City by the Bay

I know that when people talk about the city by the bay they mean San Fransisco. That's not where I am, but am in a city and I am by a bay. I'm sitting in a fifth-floor hotel room overlooking Tampa, and it's quite lovely. Getting here seemed to take forever and storms chased me as I drove from one side of the state to the other. When I arrived, all the downtown parking was taken up by an event at the local arena -- an Iron Maiden concert. I finally found a parking garage that wasn't too far away, and the clerk charged me the event rate (as opposed to the regular daily rate). I said, "Do I look like I'm here to see Iron Maiden?" I know that's a loaded question. I suppose I could be an Iron Maiden fan (which I'm not) as easily as I could be a Rage against the Machine fan (which I am). You just can't tell by looking. Anyway, it didn't matter. If I wanted to park, I had to pony up twelve bucks for the night.

Looking out the window and down onto traffic, it's easy to forget that I'm here for a boring mission. I think that by the time all is said and done I won't come out much ahead, but I don't care. It's something different and the view is nice. Tomorrow night I'm going to a Pulse memorial in Ybor City. I've never hung out in Ybor City, and I've never been to a memorial for a mass shooting. My plan is to do something every day I'm here that isn't work -- in addition to a whole lot of work! I'll take whatever overtime I can get so I can recoup some of my extra expenses -- and damn it! I just remembered I didn't get a receipt for tonight's parking! Okay, I'm going to head down to the edge of the bay and watch the last bit of daylight disappear. Then a big deep breath, a good night's sleep, and onward to eight full days of essay scoring. Whee!