So... this is Atlanta

It's close to midnight, it's late September, I'm in a basement, and I'm hot. Welcome to life in Atlanta.

What can I say? It's been a crazy, busy week. I've hardly had time to do anything online, never-mind post anything on here. I moved on Tuesday, got a tour of the office and Philips Arena on Wednesday, tried to get a social security number (did you know you have to be in the USA for 10 days before they'll issue you one?) and went to the office and first Thrashers preseason home game on Thursday and had my first full day of work on Friday. It still hasn't sunk in that I'm working for an NHL and NBA team (I haven't mentioned it much but I do work for the Hawks too, not just the Thrashers. It's the same ownership group). I've already been to two games and I'm sure people think I'm crazy as I walk around with my all access pass and a huge grin on my face. I know the awe will wear off at some point but it probably won't be any time soon. I haven't even met any of the players or management yet. That'll likely happen on Tuesday or Wednesday when I go to my first practice.

Some of my handiwork is now up on the Thrashers website. My name isn't attached to it but I am working, I swear. In case it hasn't come across already, I'm loving this job. The people are great and the work is stuff that I do for fun anyway. why not get paid for it?

In non-work news, Atlanta is great. I've been here as a visitor many, many times, but now it's starting to feel like home. Downtown streets are looking familiar and riding the train, known as MARTA, is a breeze. Rather than spend 60-90 minutes in traffic jams I can hop the train and be at my office building in 45 minutes. Ride MARTA- it's SMARTA. That was honestly one of their slogans at some point. I kid you not. Luckily for me nobody does ride MARTA so it's rarely hard to get a seat. It's nothing like trying to squeeze onto an OC Transpo bus during peak hours. At 5:01 I rode the northbound train from downtown and easily found an empty bench to myself. From what I hear MARTA's buses are brutal, but the train is great. They also happen to go pretty much everyplace I've needed to go.

7 of my 11 boxes have arrived. They were shipped via Canada Post on the 15th so they're getting here ahead of schedule. A few of them arrived in pretty bad shape but so far nothing has been lost and aside from some scrapes to my briefcase the contents are all in good condition. It also costed less than I expected so kudos to Canada Post. Hopefully I didn't just jinx the last 4 boxes.

So that's what's going on down here so far. I'll write more about the job if people want to hear about it. I'll be getting into more of a routine thins week and I'll be bringing my laptop home from work so this thing ought to be getting updated a whole lot more often. Thanks for bearing with me.

Comments

[Alan]

It is fun to follow your path, Ben. Don't feel bad talking about yourself.

[Heather]

I am just crazy jealous with envy. But! I still wish you the best. And even though I don't have any all-access passes, I still walk around games with a huge crazy-happy grin on my face. It's awesome.

[Janice]

It sounds great Ben! Congrats on scoring a dream job.