The Right Voice

Yesterday, I had to do something I had never had to do before. I had to shop for a winter coat. Growing up in Southern California, I hardly ever needed anything more than a hooded sweatshirt. In Washington, however, it  gets much colder and my windbreaker would hardly cut the mustard. Work was also a reason why I had to get a winter coat. I can’t, very well, walk into the building wearing a hooded sweatshirt from Aeropostale or Hurley. Those days are over. I can only imagine the looks I would get from co-workers.

Malls near me like to charge for parking. There are two malls that do not. One of them is the Landmark Mall. That mall is less than 5 miles away. Would have taken 10-15 minutes to get there. Unfortunately, the Landmark Mall is the worst mall I have ever been to, and this is coming from someone who spent all of his formative years going to the Media City Center in Burbank. Those of you who know about the Media City Center can only imagine how bad the Landmark Mall is. It is a constant battle I have with my boss because he loves the Landmark Mall and visits it often. Anyway, I have gone way off track. The other mall near me that does not charge for parking is the MUCH nicer Tyson’s Corner. I headed down King St. and proceeded toward the mall. It is about 11 miles away and all of it is surface streets. I went down the same road (Hwy 7) but the name changed from King St. to Leesburg Pike and then finally to Broadway St. all while driving to Tyson’s Corner.

What I was not counting on on a Saturday afternoon - traffic, and lots of it. It took me a little more than an hour to drive the 11 miles. During the trip, two ambulances and a fire truck weaved through traffic. One rude ambulance driver honked at me when there was no where else for me to go. I was up as far as possible and as close to the center divider as possible. I understand that there was an emergency, but there was nothing more I could do. After about 5 seconds traffic moved enough for him to get passed me. No accidents or anything on Hwy 7, just traffic. Oh well, at least I had good music. Listened to an entire Screaming Trees album and half of a track on a Townes Van Zandt album.

I walked around the mall for about 2 hours. went to Macy’s on the advice of a friend who told me about Columbus Day sales. No such sale, just the normal 30% and 40% that they usually have. I have never seen anything full price at Macy’s. After a long time of wandering around I finally decided on a Sean John tie. After all, who knows more about fashion than P. Diddy? According to P. Diddy, no one. What was I there for again? Oh yes, a coat. I finally found a Guess wool coat that will do the job nicely. So, it was a fine day of shopping at Tyson’s Corner.

Todd