Atlanta - Day 1

Unfortunately it was earlier than they expected and so it took a few tries for the, frankly intimidating, receptionist (or probably Front Desk Manager or something) to find someone who would take responsibility for me. What that actually meant was dumping me in a lab until the people I was meant to meet turned up an hour later. Anyway we did the walk round the building meeting the team thing and then mostly I was left alone for the rest of the day since they had another blocking problem that needed to be fixed first before they could try our code. Tomorrow will probably be busier I expect.

For lunch we visited a nice (and popular) Italian called BiBa's. I had cheese tortelloni in a tomato and pesto sauce (a large portion of course) with some garlic rolls on the side (small rolls with garlic butter and liberally sprinkled with parmesan cheese). Back at the hotel this evening I decided to see if there was anywhere to eat that I could walk to as I didn't really want a whole restaurant meal after that lunch. I discovered the international farmer's market just across the road (one with a crossing button, though) which included a food court. You have a choice of 50 or so dishes of Korean or Chinese cuisine (with helpful pictures on the wall) so I had a plate full of vegetable egg fried rice with black bean sauce.

Of course it was a huge portion.

So another early night I think. What strikes me so far is that there isn't a great deal of difference between here and San Jose where I was last. Giant roads, no sidewalks, offices full of identical cubicles with grotty chairs and really nasty fluorescent lighting. The stores are mostly chains and mostly the same ones. The signs they use are the same primary colour neons, the street crossing signs are identical, etc. etc. Hopefully I'll be able to fit in a bit of actual Atlanta before flying on Saturday which should have some character, but out here it's just generic tech USA.