I slept in a bit and then had to head up to the office to do a little stuff. I didn't really want to be there, but I wasn't there too long, so it wasn't bad. I then went home to change clothes and called my sister b/c today is her birthday. She didn't answer so I left a voicemail and sent a text--very personal! I also called a friend who I was supposed to help refinish some table she just got...I called to reschedule b/c I wasn't feeling up to it and had other errands to run. Then, I decided to run up to the mall to find Sis a birthday present (I'll be seeing her with the rest of the fam on Wednesday for Thanksgiving, so I'm not really late in shopping...I never mail it, just give it to her then). I drove all the way out to the mall, which is about 15 miles from my house, to go shopping. There are one or two malls closer, but I wanted to head out to that one to browse some specific stores (for me, not her--I know, back to the selfish thing).
I get all the way out to the mall, hop out of my car, and realize I left my wallet and everything else, other than cell phone and keys, sitting on my dresser when I changed pants earlier...yeah, I was thrilled! I thought about just walking around the mall and, if I saw anything, coming back tomorrow, but, decided I didn't have much else planned today and really just wanted to wander around shopping without having to come back tomorrow. So, I drove home, got my wallet, did a couple other things, then drove back across town and hit the mall (Please note, we're already at 45 miles for the day just driving to the mall, not to mention the 20+ miles earlier driving to and from work. Good thing gas is so cheap right now! Ugh!).
I wandered through several stores with the hopes of coming up with a good idea of what to get my sister. Okay, so I didn't actually expect to find anything for her in the men's department of Belk, Banana Republic, Express, Abercrombie, Gap or American Eagle...but I didn't get anything for me there either, so that's good right? In fairness I did go into Williams-Sonoma also (not that I think she's a big cooker, but then again, I don't cook at all and still go into that store pretty much every time I'm at the mall...I don't know why) and whatever bookstore they have in our mall and I could have conceivably found something in one of those. To be honest, I pretty much wouldn't ever buy her clothes anyway b/c, not only do I not know her size, but I think clothes are a very personal expression that are best picked by the wearer. The most I would've gotten there was a gift card, but that's usually a last resort. I really just went for inspiration and to get me in the mood to shop...and if I happened to find a great deal for myself, so be it! I also went into the store I used to work at to say hello to some people I used to work with and see if anything had changed. Other than the Christmas decorations being out, no, it hadn't.
After leaving the mall, I ran up to the tire place b/c I have slow leaks in two of my tires (although o
ne is significantly less slow than the other), both just bad valve stems, I believe, but needed to get them fixed before I head out of town next week. Unfortunately I got there at like 5:58 and they close at 6, so I'll head back Sunday or Monday. I then ran up to Best Buy to continue birthday shopping. I don't really know why I went here, but I thought I might find something. I wandered around looking at things for her IPod, random computer games, DVD's and whatever else. Didn't see anything that worked for her, but I suppose this is when my selfishness comes out. While perusing the DVD section, I noticed that they had a few different TV series deeply discounted...no good reason it seemed, as they were all current a popular shows, but they still had a temporary markdown. I kept walking, looking for a few shows I know my sister likes, when what did I stumble across? The Nip/Tuck DVD's! Lo and behold...they were some of the ones on sale!! Well, only seasons 1, 2 & 
3; season 4 was at regular price, but still, I didn't have any, so I checked them out. Ummm, yeah...each season is normally $45 for the set, but today, they were marked down to $14.99 each! You read that right! So, considering buying the seasons was cheaper than renting them if I ever wanted to catch them, I had to buy all 3. I got all 3 seasons for less than the price of 1 normally! That's not selfish, is it? I mean, how could I pass that up? I stayed in that store clutching my DVD's before checking out, never finding anything for her, but I did see a lot of other cool stuff. Not being a big techie, I don't usually go into electronics stores often, but I think I'm going to have to start!I hopped across the street to Wal-Mart to wander their electronics section for goodies, then looked for a couple things I wanted (didn't find any) and went down to Circuit City. Headed to Barnes & Noble next, which was purely for her b/c I wasn't in the market for books and she reads like all the time, then went to about 5 or 6 other stores. In all the other stores, I was mainly looking for something for me...a ficus or other large plant to stick in a naked corner of my newly rearranged living room, which I never did end up finding. I think I'm just going to stick a Christmas tree there for now and deal with it in January. While in the parking lot of one of the stores, I realized it was getting really late and I was getting quite hungry (no doubt aided by the women reading out loud from a cookbook in Barnes & Noble). I was kinda tired and new I didn't want to go home to make anything when I was done and thought it a good night to treat myself. I remembered I had a gift card to Outback from waaaay long ago, and that it was time I cashed it in. I gave up on the ficus, hit up BAM in a last effort for sister, then went back across the street to eat.
