Shopping with sister at lunchtime today. That's something I couldn't do before!

Didn't find what we were looking for but did come to appreciate the expertise hidden there in my sibling as she was able to discard stores that would have been a waste of time and head to the best places in the mall.

I'm not entirely sure an overcoat a la some of the _West Wing_ characters is what I'm looking for - after all I don't have to stand around for hours in the cold of Inauguration Day, but at least we narrowed the options that were available. Apparently, I'm a bit early for such things to have hit the racks in any case.

Still haven't quite solved the problem of 'lunch' on such days. Previously I'd have filled the hour with external activities and been able to eat lunch at my desk afterwards. Unable to do that now, I either need to plan to take a longer lunchbreak to fit in some food or go hungry. Not quite as handy.