Friday the 13th

Let me be clear at the beginning -I am NOT superstitious. Well, at least I wasn't. I am re-considering my position on the subject after today.

The day started with me spilling coffee on myself just as I was about to walk out the front door for a big meeting. All over the white shirt and tie. By the time I changed shirts, I was behind schedule. I rushed as quickly as I could to the meeting. As I stepped into the elevator I caught a whiff of something foul. Very foul. I was afraid I knew what it was... I lifted my right foot and stared at the sole. Clean. I lifted the left foot... ugh! Reindeer poop. Already late for the meeting, I ducked quickly into the men's room and used a towel to clean the bottom of my shoe. I walked into the meeting 15 minutes late and smelling slightly of reindeer poo.

The meeting, despite being late, went fairly well. I thought the day was turning around as I went to lunch with an old friend. Thai food. In Bangkok :-). But that thought did not linger as I checked a new text message from the North Pole HQ. "Severity Level 1 System Issue - All Systems Completely Down". I immediately called our Chief Information Officer, Snowflake. Snowflake informed me that the systems had been down for an hour, there was currently no known root cause issue and therefore there was no estimated time for recovery. And the systems failure had practically brought the entire North Pole operation to its knees. Every thing was shutdown. If this had happened in January, February, or even as late as October, I would not have been so worried. But by mid-November, even with being merely in "pre-season mode", every day matters.

After lunch, I called Snowflake again. Still no information. I decided I had better head back to the HQ. As we flew over northern Germany, Blitzen informed me that we were going to need to make and immediate emergency landing. Comet had started to cramp up. As we approached the landing area, several hundred miles shy of our destination a t the North Pole, we began to list to the right. Comet could no longer fly. I was afraid a few times that we might roll over.. but Blitzen and crew held it together for a safe - but very rough - landing. I radioed HQ and asked for assistance. Star flew down to take Comet's place. The medical team arrived before Star and transported Comet back to the North Pole. Btw - Comet is going to be fine. He just needed some additional fluids.

When I landed some 3 hours later than planned, Jingle met me at the landing pad. I could tell he had a worried look. I was afraid to ask but I did anyway. Jingle let me know that our airspace rights for Christmas Eve over the EU countries had been revoked. There was no explanation as to why or who made the decision in the notification we had received from the EU office in Brussels. As of the writing of this email, we do not have resolution. I will be going to Brussels personally next week to lobby for the re-establishment of our Christmas Eve airspace rights.

Before I knew it, I was 4 hours behind schedule and already late for dinner with Mrs. Claus. I was still looking at a pile of work and still no system to support me. I called Mrs. Claus and asked if we could re-schedule dinner for tomorrow night. I suggested a few friends she might call for dinner in my stead. She was not happy with me at all.

Finally, by the time I left the office around 10pm NPT (North Pole Time), I was exhausted. The good news is the system was at least partially recovered... hence my ability to make this post. I decided I would stop for a quick decaf egg nog latte on my way home. I figured a nice warm drink would help me sleep. But... of course... they were out of egg nog. So I asked for a sugar-free decaf caramel latte. No luck. Out of sugar free & regular caramel both. I decided a that point that it was time to call it a night. I headed back home, made a beeline for my home office, and began to write this post.

As you can see, it was a rough day. I don't "blame" it on Friday the 13th but I am exhausted. I am going to sleep now and hope for a better day tomorrow. Good night, all.