Saturday, January 05, 2008

Dilemma.

I got bupkis in the way of sleep last night (forced my eyes closed at ~11PM, they popped open again at 0215 and I couldn't get back to sleep 'til three, just in time for the alarm clock to go off at ohmygod o'clock in the AM.)

Here's the quandary: I am hanging on my chinstrap, so do I try and take a nap, even though it will probably have me wide awake 'til 11 again if I do? Or do I try and tough it out 'til bedtime, even though I'm practically seeing things that aren't there because I'm so tired? The complicating factor (you know there has to be one) is that I have at least one "must-run" errand for the afternoon.

This swing shift stuff both blows and sucks at the same time, a feat heretofore thought impossible.
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24 comments:

Zendo Deb said...

Take a nap, but rest that alarm - otherwise you will sleep for four hours and then repeat today's performance.

Remember donuts keep law enforcement moving. (Think of it as performing a public service)

1:57 PM, January 05, 2008
Anonymous said...

Here's a cheering thought...heard the other day that the World Health Organization is about to declare the graveyard shift a carcinogen, because of all the damage caused by working while the body is supposed to be repairing itself...

2:08 PM, January 05, 2008
Roberta X said...

If (if if if) you can operate safely enough to get you errand done, do it; then you can nap and laze and do sweet dam'-all until it is once again time to put on your cap and get in the car to go start up the place with the shint glass cabints where you warm the donuts that keep the cops happy and prevents all civilization from falling down.

Otherwise, nap now, as long as you can, go do the thing, and find some(blog)way(blog)to(blog)fill(blog)the(Sunday Smith)time. I cannot imagine what it would entail.

2:32 PM, January 05, 2008
Dr. StrangeGun said...

Push it if you're not going to be doing anything complicated.

I had insomnia night before last, and last night I was full of restless energy since I'd worked the day... been up someting like 30, 32 hours. And then I dived into the tube radio with all the new parts I got yesterday...

...and I did get sound, though it was the sound made when you misidentify a circuit and crosswire the intended output for the old EM coil to the speaker transformer. Nothing blew, just nothing but a hum. Trouble is, I reidentified everything and got it "right" and now get... nada.

So soon I'll be re-reidentifying circuits and maybe replacing toasty bits, all because I did somethign complicated while tired.

2:53 PM, January 05, 2008
Roberta X said...

Talk to me, Doc, I may be able to help.

Tam, poor thing, I'd send youa slab o' sleep if I could but the don't make that kind.

...Poor me, too: as it warmed, something woke up that crawled into my sinuses and now I have the dizzies. Dammit. Scooter awaits, ere I stabilize.

3:08 PM, January 05, 2008
Anonymous said...

I got about 3 hours of sleep Wednesday night, so I gutted it out Thursday, forewent (that is the past tense of forego, right?) a nap, went to bed at the usual time...& got 3 hours of sleep before the eyelids popped open. Try to get 45 minutes or so & hope for the best, Tam.

3:12 PM, January 05, 2008
Earl said...

I manned a free coffee stop on the highway from 2 to 6 am last night and only almost fell asleep and wrecked three times on the fifty mile drive home after. I think sleep is under appreciated, as a fool nation "we" (y'all really) do too much multi-tasking. Take the time and sleep - let the world go away, they weren't paying attention to you anyhow.

3:39 PM, January 05, 2008
Dr. StrangeGun said...

Roberta,

Sure thing, as something puzzling is going on. I may be up against someone else's previous, incorrect work.

But not tonight, I've set it away. Severely electrocuting yourself will make you shy off a project for the night (~300v or so cap discharge through the back of one hand to the side of the other). Tight confines + big hands + high voltage + winter cold = trouble.

8:04 PM, January 05, 2008
Tam said...

ZZZZZOT!

8:28 PM, January 05, 2008
Carteach said...

Roberta, DITTO.

Just took the last dose of Nyquil, rubbed on some gosheferdamned vicks, and waiting to get dizzy for bed.

Since yesterday, blowing my nose sounds like a garden hose in a gopher hole...

BLECH.

8:53 PM, January 05, 2008
Carteach said...

Tam...

Nine PM, nothing else needs be done... how about right now? Sleep would do you good.

8:55 PM, January 05, 2008
Anonymous said...

You know, the best part of taking a nap when you're completely wiped is that wonderful feeling when you don't set the alarm ( or shut it off when it does go off without really being concious ) and then wake up and feel like Buck Rogers not knowing even what the hell day it is anymore let alone am or pm.

