Yesterday I met an appeals judge for NYC business summonses in the sauna at my gym. To me, this is basically my arch nemesis incarnated. Not only does this agency, tie me up in bullshit head aches, but it's usually draining my wallet too. He was nice enough and wanted to engage, he asked me what I do, and when I said, "restaurant business," he quickly realized our career paths put us on opposing sides. I took it as an opportunity to let the guy know (in a civil way), how insane and onerous the implementation of law on SMB in NYC is. When I told him I thought that imposing heavy fines on business operators could eventually drive away talented independent entrepreneurs and leave only big corporations to operate in the city, since they are the only ones who can absorb the government imposed costs, he said that I sounded like Trump. lol. However he mostly agreed with me, and he made some good points too, but my takeaway was, how amazing is this country that I can meet an appeals judge (someone with power), get into a heated discussion (no sauna pun intended), about the minutiae if nyc business law, and part as new friends. I am bullish on democracy, and I'm bullish on saunas. It was the longest I've stayed in 😂.