03/08/2025 - On Call

Today's Rating: 5/10

Song of the Day: Ain't No Rest for the Wicked - Cage the Elephant

Current Book: Revenge of the Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell

Yesterday was an interesting day to say the least. It was also a masterclass in why I dislike my job.

LFC has migration activities going on this entire weekend (yes, even more than the 6+ hours on Friday night). As part of their migration, they requested on-call support from my project team for the following times:

• 8 AM - 12 AM Saturday
• 8 AM - 12 AM Sunday
• 7 AM - 8 AM Monday (our standard hours start at 8 AM)

This support was in case they ran into any issues during the course of the weekend and needed support. Since I had worked late in to the night on Friday, I was listed as the secondary backup for on-call support on Saturday (which I thought meant that there were two other engineers they would attempt to contact prior to me but more on this later) and was free from duty on Sunday (how generous of them).

I had originally blocked off Saturday as a recovery day since I anticipated staying up far, far later for work. However, since I managed to get off around 11:15, I was able to get mostly a full night's rest. I called Zach early that morning to see if he wanted to play tennis, and we planned to meet at the courts for ~9:30. I ran a quick errand to drop off our plastic at Sam's (more details on the Sam's recycling program here). I then proceeded to hit with Zach for a couple of hours. We never have the best matches, but they are always a ton of fun since neither of us takes it too seriously.

After tennis with Zach, I headed home and called my mom to see if she wanted to get lunch. She said no, and I could tell she just might be having a worse day than me. She was doing her taxes. If there is one thing that I can guarantee will put my mom in a bad mood, it's taxes. As soon as I heard her say the dreaded "T" word, I knew it was mission number one to get off of the phone as soon as possible.

I then called my dad and made plans to go to a BBQ restaurant in town with him. I showered and started heading that way when I got a call from my boss that LFC needed some support (told you we'd come back to it).

Apparently, "backup" to my project does not mean the same thing that I (and presumably the rest of the world) understand it to mean. My boss (listed as backup number 1) and one of my coworkers (listed as primary) had both been contacted already, and we all got on around the same time. Yes, all three of us reporting in for the same issue.

We quickly found what the "issue" was: a firewall restriction. However, this firewall restriction had been put in place intentionally some time ago. We messaged asking for confirmation that it should be removed. They proceeded to not respond for over an hour, so my coworker and I logged off. Around 1.5 hours after sending the original message asking for clarification from them, they asked to get on a call. So... I logged back on to get on the call where they discussed it in their team and confirmed that was exactly how it was supposed to work the entire time.

I logged off with the dread of another call later on, but luckily did not receive one the rest of the day.

Maddie and I spent the rest of the day on the couch before heading out to grab dinner for her (shrimp from Debarges). I may need to pick up a second job though (email me at [email protected] if you are hiring) because her shrimp plate was $27!

I "made" her buy me a sundae from Freddy's as an equalizer. It was $6 for a mini sundae

We headed home with our expensive food and proceeded to watch some more Keith Eats the Menu. After we got tired of that, we started Season 3 of the White Lotus which is surprisingly good. I got tired around 9 PM and went to read for a little while. Maddie came to bed slightly after that.

Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow!