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stoutfellowI've found a dog-sitter, one of my geometry students. (I'm also his Senior Project director, so he has extra incentive to do a good job.) I needed to make a duplicate house key for him, and the nearest place I know of for that is a hardware store downtown, so off I went this morning.
The duplication was quick. The bus back wasn't due for quite a while, so I went over to the post office to pick up some stamps, and then to the Piece of Mind bookstore. (I've mentioned them before; they used to be within easy walking distance, but they moved downtown a year or so ago.) There, natch, I spent a fair bit of money.
A couple of the books I bought were by authors I knew well, continuing series: the tenth Stephanie Plum book by Janet Evanovich, and the fifth book in Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series. Others were by authors I know something of, but am digging into more: Salman Rushdie's The Enchantress of Florence, Matt Ruff's Bad Monkeys, Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, and Barbara Pym's Excellent Women. Rounding it out were books by authors whom I've wanted to look into for a while: Dick Francis' Bonecrack (there was a big pile of his books; having no idea where to start, I just picked one at random), JulieKammKenner's Carpe Demon (this one, at least, I know to be the first of the series), and an anthology of short stories by John Buchan. (I was hoping for "Gap in the Curtain", which I read about a long time ago, but, alas, it's not in this collection.)
Since I'd bought so many books, the PoM people gave me a prize. They had a stack of already-wrapped books, each labeled as to general category, and they invited me to pick one. I asked for "history", and they tucked a book with that label into my bag.
When I returned to the bus station, I found that the next bus back wasn't due for another forty-five minutes, so I decided to walk. (It was chilly, but not windy, and there was no precip in progress.) On the way, I stopped off at Shop'n'Save for a few groceries.
The gift book was The Food of a Younger Land, by Mark Kurlansky, about USAn eating habits prior to the Great Depression. Could be interesting, could be crankwork. (Why were they giving it away? It turns out to be an Advance Reviewer Copy, so they couldn't sell it anyway.)
The duplicate keys don't work.
The duplication was quick. The bus back wasn't due for quite a while, so I went over to the post office to pick up some stamps, and then to the Piece of Mind bookstore. (I've mentioned them before; they used to be within easy walking distance, but they moved downtown a year or so ago.) There, natch, I spent a fair bit of money.
A couple of the books I bought were by authors I knew well, continuing series: the tenth Stephanie Plum book by Janet Evanovich, and the fifth book in Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series. Others were by authors I know something of, but am digging into more: Salman Rushdie's The Enchantress of Florence, Matt Ruff's Bad Monkeys, Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, and Barbara Pym's Excellent Women. Rounding it out were books by authors whom I've wanted to look into for a while: Dick Francis' Bonecrack (there was a big pile of his books; having no idea where to start, I just picked one at random), Julie
Since I'd bought so many books, the PoM people gave me a prize. They had a stack of already-wrapped books, each labeled as to general category, and they invited me to pick one. I asked for "history", and they tucked a book with that label into my bag.
When I returned to the bus station, I found that the next bus back wasn't due for another forty-five minutes, so I decided to walk. (It was chilly, but not windy, and there was no precip in progress.) On the way, I stopped off at Shop'n'Save for a few groceries.
The gift book was The Food of a Younger Land, by Mark Kurlansky, about USAn eating habits prior to the Great Depression. Could be interesting, could be crankwork. (Why were they giving it away? It turns out to be an Advance Reviewer Copy, so they couldn't sell it anyway.)
The duplicate keys don't work.
