September 15, 2005

Experiences in Hotlanta

As my time in Atlanta, GA winds to a close, I thought I'd take a moment to reflect on some of my experiences here and the lessons that I learned, most good, some bad. Since I'm not feeling particularly articulate tonight, I'm just going to list off whatever comes to mind and hopefully the verbal vomit will make sense at the end. If not, it'd be nothing new.

1. The singular best thing about the month I've spent in Atlanta has been the opportunity to meet people from all across the country. While some of these personalities may not have exactly meshed well with mine, it's always refreshing (and sometimes disturbing) to remember that California doesn't represent the remainder of the United States by a long shot.
2. The weather in the South (and from what I hear, everywhere else in this damn country) sucks! Humidity is unbearable. I'm pretty sure I'm never moving out of California.
3. Never, ever do laundry in a hotel, even if you are able to expense it. Between the wrinkled dress shirts, crumpled pants, and pressed jeans (complete with creases down the middle - a hot new fashion), I have never experienced a worse laundry service. I think the hotel must be outsourcing the work to crackheads on the streets.
4. Sometimes bell boys need to be explicitly told not to knock on the door at 5am to deliver the Wall Street Journal. I'm not even kidding - a guy actually knocked on our door at 5am to deliver the paper. Wow. What the hell.
5. The Coca-Cola Museum, while awesome in that it allows you to taste soda from across the world, probably would have been more interesting if I was seven years old. Nevertheless, considering my love for soda, it was a worthwhile trip.
6. I have now lived in Atlanta more than twice as long as I have lived in San Francisco. That's pretty pathetic.
7. Happy hour is only happy the night it is happening. The next morning is decidely unhappy, as I have realized from more than my fair share of experiences.
8. Birds of a feather, flock together.
9. The personalities of your peers that you love and hate don't change when you enter the work world. People are still the same, only now, you can't be as contemptuous or rude to them.
10. There's really no place like home.

Hopefully that barrage wasn't too discombobulated. And even if it was, what do I care - this is my website and I'll post whatever I damn well please, so if you have a problem with it, go to hell. Oh, and by the way, if you made the wise decision of signing up for the Postcards from Rohit program, you just might have one coming to you in the mail - I sent out five tonight. If you still want to sign up, you can do so here. Goodbye Atlanta. Hello San Franciso!