A [Lame] Night Out on the Town

I'm back early from the socializing that's going on after hours on this job down here in Tampa. The nights have been jam-packed with a very nice dinner and going out for drinks afterwards, every evening. Tonight was a hit-the-bars-and-get-drunk night, since we're starting late tomorrow.

I decided to head home early, because (1) I was wiped-out face-in-the-drink tired, (2) I really wasn't feeling like socializing that much, and (3) I didn't want to bust up anyone else's fun this evening.

So I decided to walk home by myself, instead of taking a cab. It felt pretty necessary to me to get back to the hotel without burning gas, and get a half-decent walk in today.

Man... Tampa is a seriously non pedestrian-friendly city. It was only a half hour walk... although there were sidewalks for part of the walk, I think that the city only puts them in to reduce collisions between cars and the shopping carts full of bottles and cans that the homeless guys would be wheeling around. It was totally empty at 11:30 on a Saturday night. I wonder if the the cars driving by looked at me, and thought, "Hrm... looks like he's dressed to nicely to be homeless or mentally ill... I guess he must have had his license pulled for DUI or something..."

Anyway, on the walk home, I happened upon this neon sign (apologies for the crap-ass photo quality of my camera at night):



In case you can't read it, the upper one is "The MAXXIM Men's Club," and the lower is "ExtendedStay Deluxe" (i.e., an extended stay hotel). In reality, the hotel is simply in the lot behind the men's club, but it made me think, "Man... this cobranding thing has really gotten out of hand here... do they have some type of room service agreement or something going on?..."