'Tis the season- work alternates between hectic event logistics gigs and all-night endurance tours. I have a two-liter bottle of yerba mate (in a concession to convenience, I brewed it in a coffee-maker, rather than using the traditional bombilla and gourd method of consumption. It's a quiet night, and I've been indulging in a little nostalgia.
The video quality isn't perfect, but the song has a great line which resonates with a d00d who's working an all-nighter- You spoiled my day for the rest of the night. Indeed, work, you spoiled what could have been a great night of binge drinking...
I really didn't know anything about The Bluebells, but have learned that, like a surprising number of bands that made up the 80's U.K. pop invasion, they hailed from Scotland.
For me, the quintessential Scottish band will always be these guys- with the late, great Stuart Adamson having one of popular music's most distinctive voices:
The headband is a bit much, though.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query "all-nighter". Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query "all-nighter". Sort by date Show all posts
Monday, October 11, 2010
Monday, November 5, 2012
Not the Best Weekend
Whew, I finally returned home from a thirty-two hour endurance tour on the job. I had pulled an afternoon-to-morning all nighter, then returned to my home to recharge my cell phone, the company phone, and my laptop on Saturday morning, knowing that I'd be returning Saturday afternoon. My workplace had been sans electricity since approximately 11PM last Monday. I knew that I would not be having a fun time.
Fortunately, we have a lot of lanterns on the job because we use them for atmospheric illumination during night events. I relied heavily on a small radio/LED combo with a solar panel and a hand crank throughout my "purposeful camping" trip.
When I returned on Saturday afternoon, I knew I wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. One of my co-workers had called to tell me about the ordeal of trying to find gasoline in his Bronx neighborhood. In Yonkers, all of the gas stations near my house were completely sold out of gasoline, and the open gas stations I passed on my way to work had half-mile lines. I had about a quarter of a tank left, so ditching the car in the parking lot at work was my plan. The buses and trains were running, so I knew I'd have options (funny how most suburbanites are completely ignorant of their local public transportation options, even though almost everybody in my neck of the woods heads down to Manhattan on a fairly regular basis) if fueling up were a problem.
Saturday night into Sunday morning was no picnic. It was dark and cold and, worst of all, there was no internet access (HORRORS!!!). I don't creep out easily... at the best of times, my job is not one for someone who's easily rattled. I didn't get creeped out, but I wasn't exactly happy. The worst sensation was the chronic lack of warmth- I had put on several layers of clothing, but I didn't have a place to go for additional heat. It's not a fun sensation after the first few hours. When the skeleton crew came to work the day shift (both guys had lost power at home for most of the week), I stretched out on a settee and zonked out for a few hours. Oddly enough, I really didn't need that much sleep- my need to go outside and feel the sun's warmth and chat with my co-workers outweighed my need for sleep.
As I'd suspected, the guy who was scheduled to relieve me was still unable to purchase gas and, to compound matters, his ninety-two year old mother was in the process of being transferred from a hospital to a rehabilitation-oriented nursing home. My problems were nothing compared to his. Besides, the local gas stations were not operational because of the lack of electricity. I was actually relieved to be able to hunker down for some more time while the infrastructure was being returned to normal.
After dark, I began to see some activity on the road adjacent to my office- the good folks at Consolidated Edison had a couple of bucket trucks on the scene. Those people are absolutely heroic- they've been working outside, in the cold and darkness, around the clock. I had no heat, but I was sheltered from the elements, and I really wasn't busting my ass (I spent much of my shift spending some quality time with Will Shortz, having grabbed a bunch of past issues of The New York Times from the recycling bin). The power finally came on around 10PM. Wow, what a transition! I actually did a little happy dance before running all over the site checking the outbuildings and resetting the various alarm systems. I also sent text messages to management and the bigwigs in "physical plant" to let them know that power had been restored. The only wrinkle was that there was no internet access because the server wasn't online. Can't complain, though, the sheer fact that I was able to see clearly was cause for celebration.
When my relief came in at midnight, I headed immediately to the nearest all-night gas station, which had started the pumps only two hours earlier. There were four or five cars ahead of me, so I didn't have to wait more than five minutes before I could gas up the car (my primary concern at this time). I lucked out, the gas stations near my home are still out of fuel.
As soon as I got home, I decided that I'd put up a post recapping my sucky weekend. As soon as I hit "publish", I'm going to take a long, scalding shower. Thirty-two hours is too long a time to spend catassing in the cold and dark.
