What can I say today that I haven’t already said about Atlanta? I’ve been here since Sunday and it feels like I’ve been here a month already. Sure, it was good to make the trip down to corporate here and get some long-awaited maintenance done on my laptop, but the nights here are breathtakingly boring in their scope. The one good thing I could count on – a little hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant that served great, authentic food and watered-down margaritas (you had to be very specific about how you wanted them made and then watch them like a hawk until they got to your table) – went out of business, leaving only a pathetic chain called “Uncle Julios“…

Ahhhh, drink in the aroma of smoky grilled fajitas, sizzling shrimp brochettes or unique grilled quail cooked in authentic border-style. Savor the full flavor of roasted vegetables and spicy salsa made with freshly picked ingredients. Enjoy a custom margarita, created from any of 15 different tequilas, and served in lively, festive surroundings. Just the way Uncle Julio likes it.

(Of course he does… along with the logo store and the catering van. One weird thing: the salsa they serve with the chips is warm. Warm salsa, cold chips – isn’t it supposed to be the other way around? But hey, that’s “authentic” for you! But I digress…)

…within hotel shuttle distance if you want south-of-the-border cuisine. But considering your other choices around the Perimeter Mall area – a Maggiano’s Little Italy, a Cheesecake Factory, and…well, you get the picture. I mean, how can you beat those choices? Bucca di Beppo? The Outback? Applebees? Macaroni Grill? I’m sure they’re all around here somewhere. Talk about haute cuisine!

Of course, this area isn’t unique with all its food-for the masses chains, they’re pretty much everywhere now. And Gilbert, Arizona is hardly any different, so maybe I’m being a little harsh here. But again, I digress…

Were I a little more adventurous perhaps I’d want to check out other areas of, well, the area, but it all seems like nothing but a whole lot of suburban sprawl to me. And, given the beating of two Delta employees on a MARTA train last month, the sprawl is probably the safest part of the area: Atlanta is one city you would not catch The Great White Shank going out after dark.

Still, I do like seeing all the trees out green and full, and watching them dark against the gray dusk of a warm spring night is not unpleasant by any means. Kinda reminds me of what July looks like in New England.

At any rate, another visit to Atlanta is mercifully drawing to a close. When you count the day of your airport departure as the highlight of your visit, you know that’s one place best left in your rear-view mirror.