What made today good?

sweetharleygirl · Post by **sweetharleygirl** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 3:25 pm

Yesterday actually, finally finishing with the library web site and getting it up and running! YEAH!!!

moonwolf021 · Post by **moonwolf021** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 9:05 pm

Weather here is SO nice! Its just amazing. Clear skies, high 70's. It makes me really happy. So I'm going to go outside right now...

Omphalos · Post by **Omphalos** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 10:17 pm

Here in Sac too.

sweetharleygirl · Post by **sweetharleygirl** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 11:09 am

Yesterday was good because it was my birthday and I got to do exactly what I wanted!!!

the grim squeaker · Post by **the grim squeaker** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 8:17 am

Happy birthday firm basic chicken of the bicyclist !

sweetharleygirl · Post by **sweetharleygirl** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 10:23 am

Thank you TGS, you made today good!!

spiphany · Post by **spiphany** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 5:36 pm

I just passed my comprehensive exams! One step closer to earning my masters degree.

*bounces around excitedly*

Post by **laurie** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 8:17 pm

Major congratulations, Spiphany!!!

sweetharleygirl · Post by **sweetharleygirl** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 9:57 am

YEHA spiphany!!!!

Good riding weather today!

Post by **Darb** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 9:37 pm

Deathwatch tonite for my Uncle. My car's in the shop, and the hospital's far away, so I can't be with him.

He was a Navy man in WWII ... volunteered to serve his country, along with both of his brothers (including my late Father). After the world war ended, he did several tours around the world, including several years in Antarctica. How fitting that the grandson of a priest (my paternal great grandfather) should ascend to join him on Easter.
Today is a good day, for those who observe Easter. Glasses up to a good Man, with a capital 'M'.

Post by **Darb** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 11:35 am

I realize that many of our younger members who've not yet been (or perhaps never will be) in the position I'm about to describe, will view it as horribly morbid, and out of place in a thread like this, but allow to describe why it *is* appropriate.

So far in my life, it has been my sad duty, and honor, on several occasions, to carry out the last wishes of greatly loved members of my immediate family ... to take them off artifical life support, and set them free to return to their maker. As the bard says - to "shuffle off their mortal coil", and set foot on the trail of whatever adventure awaits us all.

I did it for my Father a few short years ago, when he was terminal with no hope of recovery, and in a little under an hour, I'll be off with my Brother to give my Uncle (who's now in a terminal coma) one last hug and kiss, and salute him on his final deployment. It's a deepy bitter sweet and poignant duty, but it is also one of great honor, and trust. It is a humbling experience, I assure you.

My uncle was a great lover of books ... his apartment is literally packed with them floor to ceiling. It was his primary hobby. He traded them, sold them in bulk, and spent most of his retirement walking, and reading.

I'm signing off now. I will grab a paperback at random off my shelf, ride with my Brother to the distant VA Hospital he's at, and read to him while the appropriate papers are taken care of. When it's time, I'll place the book under his hand.

I hope that someday, someone will do the same for me.

MidasKnight · Post by **MidasKnight** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 11:59 am

That warmed my heart Brad. I don't really know you, but you sound like a good Man (with a capital M).

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 1:42 pm

My heart is with you, Brad.

You are a good Man.

Post by **Darb** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 5:22 pm

Thanks. He passed peacefully. I didn't get the chance to read to him though ... too many hospital staff coming and going, and too much happening. Also, I couldnt leave the book, because hospital policy is to make sure no personal effects are left behind. Instead, he'll be reading over my shoulder in the years to come.

I will make sure that his extremely modest estate makes a donation to help keep this place running.

moonwolf021 · Post by **moonwolf021** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 7:02 pm

My heart and thoughts are with you. That would be a very hard thing to go through.

mccormack44 · Post by **mccormack44** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 7:44 pm

I expect that your heart will often be with him as you read; in my experience it helps to share memories of pleasure about the people we have lost. My heart is with you.

Sue

the grim squeaker · Post by **the grim squeaker** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 7:54 am

Me too Brad.

"Annihilation has no terrors for me, because I have already tried it before I was born- a hundred million years- and I have suffered more in an hour, in this life, than I remember to have suffered in the whole hundred million years put together. There was a peace, a serenity, an absence of all sense of responsibility, an absence of worry, an absence of care, grief, perplexity; and the presence of a deep content and unbroken satisfaction in that hundred million years of holiday which I look back upon with a tender longing and with a grateful desire to resume, when the opportunity comes."

~Attrb. to Samuel Langhorne Clemens, (Pen name Mark Twain) -- 1835-1910. American author and humorist.

Zybahn · Post by **Zybahn** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 12:24 pm

spiphany wrote:I just passed my comprehensive exams! One step closer to earning my masters degree.

*bounces around excitedly*

Well done! I have six weeks left to finish my thesis & once the defense is done will join you in the bouncing.

Any plans for a PhD?

sweetharleygirl · Post by **sweetharleygirl** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:20 pm

Brad my heart goes out to you along with my prayers.

What made today good was reciving my winning shipment of books from the National Endowment for the Humanities for the We the Poeple "Picturing America" Bookshelf. I applied last Sept and was notified in March that we were one of 4000 libs across the Nation to recive this honor, and what an honor it is!

Post by **Darb** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:27 pm

Congrats !

BTW, know anyone who wants a couple thousand paperbacks ? My brother has to clean out my uncle's apartment, and there's a huge pile of books to dispose of. Local libraries here only want hardcovers. Too prohibitively expensive to ship. Shame to curb them for recycling, but I dont see much choice.

sweetharleygirl · Post by **sweetharleygirl** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:33 pm

Have you thought of giving them away to Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc? Any books I have left over after a book sale I give to my priest and he takes them to an indian reservation he worked and lived at years ago, they really appreaciate the books so places like that are a good idea. Hope this helps a little, it's a shame to throw away any book unless it's beyond repair.

MidasKnight · Post by **MidasKnight** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:49 pm

Brad wrote:Congrats !

BTW, know anyone who wants a couple thousand paperbacks ? My brother has to clean out my uncle's apartment, and there's a huge pile of books to dispose of. Local libraries here only want hardcovers. Too prohibitively expensive to ship. Shame to curb them for recycling, but I dont see much choice.

Used Book Store

daetara · Post by **daetara** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 3:06 pm

might look for a senior center, or even a teen center depending on what kind of books they are. maybe a women's shelter?

spiphany · Post by **spiphany** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 3:18 pm

Zybahn wrote:Well done! I have six weeks left to finish my thesis & once the defense is done will join you in the bouncing.

Any plans for a PhD?

I still have another year to go (just coursework; no thesis for this program)
Technically, I actually don't have my bachelor yet, as I'm doing one of those combined degree things.

Er...PhD programs are on the radar, I'm looking at comparative literature (big surprise to everyone here, I'm sure). It's a rather frightening thought.
On the other hand, one of my professors was telling me that being a grad student is propably a good career move with the economic situation at the moment.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you on the thesis. What are you writing on?

spiphany · Post by **spiphany** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 3:19 pm

Brad: Good Will, perhaps? How quickly do you need to get rid of them?