Shopping

I didn’t have a clear idea what to get Kent for his birthday party tonight. We were all meeting up at Nola’s (where Kent and I have shared several great meals together), and I had the afternoon to find him a good present.

I stopped in at this place that specialized in silver. Everything in the store was shiny to some extent: silver bracelets, necklaces, rings, earrings… you name it. I thought briefly about getting him a flask, but then I remembered we weren’t undergraduates anymore. :|

One thing I did see that caught my eye was this watch (above). This particular watch has a hidden face so that, when you slide the metal panel to the right, it revealed the watch. Sorta lame. But what excited me (and what made me take the picture) was that it reminded me of a watch I had seen, several years ago, on Discover Channel, or some such cable show.

Basically, the watch they revealed was this kick-ass thing, with little tiny cylinders that were laid out in a square-like pattern. Instead of having to physically shift your eyes to your watch, this particular timepiece allowed you to tell the time by feeling the face. You could tell the hour and the minutes, based on which cylinders were raised, just by feeling it.

For some reason, I’ve been fixated on this watch, and have been trying to find it ever since. I think it’s a cool idea, and while I’m sure I could never afford it… I’d like to see it, to just hold it and watch it work one day.

I stopped in at Sultan’s Market, for a falafel sandwich. Ever since Justin introduced me to this place, I’ve fallen for their food. All afternoon, I was working with a dying camera (batteries were getting low). I’m amazed that I was able to get a pic of the watch, as well as of these bottles on a girder underneath the El.

Over lunch, I remembered a nearby shop that sold kites. In my head, that seemed like a great gift… something that suggested outdoors, and being with friends. The more I thought on it, the more certain I was that a kite was the right gift to get. Funny how, sometimes, when you’re out shopping… it takes a while before the gift up and shows itself to you.

When I got to the store, I found a few different kites, ranging in price. There were smaller butterfly kites which were more in my price range. I debated hard for a while and went so far as to leave the store. But after a few minutes thinking outside, I went back in and stared at all the different kites (they had some that were ten times as big as this one (above), and about five times as expensive!

Finally… after waffling for like twenty minutes, I decided on getting a dragon kite over a butterfly kite. It cost a bit more, but fuck… a dragon always, always beats a butterfly, any day of the week.

After I got Kent’s gift back home, I went back to the Milwaukee strip and found a cool box set for Dave. I missed his birthday when I went to Columbus, several weeks back. I’ve owed him a belated birthday gift for longer than I want to think about, and I feel like I got him a good one.

I stopped in to Reckless Records, and bought him Suitcase: Failed Experiments and Trashed Aircraft by Guided by Voices. The more I listen to them (and they’re one of my all-time favorite bands), the more I hear Dave’s style inside their style.

If you haven’t heard them, check out some mp3’s.