Bullets Over Atlanta, part I

• The Alaska Airlines partner for the Seattle-Atlanta flight was Delta, of course. The service was okay, but the seat in front of mine was broken and made my already inadequate legroom more cramped. The in-flight movie was The Flying Scotsman with Jonny Lee Miller (Byron, Trainspotting), which was good.
• Airlines have given up providing anything more than carb-laden snacks, so by the time I reached Atlanta, I hadn't eaten anything but water and two meager airline snacks all day. I checked into my hotel (the swank Grand Hyatt Buckhead) and immediately found the local brewpub. Fortunately they were still serving. Had some chicken and sampled their house stout, which was not bad.
• Northwest micros are still better, so far, but I haven't had much local beer... yet. More field testing is definitely in order.
  
• There's a lot of marketing noise about how great the service is in Atlanta. It's definitely true of the hospitality folks, but the servers in the pub were inattentive and not particularly friendly.
• The shuttle driver was very friendly, very knowledgeable, and had that awful driving style where you step on the accelerator in jerky motions to keep your vehicle exactly 10-feet behind the car in front of you at all times.
• The room at the Grand Hyatt is nice. Clean, no "this-used-to-be-a-smoking-room" odor, nice bathroom, nice art, lots of soft pillows, lots of soft towels. If I drink the bottle of Evian water left on my nightstand, it'll cost me $7 at checkout. NOTHING here is complimentary. I'm paying extra for wi-fi, whereas that is a freebie in many hotel chains, especially hotels targeted at business travelers. Not even the local coffee house (which I haven't yet sampled) provides free wi-fi. I guess I'm spoiled by the free wi-fi so common in Seattle and the Northwest.
• The temps aren't as bad as I expected. It's in the mid-80s, but the humidity is higher than I experienced in Greece, in the Virgin Islands, and in Indianapolis in high summer. Breathing fishtank water would be one analogy. But thank heavens the heat is bearable under it.
  
• The light rail to Peachtree Center is a block from the hotel. I'll be heading out in a bit.