Or words to that effect.

10:47 PM, January 05, 2008
dr mac said...

Stay awake. Take Benadryl 50 mgs and hour before bedtime (which should be at least 8 hrs before you have to get up). Your welcome.

10:50 PM, January 05, 2008
Anonymous said...

Tam, sleep studies indicate that a nap should not extend beyond 20 minutes. Seems that going longer has the brain switching to a deeper mode, and waking up from that leaves you groggy and spaced out, not the desired results from a nap. Ten to twenty minutes is the recommended time frame for a nap. Spacing out several of these short naps usually works better, when one is really dragging. BTW, the two Benadryl(diphenhydramine) before sleep works well. The generic works as well, too (cheap at Costco).

12:23 AM, January 06, 2008
closed said...

Decide what your sleep schedule is going to be and then stick to it.

Use drugs to stay awake during awake times, and drugs to sleep during sleep times.

After a few days, you should be able to quit drugging yourself. Using medication here is a shortcut, not a failure ... it is only a failure if you get yourself hooked.

2:19 AM, January 06, 2008
Dr. StrangeGun said...

" it is only a failure if you get yourself hooked."

And one does not get hooked on benadryl, melatonin, or even valerian root.

2:38 AM, January 06, 2008
KD5NRH said...

Doc; you sure you let it warm up all the way? I spent a good couple hours poking at a 6m transceiver last year, only to have it suddenly start working fine once I'd left it on long enough at one stretch for it to wake up.

3:53 AM, January 06, 2008
Tam said...

"Decide what your sleep schedule is going to be and then stick to it."

That's the problem: Swing shift. I open on Sat and Sun, and close M-W.

5:16 AM, January 06, 2008
Roberta X said...

...Swing shiftage sucketh, majorly. I did 'em for three years at a radio job; five years (of 9-to-5ing) after that, when I moved to TV and they wanted me to work a swing shift, I put myself on a 30-hour "day" and built my sleep, wake and work schedules around it. It worked but was a beast to keep track of.

You usually end up with either a long night or a short night. Old-time computer geeks had terms for pushing their clocks around "the easy way" (sleeping long stretches) or the "the hard way" (staying up ditto) and can be a source of much slang, lore and legend about being time-shifted in re the mundane world. Oh, the magic days of flyin' a terminal in the Computer Center, how I do not miss them.

Doc, keep one hand in your pocket and wear rubber-soled shoes, please. It won't prevent all shocks, but it helps. Also avoid grabbing possibly-hot points; I have ended up pulling radios off the bench when a shock made my muscles contract. it's not fun.

9:51 AM, January 06, 2008
Dr. StrangeGun said...

Roberta,

Unfortunately some work needs two hands. This chassis is about 6" deep with a 9x11" opening and 1/2" lips, and components shoved wayyy out to the edges, and I use thin solder so I gotta get in there with the left hand while the right hand's gunnin'... that's all unplugged though, I still can't remember what I hit to take yesterday's lick, blew it right out of my head :)

As far as the "warm up" comments, I went back and re-re-retraced and everything is wired correctly, so I'm thinking now I have an open circuit somewhere and it's just drifting high under no load. HT is 465 volts where, if I'm reading the spec sheet right, should be ~250v.

As for the rest, I hate hijaacking folk's posts, there'll be a new entry on mine for further talk...

11:23 AM, January 06, 2008
staghounds said...

If you still know the things you see aren't really there, you aren't all that sleepy.

3:51 PM, January 06, 2008
Anonymous said...

Tam, regarding blowing and sucking, you have it backwards. It should be sucking and blowing. The p-38 Lightning had turbos feeding mechanical blowers. :-)

4:22 PM, January 06, 2008
closed said...

Crap. You have a split shift.

No hope there. Split shifts are evil and unworkable.

Get out of it ASAP. Or work part time and get a second part time job with the same shift.

7:55 PM, January 06, 2008
Feanaro said...

"Every nap I've ever taken in my life has left me feeling more groggy and tired than beforehand." That paraphrase only thing I ever heard on "The West Wing" that I can agree with.

I don't nap. I'm asleep for eight hours, I'm awake, or I'm very grumpy. That last good earthquake we had? Sorry about that. I had gone to sleep at 2AM on Friday and was awakened at 8AM the next/same morning.

1:43 AM, January 15, 2008

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