Jobs, Freedom, and Court

So, November has been an exciting time in the Nichols' household! My (Brad's) last day with PricewaterhouseCoopers was November 1, and my first day with my new company Kositzka, Wicks and Company was on November 15.   That is correct I have moved from PwC to KWC!   The first week at the new job has been great.  They have been keeping me busy with plenty of software and technology training.

This provided me with two weeks of pure joy. What to do with my time... Well, after 5 1/2 months of living in our new place, we still had plenty of boxes needing to be unpacked.  I made a dent (and only a dent.... I think boxes breed when you aren't looking).  I moved lots of boxes, books, and random otherness. I was able to get some exercise and played a little soccer and tennis.  However, the highlight would have been visiting the Capital and going to court!

I have thought it would be interesting to go to the Supreme Court. The only downside is that they are closed on Saturdays which is when I would normally be able to go. So, I decided to take advantage of my freedom last week and go see some cases. The first case is at 10am and the second case is presented at 11am. I figured I could show up at 8:30 and get in. After all, its not tourist season. I looked at the docket and last Wednesday the 10am hearing was a tax case and the 11am was a citizenship hearing. Unfortunately, I think the citizenship case made that day much more popular than normal. Apparently, if you want to get a seat you should be there before 7am.

Once the court room is full, another line is formed to be able to sit in on the hearing for 3-5 minutes. I sat in on the citizenship case and watched the judges interrogate the side which was presenting. What I saw was really interesting. I was impressed with how quick the judges were and how fast the attorney presenting his case had to be in responding.

Once I was done with court, I went to the Library of Congress and the Capital. I actually met a Polish man and his daughter in the Senate. It was kind of fun... I was sitting in the Senate, eavesdropping as I always do and heard two people behind me talking in Polish. I turned around and we chatted for a bit.  They took my number and said they would call me from Poland.

Obviously, taking pictures during court is frowned upon, but taking pictures of the other parts of the building are allowed.  There are two identical marble staircases in the Supreme Court building.  One on each end.  The neat thing about this staircase is that it is completely self supporting.  This is a view from near the bottom, looking up.  When it was made, the manufacturers assembled the staircase in a warehouse upside down.  They marked all the pieces and then took the staircase apart to then reassemble it right side up in its final location.

I took a tour of the Capital and one of the first rooms I was shown was the first Supreme Court.  When the Supreme Court was first formed it didn't have its own building.  It wasn't determined yet where it was going to meet, so they met on the lower floor of the Capital building.  The Supreme Court Justices will still occasionally use this room for meetings. 



The Rotunda in the Capital is really quite impressive.  George Washington is the man in the middle, the only male in the picture.

One of the rooms in the Capital is full of statues.  In fact, it is called the Statue Room.  Each state is allowed to have a couple statues.  Brigham Young happened to be there too!

Back in the day, Congress used to meet in the current Statue Room.  There are a couple plaques on the ground signifying where some key people sat.  Abraham Lincoln's desk was way in the back.