i'm a pen keeper. I go refillable. I got 3 black cross chrysler five star pens about 4 years ago. I still have one floating around here. My kids hurt my average pen retention time, but I'm still pretty good.

One of the perks of being the finance manager is that my Bank Reps give out great pens. Hann Financial in particular. Chase and Bank of America have been trading places at #2.

oh boy, I'm a geek.

I have one of the coveted "Viagra" pens. I have a matching clipboard as well.

Now writing with...
 

a Bic medium point. Blue. And NO cap! :D

I'm not cool because:

- I have the memory of a corn flake. The only things I remember with ease are my dreams. Other than that, I can't remember half the stuff that happened a day ago.
- I'm a homebody. I like being a homebody, but I also know that I should really get out more. Besides work (I'm a vet assistant), I haven't been anywhere special, lately.
- I'm clumsy. I once walked face-first into a door. Major dorkage, there.
- I'm thin & gangly. I was that pencil-thin athletic tomboy in school that you cool folk often chastised.
- My eating habits suck. But, alas...what would the world be if not for gorgeous junkfood?
- I get AWFUL sinus headaches. Not cool. I'm just getting over one, now.

There's more, way more than on my "why I'm cool" list, but I'll have to stop here; I'm beginning to lose self-confidence. :p

I am not cool because I cannot read a map to save my ( or anybody else's)life. .....I put books I have never read nor will ever read in prominent places on my bookshelves because they look good, whilst my pulpfiction stays outta sight.....I think I already mentioned I never learned to drive....I am impressed when encountering minor celebrities but pretend not to be....On the few occassions I have encountered them I have then gone on to namedrop them mercilessly....I sometimes spell jail as gaol cause damn it thats how we spelled it when I was at school!......

Unfiltered cigarettes and straight whiskey will stop that shit.;)

E-gads! I'm apt to think that unfiltered cigarettes and straight whiskey will stop just about everything!

......online deities? :D

I am not cool because I own too many books. At one point, I was buying at least ten books for every one that I read. I don't have a 'to read' shelf, I have to read BOOKCASES. A few months ago, I bought on ebay for $250 a used collection of Britannica's Great Book series, that's 45 fat books filled with so much good stuff. That alone is going to take me years to read. I've been good lately, and I avoid getting brand new books unless written by an exceptional author, but just browsing Amazon makes me drool, and I build up a mental shopping list of stuff I want to eventually get. I've run out of shelf space, and I'm running out of apartment space, help!

sell your books in clusters on ebay to bookbuying junkies like yourself. the circle of life.

See.:)

You don't get it, dude. For the bookaholic, once you get 'em you can't get rid of them. Except in very special circumstances, usually involving trading credit at a Book Swap.

Slarti ... I know where you are coming from. I've abandoned the idea of shelves at this point. Piles on the floor is the way to go. Then you can spend the money you would have spent on shelves on more books.

I am really trying hard to break the habit. I now have a couple boxes of stuff that I want to get rid of, and have started slowly listing them on Amazon. (I actually sold one book this weekend!!)

Well you could always take them over to Baldwin's Book Barn near West Chester and see if he wants to buy them. The only problem is that you may end up walking out of there with more books than you went in with. It really is a cool and slightly odd book store.

Or we could have a book/DVD/CD swap Cellar GTG.

*homer* booookbaaarn */homer* :yum:

If I try I bet I could sell 3-5% of my books without feeling too depressed. I'd even be getting rid of some of the dregs. Anyone want to by a technical book on Windows 3.1?

Oh my yes, you would LOOOVE the book barn.

They also have a rare book section ... the kinds of books people faint over being told what they are worth on Antiques Roadshow.

I've been banned from Atlantic Book Warehouse on Rt 309 North due to the fact that I always find a cartful of books I simply *cannot* live without! Generally at a cost of around $200-$400 per visit. There and the Woodworkers Warehouse. Dagney has all but given up trying to pry me out of either store and has settled for simply keeping me out in the first place.

Brian

Well, she never came through, so I brought my own cam from home and here are the good ones.


http://members.cox.net/thedarkwatch/desk1.jpg
http://members.cox.net/thedarkwatch/pinkcarnation.jpg
http://members.cox.net/thedarkwatch/wideflowers.jpg

The paper flowers are awesome! Thanks for showing them off.

