Saturday at the ballpark

We had Astros tickets last night, so we decided (or *I* decided, really, and Rob didn't object) that we should go to The Cheesecake Factory and eat beforehand, because I wanted to go to the Container Store, and Cheesecake Factory was the only place I could think of to eat that was close to there. (I probably need to expand my Houston dining horizons, but the fact is that we go up there so seldom any more that I don't keep up with the comings and goings of restaurants, much.) I was hoping that the crappy weather would mean it was less busy around the Galleria, but if so it wasn't enough that I could tell it. The weather really was bad, rainy and extremely cold by Houston-in-April standards (it was something like 41 last night), but there were still tons of people around, and the traffic was terrible as usual. We got in & out of the Container Store pretty fast - minus $50 or so and plus various storage boxes, bags, and a DVD tower - but Cheesecake Factory was already packed when we got there at 4:00. The game was at six, so that was cutting it awfully close, but we only ended up missing a few minutes. We had to wait to get seated, but asked for the check as soon as the food came, and that gave us enough extra time to just about make it. It was the end of the first inning by the time we got upstairs to our seats.

Neither one of us had been to a game in a good while - since toward the end of the season in 2005, I think. I know we never did get around to going at all last year. And we enjoyed it. The Astros won, which helped. (It was the only game they won all week, actually. They're off to a really appalling 1-5 start.) We had darn good seats - heck, they should have been, they cost $22, I think, and they were in the upper deck. They're actually virtually the same seats I used to get when I had my mini-season tickets in the Astrodome - except that there they were $7 or $8, I believe. That was 8-10 years ago, so that's going up a little faster than inflation! Which is partly why we don't go so much any more. But anyway, they were almost behind the plate, and on the 3rd row of the upper deck, so we really could see well. And Oswalt pitched a complete game, and Berkman and Carlos Lee hit homers, and Biggio had a hit and two RBIs, so it was a good night.

Did nothing today. Played Auto Assault. Read some of Snow Crash. That's about it.