Scribbles

Day 3 in Atlanta and so far I like it!  True that when the basis of comparison is Orlando, almost anything seems great.  But at the gut level I simply feel happy surrounded by a critical mass of people, not tourists.  Sure, driving on the congested freeways here reminds me a little bit of California.  One interesting side note – the first connotation of Georgia firing among my neural synapses is some obscure historical reference, the Trail of Tears.  Guess I was an impressionable history student back in high school.  What iI wasn’t so good at was Geography.  So allow me to share another factoid about this Southern (pronounced ‘suh-then’) state – it’s just north of Florida, not too far from my last project site.

Speaking of driving, due to some inexplicable pre-holiday hotel congestion, we’re staying about 10 miles away from the office.  Everyday we commute from north of Atlanta to the city which hosts the client office.  The first day, my Russian colleague spooks me with his erratic, nonchalant driving style.  Throw in a couple of horrible parking incidents, where the car is parked more or less diagonal and crossing at least one line, I had to intervene and take away the keys.  And he had the gall to question my parking skills this morning, only to discover, upon stepping out, how perfectly I maneuvered in one smooth swoop the American beast of a car into spot-on center alignment.  Getting off my high horse and back to the point I originally wanted to make, I’ve noticed that people here drive in a mellow fashion, unhurried compared to Californians, and infinitely more forgiving compared to the strict German autobahn rules of conduct.  This is noticeable in the people I’ve interacted with outside of their metal horses; they seem more friendly and relaxed.  I even experienced one very outgoing and motherly (but young) waitress who made it her mission to keep us all comfortable and attended to.  This style I can get used to, yup.

Not forgetting that we’re consultants, so outside of the office and restaurants, the last unmentioned part of our world is the hotel.  Because everything in the area is booked up, I had no choice (really, I swear) but to stay at the W.  A chain within my favorite chain of hotels, the W targets the young chic crowd.  Their bars and lounges in NYC and SF are known to be pickup joints for trendy fashionistas.  Walking into the hotel lobby, you find yourself in a huge lounge with tons of comfortable sofas and a bar filled with more clubbing folk than business travelers.  Loungy chill-out music flows throughout all the public areas.  I even walked out of the elevator wondering where I could the catchy mix that was playing.  As for the rooms, the interior decor remains congruent with the sleek hipster appeal, right down to the facial washes and body butter.  My suite has a proper living room and two LCD TV’s.  (Don’t worry, we get really good corporate rates)  Even though I haven’t had the energy (or proper attire) to hang out by the bar and mingle, just being in such a different atmosphere from the usual business hotels puts me in a super decent mood, certainly one to completely forget about business.  The only squeal you’ll hear from me is having to pay $10 for a bottle of uber-pretentious artesian water from Norway.  Naturally, it goes with the territory.