The Next Dark Age
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How Big is Your Late Fee?
Weekend Assignment #318: Library Books
Recently, it was discovered that George Washington had forgotten to return some books he had checked out of his local library. They were only 221 years late, mind you, but late all the same. How about you? Have you ever checked out a library book and forgot to return it? Tell us about your experiences with checking out, returning, or forgetting to return, books to the library.
Extra Credit: Tell us about the last book you checked out of the library.
Um..no. I have never flat-out forgotten to return library books. I have been late in the “I thought it was due next weekend” sense. Or in the “paper’s not done, so I’ll just pay the fee” sense. But I have never flat out forgotten. And oooooh, with the new online renewal feature…God as my witness, I shall never be late returning a book again.
Because I volunteer at the Library’s Used Book Store, and the clearance section of Half Price Books rocks, I don’t really check out library books for fun. Harlot’s Ghost 
I check out books from the library when I am researching something. The last batch was travel books, before a trip to Hawaii. Before that was a batch of books on Amazon.com, for a paper on online business models. Before that…I forget, but it was another research paper for school.
I really need to get offline and read more.
Going to Hell
At the Library’s Used Book Sale, most of our books are sold at half price. So our inventory of $1.00 books becomes 50 cent books. In addition, we pull everything we have out of storage. We check the prices on Amazon.com to see if anything is worth listing online. If it is, we will list it online and offer to sell it for 20% off onsite.
Last Monday, a man was looking at a book that was listed online for $99. He argued the price with the volunteer on duty. The volunteer called our director, who checked the price online and confirmed that the correct price was $99 and the book could be sold for 20% less. The man declined.
On Sunday, a man brought the same book to the desk to a different volunteer. It had an $8 sticker on it. The volunteer thought something was fishy and didn’t want to sell it. The man bullied the volunteer until she finally sold it – for $7. After he left, she found a crumpled $99 sticker on the display table.
I do not understand how a person even rationalizes such behavior.
I am sorry to be judgmental, but if you rob a charity that way? I am pretty sure you are going to hell.
Things I Forgot to Bring to Washington This Week
- Toothbrush and toothpaste
- Umbrella
- Pajamas
- My glasses
- Charger for the work cell phone
- Charger for the personal cell phone
- Charger for the ipod
- An extra book or any DVDs
- Curling iron, scrunchy, rubberband, or anything with which to do my hair
- My travel itinerary
A Reliable Wife, by Robert Goolrick
When A Reliable Wife, by Robert Goolrick first rocked the NYT Bestseller List, I saw it in an airport. I thought it looked like a glorified romance novel – seriously, look at that cover. And the summary on the back:
“He placed a notice in a Chicago paper, an advertisement for a “reliable wife.” She responded, saying that she was “a simple, honest woman.” She was, of course, anything but honest, and the only simple thing about her was her single-minded determination to marry this man and then kill him, slowly and carefully, leaving herself a wealthy widow. What Catherine Land did not realize was that the enigmatic and lonely Ralph Truitt had a plan of his own.”
Well, I was up for some brain candy.
It is a bit of a glorified romance novel, but it isn’t mindless. What you have is three intertwined stories of betrayal and heartbreak and the possibility of redemption.
I can’t say the “plot twists” were particularly surprising. The thing that was surprising?
SPOILER ALERT
When Catherine begins to poison Truitt, he knows. Immediately knows. He doesn’t confront her and doesn’t try to stop her. He seems to think this is the logical conclusion. That his death might bring a sort of peace to everyone.
Just then, the book went from being entertaining to something near compelling.
The rest of the story unfolds in a reasonably believable way. Goolrick does a good job of portraying complicated, conflicted characters such that I was rooting for all of them. Even that jackass, Antonio – I held out hope for him. The end was satisfying.
Overall good read.
Max
An Amber Alert went out this morning on Max Hernandez. a 7 year old boy in Arizona. Max is autistic and was taken away from his home by his father, Conrad. Max’s mother, Maile, is a friend from high school. She says that Conrad is suicidal and disappeared with Max two days ago.
Here is a picture of Max, the details, and a link to the Amber Alert poster:
Case Type: Family Abduction
DOB: Sep 30, 2002 Sex: Male
Missing Date: May 7, 2010 Race: White
Age Now: 7 Height: 3’6″ (107 cm)
Missing City: CHANDLER Weight: 55 lbs (25 kg)
Missing State : AZ Hair Color: Brown
Missing Country: United States Eye Color: Brown
Case Number: NCMC1146974
Circumstances: Max was last seen on May 7, 2010. He may be in the company of his father, Conrad Hernandez. Conrad wears thick glasses. They may be traveling in a red 2009 four door Mazda Sedan with Arizona license plates AEZ7035. Max and Conrad may be in need of medical attention.
The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara – Take 2
My friends have a book club. Books are chosen by a random pick among member suggestions. At the end of a meeting, a call for submissions is made – they are written on notecards. We separate fiction and non-fiction, as we alternate the two. Then someone randomly selects a card. I wasn’t much participating while I was in school, but came back earlier this year:
So at the last meeting (Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell was the pick that day), I threw in a card recommending The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara. I had read it last December and thought that it wouldn’t get picked for another couple of years, at which point it would be a great opportunity to re-read a great book.
