For the last couple of weeks, my time has been spent scouring the cardboard recycling centers for cardboard boxes of a size conducive to mailing books. The response to the Virtual Garage Sale quickly depleted my supply that I had stored in the real garage, and drove me to become a dumpster diver. Luckily, for our upcoming move, we get the cardboard boxes for free from the moving company, else I would be spending the next couple of weeks diving for the slightly bigger boxes to pack our belongings in.

Everything has fallen into place for the move to "the District" (as I'm told the natives of Washington, D.C. call it). We have located a condominium to buy, and anticipate closing at the end of the month; we received an acceptable offer for our current home; moving and loan arrangements have been made. I'm starting to get worried because things are going so well. I know my luck can't last.

Our new address in D.C., for those of you who care about such things, will be:

4301 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Suite 3011
Washington, D.C. 20016

Even though I have sold a large majority of the books that I had yet to read, there's still at least a shelf's worth, including several short story collections that I anticipate will be my main preoccupation during the latter part of this year. While attending school, it is much easier to read short stories, as they require less time commitment and attention span, and make excellent procrastination devices.

Finally, this is the first installment using the new mailing list software from Find Mail communications. Please let me know if there are any problems.