Monday...Playing with the frigging SHSU server and going to the most fantastic Mall in America... and Steuben glass.

I hadn't mentioned it before, but I did get my sleeping times coordinated with the world easily this time. Slept at night, up with the dawn. Strange. But odd.

The Mall. I can't remember the name of it, (The Galleria, Karen informed me) but it was indeed a fantastic place. Skating rink and all. And Neiman-Marcus, where I saw my very first Stueben glass exhibit. Fantastic, wonderful stuff.

OK, first, getting to the mall. Down I-45 to I610. Get off on... the street the mall was on , whatever that was. Go East. Run into the mall. No. That didn't work. But it did get us a tour of Downtown Houston. Getting lost should be an adventure, and it usually is. As Karen said, we get to see a lot more of places when we get lost. We saw a lot of Downtown Houston. It was fun.

I asked for directions at a gas station when we got tired of being lost. Yes, I, an American Male, asked for directions. Followed them, and we were soon at the mall. I needed to turn West at the I-160 exit, not east. It was a block off of the highway.

It took a while finding the van entrance. Most of the entrances were marked with like 6'6" clearance signs. Then we proceeded to have a very fun day, wandering around. Karen and I came really close to ice skating, but I decided that no, I want to break my bones somewhere closer to Topeka, but I did offer to help Karen if she broke any bones. She went back and forth all day about whether to try or not, and she never did.

Some really fascinating stores, the most fascinating being the Sharper Image store. Lotsa really neat stuff, and my favorite, a $2600.00 chair that did massages. I spent some time there in that chair! They also had some cheaper massage pads, but they were very pale by comparison. I want one. For xmas, maybe. However, Karen can give me a lot of massages for $2600.00... and I could buy a new computer. Hmmm. Well, anyway, neither is likely. Or none of the three, anyway.

One amusing incident. I had to go outside to smoke (naturally) and Karen would come with me. One time, after I was done with my cigarette, I opened the door to go back in for Karen. She wasn't paying attention, and a couple of young black guys slipped in while I was getting Karen situated. After I got Karen in the door, she said "Thanks for holding the door for me." to me, but the boys heard her and thought that it was directed at them. They apologized profusely for not thanking me, then opened the next set of doors for us. Nice kids, in spite of their hip-hop dress.

Shortly after getting in the mall, we were walking down to starbucks to get some coffee, holding hands as usual. Karen started pulling me towards a kids' dress shop, and I was puling in the opposite direction. While this struggle was going on, there was a braless young lady jogging by, distracting me completely. There was a young man lounging on the inside rail, and he burst out laughing, saying "So you saw that, too?" It must've really looked funny, I could hear him laughing until he was out of sight!

Back from the mall. Houston traffic sucks, especially with so much construction going on. And about every mile, a sign reporting the location of the nearest accident investigation facility! We, however, escaped unscathed.

Got back and watched Monday night football. During one of the breaks, the local news reported something about a "date rape pill" and Karen and I were trying to figger out what that could be about. A pill to make a guy perform date rape? A morning-after pill? I know, date rape isn't amusing, as JD pointed out. What is amusing is that the politicians and preachers blame a drug for an antisocial problem. A drug that's been around a long, long time, the so-called "micky finn". And the problem is NOT the drug, but with the criminal mentality of the people who use it for their criminal actions. Without the drug, they would still probably rape their victims, only under the threat of physical violence. The drug is just a tool of their behaviour, just like a prybar is the burglars' tool.

Enough for Monday....