I swear…  It’ll be a miracle if I make it ’til morning without a heart attack.

So, I got the best backup I could, and then I kicked off the MS SQL upgrade.  The software that runs on top of this database is flaky to say the absolute least, so my confidence in the success of this endeaver was not high.  I was watching that progress bar like it was a fuse slowly burning down.  I was waiting for the bomb to go off at any moment.  I thoroughly expect some kind of catastrophic error to occur.  Maybe one of the remaining HDDs would simply melt.

Well, the MS SQL upgrade takes some time, and I got bored.  So I wandered off to IM my wife and surf the web.  Then the server made on of those awful error beeps.  The kind of default system beep that usually means you’ve just done something very stupid, or lost a lot of data, or maybe both.  My blood froze, my heart sank.  I thought for certain that beep was heralding the destruction of my weekend.  I thought for certain I’d be up all night long trying to rebuild a dead database.

Turns out the installer just wanted disc 2.

The installation actually completed without any errors.  The tables all showed up in the management screen, all the jobs/agents/users/security/whatever looked like it should.  I was able to fire up the software and log in as the test user.  Everything appears to have gone fairly smoothly.

I also got the backup straightened out, and fixed their antivirus, and replaced the failed drive.  All without incident.

I left there around 9:45.  I have to cross some train tracks on the way home.  And just as I was driving across them I heard a train whistle…  I looked in the direction it was coming from and saw a train’s headlight about a block away.  Scared the hell out of me.  I thought for certain I was about to die.

The train wasn’t moving terribly fast though, and I had plenty of time to get across the tracks safely.  Still, it was a horrifying experience.

That’s three terrific scares I’ve had today.  Well above my normal quota.

Had some kind of weird, horrible dream last night.  Something about a killer disease/organism invading the ISS, and then the Space Shuttle, and then threatening to invade Earth.  Reminded me a bit of Dead Space.  Ordinarily that might have been a fun dream…  But something about the way it all was put together was absolutely horrific.  Very unsettling.

Woke up this morning with a raging headache.  And after that dream I was briefly convinced that I was infected with that alien disease and I was going to turn into a monster.  Great way to ruin the morning.

I popped several Excedrin and then hopped in the shower.  Shaved, and then washed my face with peppermint oil Castile soap.  I probably should have remembered what happened last time I tried that…  But I wasn’t thinking too clearly at that time…  Let me just say that the sensation of peppermint oil on a freshly-shaven face is a very effective way to wake yourself up in the morning.

At work, the phone immediately started ringing.  Assorted issues with various networks and servers around town.  Already scrambling to get everything done.  And on my first call of the morning I managed to bash my head on the sharp corner of some metal shelving.  Immediately gave myself a new headache to replace the one I started the day with.

It’s Monday…  And while I have been fairly busy this morning, everything is going relatively smoothly.  No huge problems, no complete meltdowns, relatively easy fixes all-around.

Which means, of course, that something horrible is going to happen before the day is through.

And the longer we go without a major problem, the more impressive the eventual issue is going to be.

I just hope nobody loses a limb…

Courtesy of EXTRALIFE:

Courtesy of Penny Arcade: