Notes from a quiet weekend:

Going to the rock shows Within 48 hours got tickets to two shows about two weeks apart. On September 17 we'll be seeing Coldplay, a group I admittedly know little about but whose music I like. They're playing the FleetBoston Pavilion, which used to be the more euphoniously named Harbor Lights. Some group called Ash is opening, and I know absolutely nothing about them.

On October 1, we're making our return to the Fleet Center proper to see Paul McCartney again. This makes Sir Paul the second musical act I've seen twice in concert, the first being Rush. Who, come to think of it, may have been the last thing I saw at the Boston Garden (though it's more likely a Beanpot or Hockey East playoff game would fill that role).

Shop until the drops Facing a Sunday without anything planned and both of us needing a quality clothing item (a dress for Sarah and the elusive sneakers for me), we figured it was a good time to visit one of the area's fine outlet malls. It was a choice between the Worcester Common Outlets (formerly the Worcester Common Fashion Outlets, but now apparently so much more!) and the Wrentham Village Premium Outlets. The latter seems to have more options, and it has the added bonus of not being in Worcester. So off to Wrentham we went.

In my mind, outlet shopping is what you do in vast warehouse-type places that sell all the stuff they couldn't get rid of otherwise. Not so with Wrentham Village, which was nicer than some malls I'm familiar with.

In any case, Sarah found a dress the first place we looked. How often does that happen?

My sneaker hunt took us to Adidas first, and apprently the Euros don't have feet as big as mine. Second stop was Reebok, and that's where my five years of footwear frustration finally finished. Got a decent pair of cross-trainers, $40. Now I'm all set until 2007.

It's an open-air sort of affair, with covered and uncovered walkways between buildings. Which is why it was good we finished before the rain started, even if there wasn't much rain to worry about.

Was that it? Pretty much. Spent a fair amount of time lounging about the apartment, worked out on Saturday, made a stop at Jiffy Lube to change the oil, and had a lovely drive past Cochituate State Park.

NEWS FLASH Allen Iverson had 13 of the 14 counts against him thrown out by a judge today, leaving only the charge about making terroristic threats. I suppose he'll have the family over again.

NEWS FLASH Budget, 15 passenger van provider to BU College Bowl lo these many years filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today. In some way, this explains why they never had the van in Allston waiting for us.