Wednesday, November 30, 2005
The Atlanta Trip
Five of us drove up to Atlanta on Tuesday for a one-day seminar on Wednesday. Mark rented a mini-van and picked everyone up. The others are Joe, the Claims Manager and Jerry and Stephanie, Claims Supervisors. We left at 9:30 and stopped around noon for lunch at a place called the Farmhouse Restaurant. All I know is we were still somewhere well south of Atlanta. The food was cheap and filling and it definitely wasn't a chain. By the time we arrived in Atlanta, we had about an hour to kill before it was time to eat again. I can see this is not going to be a good time to try to cut calories. Not a good way to follow up on myThanksgiving overindulgence. We are staying at the Hilton Garden Inn. My room is excellent. The good news is there is a good sized fitness center. I will need that because we ate at a place called 'Houstons' which is a steakhouse. I had prime rib AND dessert.
On Wednesday we got down to business. We took a shuttle bus to Bluelinx, the company that was hosting the seminar. I think they make building supplies. I know they are one of our claimants. The seminar's presenter is The Guru of transportation law and is known in transportation circles for defending the shipper's position. In this case, we railroaders are the enemy. We were the only railroad people in attendance. Most of the rest were shippers. There were a few truckers. The guru's name is William Augello and this is his final seminar. The fact that this was to be his last seminar was the main attraction for us. He has written five texts on transportation law. We purchased his 'Transportation Logistics and the Law' which is a huge textbook---really quite a load to lug around. It looks like one of Harry Potter's schoolbooks. It is that big. Mr. Augello is an elderly gentleman. To give you an idea of his age, he said he had his first experience as a lobbyist when he went to visit Senator John Kennedy in 1956. His efforts resulted in a new law. The young lawyer was amazed that it happened so fast. He couldn't believe it was so easy to make a new law. Senator Kennedy told him, "You will find it is better not to dwell on how laws or sausage are made." The man has got to be in his 80's.
The seminar covered rail, truck, airline and ocean transport of freight. It would have been better for us if it had only dealt with rail but I am sure we all learned something from it. Even though he discovered early on that we were from CSX, he never let on to the rest of the group. We would not have been popular. It was interesting listening to the perspective of the claimants and listening to Mr. Augello advise them on how to handle freight claims. He had such a good time with the attendees that he said he was reconsidering his "retirement." Actually, he still plans to work with the industry, but he is going to stop travelling. The mountain will have to come to Mohammed. Mr. Augello is based in Arizona. Now that would be a nice road trip. We made an early exit (as he was getting into ocean transport) and returned to the hotel for some R&R before our main event--dinner, of course.
I did walk on the treadmill for 45 minutes. It still didn't make up for what I had for dinner. We went to a place called Sal Grosso. It is a Brazilian restaurant. They have one restaurant in the U.S. and five in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It was very pricey but what an experience. It is a one-price buffet. You go and get your vegetables and there are many....some I did not even recognize. I got rice, peas, carrots, potatoes, pasta, asparagus, corn and bread. The wait staff seats you every time you come back to the table. They give you a card with Nao, Obrigado on one side and Sim Por favor on the other. If your Yes side is up, a Gaucho in full costume comes up with roast beef, chicken, lamb, sausage, pork roast, or filet mignon on a skewer. He will keep slicing until you tell him to stop. You have to keep your No side up or they will keep coming. Dessert was extra AND we got it anyway. I am still stuffed.
Tomorrow we are leaving just after rush hour. The plan is to tour the Coca Cola plant before we drive back to Jacksonville. In light of my dining adventures of the past couple of days, I had better stick with Diet Coke.
Later.
On Wednesday we got down to business. We took a shuttle bus to Bluelinx, the company that was hosting the seminar. I think they make building supplies. I know they are one of our claimants. The seminar's presenter is The Guru of transportation law and is known in transportation circles for defending the shipper's position. In this case, we railroaders are the enemy. We were the only railroad people in attendance. Most of the rest were shippers. There were a few truckers. The guru's name is William Augello and this is his final seminar. The fact that this was to be his last seminar was the main attraction for us. He has written five texts on transportation law. We purchased his 'Transportation Logistics and the Law' which is a huge textbook---really quite a load to lug around. It looks like one of Harry Potter's schoolbooks. It is that big. Mr. Augello is an elderly gentleman. To give you an idea of his age, he said he had his first experience as a lobbyist when he went to visit Senator John Kennedy in 1956. His efforts resulted in a new law. The young lawyer was amazed that it happened so fast. He couldn't believe it was so easy to make a new law. Senator Kennedy told him, "You will find it is better not to dwell on how laws or sausage are made." The man has got to be in his 80's.
The seminar covered rail, truck, airline and ocean transport of freight. It would have been better for us if it had only dealt with rail but I am sure we all learned something from it. Even though he discovered early on that we were from CSX, he never let on to the rest of the group. We would not have been popular. It was interesting listening to the perspective of the claimants and listening to Mr. Augello advise them on how to handle freight claims. He had such a good time with the attendees that he said he was reconsidering his "retirement." Actually, he still plans to work with the industry, but he is going to stop travelling. The mountain will have to come to Mohammed. Mr. Augello is based in Arizona. Now that would be a nice road trip. We made an early exit (as he was getting into ocean transport) and returned to the hotel for some R&R before our main event--dinner, of course.
I did walk on the treadmill for 45 minutes. It still didn't make up for what I had for dinner. We went to a place called Sal Grosso. It is a Brazilian restaurant. They have one restaurant in the U.S. and five in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It was very pricey but what an experience. It is a one-price buffet. You go and get your vegetables and there are many....some I did not even recognize. I got rice, peas, carrots, potatoes, pasta, asparagus, corn and bread. The wait staff seats you every time you come back to the table. They give you a card with Nao, Obrigado on one side and Sim Por favor on the other. If your Yes side is up, a Gaucho in full costume comes up with roast beef, chicken, lamb, sausage, pork roast, or filet mignon on a skewer. He will keep slicing until you tell him to stop. You have to keep your No side up or they will keep coming. Dessert was extra AND we got it anyway. I am still stuffed.
Tomorrow we are leaving just after rush hour. The plan is to tour the Coca Cola plant before we drive back to Jacksonville. In light of my dining adventures of the past couple of days, I had better stick with Diet Coke.
Later.
# posted by Ginny @ 2:59 PM 