As sucky as my weekend has been, I want to stress yet again that I got off easy. My home is intact, and I was relative safe ensconced at work. I'm extremely fortunate, and I'm going to make damn sure that some of my O.T. goes to the relief effort for my people.
Fortunately, we have a lot of lanterns on the job because we use them for atmospheric illumination during night events. I relied heavily on a small radio/LED combo with a solar panel and a hand crank throughout my "purposeful camping" trip.
When I returned on Saturday afternoon, I knew I wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. One of my co-workers had called to tell me about the ordeal of trying to find gasoline in his Bronx neighborhood. In Yonkers, all of the gas stations near my house were completely sold out of gasoline, and the open gas stations I passed on my way to work had half-mile lines. I had about a quarter of a tank left, so ditching the car in the parking lot at work was my plan. The buses and trains were running, so I knew I'd have options (funny how most suburbanites are completely ignorant of their local public transportation options, even though almost everybody in my neck of the woods heads down to Manhattan on a fairly regular basis) if fueling up were a problem.
Saturday night into Sunday morning was no picnic. It was dark and cold and, worst of all, there was no internet access (HORRORS!!!). I don't creep out easily... at the best of times, my job is not one for someone who's easily rattled. I didn't get creeped out, but I wasn't exactly happy. The worst sensation was the chronic lack of warmth- I had put on several layers of clothing, but I didn't have a place to go for additional heat. It's not a fun sensation after the first few hours. When the skeleton crew came to work the day shift (both guys had lost power at home for most of the week), I stretched out on a settee and zonked out for a few hours. Oddly enough, I really didn't need that much sleep- my need to go outside and feel the sun's warmth and chat with my co-workers outweighed my need for sleep.
As I'd suspected, the guy who was scheduled to relieve me was still unable to purchase gas and, to compound matters, his ninety-two year old mother was in the process of being transferred from a hospital to a rehabilitation-oriented nursing home. My problems were nothing compared to his. Besides, the local gas stations were not operational because of the lack of electricity. I was actually relieved to be able to hunker down for some more time while the infrastructure was being returned to normal.
After dark, I began to see some activity on the road adjacent to my office- the good folks at Consolidated Edison had a couple of bucket trucks on the scene. Those people are absolutely heroic- they've been working outside, in the cold and darkness, around the clock. I had no heat, but I was sheltered from the elements, and I really wasn't busting my ass (I spent much of my shift spending some quality time with Will Shortz, having grabbed a bunch of past issues of The New York Times from the recycling bin). The power finally came on around 10PM. Wow, what a transition! I actually did a little happy dance before running all over the site checking the outbuildings and resetting the various alarm systems. I also sent text messages to management and the bigwigs in "physical plant" to let them know that power had been restored. The only wrinkle was that there was no internet access because the server wasn't online. Can't complain, though, the sheer fact that I was able to see clearly was cause for celebration.
When my relief came in at midnight, I headed immediately to the nearest all-night gas station, which had started the pumps only two hours earlier. There were four or five cars ahead of me, so I didn't have to wait more than five minutes before I could gas up the car (my primary concern at this time). I lucked out, the gas stations near my home are still out of fuel.
As soon as I got home, I decided that I'd put up a post recapping my sucky weekend. As soon as I hit "publish", I'm going to take a long, scalding shower. Thirty-two hours is too long a time to spend catassing in the cold and dark.
As sucky as my weekend has been, I want to stress yet again that I got off easy. My home is intact, and I was relative safe ensconced at work. I'm extremely fortunate, and I'm going to make damn sure that some of my O.T. goes to the relief effort for my people.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Sandy Aftermath
Sandy, to put it succinctly, kicked my ass, but not to the extent that last year's hurricane Irene did. I got to work before the brunt of the storm hit, around 2PM on Monday, knowing that I would not be leaving the site before 9AM the following morning. I packed as if I were going on a camping trip- plenty of food and several changes of clothes.
When it hit my neck of the woods, Sandy differed significantly from a typical tropical storm in that there was comparatively little rainfall. Out of the several times when I had to be outside checking up on things, I only had to wear my rain poncho once. The wind, however, was pretty brutal. My workplace lost power around 11PM (two of my co-workers were also pulling all-night duty, one lost power early on, the other didn't lose power at all).
The weird thing about losing power in a public building is that there is emergency power that kicks in to provide enough lighting to allow an evacuation of the building. Of course, I was not evacuating... it's a bit eerie sitting in a dim building, watching the lights slowly dying, listening to the beeps of the alarm system growing fainter with time. Luckily, I had access to candles (during our nighttime fundraisers, we put lanterns up on site to provide "atmosphere"), and I made sure to "top off" my electronic devices throughout the evening while I still had power.
