Horace in Book Four: Ichi-no-Tani 2017

“Begin, be bold, and endeavor to be wise!” - Horace

First Prosebox of the New Year. And my bookmarks tab has 83 Unread Entries. Oh my. That should take… a considerable amount of time to catch up on. The New Year’s Weekend was… quite calm, in most respects. The only thing done “differently” from any other weekend is that Wife and I were in Des Moines with my parents. Every time we go there… it is obvious (again) that the area is vibrant, growing, and honestly endeavoring to appeal to a wide range of citizens. Which makes it difficult to come back to Tiny Town.

This morning at work is much the same, as well. Woke up, got to the office a little bit after 8 a.m. Nobody else in the office. I remind you that the Attorney is not beholden to the Building’s Posted Hours but the DHS employee(s) is/are. But as with all other things around here… professionalism and timeliness are not watchwords of this community.

To that end, though, I suppose it fosters the (bad) habits I’ve developed here. I have 60 Cases right now and 34 of them have some action I can/should be taking. But in many of my cases, I simply need to contact someone. A triple edged sword. On the one hand: I get considerable anxiety about that. Because I am not confident enough about anything in my job to handle a “spontaneous” encounter. I call someone, they start asking questions, I have no answers. Makes me anxious. The second edge is that I never know when it is acceptable to call people. Do I call someone at 9 in the morning? Is that bad etiquette if it is a Police Officer likely to be at home? IS there professional etiquette on these things? And the third edge: I just have a genuine phone anxiety as it is. Especially as an attorney, I prefer everything being in writing so I can be reminded and have a record of what was said. If only I could e-mail all attorneys and officers to keep things going!

Oh hey, 8:45… Ran is here. And has already come face-to-face with the shitty nature of his new area. He drives from Out of County to be here. In his city; roads are fine. Driving to here; roads are fine. Driving in town… icy and dangerous as hell (his words). Yup. That is us, good sir.

Ha! Jude and Ran are both here. They have no computers and nothing set up (because the County didn’t do anything to prepare for having new employees because… of course they didn’t.) And I am realizing something… interesting. I’ve been working this job (miserably) for the last (roughly) 9 months. Apparently, I became accustomed to working silently in a dead office with nobody else… because Ran and Jude coming by to chat… annoys me. And it is very strange. I’d assume that having MISSED human interaction for so long… I would welcome repeated interruptions. But… I’m guessing I “acclimated” to my environment… too many long days solo and not enough “Look at what I just got” interruptions. Perhaps another reason I have not been moved to a different situation yet. I need to experience what it is like to have other humans in the office.

Item 1: Jude and Ran don’t have working phones. So they are in my office a lot using my phone. Makes it awkward, actually. Especially as I am a bit gassy today.
Item 2: I called a Defense Attorney and we spoke professionally and resolved some issues. It was my first “I feel like a professional, I feel like an actual attorney” moment of the new year.

So my plan for the rest of the day, I guess, is going to be very much “by ear.” But hopefully, it involves getting work done… recycling some stuff… writing Thank You Cards… and getting as much “To Do” stuff taken care of as possible. With THAT in mind… I need to throw in two more things to the To Do List.
(1) Catch up on PB Reading
(2) Write my Annual PB “New Years Goals and Plans” entry.