IKEA is coming. Actually, it's here. I drove by it when I was picking up Ellie from the shelter in Berkeley. The building is a lovely blue and yellow masterpiece and on that day, 12 days before it opens, it was surrounded by a surreal sea of empy parking spaces waiting to be filled in the name of consumption, billy bookcases, and swedish meatballs.

The first time I set foot in an IKEA was last spring, when I visited Amy in Pittsburgh. At that time, I didn't know about the meatballs, thinking only that this was a nifty furniture store. Little did I know that it's a wonderland of great names for ordinary things like the SUFFL�R entertainment center or the KVADRAT kitchen.

That was the same trip where I met my 1/2 sister for the first time. I spent 3 days with Amy, then drove from Pittsburgh to exciting Mansfield, the armpit of Ohio. Meeting her wasn't as cool as I thought it would be. She brought her boyfriend so the evening was decidedly lopsided and instead of feeling this insane family connection like I do with the other part of my birthfamily, I just felt pretty uncomfortable.