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.

good news, bad news, good news

good news - I dropped off the twelfth load of books at the warehouse yesterday. Without hesitation I declare the project half finished on my side.

bad news - More, and more complicated, paperwork is necessary on the Romanian side.

good news - Some guy has given me free run of a small warehouse full of unsorted, used books. The only price is some sweat equity.

:-(

Oh, those well-meaning people who insist their musty, water-stained Readers' Digest Condensed Books would be a perfect addition to any modern library and are soooooo disappointed when I say thanks, but no thanks.

TGIF

Today I met a local high school principal socially and she seemed very interested in helping and will pass the info along to her head librarian.

I met-up with a local Girl Scout leader and she's going to make a pitch to the local GS Council.

I dropped off some literature at the local Orthodox church and asked if one of the youth groups might want to become involved.

And last, but not least, I took another load of books to the warehouse.

it's fun watching the pallets grow

I dropped off another load of accumulated books at the warehouse. As I count it, I need 10 tall pallets and 10 short ones to make the load. I'm working on the 7th tall one now.

I visited a local high school, requesting that some of our literature be given to the appropriate staff member. I'll stop again in a couple days to follow-up.

I stopped off and talked with a guy at a warehouse I stumbled on. His wife sells books on the net and has a LOAD of stuff she considers junk. The husband says she wants me to take it all, but I can't commit to that, even if I had space to work in, as I didn't even get a look at the stuff.

I confirmed I can slough off the stuff I don't want to the local Y for their book fair in the fall so now I have negotiating ammo. Wish me luck as the pile looks HUGE.

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F.Y.I. Anyone shipping things internationally should be aware of the requirements if they decide to use wooden pallets.

I always intended to pre-palletize the container-load of books as I went along because I had not intention of floor-loading 20,000 pounds of freight at one time and I have no idea of the manpower I'd have available when I reached my goal. I figured either 10 pallets, each loaded 7 feet high or 20 pallets each loaded halfway and stacked on top of each other.

I planned on grabbing scrap pallets as they are commonly found around almost any loading dock or industrial site. However, a shipping company tipped me to the fact that all international requirements cite that all wood pallets must meet ISPM 15 standards.

I was throughly confused until I found an example of the certification logo online and found some pallets with it. It looks like the graphic here and is branded onto a couple places on the wood. The top letters are the country of manufacture and the manufacturer. The bottom letters indicate the method used (HT = heat treated). The logo on the left is imperitive.

Without it, the shipment could be refused and returned and you'll be on the hook for all fees and penalties and if you don't take the stuff back it could be destroyed and you'd STILL be on the hook for ALL costs.

As I searched the stacks I found laying around dock areas I noted that only 1 in 20 or so is easily found and sometimes the company won't allow you to take them. A sharp eye and nose should be able to find a good source, as I ultimately did.

two stores cleaned out

With another two loads of books I have essentially cleaned out the basements of two used book stores.

Today I met with a little girl's mom. We chatted and the daughter will be doing a neighborhood/family book drive to earn some sort of award at school.

The writer of the article told me his church wants to have a book drive.

two more trips, thirty more boxes

The pile grows a bit larger with thirty boxes added today and another 15 or so boxes scheduled for tomorrow.

The Book House

As I walked out of my place I thought someone stole 2 boxes of books off my pick-up. I was pretty perturbed until I realized I didn't quite finish my work last night. I finished up those boxes and took them to the warehouse.

The dock door was blocked and I had to move the boxes by hand from one pallet to another. The stack is starting to look significant, though by no means near finished.

After I dropped them off I went back to the basement of The Book House and continued packing up books they're letting me have. A surprising find is a huge pile of recent science-fiction magazines. I hope there are some sci-fi fans hungry for the English language. I'll have them cleaned out by next week. I should ultimately get 40 boxes oe so from them.

I received thank-you e-mails from Timisoara, Onesti, Bals and Recas. The books sent as part of our primary work recently arrived. More acknowledgements should be coming shortly.

"Ten Tons of Tomes"

The container project is a go. Jason, the Peace Corps volunteer at Biblioteca Judeteana “Duiliu Zamfirescu” Focsani is helping to organize the project from their side of the pond.

(The photos to the right are examples of what I will be doing.)

It's the responsibility of those who will most benefit from the project to raise the money to pay for the transportation costs. With the import taxes/fees, shipping costs and incidental expenses - said incidental expenses fronted by yours truly, now a pensioner - it will probably amount to $4000 for a 20 ft. shipping container.

I finally found warehouse space through a local Greek Orthodox Church and I can move on moving accumulated books, as well as additional ones there. The big pain is my pick-up will only haul about 600 lbs. maximum and the warehouse is a 50 mile round trip. I need to find a small trailer nearby that I can borrow from time to time. So far I've made 4 trips with another planned for tomorrow.

In addition to the accumulated books I've been storing, I've found 2 used book stores that are enthusiastically allowing me to raid their basements and a publishing insider who will be provider a pile of "advance copies" from the last couple years.

The newspaper article drew some small book donations and perhaps 2 or 3 offers to host small book drives. I have requests in to other used bookstores to cull unsold stuff.

I'm also planning a trip to Chicago at the beginning of March to send off another batch of books towards the primary project of books for the other PCVs throughout Romania.

A Thousand Books

I just made a 300 mile trip to Chicago to send about 700 pounds of books to several Peace Corps volunteers in Romania. That brings the total to 8000± pounds in the past 3 years.

I found Bucovina Restaurant and had a great plate of sarmalute.

I stayed for the Christmas party given by The Round Table Society, a non-profit group of (mostly) Romanian-born people, trying to make a difference.They generously presented me with the 'Round Table Society Bridging Communities Partnership Award' for my book project.

This actually adds to the 800 pounds I sent at the end of October.

So I have established yet another blog, but my creative spirit isn't up to making it as great as many others I have seen so I leave this one blank, too.

Sad, isn't it?

Should I just jot down cryptic notes so interested parties know I am alive and well or wait for true literary inspiration?

I'll jot.

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Today I had a list of 5 rummage sales to check out. Bookwise, all of them fizzled. I only picked up about 10 books. One church that had some good ones they would save for the next sale, whenever that would be. A non-profit will repeat their sale next week before releasing the books. Another sale was apparently a big one, but was only a house sale with a big ad. The ten books were generated at one church where I was assured the new pastor would love to hear about the big project on the horizon. On the way to the last one I hit a curb pulling a u-turn and ruined a tire which cost $70 to replace.

A little PR, a few books... eh...

:-)

:-)