This afternoon Steve and I went to see Dave Barry at the Arlington. This was one of my Christmas presents to him, because I know that he is amused by Dave’s columns, and also because I figured it would be a nice non-traditional present (ie. not something he’d expect).

The place looked pretty packed, but because I bought the tickets back in November, we were pretty close to the front. Sitting two rows in front of me, I even saw two of the 20-somethings from my office who don't give me the time of day; presumably because I'm not in marketing (what other reason could there POSSIBLY be?!).

Anyway, it turned out to be Dave doing a bit of a stand-up act for an hour and a half, with a bit of Q&A. Some of it was pretty amusing, and of course a lot (if not all?) of his stuff has appeared in his column. I guess there was also a book signing afterward, but we didn't stay for that--Steve left half-way through the Q&A to do some work.

After I exited the theater I got a call from Steve asking if I'd bring him some food. I got him a couple burgers from The Habit and got myself a soda and hamburger as well. Since I couldn't go into his office, I ate my burger on a bench in Paseo Nuevo, across from the movie theater.

There I saw a middle-aged guy on a bench across from me who was either merely pretending to read a book, or did not find it particularly engaging, because he kept looking up at the people walking by. It also seemed that every time I looked up that he was staring directly at me. I can't be 100% sure, as he was wearing sunglasses, but there wasn't much else to be staring at straight ahead.

I didn't acknowledge him, and I'm pretty sure I had a bit of a scowl on my face, but I'm not sure that Sunglasses Guy cared. I may have stood out a bit in a lacy tank top and ruffly pink skirt, but still the guy could've at least pretended to read the book. Since I now felt self-conscious, I quickly finished the burger and walked the 1.3 miles back to my house. I walked because it was a nice day and I didn't want to deal with trying to find parking on a weekend with both the Arlington event and normal tourist and shopping traffic.

Posted at 5:32 PM |