Things I didn't know I missed about Atlanta

I just got back from a spectacular (to a nerd like me) public policy conference in ATL. The conference had some exciting panels (see above note re: nerdiness) at which I was genuinely hyped about the prospect of meeting and maybe even asking a question of, that's right, school finance expert Andrew Reschovsky! (Wooooooooooo! Professor! Over here! Professor! Will you sign my conference program?!) And I got to stay with my brother-in-law, his girlfriend, and their attention-whore of a cat, which was great fun.

There are many things that I was aware of missing about the city (Andrew, the Braves, Pasta da Pulcinella, Emory's beautiful campus). After all, we lived there for seven years. But nostalgia hit me at several surprising moments. Here are a few of them, in chronological order.

1. "You are now entering the transportation node." This made me say, out loud, on a crowded Hartsfield escalater while descending to the people mover, "Awww, HI airport voiceover lady!"

2. Friendly bus drivers. MARTA may not actually be sMARTA, and in fact it kind of sucks, but the bus drivers and all the other employees I encountered were both friendly and helpful. This is in marked contrast to the employees on D.C.'s Metro, who, even if you're lucky enough not to get chased with a broom for asking a question, will treat you with varying levels of hostility ranging from obvious disdain (at best) to virulent hatred (evidently not even at worst, given the whole broom thing).

3. Guess that street name! This one just makes me an idiot, because I actually hated it at the time, but for some reason (probably because I didn't have to drive anywhere) I found it charming that the street you're on changes names at least twice before you get to where you're going. Granted this is because white Atlantans were so racist that they didn't want to live on the same street as black people, but I managed to forget all this and be thrilled by the suspense of it all.

4. ATLANTA at Philips Arena. It's just looks cool.

5. The Ted. I know the Braves weren't playing there, but it made me smile just to drive past.