Nevermind That I Live Less than a Mile from the Library

I know I have been delinquent in keeping up my posts, so here I am to semi-explain myself. The link in the side column Paperbackswap is at least partially responsible. This site is a very simple idea, but a huge concept. You post 9 books (can be paperback, audio or hardcover--anything with an ISBN) and you'll get 3 credits to begin with. You use your credits to pick out books that other people have posted. There is an excellent and varied selection, and if the book you want is not posted, then you can put it on your wishlist, and they automatically send you a message when it is posted. The book will be reserved for you for 48 hours until you can decide whether you want it, or you can set it so that it is automatically ordered if you don't want to take any chances.
Now, if someone orders one of your books, you can print out a label and pay a reduced rate for a delivery confirmation scan bar on the label. You wrap the book (they say with the printout, but unless the book is really small, I use a mailer envelope) and put the postage on it and send it! If you opt for the delivery confirmation, you will receive a credit when the book is scanned at your Post Office...which is good, because media mail is S-L-O-W. But, if you opt not to get the DC, you will get your credit when the sendee receives the book. The average price is around 1.75 to send a book..and that is the only cost. Let me tell you, anything that would get me to wrap books and go to the post office every day is miraculous. I am one of those people who the internet was made for...I loathe regular mail and often get lost on the way to a post office box.

I have been on for 3 weeks now, and I have mailed out 35 books!! I have received 15 books, and there is another (!!!) 30 on the way. The discrepancy is because for some of the books, I was impatient and bought credits. This is a cost of 3 credits for 8.25, which you can pay by paypal or whatever. So, it is a teeny bit more than earning the credits, but still cheaper than buying a 25 cent book on half.com and paying the shipping costs for it! You can sign up for free, but for 8 bucks a YEAR you can become a "boxer", which means that you can pick up to 10 books on another person's list, and that person picks up to 10 books on your list, and you send them. Not sure what the benefit is, but okay...they need cash to keep the site going. If I had to pay 8 bucks just to use the site, I still would.
Anyway, run your little asses over there and sign up. Tell them that robinm sent you, so I get a credit, bitches!



Here is one of my other reasons for my absence from the blogosphere. Luca is not quite as lazy as Kai, and needs constant entertainment, so we find ourselves taking walks walks walks all over the place to keep him happy. In this picture, however, he had been bitten by another dog at daycare and his nose got infected, so he spent half of the day sleeping. They gave him an antibiotic shot at the vet, and within 4 hours: walk walk walk! He is very cute, and maybe a teeny bit more cuddly than Kai, although not nearly as obedient. He sleeps with my daughter very nicely now; no more crate. I am taking Kai and him to a playgroup tonight for dogs over 50 lbs. We went a few weeks ago, and it was a blast! The woman who hosts the playgroups has 2 Bernese Mountain Dogs. One of them is about 18 inches across the shoulders...he is ENORMOUS. A big baby, of course, but massive. He pounded the crap out of Luca the last time...ever see a dog fall ACROSS a lawn? That was Luca; he tumbled for about 25 feet, end over end. They had a good time and they were sufficiently worn out by the time we got home. I have to remember to take pictures this time...they were a riot all together.

That's all the news. I'm going to try to get back for a few posts every now and again, but I'm sort of enjoying spending time in this place they call, how you say? Outdoors?