Night Crew check in v2.0

[HoneyBadger]

8 weeks. Yeah, still in the "really hard to sleep" stage. My girl is about 7 months and sleeps through the night most of the time now (thank God). Better days (nights) are coming bro!

Thanks for the encouragement... sometimes I really need it. He is our first one, so we're still trying to figure everything out. Most nights he will sleep for 4-5 hours between feeding, but last night he was up about every 2-3 hours and every time I fed and changed him, he tried his best to make it difficult! lol

[BuffCyclist]

Guess I'll check in tonight even though I'm transitioning back to days.

[HoneyBadger]

How long will you be on days? What sort of rotation do you follow?

[HoneyBadger]

When I was on crew, I worked 2 days, 2 swings, then 2 nights, followed by 4 days off... It was a pretty nice schedule, but the constant changing never allowed your internal clock to adjust to anything.

[BuffCyclist]

How long will you be on days? What sort of rotation do you follow?

I work two, four night shifts per month. So, only really 8 nights per month but in the winter those nights end up being 16-17 hrs. Right now, the nights are only about 12hrs long, so they're a piece of cake.

Sunday was my last night of a 5 night shift that I had to work because too many people requested off for Memorial Day, so we had some gaps in the schedule that had to be filled.

I start my next shift this coming Sunday, though normally I have at least 7 days, up to 10-12 days between shifts.

[BuffCyclist]

And I agree with the internal clock never getting used to the changes. Most nights I can't fall asleep until midnight and get up around 8am when my Fiancee goes to work. A few coworkers though stay on night shifts, they go to bed around 3-4am and wake up around noon. Then again, those coworkers are married to each other, so that makes it easier for them to stay on the same schedule.

[Brian]

I prefer charcoal. If you want more convenience, look at a propane smoker. Electric just seems weird to me.

When I smoke, I tend to hang around the smoker most of the time and sort of make it an event. Many brews are usually involved. So it's not hard for me to keep the fire going well.

+1 to this.

I'm sure the elec and propane smokers are good, but it's just not the same thing. Personally I love the way the neighborhood (and my clothes, etc) smell with charcoal. Might be a turn-off for some, and I would guess the electric or propane smokers (probably the pellet smokers too) would cut down on that.

Only challenge I had when getting set up the first time was adjusting to the (lack of) oxygen here. Had to find the right balance of open vents to hit the sweet spot.

[HoneyBadger]

And I agree with the internal clock never getting used to the changes. Most nights I can't fall asleep until midnight and get up around 8am when my Fiancee goes to work. A few coworkers though stay on night shifts, they go to bed around 3-4am and wake up around noon. Then again, those coworkers are married to each other, so that makes it easier for them to stay on the same schedule.

Yeah, I'm in a new neighborhood, so there is construction all around me. Sure makes it hard to sleep during the day...

[BuffCyclist]

Construction definitely sucks. I had to get blackout curtains years ago because I couldn't sleep during the day. I also started taking melatonin supplements, not out of necessity, but I found they helped me transition as my body would get the artificial melatonin when I was forcing myself back to a day schedule, and only for 2 days at most. Then I'd be back on a day schedule and wouldn't have any problems falling asleep.

[brutal]

When I was on crew, I worked 2 days, 2 swings, then 2 nights, followed by 4 days off... It was a pretty nice schedule, but the constant changing never allowed your internal clock to adjust to anything.

I did that in the Mil in Germany in the 80's when we were under staffed, hated it. When fully staffed it was 12 hour shifts, 4 on days, 4 off, 4 on nights, 4 off, etc. Loved it.