Rundown of a typical day of a 12hour shift employee

Saw a post in this format and I found it interesting. So I'm doing it here as well. Here's what a typical day for me looks like:

1. 5:45 iphone alarm went off. Already wide awake. Had a good night sleep even if it's quite hot. Aircon's busted again.
2. Did not just snooze, but turned off the 5:45 and 6:15 alarms. Like I said already wide awake. Might wake up the wife and kid unnecessarily.
3. Reminds me of an earlier episode of Elementary, in which Holmes psychoanalyzes Watson having two alarms as a sign that waking up to work is something that she "needs" to do rather than what she "wants" to do. Or something...
4. I'm not like that though. I really like my job now. 12 hour work shift, 2 days on 2 days off, follow the sun model. Just need the alarms just in case.
5. It happened before. I woke up to the alarm then I snoozed/turned it off. I thought to myself just gonna lie down for a minute more. Then when I woke up, 30 minutes has gone by. Missed the bus that day. I said to myself. Not. Again. :)
6. It's the typical morning ritual. Bath. Brush. Suit up.
7. Finished earlier than usual. Can't find the damn phone though. Took me a while to navigate through the dark room.
8. Still too warm. Two fans didn't compensate for the missing aircon like the previous night. Difference is the position of the second stand fan. Moved the fan closer to the other edge of the bed. Had to use an extension cord though. The EuropAce power cord is too short, it might trip someone.
9. Struggled a bit with fan's remote control. First time using it. I had to turn off the lighting, or the kid might wake up.
10. 6:35. Still a bit early. Thought I'd grab something from the fridge. Lookie here... Milk coffee... Forgot about that... I'm taking it with me to the office. I always liked coffee. Milk coffee is great too. Pokka's is one of the better ones out there I think.
11. That reminds me... Note to self: bring home yoghurt drinks and apple juice from office. It's cheaper there.
12. Room is still warm, but much better now. Wish I could just fix the aircon right away.
13. Already tried cleaning the portable aircon the last few days. Still the same E4 error. Everytime I clean it though with the cleaner and/or anti mold/mildew solution, there are more and more slime being drained out.
14. That portable aircon is alive. Didn't realize there is a whole "ecosystem" in there. Eeewww...
15. Either (a) I get an aircon specialist to clean it (b) sell it to Cash Converter and buy a new one.
16. I remember we went to Toa Payoh last night for dinner at BigBang Bulgogi restaurant at ERA Centre. After dinner, we checked out Cash Converters which is a buy and sell store. Right away I thought of the different "garage sale items" I could sell here. That extra toddler's bike, a museum-piece TV (probably as old as I am), that weird-looking lamp...
17. Not sure if I saved any flyers from the mail that specializes on aircon cleaning and repair. A few years back I know there's a few, but I threw them all away. Thought of them as trash in the mailbox. :| Ugh... What a mistake...Note to self: always keep flyers of services ready. If not, our ceiling fan would still be broken.
18. If you want the number of the electrician who fixes ceiling fans, let me know :)
19. I could have fixed the fan myself, if I had the right parts. I tried to find obline and in DIY stores here. No luck. I noticed that the DIY stores here are more on basic carpentry, masonry, gardening, basic lighting, plumbing. Nothing much for spare electric/electronic parts.
20. I miss Raon. Especially Alexan. Electronic parts paradise.
21. It's 6:45? Better get going. Laptop check. ID check. Wallet check. Phone check. Wedding ring check. Keys check. Milk coffee check. Kiss wife check. Kiss kid (achim!) check.
22. Great, it's 6:55 at bus stop. I started writing all of these down before I forget.
23. It's only 7:05 when the company shuttle service arrives. 5 minutes too early. Oh well. I guess the others will just have to ride a cab to work then.
24. It's 7:29, started getting motion sickness. I better stop blogging for now and take a breather. 
25. 7:45 in the office. Motion sickness gone. Yipee!
