The heat is still as intense as it was earlier in the week on this Thursday afternoon. Thankfully, I’m inside my air conditioned basement, which is colder than the main floor of the residence at 1224 North Brooks.

I left for my appointment with Crista before 8. I rarely do that. Most of the time, I’m scrambling to make it there for 9. Today, though, I wanted to get my things at Walmart and get out before it got hotter. I did just that, getting in and out in less than 15 minutes.

I had some extra time after getting out of Wally World, so I opted to get back on I-70 and take the last Hays exit, which passes by the outer edge of the Fort Hays State University campus, notably Gross Memorial Coliseum. I had 20 minutes before I had to be at High Plains Mental Health for my appointment, and I really did not want to fight the red lights on Vine Street (US 183), the main north-south artery in Hays.

I almost paid the price. Literally.

As I passed 41st Street on the US 183 bypass, I saw a Kansas Highway Patrol car going north. He pulled up and then turned around. Now he was right behind me going south.

I was scared to death that once I crossed the overpass near the Bickle-Schmidt sports complex, he would pull me over and give me a tcket, either for following too closely–a yellow Mustang was in front of me–or for speeding. I dropped my speed to 55, the speed limit, after the patrol car turned around, but he may have caught me between 60 and 65 before that.

Fortunately, I was not the motorist the trooper was after. The yellow Mustang was pulled over after it turned left at the bottom of the overpass. I felt a bit tight in the chest right as I passed Gross Coliseum–home to the Class 3-2-1A state wrestling tournament–but once I got to the turn at Main Street, it was all better.

There really wasn’t much to report this week with Crista, since we met last week. However, the traffic incident provided some conversation, as did Hope Solo, LSU in the College World Series, and Brittany Davidson’s upcoming wedding reception. We’ll meet again on June 25.

Nothing on. What is on a Thursday afternoon in June? Watching the Shark Tank episodes I recorded last night, plus a TV movie starring one of my favorite actresses, Daphne Zuniga, who played JoBeth Reynolds on Melrose Place and Victoria Davis on One Tree Hill. Daphne was outstanding in the role on OTH, playing the perfect foil to Sophia Bush’s Brooke Davis.

Melrose Place, which debuted in July 1992 as a spinoff of Beverly Hills, 90210, was one of those trashy shows you didn’t want to admit you watched, but couldn’t stay away from. Marcia Cross, who went on to great stardom as Bree van de Kamp on Desperate Housewives, played psycho killer doctor Kimberly Shaw, who appeared to be dead in a drunk driving accident, only to come back and terrorize everyone. Two other female stars went on to bigger and better things after Melrose: Courtney Thorne-Smith, who went from Allison Parker to a co-starring role alongside Jim Belushi on According to Jim; and Kristin Davis, who went from a manipulative woman who drove a wedge between Throne-Smith’s Allison and Andrew Shue’s Billy to Charlotte York, by far my favorite of the ladies of Sex and the City.

Speaking of Sex and the City, I watched the first episode of that show with my dad in a hotel in Cape Girardeau, Mo. We were returning from the 1998 College World Series and drove from Omaha to Cape Girardeau, where we stayed overnight before completing the return to Baton Rouge. I actually had the entire DVD collection of Sex and the City in Louisiana, but it was flooded by Katrina.  I saw the first Sex and the City movie in theaters and have the DVD, and I have the second on Blu-Ray, although I have never watched it. How strange is that?

Game 4 of the NBA Finals are tonight in Cleveland. Not sure how much I’ll watch, but there are only two Shark Tank episodes on CNBC tonight at 7 and 8. I have an appointment with Dr. Patriarca at High Plains tomorrow at 9, so it’s likely I’m going to bed early. And probably tomorrow night as well.