It’s 4:30 in the morning and I am currently contemplating whether there is really any value to having a slew of flight controllers on console in the wee hours of the morning when their mental and physical states are very likely compromised by lack of sleep. I first walked past the vending machines at 4:05 a.m. and noticed a guy attempting to purchase a snack. He put in a coin and it went straight through and came out the coin return. So he tried again. And again.
I just walked by the machines a second time, a full 10 minutes later, and the guy was still there, and still inputting a coin again, and again, and again. One would hope that he took a break somewhere in there to go find a different coin or something, but I’m not so sure. Keeping weird hours makes everyone a little loopy.
I like flight control. But I’m not so in love with flight control that means setting my alarm for 3 a.m. (and 2:30 a.m. tomorrow, and 2:00 a.m. on Wednesday). It’s not that I’m particularly a morning or a night person — I’ve found that I can be either if I adjust my schedule accordingly. No, it’s mainly that I just don’t do well with a lack of sleep. It may be an obvious statement, but that doesn’t make it any less true. As a freshman in college, I went to bed around midnight every night — which was quite a bit earlier than most of the people on my hall. By senior year, I was staying up until the wee hours of the morning on a regular basis and even pulled a couple all-nighters. Looking back on it now, I can safely say that I was a complete and total basket case during my last semester at Georgia Tech. I was already anxious about graduating and what the future held. Add the incredible lack of sleep I subjected myself to for months on end, and I was a physical and emotional mess. UGH. I shudder just remembering those days (which, to be fair, had some spectacular moments as well).
But old habits die hard, and I stayed up too late last night — 10:30! — but it was because I had to watch the first two episodes of “When We Left Earth.” I had built up such high expectations of what the old footage should/could look like in HD that I was a little disappointed to be reminded that HD is only as good as the original film. Some clips looked really good, but others were still as grainy and oddly color-balanced as ever. Still, there was a lot of footage in both episodes that I had never seen before and it was fun to watch. I can’t wait for the last couple episodes dealing with the shuttle program though, primarily because I think the HD there will really be high definition as we’ve come to think of it.
Becca says
I know having a slew of flight controllers isnt practical. If I were our management, I would force every group to sit down and really evaluate what the *need* for different positions… and then when we realize we are seriously over capacity, start assigning some other work, look at hiring again, look at offering transfers to some other areas that are in need of more people, etc.