Economic markers

I had to stop by the mall last night to return a pair of shoes (they shipped me light grey, when I wanted dark grey). I took a quick wander past a couple of my usual shops. In Chico's, the saleswoman greeted me politely, then, making small talk, asked me how I liked having the mall to myself. Which wasn't *quite* true but pret' damn near. I was one of two customers in their store. There were 3 or 4 others in Macy's mens' department, no others in Talbots.
You'd think, with customers so thin on the ground, that I'd have better luck finding the stuff I am looking for.

(no subject)

For the curious:
It was a studiously upbeat all-hands meeting. Our '08 revenue is off from projections due to the suspension of one major contract [tech issues unrelated to our segment of the prototype], but is still up from last year, and next year is expected to be up again though not as much as this year. Two of three business units enjoyed double-digit percentage increases; the other held steady.

Marriage meme

"Copy this sentence into your livejournal if you're in a heterosexual marriage, and you don't want it "protected" by the bigots who think that gay marriage hurts it somehow."

I honestly can't figure out how my marriage could possibly be hurt by any two (or more) of my friends marrying one another, regardless of their gender, race, religion, age....