The Paramount Project & Holiday Inn

(wrote this last monday)

Today starts my second week on the project here in Hollywood. The first week went as well as could be expected considering that I didn't know a single person here and had to meet about 30 team members in the first 2 days. I am one of 6 members of the "tech arch" team, which is probably the most technical (nerdy) team in the US. I spend every day in a room with 5 very technical men, all over age 35 and with an average of 2 children each. We get along fine but don't have a lot in common outside of work. Thankfully we had a project-wide social event at Lucky Strike that involved accenture members of all teams. That helped me get to know people outside of tech-arch a little better. I was also relieved to find out that at least a handful of people on the project team like to stay out late. Some of us went to a japanese themed bar after bowling and did some more shots and some dancing. Even more shots kept coming out, but I was starting to feel sick so I did some sly maneuvers using shots of water that appeared to be shots of vodka.

I was feeling pretty good about the project at the end of last week, and I'm feeling even better now. I got a room at the Renassaince Hotel for this week, and shortly we'll be moving into corporate apartments. The reason the renassiance made things so much better was that the previous week I stayed at a Holiday Inn, which was fine until the night my room smelled like sewage and I met 6 racists in the hot tub - two austrailians, two missourians, and two kansans. The two from MO were on an all expense paid trip to appear on Judge Judy and asked questions like "Was you born there?" and "What language do youse speak in Austrailia?".

The Australians were on a trip around the world and the Kansans were just visiting LA. Both groups had visited San Francisco before and said they didn't like it. I always ask why when people when they say they don't like San Francisco, but I'm never sure if they're being honest when they answer. I think sometimes it because they are scared of gay people, but of course no one says that (except people in Waterloo). The was likely the case with the Australians, who openly confessed their fear of "negroes"; my guess is that they may have some other biases.

I know why the Kansans didn't like it; they said they stayed near the Civic Center. That's like staying near Cabrini Green in Chicago, or East St. Louis - these places are known for being dangerous and I have no idea why you would stay there.

The Renassaince is a lot nicer so it is less likely that I will be in contact with these types of people... and it smells better!