I had to awake early this morning..
In some ways I look forward to my uber-early morning starts - despite the ‘grind’ that is Windows Server patching. Now, this may sound a little odd, as anyone who has had to perform the aforementioned task will tell you.. it isn’t much fun.
Sure.. there is that slight flutter in the chest, the sweaty palms, that slightly sick feeling of knowing.. of just knowing that the server one has just restarted, may never actually start again.
Oh don’t get me wrong - modern high performance server hardware is a joy to behold.. built to take the abuse, built to run like a rocket, built to cave a whole in the ground 3 feet deep if dropped. None-the-less I look after some pretty decent hardware. But with Microsoft? You really just don’t know what the outcome of patching twenty or so servers will be.. it’s almost exciting.. almost.
It’s like some form of crazed Russian Roulette - you never know which patch is the “loaded chamber”. But I digress..
The real reason I enjoy the 5am starts.. the reason I get out of bed at 4am in the morning is to have a smoke.
Ok, it’s not the smoke per se, it’s the stillness of the chilled autumn air.. the sounds of a sleeping city slowly arising from it’s slumber.. and the stars. That cold winter air and stillness combined with the universes greatest light show - the stars.. it’s an intoxicating experience.
Have you ever just.. stopped? Stopped worrying, stopped thinking about that annoying CSS bug, that annoying neighbour who insists on playing Billy Ray Cyrus over and over and over again.. have you ever just stopped and looked into the night sky and wondered?
Are we alone? Is *this* it? What is the point? .. and then I remember I am alive.. and it’s good to be alive.
That’s why I constantly surprise the Government agencies and corporate enterprises I work for by having a singular knack for apparently not caring about having to attend to Microsoft patching or Server reboots at 4am or 5am in the morning.
The ironiy is, I do care.. because for the briefest moment I forget that the human race is trying, very hard, to exterminate itself. I forget that it’s cold, or that it’s early.. or that the neighbour has still got that damned Billy Ray Cyrus cd..
I care, because it’s five or 10 minutes of peace in an otherwise stressed and insane world. I look into the stars and realise how small and insignificant the world is.. how small and insignificant we all are and how personal gain, hatred, fear and distrust are just a waste of precious time..
If I can see that.. then others surely will.. perhaps there may be hope for us all, yet.
≡ This is a journal entry relating to the topics of reflections, space.
Brendan Borlase is a Systems and Network Administrator living in Adelaide, Australia, having lived, worked and breathed Information Technology for over 12 years. Learn more.
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