RTP

From time to time IBM decides to send me on a business trip for one reason or another. Unfortunately the location of the trip is usually Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina. So far I just haven't found the cities in that area to be all that exciting. I mean sure I spend most of my time at the office or in the hotel, but when I do go out, it's just not all that. Now certainly it doesn't help that the IBM site and the hotel are both in the Research Triangle Park area, which is code for "middle of nowhere." You really have to drive more into the city to find anything remotely interesting. Plus with all the trees around you have to know where you are going. You can't just drive around and hope you see something. Trust me on that one.

This time around the trip had some upsides. On the way to RDU I was bumped to first class. If you've never been in first class, it's hard to describe. To put it simply, it was one of the only times I have been completely comfortable on a plane. Plus there's free booze and that always helps. Also, there were a few other guys in RTP from Austin, three of whom were close in age, so I had some people to hang out with. Oh right, and there was a hurricane.

Hurricane Isabel was at one time a category five hurricane and was awe inspiring and scary at the same time. Growing up in New Orleans you learn from an early age to fear hurricanes since, as we have been told so many times, the perfect hurricane will destroy the city. Having heard tales from my parents of Betsy and Camille only added to my fascination and fear. Once in RTP, I kept up with every National Hurricane Center update. I was prepared to leave the area in an instant if that monster was headed my way. I had my escape route all planned out and had the phone number for my nearest relative in my wallet.

Now the natives in the area were as worried as I was. The name Fran came up a few times. The people from Austin however didn't have a clue. They didn't think it was a big deal. By the time Izzy hit it was a baby three and missed RTP to the east, so it really wasn't that bad at all. I had fun keeping up with the weather buoy information, when the site was working that is. We had the day off work and sitting on the balcony watching the trees bend kept me entertained. The next day me and the people from the area felt spared, but the Austin guys just seemed to think hurricanes weren't that bad. Fools. Just look at all the damage to the east coast. It could have been a lot worse for Raleigh/Durham, a lot worse.

Back to business trips. Being in a hotel by yourself just isn't that fun, and this place has free high speed internet access so it was better than some. I watched a fair bit of television, Monday Night Football and Carnivale to name two, and surfed the web every night, including watching Jerry play BF1942 via BFStats. Dinner was not too bad since there were other people, and these people actually knew of places to eat in the area which was a plus. I mean I like pine trees and all, I miss them actually, but finding things is just so hard through all the pine trees as I said above. Also, eating dinner with IBM paying for it is always good. As Taylor said, "I always make it a point to drink on IBM." And that brings me to an interesting Saturday.

My department has people stay Sunday to Sunday in case there is any activity on the weekend. This particular weekend there was nothing going on. I took the opportunity to sleep late, which is pretty much routine for me on the weekend. For lunch, one of the guys and I went to a Mexican restaurant where I topped off lunch with a margarita. Back at the hotel, three of us decided to do some shopping at Best Buy and Barnes and Nobles, where I had a frappuccino, then headed back to the hotel for some football watching. We put the Georgia LSU game on in the hotel common area, grabbed a few beers and snacks, and watched a very good game. After the game we went to swanky restaurant, had drink at the bar and wine with dinner. Anyone keep track of that? That was 5 drinks in one day. I didn't realize I was that much of a lush.