Random Thoughts...

1) In certain ways, I am very much not the stereotypical guy, but in certain ways I am.

For instance, take clothes. I am deeply, profoundly apathetic about clothing. I have a few things I feel comfortable wearing, and my preference is to wear those things over and over until they eventually become rags that actually fall off my body.

Once, when Keiko was visiting, she was helping me fold my laundry and she lifted out a couple of wifebeaters that, I admit, may have had a few small holes in them. I mean, nothing serious- they were holes still too small to accidentally put my arm through...

Keiko [holding up the 2 wifebeaters]: "Babe, seriously?"

Me: "What? What's wrong with them?"

Keiko: "Why don't you consider retiring just _these_ two? Baby steps..."

Me: "Why??? They're still wearable!"

Keiko: "I know baby- we use all parts of the buffalo. But still."

Me [sighing]: "Fine. But just those two."

So I allowed those 2 to be retired. As I was packing Wed morning to come here to Houston for Thanksgiving, I was putting away laundry and grudgingly decided to retire a pair of underwear that was pretty close to being a rag. I felt quite proud of myself, and bragged about it to Keiko later.

It was raining when I left HMB; the first real rain we've had since a freak thunderstorm early in the summer. As I got out of the car at the airport, and stepped into a puddle, I realized that the lack of rain makes me wear shoes a lot longer than I used to; within seconds, my socks were damp because there are large cracks through the soles of both of my favorite shoes. Damn. That means I have to find new shoes. That leads me to my second thought:

2) I hate shopping. I've always hated it. Hated it a lot. I put my sister on one of my credit cards so that I wouldn't have to ever go shopping; she knows my pants and shirt sizes, and roughly what styles I like, so when I need stuff I just ask her to look for me. "I need some shirts for work," I'll say, and like magic, a couple of weeks later shirts arrive. It's a symbiotic relationship- she gets to shop but not spend any of her money, and I get clothes without shopping. It works beautifully.

So tomorrow we go to look for shoes. Winter comes to HMB in January, so I'll need shoes that don't leak by then.

3) I read that someone got trampled to death by people stampeding to get into a WalMart Friday morning. Seriously, I don't care if they're selling Electrolux refrigerators for $3.99 in there, if you can't wait calmly to walk into the store like a sane person, you're lamer than a 3-legged horse. Actually, you're lamer than a 3-legged horse whose 3 legs are all broken. What kind of person does that?

Actually, I know what kind of person does that. Once, I went to the San Diego zoo, and there was a tiger enclosure with a glass wall. The tiger liked sleeping up against the glass, and right next to his favorite sleeping spot was a sign on the glass saying "Please do not tap on the glass. It disturbs the tiger."

While I was standing there, a guy came up next to me, looked at the tiger, read the sign, looked at the tiger again, and then tapped on the glass, right above the sleeping tiger's head. It was at that point that I imagined a hinged glass panel, which, when tapped like that, would flip over, dumping the idiot who tapped on the glass right on top of the tiger. Such an arrangement would both cut down on the feeding cost of the tiger, and make the average human marginally smarter and less annoying, all through a process of natural selection.

Anyway, that guy would have been one of the people stampeding to get into WalMart.

4) Being a Missouri football fan is depressing, and watching them lose so many close, heartbreaking games over the last 10-15 years gives me a small glimpse of what it's like to be a Cubs fan.

This weekend's result: Kansas 40, Mizzou 37. [Bite me, Chris]

5) I have spent 3 days in a row doing nothing but sleeping, eating, reading, and watching TV. Although I could never live this way all the time, doing it once a year for 3 days is _awesome_.

6) I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!