Hump day in Philly

So its my first official blog from Philly. Here's how things have gone down so far.

I burst onto the scene in the evening hours of last Sunday. It was some trip out here.  The majority of the trip was spent on a 232 mile stretch of interstate that was unforgiving (road wasn't kept well) and sleep inducing. It was easily one of the longest and most boring straightaways I've ever driven. Whenever I arrived, my hotel suite welcomed me. Its a nice 1-bedroom, 1-bath gig, complete with full kitchen and living room. In fact, its pretty nice. Pics should be up on my flickr / facebook by tonight. Pick your poison, they'll both house the same pics.

Monday was grueling. I was exhausted from the trip and had to go to SAP training (what I came here for) and really try to focus. The day crawled and I tried to soak everything in, but I was really just getting my routine started. When I was done with training for the day and returned to my suite (Staybridge Suites - recommended!) I had to learn how to quickly budget my time. With no future wife to prepare me a meal, I had to go running as soon as I returned so I can get showered, cook and enjoy some serious downtime. That takes me to about 8:00. I then like to enjoy a few hours of World of Warcraft before Family Guy at 11:00. Time seems to come at a premium. Its seriously seems like a lot of time, but brother, it sure isn't.

Tuesday saw me repeat the same process, but this time I was much more streamlined with it. I ended up with an extra half hour to do whatever, but it still hardly felt like I had any time at all. Couple that with trying to simultaneously soak in SAP information, and I'm two-days-garbled!

I'm planning on visiting the King of Prussia mall tonight. Its the second largest mall in the country, so I'm sure they have something there.

Some important things I've noticed about Philadelphians:

1. They have no concept as to what a "Giant Eagle" is. In fact, one girl asked me why I'd want to go see a big bird. Such a sweet girl...
2. Their WalMart is barn shaped and built next to a silo. It made Uniontown's WalMart look like the Taj Majal of superstores.
3. Radio stations here kick ass. 104.5 is an incredible station. Its like my whole iTunes library is available on my car radio. Only 30-60 second commercials, too. Nice.
4. 5:00 traffic on any 4 lane highway crawls. 45 mins per 2-3 miles. Sickening waits.
5. SAP training center urinals are water-free. Not exactly sure what to make of this yet. I can appreciate how green this is, but I have NO idea how it works! (Crappers are standard crappers.)
   
6. The SAP training center also has ZERO water fountains. When I asked the woman at the front desk about a fountain, she informed me that the only water in the building is in water bottles in the cafeterias. (They recycle EVERYTHING.)
   

On a side note, the SAP training campus prides itself on being a "green campus". The facility I'm training in is an entirely glass building. Seriously, the whole building is a giant window. This I assume saves on lighting costs. In fact, the campus is in the process of building an additional training center next door to where I'm sitting now which will be the "greenest building in America". I respect the hell out of this.

More updates to come as I encounter more Phillyness.