the northern-south: its friendly here!

here we are in atlanta! as i write i am sitting at my desk in the ritzie carlton, where i have already called to complain about 3 separate items: (1) my bedside phone wasnt working (2) my little mini fridge wasnt working (i swear i wasnt digging into the alcohol bar- i was pathetically trying to refridgerate my baby carrots) and (3) the mirror in the bathroom wasnt lighting up. i felt like a brat calling, i wont deny it. but the room is about 200 bucks a night, and the govt is paying. so. i complained on behalf of the people. *disclaimer: the hotel also apparently doesnt think the cw is a classy enough channel, so ive missed gossip girls. is that some kind of judgment they are issuing on me? because i dont appreciate it. sure, they have 12 different types of cnn, because the cnn headquarters is like 3 blocks away, but oh heaven forbid we have television for the teenage-girls within us all.

i got here about 1pm and headed straight to the office. traveling for business in theory sounds glamorous- you get to see the world! walk around new cities! try new restaurants! get a glimpse of a new world! new possibilities! and then... you remember. youre there to work. you dont have your normal creature comforts - theres no lactose free milk, theres no running outside, theres no yogurt for breakfast, youre wearing a suit, and your stomach is grumbling at inopportune moments because when youre usually eating at your desk at 10am, whereas here, youve got to be taking notes, being quiet, and looking nice. of course, im just predicting these things, but i just have a feeling...

met up with blake & his wife jaclyn, nick my coworker, and one of blake's coworkers, lydia, after working this afternoon & dropping off a memo for review with the boss- kind of funny to think we will all be sleeping in the same institutionalized building for the night. anyway. went out for drinks & nachos at a sportsbar nearby, which was kind of amazing. ive never had this experience before: each table had its own set of taps, 2 each, and they turn it on, and charge you by the ounce. we had stella & sam adams, pretty classic, and caught up. so besides the two taps, where you just get to keep pouring your brew sans interruption, we were in this big booth- and what comes down from the ceiling in front of us? a flat screen, hd tv. i mean.... i dont even like watching sports on tv, and yet i was entranced. could i stay and watch gossip girl? because that would have been an amazing, drunken end to the night. what was even better? this place didnt feel at all like a sports bar per se- it was dimly lit, everyone had their own area so no one was yelling and being annoying-- it was almost... dare i say it?... classy. and i would happily go there to participate in sports watching. it was such a novel concept.

got back to the hotel, and in my bitterness of not being able to watch gossip girl (i know, im obsessed), i decided to head down to the gym and go for a run. my legs felt like dead weight the entire time, thanks to the race yesterday no doubt- and nachos & beer were sloshing around in a mildly uncomfortable way. im not sure why that seemed like a good idea, exactly, but at least it tuckered me out enough. and that is never bad.

xo