However, I must say that if I worked with you, I would definitely have to kill you, given the overall gorge-rise-inducing cuteness of your whole tableau.

I mean that in the nicest way possible.

Yeah, avoiding the actual physical presence of books for sale would be important. Although, really, what with abebooks.com and all the other online places, I can much more efficienlty melt plastic without leaving my desk.

But we'll see how the Amazon thing goes. Unlike Ebay, they don't charge a fee to the seller unless the item is actually sold.

Shyte, it's good to see I'm not alone where books are concerned. I have an entire bookcase full of them. And more in the closet, and even more on the floor. My favourite books to buy are biographies of my favourite poets & artists, and picture books of art. I'm quite proud of my collection, I have a lot of antique books about my beloved British poets. But I also know how damn difficult it is to bypass a good sale or a used bookshop.

Have you tried to pawn the books you don't want at used bookstores? You don't get a winfall for them but on a good day you can easily cop $100 or more. Some stores will even give you a credit toward more books.

Sell the books? *uquivers in distress* noooo....precious they arrre....myyy Preccious

I'm envious.I was a voracious reader back in "the day".Not cool.We had a pretty progressive elementary school back in...around 1970?Newly constructed,it was built with no walls.Everything was moduler.In fifth grade I was skipping class to go read.Pretty stupid of me.With no walls I was only a few cubicles away from my old-school type teacher.I was pretty shocked when suddenly I was being lifted straight into the air one day.And as much as this is a "not cool" thread I believe that reading MAKES you cool.At least thats the message I'm trying to pass on to my 11&13 year old kids.

OK, now I'm starting to fantasize about running a used book business on a more formal basis. This could be trouble...

Especially when you start slapping customers and screaming "Get your filthy hands off my children!":haha:

Just set the price of the books at what you personally value them at.

"yes, that dog-eared copy of The Hobbit is $150, you got a problem with that???"

I dont know if anyone here has come across a little comedy programme from the UK called Black Books. .....the bookshopowner off that would fit right into the cellar. Cynical harddrinking, hardbitten lover of books who despises his customers.......yah...rock and roll

A good book about people who love books is 'The Club Dumas'. The movie made from it, 'The Ninth Gate' is also very well done.

It has one character that lives all alone in an old european castle or villa. There are no furniture, he sold it all. All he has is a collection of old books that he keeps lined up on the floor in one room. Every so often he goes through the terrible agony of having to pick one to sell to pay for upkeep and living expenses.

I kill "cool" on a daily basis by refusing to drive a car, collecting baseball cards, quitting every job after 9 months, and "skipping" when I walk my dog.

Interesting topic. Here's a few of my reasons

* - When I actually drive a car and am not walking, I listen to talk radio at a high volume, sometimes with the windows down.

* - I drive slow and drive a car normally driven by someone twice my age. I got nowhere to be, no one to meet, no place that cant wait, so driving a bit under the speed limit is the norm.

* - Have a razor thin line between being overly polite and downright confrontational and combative. When polite doesnt work, I dont fuck around and let my true nature take over.

* - Sunlight annoys the hell out of me, so when out in the light I'm generally uncomfortable and bitchy without any additional irritants.

* - Utility and comfort trumps fashion for all but a very few circumstances.

* - I'd rather do something productive on the computer than watch tv or a movie.

* - I dont leave home without at least one handgun and sometimes my primary shows through my clothes but if someone asks if my protruding sidearm is a handgun I tell them it's a cellphone. Sometimes this person will think they are witty and ask if they can use my cellphone and I tell them the battery is dead.

C'mon Slang, let 'em stick it in their ear.:shotgun:

A GUN PHONE!! Why didnt I think of that? You are the man Bruce.

slang: Sure you can use my phone, but it's a little different from any other phone you have used. It can only receive a signal from inside a dumpster or standing in a 6 foot deep pit.

wiseass: Oh, like.....cool, dude. Let me climb in this dumpster, I need to make a call.

slang: yep, that part goes to your ear, now, trip the trigger to get a dial tone.