Pager at Salsa Night. Again.
Salsa class. Pager buzzed. Incident sev2. I danced one more minute because denial is human. Fixed prod from the parking lot. My partner laughed. SRE life is...
#work-life-balance
On-Call at My Daughter's Recital
The pager went off during my daughter's piano recital. Third row. She saw the light on my face before I stood up. She kept playing. I stepped into the hallwa...
Hair Appointment Moved Because the Quarterly Review Moved
The quarterly review got scheduled over my hair appointment. Sounds small. Is not. The salon is the one hour nobody asks me to be accessible. My manager said...
Crunch Culture and the Funeral I Missed
Milestone crunch. I missed my uncle's funeral. The producer said we would celebrate ship. I shipped. I grieved alone. Games ask for your body. Sometimes they...
My Toddler Had a Fever on Post-Call Day
Post-call from labor and delivery. Eighteen hours. My toddler spiked 103 at daycare pickup. Pediatrician brain and mother brain fought the whole drive home....
Daycare Sick Policy vs. My Sick Days
My kid had a fever. Daycare said stay home twenty-four hours. My boss said we really need you in for the presentation. I said my child is six. I did the pres...
A While Is Not a Unit of Time
A postdoc's ruined experiment, a late-night Slack, and a missed Diwali reveal the real cost of an academic science career.