State of Columbus' Highways: 71/70 sucks.

So, if you've been keeping up with my blog, you know that I was involved in an accident on this trip, and if you haven't been keeping up, you now know about it. As it turns out, this particular spot is well known by the locals as an EXTREMELY DANGEROUS spot... infact, there is a CITY PLAN to change it. With this being the case.... how much signage or warnings were there about this? notta.

I point you to this:

CITY PLAN

and the local news

So, what does this mean? Well, one of the people in my seminar told me that she thought I should sue the city. At first I laughed about this, but you know what....

if getting rear ended in an auto accident can possibly be my fault, do you know who else's fault it can just as easily be? The fine city of Columbus, OH. They actually share quite a bit more fault in this matter then I do, although still not as much as the guy who hit me. if the insurance company somehow finds this to be any way connected to me, I might just look into this more. If this is a known dangerous place, the city should at the very least have signage, and in reality should have an officer there to keep traffic slowed down. Steps could have been, and should have been, taken.

Here are some photo's of the area taken by the wonderful google earth thing:




I was traveling from left to right on this picture.
It's hard to see here, but I'll explain the basic set up. There is an on ramp right before the river, on the otherside of the river that same onramp lane is also the exit to "fulton" which is apparently a very popular destination. The people coming from the major highway 71 enter the express way from that on ramp but must get over unless they wish to go to the fulton street exit. To add fun to this, traffic backs up from fulton onto the express way, so as was the case for while I was in my accident (which was on a SUNDAY, which is a LOW TRAFFIC DAY) the traffic was backed up from the fulton exit, all the way up the ramp, back to about half way between the bridge and and the fulton exit... about to where the train tracks are. I'll draw it on the next picture:




Soo.... this means that traffic exiting 71 has very little room to merge onto 70, and for those poor bastards like myself who actually want to get off the express way, we have a nightmare to get over. Luckily, as I said, it was a sunday, and traffic was light. I was able to get over without any problem. My problem was that the driver behind me was too busy to be watching the road ahead of him, let alone the traffic backed up way onto the expressway.


Here is the ramp:



Anyway, I need to get to my seminar. I'll stop my ranting for now.

Columbus Ohio... my hotel.

So, I find myself with a full day of life in Columbus, OH behind me. I found breakfast at my hotel, the Hyatt on Capital Hill to be sufficient. The bacon was a little tough, but other then that it was good. I was presented with some sort of free yogurt drink that I can only assume is some sort of northerner tradition, because it was free, and it was pink. it tasted of strawberries and a few things I couldn't quite put my finger on, and didn't quite go down smooth chased with coffee and orange juice. I'll pass on it next time. For dinner this evening I came back to the hotel restaurant, and had a chicken breast. I found myself a little on edge that in Ohio they would make something with sweet potatoes, and sure enough they were not quite to my liking. Maybe it's because I am still a bit cranky over my auto incident, or maybe it's because sweet potatoes should stay in the south. Other then that, the chicken was just a bit well done to start, but it was tasty enough, along with my beer. I do have to admit that the service was excellent, and I was well attended. I'll return to the restaurant a few more times, because there were several things on the menu that I think might be well worth sampling.

There is a nice outside area by the hotel, with a fountain and ample seating for one to retire for a smoke. The only flaw in this plan was that there was no drink service, and I had to order my drinks from the inside bar and carry them out. Columbus seems an honest enough place, my opinion of the traffic laws aside, and my book and cigar were undisturbed the few times I had to go back in for a refill of bourbon. I'll take advantage of this sitting area again no doubt tomorrow, but I have found out that there is a nice jazz and cigar bar less then a mile from the hotel. If I feel brave enough one evening, I might try and find my way there on foot, or at the very least, by way of a short cab ride. I'll post more on this as I find out more information. a website may be available, and if it is, I'll make sure that I get a link for all to view. I'm not sure of what the city streets are like at night in this town, although it appears safe enough, rarely are things quite what they seem. We'll have to see.

