We're Okay

For those of you who didn't know, Miriam and I flew back from London to Philadelphia yesterday, so we were gone by the time the bombings happened and we're okay. I'll be getting home tomorrow night and blogging about the trip (which was great) this weekend.

Tallyho!

I'm off to England, Scotland and Philadelphia. (Cue Sesame Street song: "One of these things is not like the others....") I'll be back home on July 8th. I'm excited!

I Have Too Many Books

But boy do I love it. The total count of my library is currently 326 books, not counting a box of music books from Mom that I still haven't sorted through (and not to mention unknown quantities back in the garage in Santa Cruz). That may not sound like a huge number, but it's a lot to cram into my little room where I only have one and a half bookcases. My window nook (about 5' x 3') is starting to fill up and there are generally stacks of books on the floor and dresser, depending on what I have out from the library at any given time. Plus, I've started taking books to work, so I've got a good shelf's worth of computer-related books at my desk there. I need to think about moving to an actual apartment some day, even if only because of all my books.

To make matters worse, I spent last Saturday with Mom in Berkeley and the used book stores up there are just like magnets for the two of us. She sold a bunch of books at Moe's for $178 in trade, so we splurged and I came out of there with 9 more books. Then tonight I was over at Antonia's, and she's trying to get rid of everything she owns before moving. I came away from that with 22 books (including a 6-volume set of the complete works of Shakespeare -- never know when it might come in handy!) and she still has even more to sort through for giving away.

I feel at the same time immensely rich and completely overwhelmed with reading material.

I Just Gave Someone 2/5 of a Cow

Mom recently told me about Heifer International, which I chose for my current monthly donation. It's a charity with a good, teach-a-man-to-fish sort of approach. Rather than just giving people temporary help and food, you can contribute to a more long-term solution where people are given livestock, taught to take care of it, and then agree to pass on some of the animals' offspring to other needy families. For different prices, you can choose to donate a variety of different animals, including cows, goats, pigs, ducks, bees, and even water buffalo or llamas. There are also trees or seedlings for any of you vegan-types who might be against exploiting animals. You can buy "shares" of some of the larger, costlier animals, which is how I got the fractional cow donated. Hopefully someone else will come up with the other 3/5 of it, or else there's going to be a disappointed recipient somewhere. Anyway, I just thought that was a good thing to share. Feel free to chip in with me on this cow.

Countdown

Ten days from now I'll be in England!