Books Off the Floor

The bookcases are up and 98% (give or take) of the books are on the shelves. What a project -- can't believe I lived with the "mess" (below) for so long. Built the first six bookcases 2-3 years ago, then finally got the remainder up over the last couple of weeks. Thanks to my friends Dave and Paul for lending time and expertise to the process on two different days -- many hands and backs make for light work.

The need for more shelves:





Dave helped me move the workstation out of the corner and into the middle of the room, and move the new bookcases from the garage to the office:





Paul helped me space out the books in the existing shelves and begin loading new books into the new shelves:





Finally, most of the books are in the new bookcases, with expansion room left over:



And a little tour of the whole operation (with accompaniment from the FolkAlley.com streaming radio station -- great background music 24x7 -- folk, traditional, Celtic, acoustic -- great blend -- I started filming when some guy started wailin' that "love can be a messy thang" -- profound, though I can't argue). Still a lot of odds-'n-ends to put away, but you'll get the general idea: (Click the arrow to play.)



Lots of these books will (hopefully) be gone in the months ahead as I winnow out what I no longer need or have interest in. I dug into several boxes of books I had brought from my parents' home in Alabama -- lots of my childhood books, gift-books from my grandmothers when I was small (9-10 years old): not children's books, but biographies, histories, "documentary" books. I was really amazed to see them, and realize how much my own love of books and learning was fueled by grandmothers and parents who were constant readers themselves, and who made sure we had challenging books to read and well-worn library cards.

My focus the last 8-9 years has been on food, health, gardening, agriculture, sustainable living, and the like, and books on those subjects comprise much of what needed organizing and shelving, which I did in four categories:

Food Production (gardening, farming)
Food Preparation (kitchen, etc.)
Food Processing (processing by the body -- health, etc.)
Food Promotion (books on worldview and philosophy related to the above subjects, including a dearth of books from a biblical/Christian perspective, more of which are needed -- not needed to be bought, but written)

Now -- back to work.

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The End of the Great Avocado Experiment

The avocado trees have taken a beating in the freezing nighttime temps lately:







Strangely, there was one tree that had sprouted near the house that suffered nothing in the cold -- looked just fine. It's supposed to go down to 17 degrees tonight, so this afternoon I dug it up and put it in a large planter and brought it indoors (in front of a south-facing window) for the remainder of the winter. This was motivated by Daniel's friend Hector who has had an avocado tree growing inside for several years and is quite tall. So I'll make a house-tree out of this one and see what happens:

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Have a Nice Day

WASHINGTON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - U.S. economic and political clout will decline over the next two decades and the world will be more dangerous, with food and water scarce and advanced weapons plentiful, U.S. spy agencies projected on Thursday.

The National Intelligence Council analysis "Global Trends 2025" also said the current financial crisis on Wall Street is just the first phase of a global economic reordering. The U.S. dollar's role as the world's major currency would weaken to become a "first among equals," the report said.

The outlook is intended to inform U.S. President-elect Barack Obama of factors that will influence global events. It is based on a year-long global survey of experts and trends by U.S. intelligence analysts.

If that much of the article doesn't cheer you up, you can read the rest of it here.
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A Great Innovation

"They" often say that the best ideas are the simplest ideas. I've found something that seems to verify that observation. You may already be using this product, but I like it so much that I want to pass the word on.

At least two paper towel producers (there may be more) that I have found are now producing standard rolls of kitchen-type paper towels with a twist. Instead of the standard-size large sheets that you tear off the roll, that standard sheet now has an additional perforation in the middle of the sheet, allowing you to tear off only HALF a standard sheet instead of a whole sheet. I have found that the VAST majority of times I need a paper towel in the kitchen or bathroom, a half-sheet does just fine. If I use a half sheet instead of a large sheet, I use half as much paper (trees) and the rolls last twice as long. What amazes me is that these companies have been willing to introduce this innovation at the risk of reducing the sale of rolls of paper towels since a roll now lasts longer. (I may be missing something there -- let me know if you see it.)

The two brands I've found that are putting in the extra perforation in the standard size sheets are Brawny and Bounty. Look on the outside of the packaging: You'll see a feature advertised like "Pick-a-Size" or "Select-a-Size" for the ones with this feature.

So now instead of being limited to one or more standard sizes of sheets, you can tear off sheets in multiples of half-sizes. For me, a half-sheet accomplishes almost everything I need. Very cool idea.

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Okay, I Confess

I have laughed at these two movie trailers so many times that I finally decided to out myself and admit that Jim Carrey cracks me up. The older he gets as an actor, the more I like him. Even though he is still a wacko in his movies, there is a maturity in this one that I really like. He's a winsome, likable guy in this movie, which draws me to him -- and maybe one of the funniest people on the planet. I won't go see the movie because it (apparently) has stuff in it I don't want to pay to see, but the trailers are clean -- and hilarious. (Especially the "Red Bull" and "Korean class" scenes.)

There are two different trailers available for the movie "Yes" at the Apple trailer site, here. They are slightly different, both with very funny scenes, so watch them both.
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