My day off in NoVa

Today is my day off.

I slept in a little bit, and would have regardless because today's qualifier was in the afternoon. So when I went downstairs to the lobby for some breakfast, the rest of the team was there, which was nice because I got to see them.

Before the left, I got the keys to the truck, some petty cash for food, some petty cash for laundry and the laundry detergent. Thus, I began the day with doing the last week's worth of smelly clothes and watched The Blind Side. It was an good movie, very touching and emotional. I liked it.

That ended, and I warmed up some of my leftover chicken tenders and fries from last night's dinner at TGI Fridays. I folded some clothes, ironed others, took a shower, and decided to get out of the hotel.

I decided to just start cruising down this main road in Manassas, Va., which is apparently only 30 miles west of Washington, DC (now you and I both know where I am for the week). My first stop was at Dick's, and just wandered about there for a bit. I stopped into the golf section, looked at some clubs, wanted to hit a driver for a bit, but some other guys were trying out clubs. But some random kid challenged me to a putting competition, and I just went with it. For about 20 minutes or so, this random kid and I played a game of Horse on the practice putting green until his dad told him it was time to leave. After that, I got lonely and left Dick's.

I drove around the parking lot for a bit and saw that there was a Chic-Fil-A across the street. I got really excited until I realized today is Sunday. Chic-Fil-A is closed on Sundays. Those bastards.

But there was a Walgreens next to that, and I need more eye drops. So I bought eye drops.

Thought about where else I would want to wander around, and searched with my phone for a Gamestop. There was one in the same lot as the Dick's. So I drove back across the street. I looked at the DS games, looked some more, and thought what the hell, so I bought Chrono Trigger.

After that, I wanted to go to Best Buy and just wander around. So I went over to Best Buy. I looked at movies, TVs, games, and then started playing Mario Sports Mix for Wii. I tried a few of the games until I started playing volleyball for about 45 minutes.

It was fun as hell. Hard, but very fun. Danny, you and I would love this game.

I started driving back to the hotel with the intention of eating at Cracker Barrel, but I saw a Chipotle and changed my mind. I may head back over to Cracker Barrel later when I am hungry again.

And that has been my day off so far. It's been really fun to just go out and see the world. It felt real. I will be in communication with friends and family later tonight too!

*NoVa is my cool way of saying Northern Virginia.