Started off to work today at the normal time and all was well until we got about two blocks away from work. DETOUR! Darn, we were so close! So we decide to go the way we are told and turn around at a parking lot a few blocks away so we can be headed in the right direction. The lot is full of the SWAT team, DETOUR! Everywhere we go detour, detour, detour. We finally get a block away from the lot but it's a one way street going away from the lot. After a quick look around, no traffic, no police ( that's hard to believe) we make the decision to go for it, quickly! Success! I told my co-worker if I ever decide to rob a bank I want her to be my driver, LOL.
Entering the building I run into two of my employees, one with a big smile, the other with a sheepish grin on her face. I say good morning and ask how they are. It turns out the one with the grin forgot to put her badge around her neck so she got stopped by security and had to go through her purse until she found the badge. The one with the big smile decided to play a joke so when asked by security if she could vouch for her co-worker she said no, she'd never seen her before! Luckily we all three have twisted senses of humor so we had a good laugh before starting work. We also had a little surprise, tote bags with the company name and DNC 2012 printed on them ( I love gifts).
I did actually get some work done in between staring out the window at the buses, people, police on bikes, police on motorcycles, helicopters, security personnel, etc..
Against my better judgement, I decide to take a walk at lunch. As soon as I step outside I see a group of co-workers and security personnel staring down the street. Then a bunch of police cars, motorcycles, etc..with sirens blaring race past. I ask everyone what is so interesting and two blocks away I see a large crowd and tons of law enforcement. I find out later about 200 marchers tried to make their way up Stonewall Street and a crowd of about 300 police officers surrounded them, completely blocking off the intersection of Stonewall and Caldwell streets. Protesters pitched a tent at the intersection. They were protesting a variety of issues After a nearly two hour standoff they were allowed to march past the convention center, with police escorts of course.
I continue my walk and it was surreal, it really is enough to make you paranoid, there was law enforcement everywhere. Police, security personnel, FBI, sheriff, fire department, EMT"s etc. I saw police cars and uniforms from Chicago, DC, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania to name a few. A lot of the restaurants were closed except for the pricier ones like Ruth's Chris, McCormick and Schmidt's and Chima. Very few of the reasonably priced ones were open but Subway and the pizza place in Latta Arcade. We had already been told we may want to bring our lunch this week so I was prepared. A lot of the streets are not only closed, but fenced off and forget about going into a bank. No mail is being delivered downtown this week.
On the bright side, there are lots of vendors and volunteers to answer questions. There are also a lot of friendly delegates from all over the United States. How do I know this? Because just about everyone you see is wearing some sort of identification around their neck, LOL. Some of the highlights of my walk were the colorful Google building
and the 1911 United bus ( I see you, Omega Psi Phi and Kappa Alpha Psi!)
So that's it for now, except for one last thing, earlier last week we were told to leave for work at least one hour earlier to ensure we arrived on time ( negative) and today we were told due to heavier traffic than expected that we should leave two hours earlier than usual ( double negative) I guess I'll be two hours late for work tomorrow. I'll blame it on old age..............
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