Odds and Ends

I dropped Jer off at the airport this morning, so that's done. On the way home I stopped at Half Price Books and bought a couple of Japanese language books, as in "how to speak the language," not books in Japanese. Now I can ask how much something costs and where is the toilet. After I bought it, I noticed that someone from UC Santa Barbara wrote one of the books. Small world.

Later I rode the water taxi downtown for my hair appointment. Several streets were blocked off for tonight's Torchlight Parade, bench seating erected, and horses standing around all willy-nilly. Well, technically I only saw one horse and he was tethered to a carriage, but still... preparations.

I changed some more dollars into Yen, ate dinner at the Tap House bar, got my haircut, and then stopped by Nordstroms (Anniversary Sale) and Macy's to try on dresses. I thought maybe I should pack a nice dress that won't wrinkle in my suitcase but I didn't have any luck.

Last night Jer and I went to the grand opening of Southcenter Mall in Tukwila and that was an experience. It's huge and fancy now, with its own H&M and everything. We avoided the crowds by sticking to the "old section" and I bought some of those knee-length shorts that are so popular but feel like culottes. I don't really understand the appeal but I'll give it a shot. For fashion.

My throat hurts a bit so I am sitting her sucking on a lozenge and contemplating a really early bedtime. If all is going according to plan then Jer is about 6 out of 10 hours into his flight.

My new camera bag -- a Lowepro All Weather Mini Trekker -- arrived yesterday and it is awesome. My 80-200mm lens fits perfectly and I'm looking forward to when the monopod arrives to see how well that attaches. And that's all the news today.