I hereby declare that spring is with us. We've had a few days of gorgeous weather, I've started going out without a jacket, but tonight I participated in a real ritual of impending summer: walking around eating an ice cream cone. S and I went out for dinner (to Chun, the sushi place near u. village where Thai Dusit used to be; it was good, though fairly basic in its menu, no Mashiko-style adventure). Afterward we went to u.village, got ice cream at ben & jerry's, and walked around gauging the degree of u. village's Xtreme yuppiness. For one thing, they've got a crate & barrel, a williams-sonoma, a pottery barn, and a restoration hardware. what mall needs all that? for another, I think they're up to 4 starbuckses. and this is not a large mall. I remember when u.village was a seedy little place. One day I went there to get some nails and the actual hardware store that used to be there (remember ernst?) was gone, but a restoration hardware had appeared. restoration hardware, despite its name, does not have nails. and back then everything cost a nickel.