No, I am not gay (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I did how ever tried to use automation to settle an interesting point.
Whenever I am introduced to someone and say “my name is Gil” , people here different things. The most common is Ian. Now there are programs that transfer voice to text, so I decided to see what the phone will say. 1st attempt read “my name is gay” which caused lots of laughs, not by me or any gay squirrel that happened to be nearby (the non gay squirrels were mute as well). Attempt number 2 returned DAN, and #3 was DUDE, don’t ask me how.
2 days ago I boarded a flight to Chattanooga, TN- since I have not flown for work reason in a while, I was out of shape.
It started with barely waking up for the flight, leaving home without essentials like deodorant or my wedding ring!. Arriving way too early to the airport, not taking a book in my book bag, which means I lost precious reading opportunities on the shuttle (about 30 seconds), check in (no time), security (1 minute to 1 hour depending on the airport), waiting for boarding (could be hours) the walkway to the plane (minutes), the hated wait in the plane and the taking off and landing periods (which the lap top must be turned off). So many moments just gone.
In security I forgot to empty my bag from the big stuff and had it taken away (regular size tooth paste), a bottle of water. Lucky my shaving cream and perfume were not big enough and I managed to keep those. I also had a banana! That was left there for a few days and smelled accordingly, my bag still has some banana residue odor.
The flight itself was rarely uneventful, fell asleep for most of the flight, same thing on the 2nd flight. Considering this was delta through Atlanta, it’s a miracle.
Got my car and drove to the city. Most of our accounts are in small towns, remote, so I rarely research the place it self before I go, unless it’s out west. But this is a city and right away I liked it. It has a huge river with lots of touristic river boats running through town, small hills in the beginning of the fall, great weather (I brought a coat, and happy I didn’t need it).
The 1st night I was told of a pasta place which is not a chain, I drove to that point as confirmed by the map and the GPS and couldn’t find it. So drove elsewhere, parked downtown and decided to walk back up and try again, since I was sure I was right there. 15 minutes later of walking I arrived , it was so nice just to walk in the warm night air (can’t do that at Cleveland right now, too cold). And I arrived to the place I was by car and started exploring.
Usually here m you see a restaurant from a long way because of the Neon signs, but this complex, which is actually 3 places who share their merchandize were in the dark. They had lights, but dim like any other house, which is why I missed it the 1st time, you had to know where to look.
I ordered my regular Carbonara and they gave me before a plate of fresh bread with a deep sauce plate made of olive oil, parmesan and something else, which I didn’t recognize. I was tired and hungry and the (big) plate of fresh bread disappeared. I ate 2 bytes from the pasta and took it to go.
On the walk back I passed by the “Ice Cream show” which mixes ice cream with fruit and stuff in a similar way to frozen yogurt. I tried to be creative and mixed chocolate with strawberries, the result was somehow sour, and I ate it slowly on the walk back to the car and went to sleep.
Next morning I enjoyed a micro waved pasta leftovers and it was very tasty. Lunch with hospital staff at a place overlooking the river and mountains (this place is 20 minutes away from the start of the Appalachian trail, I was tempted to start it (only takes 7 months to complete, no worries).
Las margaritas (they call it Las Mas) has the same band playing live music every Wednesday for 20 years, lucky it was a Wednesday and over spicy chicken breast cooked with pineapple and oranges! Which was nmmmmmm, I listened to some country music and knew some of the songs (and I didn’t even know they were country).
Today’s lunch was a Danish from a vending machine since I am in a van headed for Atlanta to catch my flight
So the route today will include
Rented car returned to the airport, a local ride to the shuttle depot, a 2 hour shuttle , with blogging opportunities (sorry I didn’t write for so long) to the hated Atlanta, wait, plane to charlotte, more wait, plane to Cleveland, shuttle to parking lot, car home, elevator and finally home- 13 hours on the road
I have some more things to write, but typing here is uncomfortable ..will try later in one of the waits..
Cheers from somewhere in Georgia