Knowing the power would not come on for a while, I had to engage in "resource management"- I had to use the gigantic rechargeable flashlight sparingly and conserve phone battery power (the phone is an emergency light source as well as a communication device in instances like this). I only used my phone frivolously once, to snap a picture of a tired, unshaven, raggedly looking bastard working by candlelight:
It was pitch dark but luckily I had a torch and a match in my inventory.
About every three hours, I did a walkabout to gauge water levels on the site (Irene was primarily a flooding event in my neck of the woods) and checked for storm damage to the buildings on site. A sizable branch had narrowly missed my car, but we survived pretty much unscathed. During one of my rambles I saw what appeared to be an intense, though extremely localized, fireworks display- probably a transformer explosion. The police, fire department, EMTs, and ConEd work crews were out and about- the night was punctuated by wailing sirens and flashing lights. By the time the site director and site manager arrived at 9AM, the storm had subsided, and I had a comprehensive report on the extent of the minor damage done to the site. I sent several text messages to my department head to appraise him of my situation and convey the reports of my two overnighting co-workers.
I returned home on deserted roads and found that my neighborhood had never lost power. A large oak tree came down right where I usually park my car... I joked to my neighbor that I was lucky I worked an all-nighter- it's not the first time my car missed getting totaled by a falling tree by virtue of my work schedule. She joked about inviting all of her powerless friends over for the day- "If you have any frozen steaks you don't want to spoil, bring them over!"
I crawled into bed, bone tired, and zonked out until about 3PM, when I received a call from the guy who was supposed to work Tuesday afternoon- he was stuck at home by flooded roads and downed trees. Damn, damn, damn, I had to go back. Luckily, I had re-charged my cell phone- I arrived to find that the power was still out at work. Knowing that the power would probably be out, I made sure I had a fat, lurid paperpack, purchased for a quarter at a library book sale, and my wind-up radio/LED combo with me. Around 5PM, the Chief Financial Officer of the organization came over to conduct a spot inspection (much to my surprise). I took him on a Cook's destruction tour, pointing out the minor damage that the site had incurred. The rest of the night was uneventful- it involved using my resources sparingly, reading my trashy novel, and listening to radio reports of the massive damage that coastal areas received. I'm still not really caught up on current events, but Sandy pretty much supersedes everything as far as media coverage in these parts.
When it hit my neck of the woods, Sandy differed significantly from a typical tropical storm in that there was comparatively little rainfall. Out of the several times when I had to be outside checking up on things, I only had to wear my rain poncho once. The wind, however, was pretty brutal. My workplace lost power around 11PM (two of my co-workers were also pulling all-night duty, one lost power early on, the other didn't lose power at all).
The weird thing about losing power in a public building is that there is emergency power that kicks in to provide enough lighting to allow an evacuation of the building. Of course, I was not evacuating... it's a bit eerie sitting in a dim building, watching the lights slowly dying, listening to the beeps of the alarm system growing fainter with time. Luckily, I had access to candles (during our nighttime fundraisers, we put lanterns up on site to provide "atmosphere"), and I made sure to "top off" my electronic devices throughout the evening while I still had power.
Knowing the power would not come on for a while, I had to engage in "resource management"- I had to use the gigantic rechargeable flashlight sparingly and conserve phone battery power (the phone is an emergency light source as well as a communication device in instances like this). I only used my phone frivolously once, to snap a picture of a tired, unshaven, raggedly looking bastard working by candlelight:
It was pitch dark but luckily I had a torch and a match in my inventory.
About every three hours, I did a walkabout to gauge water levels on the site (Irene was primarily a flooding event in my neck of the woods) and checked for storm damage to the buildings on site. A sizable branch had narrowly missed my car, but we survived pretty much unscathed. During one of my rambles I saw what appeared to be an intense, though extremely localized, fireworks display- probably a transformer explosion. The police, fire department, EMTs, and ConEd work crews were out and about- the night was punctuated by wailing sirens and flashing lights. By the time the site director and site manager arrived at 9AM, the storm had subsided, and I had a comprehensive report on the extent of the minor damage done to the site. I sent several text messages to my department head to appraise him of my situation and convey the reports of my two overnighting co-workers.
I returned home on deserted roads and found that my neighborhood had never lost power. A large oak tree came down right where I usually park my car... I joked to my neighbor that I was lucky I worked an all-nighter- it's not the first time my car missed getting totaled by a falling tree by virtue of my work schedule. She joked about inviting all of her powerless friends over for the day- "If you have any frozen steaks you don't want to spoil, bring them over!"
