Atlanta, a Comprehensive History: 7-20-07 to 8-16-07

Since my last post, weeks ago, not too much has changed except that Eloise and I are almost completely moved in -- it's all over but the crying... I mean hanging up pictures.

I still don't have a job, but I've begun networking (it's a compounding process, so slow at the moment), been on one interview for a job I didn't get and been turned down just based on my resume at least six times. There seem to be about 3-4 interesting jobs a week from the local paper, Craigslist and CareerBuilder.com. It's a matter of time. Right?

Anyway, I've started in a weekend soccer game made up of mostly parents and teachers from the Atlanta International School. These mofos can play. Most of the guys are in their mid 40s, about half are French, and they eat my lunch. My first week, to put it in perspective, some of the AIS varsity players as well as some recent grads, one of whom was a Div. I scholarship player and others who were VERY highly skilled played the old dudes... and got their asses handed to them. It was a drubbing. Something like 6-2 at the end of the day. No doubt the environment will help my game, which I haven't really played in 2-3 years. It even encouraged me to go jogging this morning. I figure decent fitness to go along with my willingness to commit the professional AND the unprofessional foul will help me keep my head above water with this group.

Eloise and I continue to really like our neighborhood, although now that she's working, and especially as she's putting in extra hours to start the year off, we haven't had many chances to enjoy it as much as we'd like. Actually, I go almost every day to neighborhood coffee shop -- I'm blogging from there now -- so it's really just her who's not enjoying it. She gets the last laugh though, as she actually has a job, and one that she gets to enjoy virtually tax free for two years. It's a perk only a few nations get. French get the perk, Swiss don't.

Here are a few thoughts about Atlanta after being here nearly a month:

1. I've mentioned the traffic before. Here's something specific. Peachtree, the main N/S street and which divides E from W Atlanta, has up to 10 or 12 lanes of traffic, but for the most part no one uses the leftmost or rightmost lanes. On the right, no one wants to get behind a bus or people slowing down to take a right. On the left, no one's there because the city has very few left hand turn lanes or turning lights. People play the odds and zoom zoom zoom ahead of suckers in the middle, only to come to a screeching halt at some point if they play left-lane craps for too long. Oh yeah, people don't like using their blinkers either, only exacerbating this annoyance.
2. I've never, ever, ever seen so many joggers in my life. Anywhere. Ever. You might think it would only be in the early morning or evening, when the sun's down and the heat has subsided a bit. No. In the hottest times of the day you'll find loads of people with their Sauconies on putting miles on their soles. It's both admirable and crazy. I've not seen anything like it.
3. You never really feel like you're in The South. Exceptions are when you go to a public office such as Social Security or the DMV. There you'll hear drawls that make Don Meredith sound like a sophisticate. Additionally, when you go to such places, you realize how segregated the town is. Elo's and my life mostly runs between Virginia Highlands (our neighborhood) through Midtown, Ansley Park Garden Hills and Buckhead. In these areas I'm often caused to think -- where are all the African Americans? I thought this city was 65% black. Well, if you go to the mall, downtown or, again, some government office, you'll see the city's diversity. Our sphere is pretty lilly white. I suspect even Atlanta's large African American middle and upper class live in other neighborhoods. Perhaps, neither surprisingly nor auspiciously, this is what I would have guessed.
4. People are really nice. Elo, who has depended on public transit her entire adult life, finds the bus drivers here the nicest she's ever encountered. If you're lost in a store, at a MARTA station, on the street, whatever, people are very happy to help. There's some false brightness and perfunctory, disinterested small talk still annoys, but in general, we find ourselves in a city filled with helpful people.

Hope all is well with everyone. I hope to have pics of our furnished place up soon.