felix and oscars, merle hay mall

 in the evening i went to eat at felix and oscar's next to merle hay mall, with my college roommate. saw it all the time when my family would get school clothes at the mall, but i think it was my first time inside this place. i knew them as having an ad in the iowa cubs baseball program, it spoke of their 'pizza in the pan'. we had sandwiches, i had the italian grinder. plenty of TVs in the place, the news was on and there was plenty of political campaign ads. some were for senator charles grassley, my friend said he is 88, had already served 42 years, and probably wouldn't live out the 6-year term if elected again. traded text messages with my friend after the iowa hawks football game ended, a close one, 7-3 over south dakota state. caught some of it on the radio. after we ate we went back to his place, which is close to the mall. there was still plenty of college football on. i liked how he showed me things from his travels to japan. has been there 3 times- as an english teacher, in the navy, and then for his science work. one was a list of scotch whiskey at a place he frequented, and a book with some art that reminded me of a graphic novel- the one where charlie brown and the peanuts gang goes to japan. also pictures from catholic school, and the story of being willed a chair i was sitting in by his grandfather. since i had already paid for my hotel room, i left his place after one of the games ended. ohio state beat notre dame. 

just before midday i got to see my niece and her baby at the dairy queen in waukee. she brought her dog as well, a pomeranian. i presented a gift card from target, and a picture frame i wasn't using. it was nice to catch up on things, and i saw that i got a picture near the end of the visit. hard to tell at this point, as to when the next  family event would be, it might be a wedding or  graduation. her siblings couldn't make it but i would have been fine with seeing them. we talked outside the store, and when she left i went inside and got a pumpkin pie blizzard. it was lunchtime by then, so i went across the road to the taco john's. also notable about the day was trading texts with a classmate, but visiting the classmate was  a no-go. there is some mention of this classmate coming to visit me in the twin cities at some point. it was one reason why i didn't visit my hometown of newton this time, even though it is close to des moines. i usually just do a quick tour anyway, about an hour, sometimes just driving past some familiar places.