Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

What a great show for any of us in our 20s/30s! This was probably one of the best PBS shows of all time...ok maybe it can't beat out LeVar Burton on Reading Rainbow...oh heck it can't even beat out Mr. Rogers and his neighborhood, but it was still a pretty great show! I think it was one of the few that my brother and I could actually agree upon together.

I have been in the ATL for 11 days total and the question still is more like "Where in the world is this girl?". I feel like I am on a cruel game show called try and find your way around this new city. When you think about any logically planned roads, or even the whole earth for goodness sake, things are planned out on a grid. If a ship is lost at sea it can look at GRID coordinates and send out the SOS telling EXACTLY where they are. Well, there is no SOS or coordinates that could save you in this new city I call home. Now, don't get me wrong, the scenery of hills and ridges are beautiful and quite a change from the flat lands of Houston, but it definitely makes for one confused and road raged new resident. I like to think that I have always had a pretty good sense of direction, meaning that I could drive/walk/ride/skip to a location one time with directions and then I was set. Well let me just get a little something off my chest...I am now completely dependent on my GPS. (Note: thank you outlandish shopping habits for convincing me to buy that black Friday deal a few years ago that I hardly ever used in the city that I had lived in for my entire life...I knew there was a reason for that purchase) Here in Atlanta I have learned that all the roads are on hills and ridges, there is no grid system, and roads change names here, there, and everywhere. Oh my...don't let me forget the most frustrating thing I have learned...the way you go to get somewhere is NOT AT ALL the same way you go to get home. For example, Lennox Square (big shopping/mall area), I can get home from it, but out of the 5+ times I have already been there, I have never once been directed by my Australian lover on the GPS to go the same way. So that means that me, the person who usually knows how to get to every mall in the city in which I live, cannot even get to the mall on my own here in this new city I am calling home.

Let me just mention a few other things that I have found very frustrating:

• NO TURN LANES. I feel like for my entire driving career, and remember I am a Texas driver, I have attempted to find the shortest lane to be able to move through traffic as fast as possible. Well I have quickly learned that the shortest lane in terms of the number of cars is DEFINITELY NOT the quickest route, as people sit in the left lane forever attempting to turn across nonstop traffic.
• NARROWEST LANES EVER. Every time I try to drive in the middle lane and begin to drive in between two cars, I immediately slam on my breaks because I honestly don't think all three of the cars can fit in all three of the lanes. I guess it is true that everything is bigger in Texas, including the lanes of the road.
• NO MEDIANS. Since there are no turn lanes at the stoplight I feel like they could at least give drivers a median to attempt turning from...just a thought.

I guess you could say I am still adjusting to life here, but it really is a beautiful city...ok maybe not the scenery that includes the homeless guy in the spandex shorts and tank with all that God gave him hanging out who stands in the same spot of my drive home everyday...but the big, old oak trees behind him are quite impressive! So for all of you who live in a city with a grid system, be appreciative and hope that the hills, twists, and turns lead me to the mall whenever I desire!