Of course, it was just me eating, which was kinda sad. I mean, ideally I would've wanted to go somewhere like that with a date/girlfriend or at least some friends, but, with no girlfriend or dates (*sigh*) and figuring most of my friends had already eaten/weren't on that side of town, I figured, "Who cares...I deserve, I'm treating." There was an open booth at the bar so I plopped myself down and was watching some football on TV. I decided to order a big steak (12oz.) and got a salad and loaded baked potato, with the intent of eating half and having some le
ftover for Sunday lunch. I thought I could fill up on the free bread too. Oh yeah, I also ordered a Sangria with my meal, since it was the closest thing I've had to a date in months anyway. I don't care if it was 50 degrees and dropping outside, I figured a Sangria was a good way to go since I somehow managed to make it through the entire summer w/o making a pitcher of it at home once! (How'd that happen?) FYI - The Sangria at Outback is not so good. I'm not sure if it was because they used an Australian Cabernet as a base (I don't normally like Aussie wines) or if it was just the way they mixed it, but I'm quite confident that the Sangria I make is much better. I should've gone with my first instinct and gotten the margarita. Anyway, while I was eating my salad course a group of three people decided to sit in the bar area for some reason, but the only table available was this tiny little table with 2 chairs (and frankly, it was small for 2!). They pulled up a third chair but they just looked so pathetic sitting there next to me with their legs all touching and crammed in. I felt a little bad sitting right next to them alone in a spacious 4-person booth (see...I'm not completely selfish!) and considered telling them or a server that they could switch with me if they wanted. But then, I realized that I didn't feel that bad about it and that it really wasn't my place to meddle. I didn't really want to sit at the little table and why should I be inconvenienced? I got there first! (ok, back to the selfish thing.) I was reminded of one of my favorite quotes:"I'm not an unfeeling man, I'm just an uncaring man. What's the difference, you ask? Well, you see, I do feel bad, the problem is, I just don't care!"I think I stole that from a sitcom years ago (Grace Under Fire, maybe?) but I thought it was particularly appropriate and is often accurate to my view. Anyway, another booth opened up shortly there after and they moved to it, so problem solved. The food came with the sub-par Sangria and I guess I was hungrier t
han I thought. Remember that plan to eat half and save the rest? Yeah...new plan...how about eat it all and go home stuffed! Somehow I managed to down the whole salad, a 12oz steak, a loaded baked potato, a Sangria, about 3 or 4 glasses of sweet tea and half a loaf of the free bread! Literally the only thing left was about a bite and a half of potato (they over cooked it -- the skin was dried out). I swear, I'm a fat man trapped in a skinny boy's body! Where does it go??Anyway after all that beef, I was quite exhausted so I ambled out to the car and started the trek back home. Pretty much hung out on the couch since then. It really was a great lazy Saturday...one I hadn't had in a looong time, but my to do list is no shorter than it was this morning. Let's recap, comparing the list of things I was supposed to do to the list of things I actually did accomplish:
Supposed to do:
- Get up early to do laundry
- Go to work
- Help a friend sand her table
- Call my sister
- Find my sister a birthday present
- Wash my car
- Slept in
- Went to work
- Rescheduled friend
- Left sister a voicemail and text message
- Bought myself 3 seasons of Nip/Tuck
- Took myself out to dinner
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