I crawled into bed, bone tired, and zonked out until about 3PM, when I received a call from the guy who was supposed to work Tuesday afternoon- he was stuck at home by flooded roads and downed trees. Damn, damn, damn, I had to go back. Luckily, I had re-charged my cell phone- I arrived to find that the power was still out at work. Knowing that the power would probably be out, I made sure I had a fat, lurid paperpack, purchased for a quarter at a library book sale, and my wind-up radio/LED combo with me. Around 5PM, the Chief Financial Officer of the organization came over to conduct a spot inspection (much to my surprise). I took him on a Cook's destruction tour, pointing out the minor damage that the site had incurred. The rest of the night was uneventful- it involved using my resources sparingly, reading my trashy novel, and listening to radio reports of the massive damage that coastal areas received. I'm still not really caught up on current events, but Sandy pretty much supersedes everything as far as media coverage in these parts.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Uh... The New Post is a Couple of Posts Back
I finally got around to publishing the post-lecture recap from last week's Secret Science Club lecture. That being said, tonight the Imagine Science Film Festival comes to Gowanus paradise The Bell House. A very tired Bastard (yeah, it's been another yerba mate fueled all-nighter) will drag his ass to Brooklyn for the festival.
Also, I want to take some time to extend my best wishes to Ned and the lovely Mrs. B. I've been playing catch-up lately, so I am late to the game on this one. All the best to the Beaumonts.
Also, I want to take some time to extend my best wishes to Ned and the lovely Mrs. B. I've been playing catch-up lately, so I am late to the game on this one. All the best to the Beaumonts.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Lackluster Post-Lecture Recap
I knew I would get my ass kicked my the Metropolitan Transit Authority last night. I woke up at 4:30 PM after pulling an all-nighter, and had a couple of beers with the landlord and his uncle, who are making renovations in the house. I got to the Woodlawn "4" station and had a s-l-o-w ride to 14th St (the train, normally an express, was making all local stops), where I transfered to a slow "R" train. By the time I got to the beautiful Bell House, I had missed the theremin performance, and the first five minutes of the lecture by neurobiologist (and economist) Paul Glimcher. The event was completely packed- I had to stand in the vestibule outside the performance space, so my recap will be somewhat half-assed.
Much of the lecture dealt with the research techniques employed in Dr. Glimcher's lab- one particular experiment featured monkeys presented with a set of three lights- a central light which would get the monkey's attention, followed by a light to the left or right. If the monkey looked at the left-hand light, it would receive a small, constant amount of fruit juice, while a glance at the right-hand light would provide either no juice or a big juice payoff. The experiment was modeled on the work or shirk problem of game theory. A similar experiment was performed with human subjects- the pattern of choices between a safe payoff and a gamble was similar between human subjects and monkeys. In another experiment with monkeys, an added "bonus" was given along with the juice reward- the bonus took the form of pictures of monkeys shown while the juice reward was given. Pictures of high-status monkeys were valued more than pictures of low-status monkeys. Pictures of female monkeys weren't valued more than pictures of male monkeys until one of the researches joked, "You've got the female monkeys backwards!" Pictures of the hindquarters of female monkeys were highly valued by the male monkey subjects. Yeah, monkeys dig "porn".
I lost the thread of the lecture a couple of times becuase I was outside the auditorium looking in (damn MTA construction schedules!). I wish my recap were better, folks. As a possible consolation, here's a good interview with Dr Glimcher, and a video of one of his lectures.
I did make it a big beer night after the lecture ended, so that was some compensation for the godawful trip down and the half-perceived lecture. I also had a long reminiscence with a couple of folks about the ***FUTURE BLOG POST ABOUT PAST EVENT***
Much of the lecture dealt with the research techniques employed in Dr. Glimcher's lab- one particular experiment featured monkeys presented with a set of three lights- a central light which would get the monkey's attention, followed by a light to the left or right. If the monkey looked at the left-hand light, it would receive a small, constant amount of fruit juice, while a glance at the right-hand light would provide either no juice or a big juice payoff. The experiment was modeled on the work or shirk problem of game theory. A similar experiment was performed with human subjects- the pattern of choices between a safe payoff and a gamble was similar between human subjects and monkeys. In another experiment with monkeys, an added "bonus" was given along with the juice reward- the bonus took the form of pictures of monkeys shown while the juice reward was given. Pictures of high-status monkeys were valued more than pictures of low-status monkeys. Pictures of female monkeys weren't valued more than pictures of male monkeys until one of the researches joked, "You've got the female monkeys backwards!" Pictures of the hindquarters of female monkeys were highly valued by the male monkey subjects. Yeah, monkeys dig "porn".
