How Do You Write About What Might Happen In A Day and a Half?
The most common image in my thoughts now is of a stylized high noon shoot out. I am, as always, astonished with the rapidity of changes that come into my life. For reasons that will become clear on Tuesday, I can't write about the most over riding train of thought in my head.

How about some fluff instead? Hmmm, trip to Ikea? Yeah, I guess that'll work.
First time to the Emeryville (basically ghetto Oakland) location, in the middle of a whole big bunch of other big shopping places. But it had its own multi story garage. Given the number of cars in the lot when we pulled in at about 1, I would have expected crushing loads of people. But the store is so large that it felt crowded once in three hours and we got away with some of the slickest and coolest loot going.

Ikea is like a free capitalism amusement park/shopping mall/crazyal's low price leader. Anyone within a hundred miles of an Ikea should go. Its worth it just for the experience, unless you have a strong dislike for Danish design, some call it stark and cold but I appreciate the simplicity of it.

You get a bag but most move up to carts on the lower level where you can actually start getting at the loot. The whole top floor is showroom, a meandering pathway through living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, kids rooms, dorm rooms, play rooms. All of them. A solid marketing concept, show the product in use, in it's natural environment. And once people have wandered through over and around all the upstairs, maybe stopped in to have a bite to eat, then you descend to the product section. Grab a cart and start the shopping. Huge aisle after aisle of product, all manner, colanders to whisks to Dr. Suess-like paper lights to ugly flowered print drinking glasses to clean and simple couches. Picture frames, pots for plants, plants for pots, all new and unavailable anywhere else. Its such a refreshing assortment of products.

So we escaped after one moment when the movement ahead was too slow for the movement behind and there were ALOT of people all at once. I don't like being in random crowds of people for especially long periods of time. For a variety of reasons but for one kind of funny one. Its unnatural, biologically speaking, for such diverse members of our species to gather in large places together without a common cause. Shopping does count but its tenuous and, after an indeterminate period of time which depends on the individual, the situation begins to cause some level of trouble, a disruption.

Oh yeah, add on all of this joy with work. The company's moving to higher ground physically, better sun, less homeless folks wandering through. Only thing is that I don't know if I'll be going with them. Monday will prove to be a most interesting and change-happy day.

But I got a cool new butcher block island in my kitchen and that's cool for now.