Steve In The City - Providence. ugh.

Sorry about the delay on this entry - I thought I had it all setup to post correctly last night. My buddy Mike was coming over, and we were leaving to go bowling with some other pals. (I broke my previous high score with a 117. Yes, I know that's pathetic - I really suck at bowling.) Apparently, it didn't post correctly, and I didn't notice until now as I went to work on tonight's entry. That entry will now be delayed a couple hours. Long aside over.

I really like Rhode Island, and New England in general. There is a nice mix of cities and rural area without the "holy shit traffic is so packed!" congestion you get in other places. A buddy and I got stuck in New York traffic for an hour once, and I decided at that point I could never, ever live in a huge city like that. I like being able to drive - it relaxes me - and the traffic would just bug me too much.

However, there is one area of Rhode Island I can't stand: Providence. At this point, I just throw my hands up when it comes to navigating the god forsaken place.

The first issue is that there is always construction going on. I can't keep up with it, and neither can the GPS. You basically have to live in the city to know what road is closed on what day and during what time frame. The problem is so frustrating that I've written about Providence's lack of street signs and clear directions in the past, and since then it's actually gotten worse.

As a result, I just park at the Providence Place Mall each time I go to Providence and walk where I need to go. (Providence has no mass transit to speak of.) On Friday, that meant walking about three-tenths of a mile to McFadden's, a restaurant slash bar. It was a work-related get-together with a bunch of other editors, and it was good times. Afterward, we went to Local 121, a bar / restaurant a couple streets over.

Odd thing about both places: The clientele. They were roughly the same. It was a bastardized mix of extras from a Ludacris video, guys who look like they came directly from their World of Warcraft raid, girls from the local colleges who were WAY overdressed considering the dudes there, the back-up cast of Jersey Shore and filthy hippies. I was always under the impression that places had dress codes and what not, but I guess I just watch too many movies.

Anyway, I obviously did make it back to my home, since I am here typing this. Sadly though, I had to use my GPS in my phone to find my way to the restaurant. Meaning I held it in my hand as I walked there. You'd never know that I've lived in Rhode Island for 26 years of my life...