cjsmith | All-nighters

Current Mood: exhausted

All-nighters

In an all-nighter, now is about the time when I start to get cold. Pretty much no matter what, from here on out, I'll feel chilly until I get sleep.

About an hour ago I stopped being willing to pretend I was in a good mood. I'm not too bad yet, but I'm no longer faking being cheerful.

I'm so hungry. Why didn't I think, when I came in to work "this" morning, to bring twice the normal amount of food? When I haven't eaten in ten hours, granola bars just don't cut it. Sooooooooooo hungry.

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I know what you mean about faking being in a good mood. It's horrible that sometimes you feel obligated to do that... put on the happy face, let no one see what's really wrong. I feel that way a lot too.

My granola bar didn't cut it either, so now I'm eating an apple.

I'm not cut out for this kind of thing any more. I woke up at this time "yesterday". People who come in to work at 10 may not realize what a difference that makes, but it's big. I'm normally zoning out by 10pm.

Mmm, an apple sounds good. I just made a big drippy bag of microwave popcorn. Hey, free food!

Yeah, I have no clue how you do this. I used up all my useful all-nighters years ago.

This one is by no means useful, but my boss is here and she wants me here. I think I'm putting in as many regressions as bug fixes by now!

that's the worst sort :(

Yeah, those are bad. I've perked up a great deal now, and I'm making good solid progress again. But the hours from three to six or so were truly useless.

Yeah, my all-nighters are long gone, and the useful ones were gone before that...

Someone oughtta do a chart of productivity vs. sleepless hours. I think it would be eye-opening (even for those of you going without sleep). ;)

It's amazing what I can do when there are two other people nearby who are also awake (and one of 'em is my boss). I won't claim it's useful, though. It certainly isn't the tradeoff I would choose to make if it were my call.

Pretty much no matter what, from here on out, I'll feel chilly until I get sleep.

Oh yeah! I get that too! Eating or drinking something warm often helps me, though.

Mr. E says there's an Inuit saying that "food equals sleep." If you're not sleeping you're going to be hungrier. Sorry that's biting you in the butt right now. :/

I hope you get to go to bed soon!

The tea is helping a little, as is the space heater, but I finally broke down and put my coat on.

Inuit? I can believe it. We used to say it at MIT too.

Thanks!

Maybe the reason you were getting so cold isn't only that you were tired and hungry (although that's certainly enough to do it!) but also that the temperature in the building was dropping. Most office buildings turn down the heat at night when (theoretically) no one is there. It probably really was colder, and without food and sleep your body was having real trouble coping with it.

I hope you're home sleeping in your warm, cozy bed as I write this at 7:00 am (10 am EST) and that you'll be back to normal after some decent sleep and a good meal.

Productivity without adequate sleep is a whole 'nother problem. Look at all the extra mistakes you said you were making, and be glad you're not a doctor in internship or residency. They get even less sleep, and their mistakes are not so easily found or corrected!

It's true that the temperature in the building drops at night, but this is a feeling I know well. My body is shutting down. It's long past its normal shutdown time and it's desperate.

It's not all that smart or macho to know such a feeling intimately. "Bragging rights" on this one are really kind of stupid. Would that I had the fortitude to say that enough is enough.

I'll get sleep tonight, I think.

Yes, the lack of sleep for doctors is what put me off that profession in the first place. I now realize I probably could have done it as well as Joe Random Med Student, but when I was in high school following doctors aruond on rounds I didn't know that. I decided forget it.

I didn't realize you had considered being a doctor at one time. I understand why you changed your mind, and it was probably the right decision for you -- but you would have been an awesome doctor! You have both intelligence and empathy, and that combination is all too rare in the medical profession.

Aw, thank you! Looking back, I don't know if it truly was the right decision. I'm fascinated by medical stuff in a way I never truly have been by computer things. Oh well -- what I did choose didn't turn out too badly.

I'm pretty sure that the point of diminishing returns gets reached long before the "okay, go home" stage. It nakes so little sense, and yet your industry demands it.
I hope you get home and sleep very soon.

Amen on all of that. It's really very foolish, and yet there's a macho hoo-ah team player rah rah sense attached to it all. This industry can be a bit... juvenile, at times.

I hate being forced into working overnight. I've noticed that my code quality drops significantly after 6-8 hours (depending on how much rest I've gotten, food, state of mind, etc). I always end up going back and ripping out huge chunks of what I wrote, since it either doesn't work right or is so inefficient that it can't be suffered to live.

It's definitely a problem for me.

I haven't had to do this in a long while, but I used to just start catnapping when I started to get tired: I'd take a 20-minute nap every 2-4 hours. That can go a long way towards helping you stay productive and not feel like death warmed over; so can eating a lot of generally nutritious food (candy bars don't cut it... go on, ask me how I know! Well, maybe you don't have to ask).

Be particularly careful driving home, please!

Thank goodness I don't have an airplane scheduled this weekend. (What I do have is an entire square dance to write in the next three weeks -- roughly sixty hours of work.) Damn but this job stuff gets in the way of having a life.

When I pull an all-nighter (thankfully something I haven't done in a while), I have to eat a lot. I eat practically all night long. I have no idea where the calories go, but it's definitely necessary.

Oh, bother. Pixie dust to help see you through all this. Yes, that's what the grainy feeling is in your eyes. ;)
I hope you get lots of sleep this weekend.
Take Care! Drive Safely!
*Hugs*

Rob says I slept fourteen hours when I got home. :-)

HAHA pixie dust! I love it!

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