26. Used Dettol on my workstation as usual. I'm on a shared workstation, so I'm making sure I'm safe before putting on that headset. Might seem like a germnophobe to some. But hey, they have dedicated work stations so they can't understand what I'm going through. Besides, this is my Dettol, so I choose where and when to use it.
27. Not to mention, there's a real concern here. There are bits of biscuits all over the place... and worse :| What a pigsty! Blasted previous user. How very considerate. Hygiene if a typical...
28. Another dose of Dettol on the desk and the chair should do the trick. And some alcohol for my hands for good measure.
29. Handover time. The previous shift looks busier than usual. I'm pretty sure the US guys are beat up. Better get some coffee first. 
30. I've closed 14 tickets last workshift. A little less than what I wanted. It's one of the weaker weeks. But with today's handover, we're expecting more tickets which means more chances to close even more tickets. Need to keep up with our SLA (Service Level Agreement)
31. Did you know that the most common problems are Layer 8 problems? PEBKAC? Hehe. Inside joke. All IT Support guys everywhere know this. :) 
32. Been in this line of work for the last 10 years; I'm officially 10 years on 03/03/13; started working back in 03/03/03.. Curious numbers, eh?
33. Damn tax season. I almost forgot about that. And I can't remember my SingPass. Ended up requesting for a new password. Ugh. One week to get it done. Typical...
34. Breakfast time. I had the kway teow (whatever the spelling is). It's a hearty meal. Cheap too at 60 cents. You can't get that price anywhere else! Lot's of things to do, though, so I gorged it down within 10 minutes.
35. Went to pantry to get another hot coffee with milk. (I'm saving the cold milk coffee for the afternoon.) Shortly enough, nature called. Hahahaha. Effective as always. :))
36. Still knee-deep in tickets, network outages, and Layer 8 issues. If it's like this now, can't wait when EMEA goes online later.
37. You'd think I don't like Layer 8 issues, but that's not the case. I like Layer 8 issues.. Well, most of them, because they are the easy ones that can be closed easily, as long as you know what you're doing. And most of the time, I do! :) Just be sure to write and/or say the right words so you don't piss them off. It's a better experience for everyone. And it's better for the team's (and my own) SLA scores.
38. Almost forgot to call POLAR as well. Just ordered 3 5-gallon bottles to be delivered by this Friday. Right now, we're down to just one bottle. If the delivery guy doesn't mess up (like he does 1 in 10 times), we should be smooth sailing on the weekend.
39. Can't believe I still have time to check our Philippine stocks. Well, this is the future. So I make time for it. Hehe :) With Fitch increasing the investment rating of the Philippines, all eyes are on the stocks.. Which ones to buy, which ones to sell.
40. I'm actually more of a longterm investor, instead of speculative trader. I just don't have the time to study and do the market research. Maybe in the near -- very near -- future, I'll have, but not now. Well, I guess I'll just have to go longterm and buy some blue chippers.
41. Huh? Lunchtime already? Damn time flies fast. Better get going and avoid the crowd and long queues...
42. Made it! Had a lighter lunch than usual. Plain old fried chicken and steamed rice. Plus a dash of soy sauce with green chili vinegar. Hehe. Spice things up a bit. Finished this in under 30 minutes. :) Freshen up a bit then it's back to work. 
43. Hey! My OC (Office Communicator) status says I'm busy! And now you're calling me?! This better be important...
44. It's not important :| Figures...
45. Hmmm... 212 unread emails... I hadn't noticed it before. Looks like I have a lot of catching up to do. I'm quite sure I haven't read something important yet.
46. Unimportant emails tagged as important *DEL*. Sort by Subject *DEL*. Sort by Sender *DEL*. And now we're down to... 160 emails? Well, it's a start...
47. Just finished updating all of my tickets. Finally. Took a bit longer than I wanted, but quality over quantity. Trying my best to run a tight ship here, to make sure I avoid screw ups.