Any way, in so far as this fountain goes, I have three shots for you:



This is the fountain itself. It appears to be some sort of dryads or perhaps the freshwater nymph, some naiads... regardless, the thing that kept my attention was this...



I'm not sure how well this will come out. Have you ever seen the movie "Alien" or it's wonderful sequel "Aliens?" For some reason I kept thinking of Bill Paxton when I looked long and hard at these fish. I'm not sure what it means, other then too much of this:



With that, I'll leave you for the night. They made me drink my Manhattan in a plastic cup, which took quite a bit of the romance out of the whole thing.

So... Columbus.

Okay, so on my second attempt to post info on my trip, we'll see if this horrible ten buck a day service will actually work. If they are going to charge for use, they should make sure it holds a signal.

the short version of events:

I was in a wreck less then 5 minutes from the safety of my hotel. Some guy rear ended me, but apparently in Ohio, just because you slam into the back of someone on the expressway doesn't mean that it's your fault. The cop basically said he couldn't make a judgement because I "admitted that I merged." well, of course I merged. so did he. this apparently means nothing. Go Columbus. some guy slams into me, and it might be my fault. What place. I could do nothing to avoid the accident, he COULD HAVE BEEN PAYING ATTENTION. oh well. the cop said that it was up to the insurance companies now. so, now I won't know the verdict of this the whole time I'm here, taking one of the most difficult and important certification tests of my career. joy. The only good news of the wreck is that my rental, a chrysler 300 was practically undamaged. The bumper is scratched up, but other then that it's fine. His car was undrivable. Anyway, I have to wait til tomorrow afternoon to get in touch with my insurance agent to find out the low down on what I'm supposed to do... not to mention the difficulties that I'm sure will arise because it's a rental car. anyway, I'm turning in early tonight. more about it tomorrow, and I'll try and talk some about the vegas trip.

After Vegas

So, since i had so very little to share about my vegas trip, I'll take a few minutes today to make a post. I'll be driving to Columbus OH today, and when I get there I'll have some time to do a little fill in work on the trip, so look for a two-fer of info coming up soon!

Las Vegas!

Okay, I know I promised you some info on my vegas trip, and I'm a little behind in it. We've been here for three days, and this is the first notes I've made. We are getting ready to check out of our first hotel, the Hilton Grand Vacations Club at the Hilton, and cab it over to our second hotel, Ceasar's Palace. The first was an actual vacation, the second will herald the return to work. We'll be attending a convention/buying trip for the store, and that means real work. Luckily, it's in Vegas, so that's not too bad.

I'll try and post more as I can, but we have a quickly approaching check out time, so there isn't much time for details other then this...

I can tell by the amount of forwarded emails that I'm going to have a rough time of it when I get home. Luckily, I'll be renting a car next week and making my way to scenic Columbus, Ohio.

So there is that.

Return

Well, I find myself back in Louisville after a harrowing adventure that is the Ronald Reagan Airport, accompanied by the continued lackluster everything about US AIRWAYS. Holy moly.

The airport might be the worst airport I've ever been in. A lot of people don't like Atlanta's Airport, but honestly, I don't have a problem with it. There is ample seating, and more then one place to wet your whistle with a brew. I couldn't find any place selling any form of alcholol past security. Granted, I didn't look too hard on the ticketing side of the gate, I figured that for sure I'd be able to sit down and have a drink at a bar somewhere. I was wrong. I couldn't find anywhere. Miami Florida's Airport was nice in this regard, and my favorite is still NY's LaGuardia. Atlanta, sure, it's hurried, but you can find a place. Regardless...

