A Cloudy Day in Atlanta, October 2002

My company held a sales event one night in Atlanta, Georgia.

They flew me in the night before, so I had the next morning to kick around downtown with my camera.

Late in the afternoon, I set up the computer and a huge video screen for the event. Then I sat around for 3 hours while the speeches were made. By 9:00pm, I had taken the gear down, packed it up, and helped push it into a 60' semi-trailer and on to the next event.

The next afternoon, I was back home.

Given the weather, the brightest thing about Atlanta that day was the people.

A guy at the sales event told me that Atlanta isn't really "Old South" anymore. It's grown with people from all over, and is a now pretty "worldly."

The downtown sure is. There's all the goods and services you'd want, but they're supplied by the same national chain stores and restaurants you'd see in any major US city. The clothes are from Pendleton and Macy's, and lunch comes from Steak and Ale or Hooters...

...although I did notice that there's more fat and oil in the food than I see in other cities. In a related note, there's also a lot more big people lumbering around.

Ethnically, Atlanta is very diverse. Everybody seems to be here, and people move among each other without a second thought.

The downtown, at least, makes Atlanta seem like a very tall city. There a few places to stretch your gaze. Most vistas are only the width of the street, to the buildings on the other side.