Maybe work has gone too far...

I don't mind when work invades all my waking hours. But it goes too far when it invades my non-waking ones.

We're in the middle of a massive migration at work involving our email system - we are moving from Novell GroupWise to Microsoft Outlook/Exchange. I work in desktop support, which means that my role consists of deploying the software via SCCM over the network, fixing desktop issues when it doesn't work, dealing with Entourage on our Macs (since I'm also the Mac guy), plus normal break/fix, deployment, ect.

It's been hellish. That isn't to say the migration is going badly - I mean, things are going wrong, but given the scope of the project, and the fact that none of us have any experience with Outlook, it's actually going surprisingly well. But it's going well because everyone is running around fixing stuff. And since my role is pretty key, I've been doing quite a bit of running, plus dealing with people coming to me with problems, only some of which are actually stuff I can fix.

Which means I can't really take off until this is over. Yesterday morning I had hoped to take the morning off to go to an auction, but I knew I couldn't - and it's a good thing I didn't, as that morning had several fires that I was glad to be around to help put out.

I talk a lot about work-life balance on this blog, and how I don't mind working long hours - I'm young, single, like making extra money. I have a work-owned MacBook Pro and iPhone, so I can't really complain about having to occasionally check my work email at home or remote in and deal with something.

But last night I had a nightmare about Outlook. Specifically, before I went to bed last night I noticed I had an email from some woman on an online dating site. I was curious, but I was tired and figured I'd look at it the next day. So I went to sleep.

And I dreamed that I opened the email, but that it turned out to be someone from work who wanted to know when I'd fix their Outlook email.

Have I mentioned how much I can't wait for this project to be over?