Thoughts For Today

Thoughts For Today

The last few days have been rather tiring. I took some time to rest and did not do much with Entrecard. I also took several naps and generally laid around. I took a walk around the neighborhood to get the blood going again and did some early shopping this morning. After that, I went and bought a cup of coffee from the local deli with milk.

I feel my energy has picked up a bit again today. I will probably start reading Goblin Quest in a little bit.

I am not quite in the right mood to write some poems, probably later in the week, I might try a few short haiku. It is quiet outside in the neighborhood, the weather is rather cool about sixty five degrees with a light wind. In other words it is a nice day to be outside.

I took an early walk in the evening. The fireflies were out in the dusk, making their little golden flashes. If you look at them from a distance, they could almost be little people with lanterns.

Tonight, I finished reading Goblin Quest by Jim C. Hines. It is a monsters eye view of the world. Do you wonder what it is like to be a goblin runt constantly in fear of wandering adventurers smashing through your caves, as well as your vicious neighbors. Then this book is for you.

Random Thoughts, Ordering Books

Ordering Books

I spent some time this morning ordering manga and science fiction this morning. It was much easier to do because I had already visited a bookstore and a library to help with the order earlier. It went fairly quickly.

It took me half of the day, not the whole day to do this. I still have to organize my sources to look up and order business books next. I am going to do this tomorrow. I hope it goes quickly. Tomorrow is my late night.

Random Thoughts

When I am ordering things, I get very focused on what I am doing. I still have two books waiting for me at the front desk, House of Many Ways and The Long Tail.

I also haven't read the small stack of review material for books, several Publishers Weekly magazines, a New York Times Book Review, and a copy of the latest Library Journal. Surprisingly, there wasn't that much that fascinated me in the latest literature. I guess, I have been looking at a little too much literature lately.

On the way home, I read a bit of The Long Tail by Chris Anderson. It is a rather interesting read. Everyone seemed to be talking about this idea for a while. I thought it was a weird combination of niche marketing and merchandising before I started reading the book. So far, it is very interesting and very applicable to what is currently happening in libraries and bookstores. I think I may gain some unique insights from reading this book.

I also sat and wrote down categories for what I might order tomorrow. I just sat and thought about what people were asking me for in the business management section. Some of the things which came to mind were business plans, marketing plans, keyboarding, grant writing, board of directors responsibilities, ecommerce, introductory accounting, government contracts, venture capital, international business, franchising, and customer service.

Todays Thoughts

I started reading Common Wealth Economics For A Crowded Planet. So far it focuses on four major issues, sustainable global economic development, common worldwide environmental problems like carbon emissions, drylands conflicts, and overfishing, population issues, and worldwide poverty traps. It is an interesting book focused on a left of center view of international issues. The author provides a lot of statistics and quotes a lot of science. It is not just a book that is purely political statements.

The labeling of books on the atlas stand was finished this morning. I also have started looking at books in the reference storage stacks to see if any of them can be discarded.

We are opening an account with Bookazine to order material. Previously we were only focused on Baker & Taylor for ordering. When I worked in Brooklyn, we used to order a lot of our mass market paperbacks from Bookazine. I think Bookazine does a slightly better job for mass market paperbacks than Baker & Taylor.

I was reading the Daily News, May 20 newspaper at the local greasy spoon diner. I had a turkey burger, a cup of minestrone soup, and a glass of water for lunch.

This time the paper surprised me. There was an article on the Tesla roadster, the all electric sportscar that can go up 125 miles per hour and has a range of 225 miles. This was on page BW 34. Also, there was an article on the Hunts Point green market. Apparently 25% to 50% of the pollution comes from idling big rig diesel trucks in the area. They are requesting business proposals to put in biodiesel or ethanol pumps. This was on page BW 4. For me, this is encouraging. I am a fan of renewable energy and transportation. It is nice to see these kind of articles in a major local paper.

The new books came in. I like looking at the unprocessed books. It annoys the technical service person sometimes. A bunch of GED books and a few ASVAB books came in which I had ordered. These still need to have security stickers, labels, and covers put on. Also, the book, Steampunk, Edited by Ann & Jeff Vandermeer came in. I am hoping to read it soon.

I rather like steampunk because it allows the writer to pastiche many of the characters from the classic science fiction books, John Carter, Captain Nemo, Mina, Queequeeg (not a science character) into their stories.

Sometimes when you are wandering in the land of social networking you find images and pictures which are quite entertaining. This is a link to a gallery of images called the Most Interesting Bookstores in the World. The images are quite striking. http://www.miragebookmark.ch/most-interesting-bookstores.htm

Ending Jury Duty

I am glad my jury duty is over. It was a wicked murder trial. Something which I will never forget. It disrupted my life for a week and a half and made me realize how lucky I am to live the existence I live now. I could not imagine being the father of many many children and having my own son turn on me and accuse me of murder. At times I had trouble sleeping at night because the experience was so intense in the court room.

Mostly, it was not too bad, but it was the kind of thing where you had to pay attention. There were no cell phones or electronics in the courtroom. Outside the court it was a pretty rough place. We spent two days making a decision. Nobody agreed. There were some points in the trial where I could barely look at the guys sitting in the witness box.

The lawyers asked me what my hobbies were, I told them reading, walking, and relaxing which is pretty much true.

I feel I've changed a little bit inside. I feel a lot more gratitude for what I have. I've always thought I've had a decent amount of conflict in my life. Now, I realize how peaceful my life is in comparison to what I saw in the courtroom. I do not have to live with unregistered guns, street life, heroin addiction, crack cocaine, and prison.

I was surprised they picked me as a juror. I tried to say I had some trouble with my own father, but that seemed to only make the lawyers want me even more.

We spent a lot of time sitting quietly waiting for the judge. I would read a book then, but mostly I would wait. I tried to keep my mind clear. I took a corner where I could sit and read. I would read a few pages, then get called. It was back and forth most of the day.

On the way there, I would read a book in the subway. I usually got to the court about a half an hour early. One time I got there too early and I sat and read in a small restaurant drinking coffee until the court was ready to open.

It is a blessing to be back at work. There is a decent amount of work piled up, but I think I am ready to tackle it. I have already started reading the New York Times Book Review and Kirkus Reviews. I sorted through my mail, checked my email, and worked on clearing up what was left on my desk.

At night when I got back to my house, I felt too distracted to do much other than sit or help around the house. It was like there was a weight on my chest holding me down a bit.

I have several of the books which I planned on reading earlier laying on my desk. So, I can get back to focusing on some better material to read. My local library didn't have as good a selection as I would have liked. I feel like I was almost on hiatus when I was in the jury room. It was hard to do anything.

I am reading one of Nancy Pearl's recommended titles Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder by Lawrence Weschler. So far, it is very interesting.

I think I'll also have a little more time to look at book recommendation sites and bestseller lists once I get back into the swing of things.