$$ decided to update the authorization, and the list of users did not include the user ID I used to load my data. Suffice to say that the whole fiasco translated to my waiting for the program to re-load and waiting for my counterpart in the US to say that everything was okay, that everything was loaded correctly. I ended up going home 3 AM Monday morning.
Definitely the longest weekend I've ever had...
Sounds like torture, right? Well, it was not completely without fun. Far from it. Aside from the work-related element, the mission control people had thought of other stuff as well. Well, they set up a projector connected to the Wii in the pantry. Wild, excited yelling and screaming could be heard during Saturday midnight (Wii Boxing was the culprit) and on Sunday afternoon there was a karaoke session in the mission control, courtesy of one of the project member (she has this magic mic thing that was the rage in the Philippines, just plug the microphone to a TV and you're all set: the songs are all recorded within the microphone).
And then there were the Heroes DVDs and my MacBook...Not bad after all...
I didn't go to the office on Monday. Like, hell, no way...But I must say aside from the long hours, I must admit that I did enjoy myself. But I didn't expect the whole "not-getting-proper-sleep-for-more-than-12-hours" business would repeat itself in the next weekend, though this time it was of a more enjoyable nature.
More on that later.
Had a long conversation with Ma back home through the telephone. Was telling that I might be pulling an MIA on her during the weekend (in other words, I might not be returning her messages). After talking bout lots of stuff with her, I got myself ready to go to the office. Brought a pack of Nescafe Ice coz I know I'd be needing 'em, along with my med bag just in case the whole validation/reconciliation process would be giving me headaches or other medical maladies.
Show started at 12 midnight on that Friday night/Saturday morning. The early data prep and early reconciliation/validation took me about 6 hours to complete. After testing, identifying potential issues, and sending the necessary e-mails I went back to the apartment to get some needed sleep. The best I got was 2 hours. Woke up feeling slightly refreshed (better than nothing, right?) I went back to the office at around 12 noon on that Saturday. While waiting for the other team to clean up their mess, I decided that picking up DVDs might not be such a bad idea after all. Went out the the nearby mall and got myself an original season 1 of the HEROES series. It was worth it.
It took quite awhile for the other team to finish up cleaning their mess, and the next part of my show could only start just around 9 pm and we were already behind schedule. What followed was a hectic period of data transformation, validation, and load preparation that got me working non-stop for almost 12 hours until Sunday morning. Good thing I got some nap in the clinic while waiting for the other team to finish. Since we felt that it was not necessary for us to baby-sit the loading program, me and my boss went back to the apartment to get some more nap. This time I got close to 4 hours.
When we went back to the office after the 4-hour nap, we realized how much of a bad idea it was not to baby sit the loading program. Some smart @$$ decided to update the authorization, and the list of users did not include the user ID I used to load my data. Suffice to say that the whole fiasco translated to my waiting for the program to re-load and waiting for my counterpart in the US to say that everything was okay, that everything was loaded correctly. I ended up going home 3 AM Monday morning.
Definitely the longest weekend I've ever had...
Sounds like torture, right? Well, it was not completely without fun. Far from it. Aside from the work-related element, the mission control people had thought of other stuff as well. Well, they set up a projector connected to the Wii in the pantry. Wild, excited yelling and screaming could be heard during Saturday midnight (Wii Boxing was the culprit) and on Sunday afternoon there was a karaoke session in the mission control, courtesy of one of the project member (she has this magic mic thing that was the rage in the Philippines, just plug the microphone to a TV and you're all set: the songs are all recorded within the microphone).
And then there were the Heroes DVDs and my MacBook...Not bad after all...
I didn't go to the office on Monday. Like, hell, no way...But I must say aside from the long hours, I must admit that I did enjoy myself. But I didn't expect the whole "not-getting-proper-sleep-for-more-than-12-hours" business would repeat itself in the next weekend, though this time it was of a more enjoyable nature.
More on that later.
