2 Days +

Monday morning I went back to work after my lovely, relaxing Virginia vacation. It was a very slow day at work. Based on that fact, I brought my schoolwork to work on Tuesday to get a chapter or so done. I should have known better! At 8:30 my boss called me from his car. He needed me to cover for him in a 9am meeting as he was stuck in traffic. Cool. I went. Major projects started raining from the sky during that meeting. Three videos for me to work on, all due in two weeks, including one video I needed to fly out to Atlanta to tape some interviews for. And by fly out to Atlanta, I mean immediately. Paperwork, emails, phone calls, travel arrangements and appointments set: Wednesday morning I make my way yet again to the San Francisco Airport via our lovely (ughh!) BART system. I had planned on driving in (I love my Jeep and haven't driven in further than the gas station in nearly a month!) but this weekend the Bay Bridge will be closed for five days (huge bridge construction project going on) so driving was shot down. Ugh.
BART.
Airport Checkin.
Heavy Luggage (camera equipment).
4+ hour flight to Atlanta.
Rental Car pickup.
Hour drive to Alpharetta.
Hotel Checkin.
Nap: no-go.
Workout: short.
Dinner: CPK.
Sleep: Unsuccessful.
Jetlag: Making me hate life.

Thursday morning I was scheduled to do two series of quick interviews at two locations with a total of about 12 people. 8:30-12 and 2-4. They end up taking about five minutes each and I've finished all of them (including a 1-hour drive to the second location) by 1pm so I drove an hour into Atlanta.

I'd been to Atlanta once before in 2001. My college roommate and I drove down from Virginia for Spring Break. I was unimpressed by the place. It was loud, busy and dirty. That said, I'm not a fan of most large cities (with the exceptions of London, Paris and Rome thus far) I will report that nothing has changed in 8 years. Well, I think they had the Olympics there a while ago and so there are a lot more large peach sculptures everywhere. I went once again to Underground Atlanta. The idea is cool, so is the execution, but the shops, stores and restaurants are unimpressive.

I will say that I realllllly liked Alpharetta and the surrounding areas of Atlanta. The people are lovely, the scenery beautiful. But what the heck is up with the 55MPH speed limit? Seriously!!??

Lunch at an over-decorated, overpriced (for the area), over-cooked and under-flavored Italian restaurant filled with too many people aspiring to be southern socialites. I expected people to talk with the lovely, legendary southern lilt, but it was absolutely NOWHERE to be found. Disappointing! Instead, it seemed that the place was filled to the brim with California transplants. Which explains the extreme presence of suburbs filled with "McMansions" and surrounding retail outlets packed with familiar restaurants like The Cheesecake Factory and California Pizza Kitchen. One thing Atlanta has going for them that I love and will love until my dying day is an overwhelming amount of my favorite chicken chain (and I hate fast food!): Chick-Fil A. Not even kidding. LOVE that place. It's a favorite flavor from childhood.

After stopping at a local Barnes and Noble and spending way too much on book (that I then had to pack into my suitcase... not my best plan!) I got in my rental car, reclined the driver's seat all the way and passed out for a 45-minute nap. Mmmmm. Nice.

30 minutes in slow traffic back to the airport.
Dropped off the car.
Shuttle to the terminal.
Checked in for my flight with three hours to spare.
Read half of my book. 4.5 hours to San Francisco.
Book finished.
30 minutes waiting at bag check for my luggage.
BART ride home, in at 11:30.
Bath.
Bed at 12:30.
Narcoleptic sleep until 7am, when I am woken up by a text message sent to the wrong number.
Nice.
Up, dressed, BART to work.
Tired.