I like New York in ....February

How about you?

Thursday morning was going to suck, there was just no two way around it. I booked the earliest flight out of Atlanta at 7:05am, not a huge issue except taking into consideration that even on a good day, I am about 1.5 hours form the airport. Add to that the fact that the airport recommends (even on the earliest flight) to be at the airport 1.5 hours prior to the flight. Again, not a huge issue remembering this happens to be the busiest airport in the world. Now the kicker is the weather.

If you live in or have visited the south, you have enjoyed some of the best weather in the country (IMHO). Though the one thing we do not have a grasp on down here is snow and ice. Southerners (especially ATLiens) freak the fuck out when it comes to snow and ice in the forecast. Please don't ask me why, but this place turns into utter gridlock and stupidity at the drop of a flake. People rush to the grocery store to stock up on canned goods, the Home Depot is crowded with folks stocking up on kerosene and buying generators. What people don't seem to realize is that unless there is a MAJOR ice storm (last one I remember was over 10 years ago) the roads stay bad for maybe a day. But, no... the weathermen crowd the airways with snowstorm this and icy conditions that at even the HINT of snow. Well, Thursday was to be such a day. This was bound to add to the stupidity. I now had to plan on being up at 4am for my 7am flight.

Wednesday night I get home, pack the bags and hang with the wife for a bit. Around 10 I go to check the flight and check in online. Well, imagine my surprise when the flight is displayed as canceled. I check Delta's front page and they have a post that ATL has preemptively canceled some early flights for the POSSIBILITY of snow. Travel tilt has begun and I haven't even gotten in the car. Of course, they can offer no further information on the web, and I am forced to call the help line. This is my second fairly large project with my new company and I have been employed for just over a week. I HAVE to get to NY and a weekend trip is out of the question. Needless to say I'm a little stressed at this point, and after 20 minutes of elevator music, I am fully prepared to pop the first person I speak to in the testicles.

I forget the totally fake name of the operator, something like Gerald, but I press him for information as he politely and slowly gets the information I need. I keep my cool and find out that my flight has been moved to 8:15, and I can check in online. I keep 'Gerald' on the line as I do so.

Now, one would think that this means 'yay, I get to sleep for another hour!' one who thinks that has never been to Atlanta. Essentially, traffic blows mud between the hours of 7 and 7. It literally sucks to go anywhere, seriously. If you are thinking about moving to Atlanta, please lobotomize yourself first; it will be better for all of us. I generously give myself another 20 minutes, so I can set my alarm to the uber trendy 4:20.

I arrive to the airport with 1.5 hours to spare, and get to my gate about 10 minutes later. So much for being prepared, but it beats being late. I proceed to play some cards over WiFi CC style and donk off about $20 playing .50/1.

The rest of the journey is event free and we arrive in the NY office around noon after scarfing down some NY style pizza. YUM, I don't know if its a mental thing, but the pizza in NY is far superior to any pizza anywhere else.

The New York office to put it lightly is a clusterfuck. It's obviously suffering from neglect as they have not had a dedicated systems person there for awhile. We set to work, my assistant and the consultant work on the clients and I poke around server side to get an idea of whats up and set up a new server. We work furiously through 6:30, and I'm really itching to get out of there.

I had been e-mailing Jordan back and forth and he knew of a game we could get into at 7:30. I was starting to push it. My co-workers were heading back to ATL and were leaving soon. I was staying behind to deal with the certain shitstorm the next day in the office. My first priority was hitting this game with Jordan, sleep and hunger be damned.

I managed to get a cab heading towards midtown, and I had an interesting exchange with the driver. The last e-mail I received from Jordan gave me the corner the driver could drop me off. It was something and Houston. I told the driver the intersection and he had no idea what I was talking about. I slowly said the street names again thinking he just didn't hear me, but no, he had no idea where Houston street was. I tell him to just go that direction so I can get in touch with Jordan to confirm the street. I try to call, and realize I have the wrong number in my phone. Luckily for me Jordan had at the same time been leaving me a message on my phone with directions and his number. Listening to the message, he pronounces Houston as HOW-STON, being a good southerner, I was telling the driver HUGH-STON doh! I correct the pronunciation and the driver is now clear. I correct the number in my phone and call Jordan when I am dropped off.

We flag each other down as I'm in the middle of the intersection and we are off.

OK that's enough for now, I guess I will actually get to some poker in the next post.