I got up to go to the bathroom and it was picked.
My impressions weren’t much different the second ti.me around. A whole five months later. So here is a link to what I wrote at the time.
P.S.
Although. There was an interesting thread of observations at Book Club that I hadn’t realliy considered before. I had noted that The Ghost of Stonewall Jackson was so present as to almost be another character. My friend Shannon said the same was true about General Lee’s declining health. The illness (or threat thereof) was continually present. Which lead to my friend Eric saying that throughout the story, Lee seemed to be making decisions with those two “voices” in his ears.
Face Time
Weekend Assignment #317: Merry Meetings
People used to socialize with each other on street corners, at cocktail parties, at club meetings, and in a later era, at shopping malls. These days, however, we seem to do most of our socializing online. Where do you go most often for face time with friends and acquaintances?
Extra Credit: Do you ever hang out with co-workers after hours?
Mostly, my friends gather in someone’s home. Just today, I had some friends over for a Book Club date at my house. My friend Noah hosts a Game Day Open House on a Saturday every couple of months. There is always somebody having a barbecue on a three-day weekend.
Now that I am thinking about it, I realize that since we are grownups that don’t live in dorms or with three roommates, we spend much less money on going out to dinner. And going out to movies. And bars.
The time of day that we meet has changed a lot, too. I meet friends for lunch, not for dinner. Sometimes we have an afternoon that drifts into ordering dinner, but that isn’t the same thing. If you have a group of eight people that has five or six hours of conversation to get to… well, I’m just too old to start with drinks at seven.
Generally, I don’t socialize with co-workers outside the office. It is partially that I work in HR, so it becomes awkward. But also, my life is rather compartmentalized between work and family and volunteering and other friends. I don’t know that it’s healthy, but that’s the way it is.
OMG with this Cat
I believe I have mentioned that Spooky the Cat, age 19, has been slowing down and mellowing out. When he isn’t howling for attention at 5am. Several times this past winter, I came home to find him in the exact place I left him in the exact condition – which would be asleep. I would wonder if he had even moved.
I took the day off on Friday to help set up the Library’s Used Book Sale and when I came home, I decided that everyone was going out in the backyard. I got a book and my stadium blanket, then grabbed Spooky’s leash. I found Spooky exactly where I had left him that morning – in bed. He protested all the way downstairs and out the door, but was very happy when he figured out the game plan. We stayed outside for about an hour and he was all protesting again when it was time to go inside.
When we got upstairs, I opened the bedroom window and put him in the window sill. Happy again. That night, I went to sleep with the window open – he was still in the window sill. 2am, I was awakened by the rain and couldn’t close the window because he was still in it.
Taft, by Ann Patchett
I found Taft, by Ann Patchett, at the Library Used Book Store, which was cool because the author seems to think this is the book that no one has read.
I loved it. Better than Bel Canto and most definitely better than The Magician’s Assistant.
I’ll just go ahead and give you the summary from the back:
“John Nickel is a black ex-jazz musician who only wants to be a good father. But when his son is taken away from him, he’s left with nothing but the Memphis bar he manages. Then he hires Fay, a young white waitress, who has a volatile brother named Carl in tow. Nickel finds himself consumed with the idea of Taft – Fay and Carl’s dead father – and begins to reconstruct the life of a man he never met. But his sympathies for these lost souls soon take him down a twisting path into the lives of strangers.”
This is a book about fathers. What it takes to be a good one, and how one might judge a man by knowing his children. I am happy to say that by the time we meet John’s son, Franklin (as opposed to hearing John’s memories of him), we can see that he has been a great dad.
The narrative is interesting in that it moves from John’s first person history to his third person imagining of scenes from Taft’s life with Fay and Carl. You can see him incorporating things that he learns about the kids into his thoughts about their father as the book progresses. I’ve read a lot about women and their natural maternal instincts, but not so much about men being fatherly. Maybe I’ve been reading the wrong books. Or maybe it took a lady novelist to call it up in a way that made me notice.
Real Rules of Recycyling
The Chicago Tribune printed a great article this weekend about things that will and will not be recycled by its curbside program. It was really timely because we have been debating a few things about the program in my house lately. Things I learned:
- Starbucks coffee cups will not be recycled by the average curbside service. Apparently, cups for hot liquids have a “thin synthetic lining”.
- Plastic containers will recycle, other plastic stuff won’t. Apparently, the containers have coding that sorts them into one category or another and other plastic materials don’t. Plastic hangers, utensils and CD cases were specifically mentioned.
- “Newspaper, cardboard, paperboard (cereal boxes) and scrap paper” are good. The article doesn’t say specifically, but I read it to mean that glossy catalogs, envelopes with plastic windows and magazines are not.
And while I already knew this, I feel the need to mention it: if there is food left in the container, the sorters will just toss it.
Please note that this article was written based on the the recycling in the city of Chicago, so some of the details may vary from city to city. But the Rule of Thumb was valuable: “If the item is a container for food or laundry detergent bought in a grocery store, it’s probably accepted.”
The Next Dark Age 