Back in the day, I used to work on the road. I traveled around mapping utility assets (electrical, telephone, cable, random fiber optics, etc.). Everywhere the lines went, I went in my snow white Jeep wrangler with a lift and aggressive tires. I worked in densely populated urban areas and in wide open forgotten armpits of America. I made pretty maps and talked to a lot of locals. I ate out a lot. I never had to make my hotel bed. It was pretty awesome.
Today, I work at a desk. It’s a nice desk, to be sure, and it doesn’t have to drive in the mud nor in the snow (I do that on my commute to and from work tho). I love my job, as it still involves pretty maps and talking to people. And it also involves lots of code, which makes me even happier these days.
The biggest difference between my old job and my new “career” is probably the restroom. Today, the restroom is always in the same place and I can get there in about 30 seconds from my desk, anytime I need it. Back in the day, I was anywhere from a few minutes to an hour away from a proper restroom, and that’s if I new exactly where the closest restroom was (I often didn’t). If I needed the outdoor restroom, it was usually easy enough to find, but sometimes there was an additional unnecessary excitement component to this activity (one time I was in the woods using the outdoor restroom, and out of no where a dog came up and tried to sniff/snuggle into my pocket where I had probably been keeping some crackers, it startled me so badly I nearly…. well, you get the idea).
Anywho, my point this morning is that now I’m a father, and there are like no baby changing stations in public men’s restrooms! Do you know how many times I’ve had to change my baby girl on the floor of a restroom? A huge pile of paper towels spread out beneath her like some sort of reverse snow-woman? The funny thing is, this is exactly what I was researching four years and two months or so ago. I feel like times are changing, because there are more outlets for peoples’ voices to be heard, and some of those voices are dads.
I guess that’s it for now. Happy Father’s day to all the dads out there. Time for a potty break.
Today, I work at a desk. It’s a nice desk, to be sure, and it doesn’t have to drive in the mud nor in the snow (I do that on my commute to and from work tho). I love my job, as it still involves pretty maps and talking to people. And it also involves lots of code, which makes me even happier these days.
The biggest difference between my old job and my new “career” is probably the restroom. Today, the restroom is always in the same place and I can get there in about 30 seconds from my desk, anytime I need it. Back in the day, I was anywhere from a few minutes to an hour away from a proper restroom, and that’s if I new exactly where the closest restroom was (I often didn’t). If I needed the outdoor restroom, it was usually easy enough to find, but sometimes there was an additional unnecessary excitement component to this activity (one time I was in the woods using the outdoor restroom, and out of no where a dog came up and tried to sniff/snuggle into my pocket where I had probably been keeping some crackers, it startled me so badly I nearly…. well, you get the idea).
Anywho, my point this morning is that now I’m a father, and there are like no baby changing stations in public men’s restrooms! Do you know how many times I’ve had to change my baby girl on the floor of a restroom? A huge pile of paper towels spread out beneath her like some sort of reverse snow-woman? The funny thing is, this is exactly what I was researching four years and two months or so ago. I feel like times are changing, because there are more outlets for peoples’ voices to be heard, and some of those voices are dads.
I guess that’s it for now. Happy Father’s day to all the dads out there. Time for a potty break.
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