One Year later...

It has snuck up on me. It came so fast, it doesn't seem possible.
I have been employed with the new company for one full year!
So what have I learned?
Here is my top ten list.
10) you need to be a really good verbal communicator when you work remotely and don't have face to face time with your co-workers. What is it, 80% of all communication is non verbal, I believe that now.
9) E-mail will kill you if you allow it to become your datebook. I know, I am in the middle of a project, and "you've got mail" chimes and I go and click it and now I am buried under the work I "was" working on and now the new work I "have" to do.
8) You can't drive 300 miles in 3 hours. Well not legally you can't. I have learned once again that we need to make a plan, and then we need to work the plan.
7) Airlines have the option to totally mess you over, not buy you dinner and take advantage of you. Don't you dare be one minute late for a flight, even if they are the ones that made you late. But don't think that they are going to leave on time to get you where you need to be either. They are in charge, you are cattle.
6) Rental cars places don't always have cars. Even if they say they do. And if you reserve a car, it doesn't mean you have one there waiting on you when you get to a strange city in the middle of the night needing to get to a hotel and you only have $5 cash on you. See the airlines, rental car people are two spots behind them.
5) Fill out all those perk things the hotels, car rentals, airlines and other people give you. First they will know you are a "serious" traveler and secondly you "might" get some free stuff. I emphasize "might".
4) Phone chargers, laptop chargers and any other kind of charger is not an "optional" item even when you think you are only flying in and flying back out the same day and you really won't be using your equipment that much and they will last at least 12 hours. See number 7.
3) Know the laws of the land that you are visiting. I will explain, if you are visiting Dallas, the speed limit signs are not a limit but a suggested speed to keep you from getting killed. Drive under it and you will be shot on sight. If you are visiting Washington DC, keep you hand on your wallet and take out those two weeks of receipts you have been saving for your expense report. You don't want those people thinking that your wallet is buldging because they think it is money. If you are visiting Chicago in the middle of winter, dress accordingly, polyester slacks at 14 below with a thirty mile an hour wind will lead to frostbite on your lower extremities. I could go on and on... and don't talk to me about LA! Where things are not always what they seem, or people either!
2) Everyone does not want to be your friend. Your happiness is not affecting other people. In fact if you are too happy, you will make grouchy people even more grouchy. Case in point the airline, rental car and hotel desk. Happy people get bumped from flights because of overbooking, grouchy people get upgrades.
1) Change is hard, but change is usually for the good. Everywhere you look there is change. The seasons, the position of the sun and the moon in the sky, your midriff and your hairline. Change is everywhere all the time. So don't be afraid to change, you might just find out that you like it.