The hardest thing about the book selling business appears to be in gathering the will to sell a book that I have not yet read. I pick up all this books and think to myself, "I'll put them up for sale... after I've gone through them." Never going to be a bookseller if I do that.
My old domain, the one that I had been using before I was a fool and let it expire, was scooped up by domain squatters some years ago. Occasionally I go back to see if they've given up on it, but there is still a large 'for sale' button where my site once was. Today I did a little snooping around to see how much they were 'selling' the domain for. The price I turned up? 4,000 dollars. Considering it costs about 10 bucks a year to register a domain, and I am one hundred percent certain that my domain gets 0 visitors besides myself when I check it once ever few months, that asking price is retarded. IMO, that sort of domain squatting is up there with telemarketing in terms of 'business ideas that will be sure to land -someone- in hell'. It's the fishing for easy profit without producing anything of value whatsoever that enrages me so much.
And at the same time the domain, who's name I liked quite a bit, has been locked out of any use and if I ever do decide to purchase server space again, I am going to have to come up with something else.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Bits and Pieces
Sometimes headlines are just too stupid not to enjoy:
"European Union foreign ministers condemn the use of forged passports in the assassination of a top Palestinian militant."
Hey guys, way not cool that you used our passports there, but good job on killing a guy, well done.
Fun fact, there are, according to the autobiographies in circulation, at least three 'last men who knew everything'. Athanasius Kircher, Thomas Young, and Joseph Leidy. There may be more, but I can cay with certainty that there hasn't been any men who know everything in quite some time, and until the internet explodes and we are thrust back into an informational dark age we won't be having one again.
This video of a 1940s printing press is sexy as hell.
"European Union foreign ministers condemn the use of forged passports in the assassination of a top Palestinian militant."
Hey guys, way not cool that you used our passports there, but good job on killing a guy, well done.
Fun fact, there are, according to the autobiographies in circulation, at least three 'last men who knew everything'. Athanasius Kircher, Thomas Young, and Joseph Leidy. There may be more, but I can cay with certainty that there hasn't been any men who know everything in quite some time, and until the internet explodes and we are thrust back into an informational dark age we won't be having one again.
This video of a 1940s printing press is sexy as hell.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
When I grow up...
Something else I absolutely must have when I grow up.
There are people who actually have secret bookcases and book levers. Those people are my heroes.
There are people who actually have secret bookcases and book levers. Those people are my heroes.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
When I grow up...
Someday I will have the means to win an auction of something like this:
Heritage auctions apparently takes interns. I wonder what sort of qualifications they look for. Time to shoot out an e-mail.
Heritage auctions apparently takes interns. I wonder what sort of qualifications they look for. Time to shoot out an e-mail.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Dedication
Last night, as I was walking from the store to my car, I passed someone outside with his laptop sitting on the cigarette tray playing WoW. It had snowed two days ago and was still frigid outside, but there he was, sucking on a cig, presumably for warmth, and pecking at his keyboard with gloved fingers.
We have a couple of guys who take advantage of our free wi-fi and sit in the store for hours on end playing WoW, but this is the first time I've seen someone willing to stand outside in the cold to play. I'm not sure if he's impressively dedicated, or impressively addicted.
We have a couple of guys who take advantage of our free wi-fi and sit in the store for hours on end playing WoW, but this is the first time I've seen someone willing to stand outside in the cold to play. I'm not sure if he's impressively dedicated, or impressively addicted.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Feb Update
Happy February. February is one of the hardest months to spell. It's Feb-you-air-ee. Where the hell did that R come from?
Anyhow, my job has been excellent, though lacking hours enough to provide more than gas and bill money at the moment. At least it's something, and there are the added perks of human interaction (with interesting and nice humans, no less) and a reason to get off my ass and do something. It is in no way a permanent solution to my career woes however. I'm growing more certain that a library science degree will be for me. We actually had a library science student come into the store yesterday doing research on the differences in costs/risks/services of libraries and commercial bookstores, and it's a shame that I will probably not get a chance to read the resulting paper.
The major hurdle to a masters at the moment is the GRE. Taking it will not be an issue, but I've been trying to get the UH financial aid office to contact me about a fee voucher and they have been dead silent. If I get nothing from them by march I suppose I will just shrug and pay the 160 dollars. The price tag isn't too awful for me, but it was still a surprise. For people who have not been able to rely on the support of parents an entry fee that steep on a test that important has got to suck.