48. And this is the part I love about the job: I learn new things. Let's see... Open MS OneNote. Open Notebook, expand Section, new Page. Copy and Paste to the new page. Next time I get the same problem, I'll do a search and voila!
49. I find it that it's always better to email troubleshooting steps with screenshots of what you want them to do. Especially those templated steps. Copying the templated steps from OneNote to MS Outlook is flawless -- no formatting issues as far as I've experienced. Not the same with EverNote though. Which is why I use OneNote for office stuff.
50. Simply put: MS OneNote for MS Office stuff. For anything else (especially those I need online) EverNote.
51. Been chatting with the missus over YM for most of the day, although sparingly. Like a few messages now, then a few more after an hour, then a few more after a couple more hours. It's one if those busy days for both me and her. It's nice to keep in touch in the middle of the turmoil.
52. 2:39PM it's almost time. Taking a breather before the proverbial storm hits. 
53. Time to stretch a bit. I'm not the most flexible person on earth, so stretching is something I try to do as much as I can whenever I have the chance. It also takes my eyes away from the screen for a moment.
54. It's only now that I realized that it's Wednesday. Didn't notice that the internet radio was on. Weird. And RX was playing the "classics". (That's their thing on Wednesdays.) Feel old now that the songs I grew up with are now classics. Hehe :)
55. A colleague gave me a copy of the latest episode of WWE Raw (2013-04-01 Edition). It's the go-home show before Wrestlemania this weekend. I'm already up to speed on what has happened. Thanks Bleacher Report. Still, I want to watch it. CM Punk desecrating the late Paul Bearer's ashes and puring it on himself and Undertaker? Spine-chilling I think. Can't wait to watch it... probably on my next day off in a couple of days. *sigh*
56. Can you feel it? It's 3:30 PM. EMEA is up. Here we go....
57. Not too bad so far. I'm a bit hungry so I went to the canteen. Still not touching the milk coffee I brought with me. Saving that for later in the evening when there's fewer choices available.
58. Reminds me of a particular episode of a show a long time ago. Can't even remember the name. He's a survivalist guy wandering in the desert. Caught a snake and ate it. He said he had brought some food, but prefers eating the snake. Eat what you find, before you eat what you have. Made sense to me. So I'm applying it to my milk coffee here. :)
59. Somebody swung the floodgates opened. Tickets are now pouring in by the buttload. Well, at least they're not calling in... Yet.
60. It's 4:40PM. Everybody else in the office is leaving and calling it a day. It's always like that everyday. 4:40 and everybody is standing up and scrambling outside. The shuttle buses are ready to take them home. At exactly 4:55PM, the buses start to leave.
61. I hadn't touched my phone for a few hours now to blog. I've been that busy.
62. It's 6:30. I finally drank my milk coffee. No time to go to the canteen for dinner. It's just coffee and this biskut that our boss bought from Penang, Malaysia. It's nice and filling. :) And that's my riceless dinner. :)
63. One hour to go. I'm preparing the handover notes. Still too early but I don't want to rush. There are tickets that are going to be handed over anyway, so I might as well set our remarks for those. Then just add other tickets within the next hour as they come.
64. I remember one of my teachers said to us: do things quickly, rather than do things in a rush... No epiphany here. I just remembered, that's it. :)
65. That last one hour whizzed by fast. The handover was slow though. We had a lot of things to discuss with our US counterparts. Still, the job's done for the day.
66. Sometimes, I just walk over to the bus stop a few blocks away to catch the bus. Sometimes -- like right now -- I call and book a cab. Taking teh bus and the train takes about 45 minutes not including the waiting time. The bus interval here is about 15 to 20 minutes. By taxi, it's only 20 minutes. It's almost 10 times more expensive though, but it's the time that you buy and save.
67. Home at last. Son's playing. The missus just arrived as well. And I finish up my blog post here. :)

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