All night long

So I stayed up all night at the office last night. I had a few projects that I had gotten behind on and had put people off one too many times, so I went into "I'm not going home until I finish this" mode. I seem to reach this point once or twice a year, last time I was preparing a presentation for a user conference. This time it was a SQL statement that had gone from simple to impossible very quickly.

It's real quiet at the office late at night. The two main annoyances are the lack of air circulation and the fact that from 8pm until 7am the lights go off ever hour. On the plus side, it does force you to get up and walk around at regular intervals.

The jury is still out on the effectiveness of this practice as there is inevitably a certain loss of productivity in the days that follow. But it does usually payoff by clearing out the inbox and allowing me a little breathing room going forward.