This morning, I had to fly to San Jose for a status conference. I had it calendared for 10:00 a.m., but everyone else put 9:00 a.m. on their status conference statements, so I decided to get there early by flying out of Ontario on one of those 6-something a.m. flights.
Last night, I discovered that the court's website lists each judge's calendar. Sure enough, we were on at 10:00, not 9:00. So I switched flights to John Wayne and "slept in" until after five.
When I got to John Wayne, the line for security for first class/premium passengers was about 100 people long. Not too bad, but the regular line was only about five people deep. I thought maybe I was not noticing something, but it was true. There was a long line for first class and premium ticketholders, and an extremely short one for just whomever. I went to the coach line, even though I had the premium ducat. I guess some people would rather spend longer in line if they know it's the line for "special" people. I'm not one of those folks. Inside the airport, I got to board early with the new boarding system on Southwest. For a change, I was near the front of the plane.
Once we landed in San Jose, I was so early that I didn't need a cab. The light rail goes right past the courthouse and unless you need to be there right away, a cab is unnecessary. As I was waiting for the Metro/Airport shuttle bus, a woman came up to me and asked if this was the bus to the light rail. I told her it was, and got on. She fumbled through her purse for her buzzing cell phone and missed the bus. I wondered if she was one of the special people.
I got to court and sat through a dreadful calendar that was short in terms of matters, but long in terms of minutes. My case wasn't called until an hour after the departure of the return flight I had booked. I was as bored as an anorexic on a Mexican cruise. Eventually, we went back to chambers, chatted for a few minutes, and left. Once it was over, I retraced my steps and did it all in reverse. I could have phoned this one in, but this particularly judge doesn't do phone appearances.
Now I'm exhausted. I hate business travel, especially since almost all my business travel is to Oakland, San Jose or Sacramento. It gets old. I also hate it when my work day runs from before sunrise until after sunset. And in general, I hate short days and early sunsets
I have now gone home "early" ten times after dark. I hate returning to standard time. But you know what I hated even more? Halloween during daylight saving time. I don't know what it's like in other parts of the country, but in Orange County, kids do not go trick-or-treating during daylight hours. Pushing the date back for standard time did not, as safety experts said it would, send kids out into the neighborhood in safer daylight hours. Like every year before, the kids waited until it was dark and then they went out.
Do kids in other parts of the country go trick-or-treating before dark? I remember watching the beginning of E.T., and all the kids were running around the neighborhood in costume, knocking on doors in broad daylight. Afterwards, we were commenting on how unrealistic the film was. Midget aliens? No problem. FBI swarming in on a kid's house and quarantining everyone? No big deal. Flying bicycles? We can see that. But trick-or-treating in broad daylight? Absurd. Maybe it's an east coast or a midwest thing. I don't know. I just know that we didn't like the late start on trick-or-treating in the dark.
And candy makers, who supposedly lobbied hard for the change, you all got screwed, too. Because the kids started later, but it being a school night, they didn't necessarily stay out later. We didn't get a single knock on the door until after 6:30. By 8:30, just like any other year, the doorbell was silent. The effect was that we gave away just a little bit over half of what we normally do.
Next year, we buy less candy. I don't need the calories or the cavities. I do, however, need the sleep.
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