A delayed post about my trip to [Random Mid-Sized US City Somewhere in the Middle].

So, last week, I was dispatched by my employer to [Random Mid-Sized US City Somewhere in the Middle] to help review documents for our client [Vaguely Interesting Company]. I thought "Hey, my first business trip! Sure, it's to [Random Mid-Sized US City Somewhere in the Middle], but there is still fun to be had! After working, I'll go to the local bars, hang out, and generally have an interesting time doing stuff that is new and different from Washington. Won't this be fun!"

That was the Optimistical part of me. The Cynical Part of me said "You'll never see anything more than the inside of [Vaguely Interesting Company]'s corportae headquarters, an dthe hotel." And as usual, the cynical side was entirely and completely right.

I probably should have had an inkling of this when no one else on my team (this was a three person team: an associate, a paralegal, and your truly, the grand Poo-bah of Doc Review monkeys.) wanted to rent a car, figuring that we'd just take a cab. I realized that the way that [Random Mid-Sized US City Somewhere in the Middle] is built, there is just no way to get anywhere without driving. And, later I found out that going anywhere in a cab requires at least a half-hour call-ahead time. Maybe I'm spoiled by my time on the right, or correct, coast. It dawned on me that the hotel should be nice, because we weren't going to be going anywhere else for two days. Sweet.

So, for the entirety of my first (and let's face it, probably only) business trip working for [My employer], I was either at the client (in a single room), at the client's cafeteria, in my room, in the lobby waiting for people, or in the hotel's one restaurant. We'd meet in the morning, have breakfast at the same business lounge, at the same table, sitting at the same places. The hotel was literally right next to the client's office. We clambered into the hotel concierge's van, and drove for three minutes to the client. We picked up ID badges, and went to work in our conference room. Then we had lunch at the cafeteria. Then, we worked for another 8 hours or so, and went back to the hotel, where we ate dinner at the same restaurant, at the same table, in the same places. (which was a little freaky). Then, tired because it was 10:00 or so, and we had been "on" since 7:30am, I went to sleep. Fitfully. Nothing changed. It was the monolithic sameness of it all that was so odd, even if it was only over 2 days and two nights. Plus, the basic similarity to everything that I do at work at home.

At least we got a lot done. We pulled many many [not very interesting] documents, got a lot done, and met some very nice people at [Vaguely Interesting Company]. Aside from the fact that it was raining/grey the entire time that we were there, and the stultifying boredom, and the three hour flight delay on the way home, it was actuaqlly fun. I liked hanging out with my coworkers, and I did feel like we got a lot done. But damn, was it boring. I thought that at least something interesting would happen. But, truly [Random Mid-Sized US City Somewhere in the Middle] could have been any Random Mid-Sized US City anywhere. I wonder, is America so interchangeable that we basically can't notice the differences? Or was it the fact that we hardly ever left the hotel? One difference, I suppose, is that everyone seemed to be a tiny shade nicer than the people out here. But, that could just be my own skewed perception.

Also, stay tuned for a followup post, where I wax poetical in the style of Kim Jong Il's Team America: World Police Masterpiece "I'm so ronery" regarding being stuck in a conference room and therefore more isolated than usual at work. this also explains why I have gone largely incommunicado for a while.