Saturday Roundup

Nick had a birthday party this morning up in Coon Rapids and Allison was his driver. That left the X-man and me looking for stuff to do. After a game of baseball and a bike ride, we decided to hit the town.

First stop was the Ax-Man Surplus Store on University Avenue. This an amazing place. You never know what you are going to find there. They have every thing from party supplies to luggage to reconditioned electric motors. Last time I was there they had a consignment of Swedish army helmets. (Allison said I couldn't buy one.)

Today they had Soviet-era gas masks. I spent some time looking at these because I spent a fair amount of time wearing a U.S. Army protective mask back in my Army Reserve days. I gotta say, the Soviet model looked like a complete piece of garbage. I remember in training being told how well prepared the Russians were for chemical warfare. Looking at the actual equipment makes me think that the Russians were fooling us or we were exaggerating the threat to get more money from Congress.

After the Ax-Man, Xander and I hit the McDonalds on University for lunch. Hitting an urban McDonalds is always a little adventure. I tend to watch everyone very closely when I'm at one with the kids - I go into hyper-protective mode.

The highlight of today's visit was this guy who came in off the street carry a grocery bag. He went and sat down at a booth in the back by himself without ordering. Every so often he would laugh out loud. Not just a giggle, but a long, drawn out laugh. He happened to be sitting in my line of sight, so I was looking as close as I could - without being too obvious - to see if he had a cordless headset for a cell phone or ear buds for a radio. Nothing. He was just a real happy guy I guess. (Of course, so was The Joker.)

Eventually the guy got up and went to the bathroom. I couldn't help but wonder if he was hatching some diabolical plan involving whatever was in the grocery bag. (I told you I go into hyper-protective mode!) I started to plan escape routes for Xander and me. The guy could have anything in the bag. Guns, knives, a biological agent... (Damn! I should have bought the gas mask!) Of course he probably had something mundane in the grocery bag like laundry or books or even groceries. Anway, he finally comes out of the bathroom, still carrying his bag, walks to the door and just leaves. Really kind of anti-climatic. (No kidding, I just spent three paragraphs talking about a guy with a grocery bag.)

After our non-adventure at McDonalds, Xander I hit Half Price Books where we scored a couple of kid-friendly Star Wars books. Now we are just hanging around waiting for Nick and Allison to come home. Who knows what adventures the rest of the afternoon will hold??