Month: March 2007

Rachel Z at Yoshi’s

Last Monday night Duke and I went to see Department of Good & Evil featuring Rachel Z at Yoshi’s. It was the CD release party for their new CD named the same as the group name. What a talented trio. Rachel’s piano playing just dazzled me. Maeve Royce  who played the acoustic bass and Bobbie Rae who played the drums were fantastic too.

I wish I was a more educated music listener. One of my favorites of the pieces that they played was an arrangement of Sting’s “King of Pain”. Unfortunately I can’t remember the original or if I have ever heard it. I certainly enjoyed the performance Monday night and now I want to listen to the Sting song.

Many of the one night stands that we have been to at Yoshis have been awesome. They are usually not sold out so the feeling is very intimate and I often discover something new to me and very special.  Rachel Z is exactly that.

Another blog I always Read

Millie Garfield’s blog My Mom’s Blog by Thoroughly Modern Millie is on my short list of Blog’s I read regularly. She had a great posting back in January that I am just getting around to linking to. It was titled My Trip from 65 to 81 .  I’ve got about 10 years to go before I hit 65. I do think a lot of what she says about her journey provides lessons for all of us. I like her attitude and the fact that she started blogging when she was 77. I hope I never stop learning and doing new things.

Selling Books

I love books and reading!  I always have. When I was young I wanted to grow up and be a librarian. Bookcases_2
When I look at a book I often remember when I read it, what was going on in my life and how the book made me feel. For the books I haven’t read yet I like to remember how I acquired them. I enjoy savoring the anticipation of reading them someday.

Since we’ve decided to sell our house and move, it makes sense to get rid of some of my books. When I made this decision I had 8 big bookcases overflowing with books and several boxes of books in the garage. I’m selling a bunch but of course I’m keeping all my favorites.

Over the past year I have been culling out the books I don’t want to keep. On April 17 of last year I started selling books on Amazon. So far I’ve sold 167 books. After fees and postage I’ve cleared $384. Listing the books, packaging them and taking them to the post office takes time and It certainly is not going to make me rich but I am enjoying it. Plus, trying to sell the books makes the process of parting with them easier. Currently I have about  260 books for sale on Amazon.

For books that are too old to sell on Amazon I am selling them on EBay. Currently I have several books about books for sale on Ebay. I’m selling other stuff on EBay too. I’m always surprised what sells and what doesn’t and for how much.

I’m selling stuff on craigslist too. I don’t sell books there, usually only bigger stuff.

Often books don’t sell. When that happens I give them to charity. By then I’ve broken my attachment to them and I’m able to let them go.

Update 5/1/2007 – The sales on Bay have ended. I am still selling stuff on EBay sometimes. My user name is ruthie730 if you want to see if I have anything currently. Here is a list of the books I sold and the selling prices:

$6.60 – Books and Collectors by Maurice Dunbar
$.99 – Dans Ces Bras

$.99 – French Little Women

$5.76 – A box of 13 Nora Roberts Paperbacks

$71.00 – Complete 21 volume set – The Annals of America
** note: I may have to refund this one because the post office seems to have lost one of the boxes I shipped.

$1.80 -The Book of the Month – Sixty Years of Books in American Life edited by Al Silverman
$5.00 – Prince of Forgers
by Emile Mabille, Henri Leonard Bordier, Joseph Rosenblum
$3.37 – Prince of Librarians, Life & Times of Antonio Panizzi by Edward Miller
$2.60 – Slightly Chipped
by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone
$1.80 – The Joy of Books
by Eric Burns
$11.98 – 18 different back issues of Biblio Magazine
$1.00 – The Bookman’s London by Frank Swinnerton
$6.23 – Penny Wise and Book Foolish by Vincent Starrett
$17.50 – Two A E Newton books about book collecting

$3.25 – Dukedom Large Enough – Reminiscences of a Rare Book Dealer  1929-1956 by David A.
Randall
$11.51 – Hooked on Books
by Maurice Dunbar
$12.55 – Infinite Riches – The Adventures of a Rare Book Dealer by David Magee
$11.44 – Sunwise Turn – a Human Comedy of Bookselling by Madge Jenison
$4.24 – Great Books and Book Collectors by Alan G. Thomas

People I know were on TV!

One of the best things about working at Intuit was the Quality Assurance people that I worked with. They were all professional, hard working and smart. One of them, Anders Mortinson, showed just how smart he is last Friday when he was on Jeopardy. You may have heard that  for the first time ever Jeopardy had a three way tie on Friday. As a result there was even a story about him  in our local paper. He also got to come back to compete again on Monday. A friend told me that at Intuit on Friday they had a pizza party and over
50 people ate pizza and watched the show. Scott Cook even attended.

Last Monday  my daughter Allison was on national TV too! She and her friends were visiting New York and could be seen in the crowd outside the Today Show on NBC. They also got to shake hands with Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, and Al Roker.  Allison is the one with an octopus on her head 🙂

Allison_on_today_002

Sunol Regional Park

The San Francisco bay Area has a lot of wonderful parks and spring is an especially beautiful time to visit. There are lots of wild flowers and all the hills that will be brown in the summer are beautiful and green right now. Last Sunday we put Aidan in the jogging stroller and went for a hike at Sunol Regional Park. Afterward we cooked polish sausage over a fire and enjoyed them in the picnic area at the trail head.Sunol_3182007_001