From December to January...

The End of the Year... a time to reflect on what we've learned, things we've done and some things we never finished. Friends we never connected with even though they're nearby; old friends we've rediscovered.. and the time we ponder how we will live in the upcoming year.

Here is a list of my top accomplishments for 2008:

• New Job with the State of NC (and I LOVE IT!)
• State-of-the-art equipment for my profession (still learning them)
• Doctor's release after the 10th anniversary of my cancer diagnosis

Here are my goals for 2009 (keep me honest, please! Ask me how I'm doing):

• Take and pass the CRR (certified realtime reporter) exam and earn a 15% raise
• Attend the training workshop for my software to I can be more efficient at work
• Increase my social time with my friends - esp. those I've missed this year
• Assist students and new reporters are they make the transition to this profession
• Eat better and exercise more (isn't that on everybody's list?)

Happy New Year... May 2009 be full of all good things.

Counting Counties

There are 100 counties in North Carolina. So far as a rover, since February, I've worked in 14 of them. Some of them are pretty far-flung, too! This past week, due to illness in the family, my vacation to Las Vegas was nixed, so I became "available" to work Wednesday/Thursday/Friday.

I was "picked up" by my boss - she called Tuesday afternoon - for the remainder of the week in Rowan County. Now, since I'm not a native of NC, I wasn't really sure where that was. Turns out, that's Salisbury (almost to Charlotte!). Now, driving from Wake Forest, that was going to be two-plus hours. Needless to say, I packed my suitcase.

It was an interesting week - with a tainted jury pool, a member of the venire cited for criminal contempt of court (that was interesting), then another trial (communicating threats) that ended up with an acquittal... and then, the killer day, Friday - probation violation calendar. From start to finish, 9:30 a.m. to 4:53 p.m., we handled over 100 cases. With two judges! First judge sent the jury out for deliberations, and then left; second judge did probation court and took the verdict. Bizarre day.

Never a dull moment in court! Only 86 more counties to go. We'll see how long it takes.