I haven’t spent much time at malls for years. Back in 1999 and 2000 it was an arduous experience to wade through the snow to get from the outer ends of the parking lot after spending fifteen minutes searching for a parking place, then wait 20 deep in lines for a cashier.

And then in 2001, the questworker and offshoring bombs dropped on my career, and I spent a year and a half, then a year, and then two years when no one would return my calls or respond to my resumes, interspersed with contracts that only lasted a few months. So I wasn’t in much of a position to do Christmas shopping for a while.

But this year hasn’t been bad. I had a whole year employed this time, even if I had to take a sharp pay cut to get it. So I can do some shopping this year (even if nobody knows what they want–we are all used to having a "low-key" Christmas). So I started looking to see what the malls had to offer here in St. Louis.