I lost the thread of the lecture a couple of times becuase I was outside the auditorium looking in (damn MTA construction schedules!). I wish my recap were better, folks. As a possible consolation, here's a good interview with Dr Glimcher, and a video of one of his lectures.
I did make it a big beer night after the lecture ended, so that was some compensation for the godawful trip down and the half-perceived lecture. I also had a long reminiscence with a couple of folks about the ***FUTURE BLOG POST ABOUT PAST EVENT***
Saturday, April 28, 2012
All-Nighter Aftermath, D00ds Singing Pretty
By the time this post hits the t00bz, I'll be sleeping off a sixteen-hour overnight stint (fueled, as always, by consumption of copious amounts of yerba mate), as my co-worker attended a black-tie fundraiser for a charity. With gasoline prices hovering around $4.15/gallon, it's nice to be able to combine two days' commuting into one round trip. It's also nice to have some quiet time to catch up on the news after a busy week of attending lectures and drinking beer. The one downside is not being able to participate in the back-and-forth jocularity in the comments section in real time. Oh, well, can't win 'em all.
In a comment in an epic 200+ comment thread at Jennifer's place, which is not to be confused with Jennifer's place, I described the Shins' song she posted as "unabashedly pretty, which is something I don't often say about a song featuring a male vocal." Last night, I heard the latest song by English band Keane, and it's another unabashedly pretty song sung by a d00d:
I think I see a trend here... I think it may be part of the New Sincerity, but not an insincere New Sincerity (I was pretty sure that Vacuumslayer had a post up about bronies but I could not find it in the t00bz- a little link-help, and I'll link to the post). Anyway, there's a trend of guys singing pretty songs lately. I remember when such prettiness wasn't en vogue:
Now get off my lawn, I'm sleeping!
UPDATE: Found Vacuumslayer's "brony" link...
In a comment in an epic 200+ comment thread at Jennifer's place, which is not to be confused with Jennifer's place, I described the Shins' song she posted as "unabashedly pretty, which is something I don't often say about a song featuring a male vocal." Last night, I heard the latest song by English band Keane, and it's another unabashedly pretty song sung by a d00d:
I think I see a trend here... I think it may be part of the New Sincerity, but not an insincere New Sincerity (I was pretty sure that Vacuumslayer had a post up about bronies but I could not find it in the t00bz- a little link-help, and I'll link to the post). Anyway, there's a trend of guys singing pretty songs lately. I remember when such prettiness wasn't en vogue:
Now get off my lawn, I'm sleeping!
UPDATE: Found Vacuumslayer's "brony" link...
Friday, April 1, 2011
Big Plans... Big Plans
I have to work a graveyard tomorrow, by which I mean tonight... my plan today is to put the finishing touches on my new batch of limoncello (so I can bring some to ***FUTURE POST***), getting bombed as I do repeated "taste testings". I'll get my drunk on in the early afternoon, and sleep it off, then brew a pot of yerba mate to fuel the all-nighter.
I love it when a plan comes together- especially when that plan involves booze.
I love it when a plan comes together- especially when that plan involves booze.
Saturday, November 17, 2012
I Saw Two Shooting Stars Tonight
Tonight is a bit of a slog, I'm working a double tonight so my co-worker can attend a fundraiser for the children's hospital in which his son waged, and lost, his fight to cancer. How could I refuse such a request? To be honest, our shift swap will give me my first Saturday off in a l-o-n-g time. I'll be heading straight to my volunteer gig when I leave here at 8AM, and will try to catch a nap on the tatamis in the dojo in the periods in which we don't have a class.
It's not a bad night to be working an all-nighter, because the Leonids meteor shower will be in full swing around 3AM. It's a chilly night, but I will be able to bundle up and sit outside so I can watch the show. If it gets too cold, I can always stuff Ginger down my sweatshirt.
Of course, the post title is cribbed from Billy Bragg's A New England, which was my introduction to Mr. Bragg's wonderful body of work:
It's not a bad night to be working an all-nighter, because the Leonids meteor shower will be in full swing around 3AM. It's a chilly night, but I will be able to bundle up and sit outside so I can watch the show. If it gets too cold, I can always stuff Ginger down my sweatshirt.
Of course, the post title is cribbed from Billy Bragg's A New England, which was my introduction to Mr. Bragg's wonderful body of work:
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