A little panic to get the blood flowing...

Hi everyone! I'm back from a mini-bout with writer's block, hopefully with many more things to say over the coming weeks to keep my loyal fan(s) happy! Thanks for reading, Mom!

This afternoon I had a couple of semi-major application updates to deploy on my employer's Intranet. As soon as I began the deployment a user sends me an email, in bold, large type, that one of the applications I wrote is, for no apparent reason, sending emails to people it shouldn't. My phone is ringing: it's a manager who wants to let me know he just got an email he shouldn't have received. As soon as I hang up, I notice I've received an email alerting me, and lots of other people, that an application is on the loose spraying emails everywhere, and that it's probably "a bug".

Mild panic sets in, because bugs of this nature are not supposed to get released into production. So while copying updated files for one of the applications I'm updating tonight, I begin pouring over the source code of the "app gone crazy." Fortunately I also have log files of email activity, which show (aha!) that someone sent the emails manually by clicking a link in the application.

I am exonerated! An e-mail is called for (we use e-mail a lot around here, as you can see), one that declares my application free from guilt and places it squarely on the shoulders of that unidentified individual who clicked the "send email" button, and then tried to blame it on "a bug".

Ah yes, a little panic can get the blood flowing better than a brisk walk up my building's stairwell.