I am almost done with Les Mis. It will be almost certainly finished by the end of this month, and then I will be reading Infinite Jest. The amount of reading I have been doing this year has been pretty steady, but I have failed ten times over to write with any consistency. I find myself again wondering if abstinence from the computer might fix that, but I don't think I have that sort of will power.
I have however developed a semi successful method for getting things done. I've set up a few school-like periods where the 'class' is something like 'clean' or 'write' or 'study language'. So far, only the 'clean' period has gotten me to do any work. The other too are too early in the day or something, or I'm just too lazy, and artificial deadlines or schedules have never worked for me.
The first project successfully completed during 'clean' class has been a sorting of 10+ boxes that came with us when we moved 8 years go, and have not been touched since. Half of it was children's books, and the other half was a combination of trash and yarn.
This mess was reduced to 4 or so boxes, 3 of which are books that I'm going to sell off to make room. The living room there is now completely clean and there is actually some walking space in the dining room now. My room remains a disaster area, but that's next on the hitlist.
It snowed a decent amount today, and I got my first exercise in a good while by helping shovel the sidewalk. We live in a corner house with a good deal of sidewalk, so the work lasted most of the day. It felt nice to exert some energy though. I really need to do that more often...
Afterwards we had hot tea and nabe, which is basically a pot of boiling water plus whatever you care to throw in. Mine was full of greens, fishballs, and delicious mushrooms.
This huge thing is cut up into slices and and cooked until chewy. It's slightly sweet, and extremely delicious.
This post doesn't begin to cover what's been going on for the past month (a good thing; this means that things have actually been going on) but it's an update none the less.
Observation of the day: One of the most commonly stolen items in BnN is the Bible or its accessories.
Music of the day: Coheed and Cambria - Welcome Home. I can't figure out if I like these guys or not. Epic voice, but I can't hear any of the lyrics, and there's not much to the instrumentals at all. It verges on pop.
Anyhow, my job has been excellent, though lacking hours enough to provide more than gas and bill money at the moment. At least it's something, and there are the added perks of human interaction (with interesting and nice humans, no less) and a reason to get off my ass and do something. It is in no way a permanent solution to my career woes however. I'm growing more certain that a library science degree will be for me. We actually had a library science student come into the store yesterday doing research on the differences in costs/risks/services of libraries and commercial bookstores, and it's a shame that I will probably not get a chance to read the resulting paper.
The major hurdle to a masters at the moment is the GRE. Taking it will not be an issue, but I've been trying to get the UH financial aid office to contact me about a fee voucher and they have been dead silent. If I get nothing from them by march I suppose I will just shrug and pay the 160 dollars. The price tag isn't too awful for me, but it was still a surprise. For people who have not been able to rely on the support of parents an entry fee that steep on a test that important has got to suck.
I am almost done with Les Mis. It will be almost certainly finished by the end of this month, and then I will be reading Infinite Jest. The amount of reading I have been doing this year has been pretty steady, but I have failed ten times over to write with any consistency. I find myself again wondering if abstinence from the computer might fix that, but I don't think I have that sort of will power.
I have however developed a semi successful method for getting things done. I've set up a few school-like periods where the 'class' is something like 'clean' or 'write' or 'study language'. So far, only the 'clean' period has gotten me to do any work. The other too are too early in the day or something, or I'm just too lazy, and artificial deadlines or schedules have never worked for me.
The first project successfully completed during 'clean' class has been a sorting of 10+ boxes that came with us when we moved 8 years go, and have not been touched since. Half of it was children's books, and the other half was a combination of trash and yarn.
This mess was reduced to 4 or so boxes, 3 of which are books that I'm going to sell off to make room. The living room there is now completely clean and there is actually some walking space in the dining room now. My room remains a disaster area, but that's next on the hitlist.
It snowed a decent amount today, and I got my first exercise in a good while by helping shovel the sidewalk. We live in a corner house with a good deal of sidewalk, so the work lasted most of the day. It felt nice to exert some energy though. I really need to do that more often...
Afterwards we had hot tea and nabe, which is basically a pot of boiling water plus whatever you care to throw in. Mine was full of greens, fishballs, and delicious mushrooms.
This huge thing is cut up into slices and and cooked until chewy. It's slightly sweet, and extremely delicious.
This post doesn't begin to cover what's been going on for the past month (a good thing; this means that things have actually been going on) but it's an update none the less.
Observation of the day: One of the most commonly stolen items in BnN is the Bible or its accessories.
Music of the day: Coheed and Cambria - Welcome Home. I can't figure out if I like these guys or not. Epic voice, but I can't hear any of the lyrics, and there's not much to the instrumentals at all. It verges on pop.
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