Chaos, Code, and a Crash: A Day in the Life of a Reluctant SysAdmin

Other Journaling Days

Today was a digital disaster. It started with chaos—files being moved, deleted, and devices being wiped clean. Over the past week, I’ve lost more than 600GB of data, thanks to a perfect storm of file mismanagement and cleaning sprees on hard drives, pen drives, and memory cards.

The real kicker? My 1TB memory card nearly died during a file transfer gone wrong on Ubuntu. The USB port failed mid-transfer, and suddenly I was facing file corruption. In my frustration (and probably as a coping mechanism), I decided to upgrade my OS to Ubuntu 25.04.

That’s where the real trouble began.

I started the installation around 4–5 PM. It’s now past 11:30 PM, and I’m still battling with setup. The first installation failed, and the second one just gave up on me. I’m seriously considering downgrading to version 24.10—or even 24.04—just to regain a sense of normalcy.

Between these digital calamities, I was technically “working from home,” juggling AIP Support to get containerization done for a GenAI app. I also missed two calls with the IR team (5PM and 6PM), which now feel like minor blips in an already overwhelming day.

I managed to sneak out with Moni for some groceries around 8PM, which was the most peaceful part of the day. But once back, I returned to the wreckage—my first OS installation had failed. I tried to fix it. It wouldn’t budge. So I reinstalled, and... same result.

At this point, I’m exhausted. My head is heavy, I’m yawning constantly, and all I want is sleep. But I also know that if I push this off to tomorrow, I’ll regret it during work hours. It’s a lose-lose.

Despite the chaos, I’m grateful for one thing: I’m writing more regularly than I did in 2024. That alone marks some improvement in my health and habits.

Still, it’s hard not to ask: “What am I doing?” Not just with Ubuntu, but with these long, sleepless nights chasing clean installs and clean slates.

Time to call it a night. I’ll try again tomorrow—with Ubuntu 24.x if I must. Morning drive with Akash and Honey at 6AM is my only reward in sight.

Let’s hope tomorrow is quieter.