At the beginning of the year, I started a new job. Even though I can work from home a lot, I’m expected to be in the office once a week for our team day. For me, that means a four-hour train ride each way.

That sounds rough at first, but I have to say, it’s not that bad. On the contrary, when the train is on time (which it isn’t), the journey is stress-free and can be really productive. A seat at a table, a hotspot, and a laptop, and I’m ready to work. Or write blog posts. Or just watch a series.

Of course, the company provides a laptop, and it needs power. Just like my smartphone and headphones. So I plug my laptop into the socket on the train and my smartphone into the laptop. There often aren’t two sockets, and I don’t want to carry two plugs.

But seriously, the cable on the laptop is kind of annoying. It sticks out the side, gets caught on things, and annoys my seat neighbors as much as it annoys me. Not the end of the world, and definitely in the “first-world problems” category. Then I remembered the charging cable for my old Surface Pro 2 from Microsoft. The power brick had a built-in USB port where you could plug in your smartphone’s charging cable. The device would start charging, regardless of whether the Surface was also charging or still had enough power itself.

Sometimes it’s the little things that make life easier and more pleasant. I love discovering details like these and I’m always happy when someone pays attention to the small stuff.