I saw the inside of a courtroom as a participant for the first time in my life today. Considering my previous life, that's an accomplishment within itself. However, I was there for a ticket I received in February. I won't bore you with the details, but I will share the best part (besides the no points, no class, and reduced fine):

The police officer, on his own volition, spoke on my behalf.

I was floored. As my attorney (the only one there with one, BTW) and the judge were going over some documents, the officer spoke up and said I was polite, easy to work with, and cause no problems whatsoever! Suffice to say, that's not my nature, as I dislike most authority figures simply by their nature. But this was nice. I followed the rules (since I was speeding), I calmly explained my case, and things worked out.

For those scoring at home, that's 6 in a row now. Wife passed bar + wife gets job + insurance pays sinkhole claim + interest check arrives + we get the house we want + I somewhat beat a ticket. Vegas, baby. Vegas.

Well, tomorrow is the start of my new round of daddy-duty. With Mamma beginning her legal career, and Cash starting daycare, I've now become the Norcross Child Shuttle Service. I'll be bringing the boy to daycare in the morning, picking him up after work, then making dinner for the family. No more sleeping in, or getting to the office around 8-ish. Nope, it's schedule time! No snooze button. None of my famous "5 more minutes" that I've pulled since the 6 am swim practice at the age of 8. Nosir, it's daddy time.

I can't wait. While he'll basically be too young to know, this is my chance to introduce him to some of the things I like. Music, sports radio, and just chattin! Since the birth, Mamma has done most of the child-rearin, with me doing a majority of the working. Now with her working as much (or more, at least for now), it's my time to pitch in. And considering my child is quite possibly the best baby in modern history, that should be cake.

It's nice to be home. I finished up a 3 day business trip in Cleveland, and reminded myself why I live in the south. It's cold there. Really cold, for me at least. I don't know how you Canucks and Madison folks deal with that. Also, they have a no-smoking rule for ANYTHING indoors, which means no cigar club. Boo! But, I also realized a few other things while traveling.

1. Travel Light: Yeah, everyone says that. But now with most airlines charging you for checking bags, it's more important that ever. So if you plan on doing any business traveling, spend the time and find a nice travel bag that you can put both work clothes and casual clothes in. Remember, Downy Wrinkle Release works WONDERS.

2. Research the hotel: They all have WiFi now, right? Yep, but not all for free. My hotel, which was a nice, expensive, downtown hotel, had a T-Mobile hot-spot in every room. Luckily, they're also my cellphone provider, so I already had a data plan with them. For others, not so much. Many hotels are looking towards paid WiFi, because (a) they don't have to maintain it, and (b) many business travelers bring their own, in the form of mobile broadband cards.

3. Reseach the area: It was cold, so I didn't do much. However, I did find a decent Italian place, and I would have gone to a baseball game if it weren't freezing. That being said, hotel rooms are boring. And so is the hotel lounge. So find something, ANYTHING, to do.

4. Research your companions: Simple, but often overlooked. If at all possible, find out who the other people there will be. Many times, some more experienced co-workers may recognize a name or two. It could be a client that needs special attention, or someone from another office who likes to drink and go to strip clubs. Either way, finding out what your fellow travelers are into could either find a person to pay attention to, a partner in crime, or a list of the people to stay away from.

Wanna know what’s wrong with us, collectively, as a nation of workers? Let me give you a quick story of the ‘elevator’ incident recently.

 

I work in the home office of a large financial firm. The ‘campus’ has 4 towers. In each tower, there are employee elevators and service elevators. It’s pretty obvious which ones are which. In my tower specifically, there are 4 employee elevators and 1 service elevator.

 

Recently, the building management had to put signs up next to the door of the service elevator (on each floor, no less), explaining the purpose of the elevator, and reminding employees that they are supposed to use the regular elevators. Mind you, they aren’t that far away from each other. But the general laziness of people caused them to save themselves the extra 15-20 feet of walking by using the service elevator, thus causing the people that actually needed it to be constantly delayed.

 

So the signs went up. And the people, seeing these signs, got pissed off! This is a true quote, heard with my own little ears: “I can’t believe they put that up there. Those service guys are a**holes”. Obviously, it was the fault of the service personnel wanting to get their jobs done, not our laziness.

 

I will say that I used that elevator occasionally. Usually, at the end of the day when there was a group going down, or I knew the regular elevators were out that day. It’s even closer to my office, so I would be saving some time (at least in my mind). But for the most part, I didn’t use it, for that very reason. I respect and appreciate the jobs of the service people, and didn’t want my lack of motivation or laziness to get in the way of them doing their jobs. But most people took it as an insult, as though they were being inconvenienced in some way.

 

How often do we do that? We, as a people, are self-centered to the core. If it helps me, then it’s important. If it doesn’t, who cares. It’s that mentality that keeps us where we are. Doesn’t matter what generation you’re in. We all take for granted the amount of services, devices, or other items that allow us to be self-centered and, dare I say it, juvenile. Toddlers whine and complain when they don’t get what they want. And we do it, too. Fast food isn’t fast enough. Broadband isn’t fast enough. The list goes on.