Well, apparently I spoke too soon yesterday when I introduced you to the Geo. Today the Geo died. Going down I-35E. Just sputtered and stalled and then I’m sitting on the side of the road.
Abby diagnosed it as a failed fuel pump. I diagnosed it as catastrophic failure. So $92+ later the Geo is sitting in front of my house, awaiting its fate to be donated somewhere (it’s been a week for stupid expenses–yesterday I spent $150 to find out my water heater won’t explode).
Then tonight we went to Barnes & Noble at Mall of America, T-minus four hours before the release of the final Harry Potter book. Bad move. I don’t quite get the concept of a midnight book release. Reading a book isn’t a group experience. And it’s not like many people are going to actually finish the book tonight. Seems so much easier (and less freakish) to wait for the UPS man to deliver it tomorrow. Oh well, to each their own.
It was just over the edge when the Hagrid look-alike showed up and everyone jostled to get a picture with him. But I couldn’t tell if he was a paid Hagrid or just a fan who really fit the bill. Bizarre.
Huh? Amazon.com offers free shipping if you spend $25 or more. My total (before the quality tools) was $24.24–76 cents shy of free shipping. So by spending an extra 86 cents I saved about $7. I’ve done this before (and with Barnes & Noble), but it was much more efficient this time thanks to the Amazon Filler Item Finder.
I do feel some what odd buying crap I don’t need, but you can’t ignore those economics: buy more, spend less. And who knows how often you’ll need a metal spring clamp? (I’d wager seven cents it’s more often than a 7/32 socket, which I probably already have)
I’ve gotten a little over-zealous promoting the Cat in the Hat free book giveaway. But can you blame me? It’s so easy. Send a free online card and a kid who needs a book gets one. That’s worth getting excited about. And tomorrow’s deadline gives it some urgency.
Not only did I plug it here, but I spread the word through Personality™, sending out a MySpace bulletin and adding a feature on First Book. Then I realized that reading skills can help you escape poverty, which meant a nice tie-in to the Foursquare NextGen Summit ’07, an event I’m helping to promote. The event is championing three causes, one of which is fighting poverty. So such a simple way to fight poverty only made sense.
Now I just have to find a way to connect it to church marketing and I’m 4 for 4. Nothing’s coming to me yet, but it’s early.
I mentioned before how Random House is giving books away in honor of the Cat in the Hat’s 50th birthday. At the time they were giving away 1 million books, one for every birthday card they received. Well, with more than 1.4 million cards so far, they’ve upped their commitment to 2 million books. So you can still make a difference, but you’ve only got until May 1 (tomorrow).
All you have to do is send a free card online and Random House will donate a book to First Book, a non-profit that gives children in low income families a chance to own their first book.
The Cat in the Hat turned 50 this month, and in celebration you can help kids read. Random House is donating a book to First Book, a non-profit that gives low-income children their first book, for every Dr. Seuss book purchased before May 7, 2007 (must send a receipt to Random House) and for every birthday card sent to the Cat in the Hat.
Random House is limiting it to 2 million books (a million for each Dr. Seuss book purchased and a million for each card received), but according to the web site they’ve already received more than 1.2 million cards. So you might need to go with the purchase a book option to make it count (or send a card anyway and see if Random House decides to go beyond their 1 million book limit).
Which is OK by me, but a more cynical person might think Lamott has found the formula for publishing riches (or at least enough cash to get by, which is really all any writer wants).
I’m a little late to the game this year with my 2006 reading list, mainly because it’s a woefully short list. It would have been even shorter if I didn’t read books to my daughter and manage at least a short-term return to good habits (exercise).
But there is a little one to look after now. You try reading books with a baby in the house. And I did write a book this year–that counts for something, right?
I recently finished reading a Christmas present, Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, a book most folks probably read a while ago (but hey, I read a book and I have a 1-year-old, so cut me some slack). The book basically explores interesting questions that defy conventional wisdom (which isn’t as wise as you might think). Like why do crack dealers live with their mothers? And does a realtor selling your house really have your best interests at heart (a timely question for us)?
The most intriguing question was what prompted the sudden and dramatic drop in crime in the 1990s. Crime had been escalating at incredible rates and experts were predicting doom and gloom. And then suddenly it stopped and dropped considerably. A number of reasons were tossed around at the time, but Levitt and Dubner dismiss most of them and credit a single reason that was never mentioned in the media for the majority of the drop in crime. That reason? Abortion.
This past year has felt even worse for reading than 2004. But I guess it always feels like that. It’s just been bad lately because I’ve felt like I can’t get through a book to save my life. It just takes forever to read, no matter how much I enjoy it. I guess I need to read more than three pages at a time.
Oh well, there’s some good readin’ in this list, and as long as I am reading, it can’t be that bad.