US Airways ineptness continued. Every 5 minutes (and that's not a joke or exaggeration) the airline "barker" (as I will call him, since he wasn't taking himself too seriously and was doing his damnest to try and make light of the situation) would come across the loudspeaker and inform the assembled that there had been an overbooking, and they needed 6 people to step up and take another flight. They promised to put you up in a four star hotel, take care of your meals and transportation, and then get you on a flight the next day. Right. Most likely you'd be on STAND BY the next day, and it might take you a week to get home, and they would only pay for that first day. They offered a free round trip ticket to those willing to do it, but forget it! not for me. I wanted to get home.

I checked the arrival/departure board. The plane was scheduled to arrive at the airport at 8:20pm, and leave at 8:17pm. yup, not a typo on my part, that's what the board said. I knew I was screwed. When the plane finally did take off at 9:30pm I thought it was miracle. Lord help me if there is ever another choice, I'll remember this trip and pay extra money if need be to NOT FLY US AIRWAYS. It was godawful.

Anyway, that's that, and I'm home. I'll be leaving again at the end of the month for the wonderful LAS VEGAS! This should be fun. Half of the trip is business, and the other half is a mini vacation for myself and my wife. I get a discounted room rate, so I'm taking advantage of it. Check back at the end of May, beginning of June for more misadventures and trip reviews. Remember, by god traveling may not be pretty, and it takes those with true grit... And we've got plenty of that.

Shelly's Back Room

Well, to get you a little caught up....

Yesterday I did indeed head out to the aforementioned bar... and it was good.

After a stressful day, I decided it just wouldn't be right to not give our nation's capital a fair shake. So, I headed down to the cab station, had the friendly worker hail me a cab, and went on my way. I went across the river in what I would later learn was "about average" traffic. It took perhaps 20 minutes to cover the distance, and cost me about $20. I was lucky enough to have the world's craziest cab driver, which I guess was nice. This man took me at speeds well in excess of the posted speed limit, and further more, cut off more cars and trucks then a california car chase driver on TV. (okay, what I'm really trying to say is, I was scared. I thought on at least 3 occasions that we were in a wreck for sure. Amazingly we only had one motorist threaten us.)

When we got there, the driver gave me his card, and assured me he'd be right there if I needed him. I nodded and thanked the man, and quickly put his card out of mind. I entered the bar, and I was surrounded by the smell of old leather, smoke, and beer.. this is the sort of thing I was looking for this whole time. It's a small bar, with couches, plush chairs, and a few tables scattered around in a central room. The bar is in the back, and in the front is an area with tables and booths. The host asked me where I would like to sit, and my response of, "some place quiet and in the corner" was greeted with a laugh, "The corner I can do, but quiet, I think you're out of luck." True enough. The patrons were a laughing and talking bunch, sitting in thier suits smoking cigars and drinking beers. At first I thought I was terribly underdressed in my blue jeans and dress shirt, but I was quickly assured that this was a more casual local: the ties were loose, and more then one shirt was untucked. This was a place for winding down.

I took my corner seat and was pleased with a view of "F" street and a nice widescreen TV in the corner. All the TVs were well placed, and I have a feeling no matter where I sat, I would have been able to keep abreast of the sports scene. I ordered a Manhattan, and the waitress brought me a large marble ash tray. I had brought a couple of cigars with me, and it looked like most of the other patrons had done the same. There were cigars available, but I found them overpriced. I'm sure that they can sell them for those prices, or else they would have them priced differently. I have many of the cigars that they had for sale in my humidor, or I can get them if I wanted for prices that are much more reasonable. They did have humidors lockers for rent, and I have to tell you... if I lived in DC, I would have one, and Shelly's would be a definate hangout.

Anyway, I had a cheeseburger and french fries, and they were excellent. I followed it up with another cigar and drink. The time had passed too quickly, and it was time for me to head back to the hotel. I had no trouble catching a cab, and this time I made the trip back in no traffic, with a sane driver, which took perhaps 8 minutes, with a cost that I still thought a little high, but I guess not. it was $13. maybe it was because it was a different cab company.

Anyway, that was yesterday. Today has been a good one. No activity or anything like that. I had the hotel send me up a pizza and two amstel lights for dinner.