The traffic sucks!

I got out of the office around 3:30 yesterday and went to check in at the hotel.  The hotel was very nice.  Big room, comfortable bed, nice TV and shower.  My plans were to go play some poker at the local club which looked to be about 30 minutes or so away.  The map made it look easy to get to.  And it would have been if the traffic didn't suck!  It seems that every freeway in the Twin Cities is being worked on.  Down to two lanes most everywhere.   I thought I might be getting it good by beating rush hour.  Wrong!  It still sucked.  Worse yet, I missed the exit and didn't realize until about 20 minutes later.  Turn around (this was a pain also) and head back.  Just as I get close to the correct exit, traffic stops.  It took me 15 minutes to go 1 1/2 miles.  I am getting grumpy.  I should be raking in pots by now. 
I played cards for only 2 hours.  Lost just a bit.  Feel I should have made money as the play was pretty bad.  But when you don't get some cards, what are you going to do?  Plus, since the company is paying for my meals, I wanted to get something good to eat.  It is around 8:15 so I decide to drive back towards the hotel, figuring traffic would still be bad.  Shockingly it wasn't.  I cruised at 70 most of the way.  I drove around the hood around the hotel looking for something different.  I couldn't find anything.  Just the usual places, fast food, Chaamps, TGI Fridays, Don Pablos.  I had Mexican for lunch so I wasn't eating there.  I was hoping to find a Famous Daves and have some ribs.  But alas, it wasn't to be.  So I ended up a Chaamps.  Had a decent steak there.  But the better part of the meal was the veggies.  Red peppers and asparagus just kinda fried up.  Not too soft, not too hard but damn it was good!  Better than the steak, which wasn't bad.  Had 2 nice big beers to wash it down. 
At this point, I noticed the crowd.  It was more of a bar crowd, not a restaurant crowd.  Then it hit me.  I hadn't really noticed any bars in the area.  I felt like I was in Dallas.  No bars, just restaurants with bars.  No wonder the parking lot was packed.  Made me feel sorry for them not having a nice tavern to go to.
This morning I had breakfast at the Machine Shed.  It came with the room.  Had some biscuits & gravy.  Mark would be proud of me.   I then had to drive about 20 miles into Minneapolis.  I thought this would suck.  I had spent a week in the city when I got my job with Ziegler many years ago.  I remembered the cars lined up on the freeway driving in.  The guy at the hotel had told me to expect the trip to take about 40 minutes.  20 minutes later I am in the city.  Hotel guy was totally wrong.  Traffic was a breeze.  Maybe this city isn't that bad afterall.
The office I am reviewing today is in what they call the Skyway.  Think of it as a mall that is strung out between a whole bunch of buildings over a mile or so.  I guess the concept is that you do not have to go outside during the winter.  The office is right next to a Dairy Queen.  Oh boy, it's blizzard time.  Later!