My Weekend So Far

This weekend was my first real weekend in Savannah. I wish I could say I spent it exploring the historical Savannah area or downtown but for the most part, I was more concerned with finding a good internet connection . . . the wireless in my hotel has been down the past two days, so I've been hanging out in Barnes and Noble and Panera (I finally found it - I knew it was near Barnes and Noble since I saw two people walk into B&N with Panera pastries). Although, I always feel so much more productive when I take my computer somewhere and do things. You'd figure the internet is the internet so I'd still have the same distractions regardless but I just tend to actually write and get things done when I'm at a cafe. I was actually talking to a friend of mine recently and we were joking about ways we see ourselves, and I said when I was a kid, I'd always imagined myself sitting in a dark study behind a wooden desk with a glass of scotch, smoking, behind a typewriter (not that I wanted to take up smoking but it was part of the image). You know, the stereotypical view of a writer. Now, when I feel like I'd love to be a writer (not that I have anything to write about, I've never even written a short story), I see myself with a shiny laptop and a white chocolate mocha at Starbucks.

Friday was a training holiday so I spent it at Barnes and Noble, a local Wildlife Center (most of the animals were too smart to actually come out in the heat), and explored downtown a little bit. There are a ton of restaurants down there I can't wait to try, and I also had a chocolate praline at a local candy store. I'd never actually had one before since I don't generally like pecans (wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that I couldn't even pronounce the word properly for a large part of my life?) - it was very good.

For the most part, I agree that the Savannah area is very nice, even if I'm disappointed by the fact that some of my favorite chain restaurants are nowhere in the area (such as Chipotle and Red Robin). Unfortunately, Savannah is still about a 45 minute drive to base. Now, in general, the towns right by Army bases aren't exactly famous for having that much to do or being very metropolitan but I'm a bit surprised by how little there is to do in Hinesville. There isn't even a Starbucks (excluding the one on post, which I do, because they have a smaller selection, meaning none of the sandwiches, and they don't accept my Starbucks card). Or a Panera. Yes, I know, these are all little things and it's not like I had them in Germany. Also, the movie theater is cash only. I generally don't like to carry cash on me but fortunately I had some on me for once, and they have an ATM inside anyway (I saw Salt on Wednesday or Thursday - it was fun, but I totatlly saw one of the twists coming due to a storyline from Lost and had some good guesses about other twists just in general - still fun, though).