bad and (potentially) great news

I got a late start on my day of warehousing. I showed up only to find the door locked! grrrr.... It seems someone accidentally locked it. The owner says he'll arrange a key to keep it from happening again.

On a good note, a highly respected local bookseller shuttered his doors a couple years ago as his warehouse district gentrified beyond his budget. I found the guy who's sitting on all the unsold stuff and he loves the idea of the books being put to good use, but insists I must take thousands of them. hoo-rah!! Now I just have to get a look at them to assure they'll be useful.

And I have an appointment tomorrow with a club owner about doing some benefit shows to help with shipping costs on my primary project.

warming up...

The weather broke and the warehouse 'o' books is no longer mind-numbingly frigid, it's merely damn cold. I was able to scrape enough books together to do run to the storage place and on my return stacked up enough boxes to do it again tomorrow morning.

I chatted with my Girl Scout contact and the request to do a book drive with them is still meandering up the chain of command. grrrr....

16

better dressed . . .

Two pairs of socks, two long-sleeved shirts, insulated undershirt, a sweatshirt and a jacket and work boots... Yeah, almost enough clothes. Three and a half hours and 10 boxes of books later I stopped for the day.

The high point of the day was the time I spent killing time while I waited for the guy with the key to the building to show up. I drove around and picked up a small stack of empty boxes for future use.

cold as hell...

Apparently I now have free access to the old-book warehouse now without the owner present. The locked door will remain open for the time being, leaving me with access to dozens upon dozens upon dozens of pallets of books. Unfortunately, the two pallets I worked up were virtually devoid of anything useful. I got a late start and tomorrow I'll give it another shot. This time I'll have to dress appropriately as the place is totally unheated and it's 10 degrees outside. brrrrr......

books for Sibiu

We received a rather large contribution for the benefit of a grade school in Sibiu. Today I sent off 4 boxes (106 pounds) of books.

progress and less paperwork needed

I surprised the guy at Left Bank Books with the speed that I sorted and boxed his second group of accumulated discards. I was half done in just 2 hours. With the books I got from Subterranean Books I rounded out another load to take to storage. On the way it started raining. I covered the boxes with a tarp. They predict 5 inches of snow.

I spent some more time measuring pallets and graphing a floor plan for the container, as I am so far along in the process I don't want any wasted time and effort on loading day. An 8'x8'x20' mountain of books will be substantial. I just laughed at the enormity of this essentially one-man project.

My PC-Ro colleague continues to work on his end researching and establishing what we both need to do - and hopefully finding success in raising the money. Apparently the certification of patrimony is not necessary (my theory is they think "how can books from such a new place - America - have historic value?" LOL), but I think I'm going to cobble one together, just for fun and send it back with the official invitation they do need. And it seems Romanian customs laws will continue to let books in without duty.

I've decided to try to work out being in Romania the accept the container as it arrives. Once the container is sent off they say I'll be told the ship name, captain's name, and transit progress along with scheduled date of arrival.

14

a new source, and more books from an old one

I finally got through to another used bookstore and they allowed me to take a few stacks of books they had set aside for the book fair. They allowed me to take what I could use as long as I got rid of all of them. I grabbed about 10 boxes for the container and passed another 10 along.

And I stopped by the other book store and their charity pile has resprouted to its original size and there will be a couple days work for me next week going through them.

And finally, the guy with the building full of books says he's going to give me a key so I can go through them without him being there. Yeah, it's to get my free labor for boxing the books we can't use, but I'm getting 20% ratio on the books I've gone through so far, so as long as I have the time it'll be good.

the day is summer-like compared to yesterday

I 've been invited to speak to a small church group as the speaker at their monthly dinner. I went there this past Sunday to check out this month's speaker and see how I might format myself. The speaker was a local poet. I sat through his reading and asked a few questions. Afterwards I introduced myself and gave him a card. He called the next day and offered a few of his "printer's seconds." I said it would be wonderful and asked for him to give an introduction to contacts at his job. He works for the Boy Scouts of America.

Another trip to the storage warehouse with books. I remeasured the pallets to see how they might fit in the container to plan ahead, as they are not all the same size. Now I have to mind the size pallets I take so they will even out.

There are no further book opportunities, save that warehouse of unsorted used books. I'll go there again this Friday and get what I can. With the books I have stacked there already I hope to have 15-20 boxes by the weekend.

a freezing afternoon

I finally hooked-up with the warehouse guy. I spent the afternoon in his dingy, freezing work area sorting through books. The deal is I can take what I want as long as I box up my rejects so he can wholesale them out. The ratio I hit was 4 boxes of rejects (for him) to 1 box of books for me. It's not high enough for my liking, but it's something to get a few more good books.

I went to a local county library having a small book fair. They have several in the winter as they rev-up for their massive June sale. I tried to get access to their unsold books. They keep them for the June sale, but I laid the groundwork and explained the container project.

Hopefully, by June I'll have virtually all the books I need to fill the container and what I get from them will be cream on the top. I am counting on this sale and the May book fair here to finish off the project. Between those two events I should be able to get the final 10% of the necessary books, if they are still needed.

I got a message from a friend in Bucharest about a Rotary Club in Maine that sent a 20-foot container of books (apparently) to Ramnicu Valcea. I e-mailed them with info about this program and asked for an introduction to local Rotarians to ask whatever assistance they might offer.

Tonight I'll visit a church to scope out the format they use for their monthly speakers' presentation, as I am invited to speak next month.

I've been told that word of the book project is passing around a local university and there may be some interest. Also a local high may sign on.