Mayfair Mall

Yesterday was the Chinese New Year. Celebrated by the goodwill and fashion challenged ones, along with the rest of the orient. Enter the year of the Ox. Misao and I are both Dragons. Not sure what year Alois was born in. The more he posts, the more German speaking nations hit our blog. Hits from forty nations now since I added the counter. Lithuania being the 40th.

Misao went with a church elder the other day to walk the mall. An enticing off season training option if they would let you run. My mom said when she went, she went hours before the shops opened. Kept her from spending my dad's money. At least he thinks its his money.

I grew up at that mall. It was fairly plain when I was young. The arcade was in the basement, along with a cobbler. Then they put a ice skating rink in the middle and had little streams running down the center of the public space. You could sit in McDonald's and watch people skate below, it was on the basement level. Then they closed the rink, removed the streams and all the basement shops and started going high end. Most recently they added a second floor and then the controversial 16 screen movie theater. There was a theater in the parking lot that had been closed many many years earlier. Now Mayfair is clearly the premier mall in the entire region. A hot Dog stand in the food court its latest addition.

Been to the mall quite a bit recently. Of course there was Christmas shopping. Bought my new glasses there too. They have a Steins and Lense Crafters. Though Steins has some big sales, Lense Crafters is nearly identical in price when you go for the most expensive lenses. Plenty of time to walk around as I waited the hour for the new glasses. It's nice to walk around the mall. The second floor is carpeted and like all newer mall designs they have couches and comfy chairs to sit in if you get tired.

Also nice to stop by the Apple Store. Just don't make light of Steve Jobs while your there. I wish I could afford a new Apple. I wonder if you can break the desktop model down to fit in a padded case for travel.

Always nice to stop by one of the newer and most interesting shops; 'Teavana'. Though many of the ingredients have specific health benefits in oriental medicine they speak of the health benefits in general terms. Blending the ingredients towards general health themes. They always have free samples. Some have caffeine equivalent to coffee and they claim it metabolizes slower so it doesn't make you jittery and stimulates you all day. It would be nice to have a tasty tea to start the day once in awhile, but unfortunately it's not cheap.

They also have three Starbucks, a Gloria Jeans and an Alterra Coffee. The Alterra that hosts the Alterra Coffee Bean Classic WORS race at Crystal Ridge. And all must have heard by now that Wisconsin will host all the cycling events if Chicago gets the 2016 Olympics. Some say Obama's election gives Chicago the edge.