Archives - Weekly Update

Today is Leap Day, and I decided to have some fun coming up with a new holiday to celebrate it. You can read my blog about it here.

Well, I got a lot of mail last week from people who were chastising me about not having a book for the car when I was stuck in traffic. I realize now that just as we have backup LightWedges in the car to ensure that passengers can read in the dark, I need to stash books into the map pockets to ensure there are backup books available. My new slogan: "I will not be caught without a book again." As I say this I point my finger like those old Smokey Bear (Internet Trivia of the Day: Note why he's not Smokey the Bear here.) ads where he talks about how YOU can prevent forest fires.

I really need this three-day weekend. With the snow this week I spent a lot more time in my car than I planned. Tuesday night I had what I called a "free for all" commute. There had been significant snow, and somehow the highway department was not ready for this (I guess that they too never believe the meteorologists), thus the drive home was on unplowed roads. This reminds me why there are lines on the roads. If there are not, people make six lanes, or two. It's very interesting to note that people truly cannot remember that, hey, this highway usually has three lanes, let's do that again.

As I am writing this opener I am humming the song "Miami" by Will Smith, which has the right beat but needs a lyric re-write to reflect my bookish Miami area trip this week as I ducked down there for a couple of days for some meetings and store visits. Okay, I confess that any opportunity to get into the sun and someplace warm this time of year works for me thus making this trip something I did not need to be talked into. It was quickly planned, so I did not get a chance to inform most of the usual suspects that I was coming into town. Who knew that all I would have to do is go to a bookstore to see many of the people I know in the area?

I love the trivia that I can find on the Internet. There is no lack of material to enable procrastination. A few weeks ago I was on Art Garfunkel's website and saw a listing there of all the books he has read since June 1968. Then this week I saw an article in The New Yorker called "The King of Reading," which is all about his list. Now I wonder if The New Yorker writer tripped over this list online while procrastinating, or where the tip for this piece came from. Well, I confess that Art and I do not have the same reading taste, but reading his list gave me more insight into him. And it got me to wondering about the “college essay” and “job interview” question --- “What are the books that define me?” I never could answer that one.