A brief taste of spring today, as we spent a good portion of the afternoon out in the sunny backyard. The dog guarded us against squirrels, Chad wrote lectures, I did our state taxes (the form is much improved from last year, but the calculation of the tax itself is like someone's nightmare of a math word problem) and then started reading His Majesty's Dragon (early verdict: spiff). This being New England, snow is forecast for later in the week.
(Apparently Daylight Savings Time hasn't been moved this year, but it still feels too early for me.)
Yesterday I got the oil changed in my car and then went to three bookstores and a library. I came away with the aforementioned His Majesty's Dragon; Locked Rooms in paperback; four Aubrey-Maturin novels in the older editions [*] to complete the set; three mid-series Lindsey Davis paperbacks, used; and the third and fifth Lindsey Davis books from the library (books two and four are on the way from another branch; book one has been booklogged). I did not buy the new Eloisa James, The Taming of the Duke, for three reasons: (1) its cover is an embarassing step back; (2) it is indeed Rafe/Imogen which I am skeptical of; and (3) it appears to be using a really, really dumb plot device. I may try it from the library, or not.
[*] The new trade paperbacks (darker colors, larger, floppier, nicer typeface) are riddled with OCR errors. They have the same ISBNs and prices as the older, more pastel editions, and so the only way I could be sure to get the right ones is to buy them in person. (I made Chad buy me a huge stack last week because it was Educator Appreciation Week at Borders and he got 25% off.) I now have all but one in the older editions (well, two, but they can't have re-set 21 so that's not urgent) and poor Desolation Island sticking out like a sore thumb. I'm not sure whether I'll replace it given the opportunity.
Rounding off the media acquisitions, today I won the first six Fullmetal Alchemist DVDs from eBay, new, less than $16 each including shipping. Go me.
Oh, and if you ever find yourself calling all fifty states and the District of Columbia? Organize your list by time zone, and be prepared for the regional differences in speaking speed to be even more pronounced than you think they are. Just a couple of tips from experience.