In the beginning...
Time travel back to 2012 and a slightly younger (but still as ruggedly handsome :P ) version of myself is spending the Easter break sitting in a cold lonely server room, upgrading some terribly old computer servers, praying each of them would boot up and behave like they should (they didn't) and counting down the clock to make sure we'd be back online before the stock market opened on Tuesday (we weren't).
The droning hum of the data centre fans were pierced with the screams of various expletives shouted by yours truly as things went from bad to worse.
Mercifully my many prayers were answered and eventually I had most things back online. However "most" was certainly not good enough for our clients, some of who had millions at play in the market.
Stressed out and burned out
The aftermath of the Easter outage was a super stressful time. I was working 3+ hours extra a day trying to get everything sorted meanwhile completely missing out on my life! The constant task of keeping servers and systems that were about 10 years out of date "up" should have crowned me the WORLD CHAMPION of juggling (is there such a thing??). I felt like there had to be something better out there!
Fitness Journey
Phase ONE of getting my life back on track was to start on a bit of a fitness journey. I was lucky enough to be introduced to an ace Personal Trainer who busted my ass a couple of nights a week and this meant that I absolutely HAD to leave work on time and complete my session for fear of incurring her wrath!
After a few months I was feeling fitter, stronger and less chunky.
The phone call...
Back at the "day job", it was a struggle, trying to argue for more reliable machines, better tools to work with and more staff. (I say arguments, but they were more verbal stoushes if I'm honest!) After one of the more heated "arguments" I went back to my desk to cool off and plan my next move. The next minute the phone rang.
A guy named Damian is on the other end (same name as the boss I just went toe-to-toe with...a sign perhaps?) Damian says I've been referred by one of my friends at his academy thinking I might be interested in becoming a Personal Trainer (I'm not!).
I ask what else he can offer as being a PT doesn't really appeal. Massage! Hmm...
...it's something I'd thought about doing as a hobby TICK!
...it fits around my new found training sessions TICK! ...it gets me out of work on time another 2 times a week DOUBLE TICK!
I'M IN!
To be continued...
