It was a new day yesterday, but it's an old day now

Here is a description of one crazy day -- yesterday. There was a lot of scripting, coding, writing, reading, editing, printing, running, despairing, contemplating, abusing, submitting, LJ-meeting, fine dining, drinking, partying, travelling, and finally peace. All in a day's work.


5:30 am - get up after less than 5 hours of sleep for 5th day in a row - lack of sleep today because I was constructing algorithms and experiments in my head.
6:30 am - Get to office and start coding up scripts in shell and perl to run some last minute experiments for the paper deadline a few hours away.
7:00 am - Try to log in to compute server to run experiments with these scripts only to realize the server has powered off during the morning power outage.
7:05 am - Shift experiments to another server and start debugging, running, batching.
8:00 am - Give a draft of paper to co-author for checking and corrections and go for a quick brekkie.
9:00 am - Realize that script was buggy and solve the problem, and restart the experiments.
9:30 am - Frantic discussions with co-author about re-writing parts of a section.
10:00 am - Finally get a lock back on the write up - the experiment has succeeded by now and paper looks all set to be ready in an hour - well in time for the 11:30 deadline.
10:05 am - The lights go off (in all of Mumbai).
10:15 am - Realize the problem is not local - and shift base to UPS laden server room to continue work on the draft and experimental results.
10:45 am - The power is back. Phew! Frantic changes, printing the draft and last minute changes.
11:15 am - Final proof reading done and more or less ready to submit.
11:20 am - Power goes out again! Paper not submitted yet.
11:30 am - Watch in amusement as deadline goes by. Contemplate cursing Murphy, but realize he is already dead.
11:35 am - Have a general chat about life, universe, everything, PhD, society.
12:15 pm - Power returns - no internet on campus - triple redundancy with resourceful people helps - access through separate private line.
12:20 pm - The paper submission site has closed down automatically on the dot.
12:30 pm - Mail conference chairs the paper citing genuine power problem and attach paper in mail - not touched since deadline time to be fair.
12:35 pm - Free but not exactly till paper gets submitted and acked. Restless hours of random stuff follow.
5:00 pm - Random check on paper submission site shows it is back online again. Submit the paper finally and get ack email. Later conference chair guy replies saying they had a problem with the automated shutdown anyway and kept the site open for four hours again. Phew. Finally done.
5:05 pm - Go out, clear head, enjoy, think about a crazy day.
5:30 pm - freegeek calls about LJ meet planned and says he knows I have finished deadline and must come. I agree - had no other plans but eat, drink, and watch movie alone anyway.
7:00 pm - Finish some admin work and leave for VT with beerbal who is meeting other friends.
8:00 pm - VT - beerbal goes off to Liberty and plans to eat at Bhagat Tarachand.
8:30 pm - Ankur - meet arunshanbhag (super cool person, photo freak), his wife, basrya (lives near my area - mental note ;) ), and deelight, all for the first time. Nice meeting you all mates.
9:00 pm - Chilled beer and awesome Mangy food arrives - two varieties of baked fish, prawns gassi, fish gassi, neer dosa, kori roti. Absolutely awesome food. Full marks. Am going there again sometime soon.
9:15 pm - beerbal calls and asks about different place and is suggested Rajdhani for his gang and criteria.
10:00 pm - Rounds of photos, after rounds of talking. freegeek is presented a bottle of Absolut Mandarin by arunshanbhag - woohoo! Is there any left by the way, mate?
10:30 pm - Everyone leaves, freegeek and me proceed for some well earned time with Der Alte (aka Buddha, aka Old Monk) at Vrindavan.
10:45 pm - beerbal's sms says - "8 people shower their blessings on you. Excellent!" - they seem to have enjoyed.
11:00 pm - Shocked, in the middle of a quart and plates of cheese and paneer pakodas, to see freegeek has dyed his hair with streaks of red!
12:10 am - Watch in amusement as last bus home goes by unseen.
12:34 am - Pay bill, get out, run into cab, which drives superbly, run out of cab at VT, slip and fall on wet floor near ticket counter, manage to punch coupons, and run into last train as it moves out.
12:40 am - Stand in the door listening to Dire Straits on my new Creative MuVo Tx FM - an incredible experience, wind in face, music in heart, ear, and soul.
2:00 am - In bed - finally. Only to wake up at 6:30 of course.


What kept me sane and company through the entire day? 2 things: The motto - Don't Panic, and live extended superb versions of Sultans of Swing, Telegraph Road, and Tunnel of Love. basrya, I am told you will love these and are a fan too.