Write Now and Then

For who knows how many weeks in a row, we really have nothing to talk about.  Nothing is happening at the store, and nothing looks like it will be happening in the upcoming future.  This is the primary reason why we are going to cut back on our posts.  Why write a post if there isn't anything to write about.  There is another reason why we will be cutting back, and it is personal.  Starting next month, I will be taking online graduate school courses to get my Master's in English.  I am not sure how much time it will take for me to finish the work for each class, but it will probable cut into the time I allow for writing this blog.  Since I also write two other, more personal, blogs, I felt that something had to give, and this blog was the one that had to go.  We will still update the rest of the site on a somewhat regular basis, depending on what needs to be done.  (I totally forgot to change things for Independence Day.). The Upcoming Books page will be updated weekly, while I hope to continue posting pics of the monthly Upcoming Releases board.  We will still post on our social media pages, although we have been ignoring Google + a little too much.  Hopefully, we will even have a short post here.  As of right now, I am planning to post on the second and fourth week of every month.  If I can convince someone, we might even be able to have a fill-in for the other weeks.  Anyway, I am sorry I have to cut back, but it is for a good cause.  See you in two weeks,  or so.

Delays Were to Be Expected

Let's go right down to business.  We sort of messed up last week.  We wanted to post a video in last week's post, but it was too big for the site.  We had to post it on our Facebook page instead.  We wanted to post it on other social media outlets, but we haven't yet.  Why?  It took over thirty minutes just to upload the video the first time.  We really weren't expecting it to take so long for such a short clip.  Seriously, it is just over a minute-and-a-half long.  We just couldn't find the time to post it elsewhere.  Anyway, check for it there.  We also have finally post some extra pics from last year's Adrianna Trigainni signing that we weren't able to until we updated some of our technology.  It was really quite simple, with the right computer.  While preparing for this week's post, we noticed that last week was our one hundredth post on the Blogger platform.  When taking into account the original blog, that is a lot of posts.  It would have been special if we had been able to include the clip, but since one week we did a re-post, this week would be the "official" one hundredth post.  Unfortunately, we don't have anything to add to that.  We are planning an announcement for next week, so be on the lookout.  Until then, keep reading.

Summertime Gladness

As you may remember, we change the logo on our welcome board every so often.  Usually, it is based on a seasonal theme.  For instance, for the last few weeks, the logo was in blue and red for Independence Day.  The "o's" were changed into stars, and red stripes came out of the right end.  This time around, we had a hard time coming up with an idea.  Ultimately, we decided that watermelons would suit the season nicely.  But how should we do it?  We first thought about making every letter some form of the fruit, but decided against it.  While most of the letters could be represented as whole melons or slice, the "t" would be all but impossible.  In the end, we decided to just go with the "o's" again.  The first two "o's" would be whole melons, but the last "o" would be a round slice, as if just cut open.  We used two shades of green to represent the striped outside rind.  For the inside, we used a green outline with a lighter green ring just inside.  A red flesh interior with black seeds completed the effect.  We were going to put a video of the process up here, but there was a problem with the upload, so just check the website or social media for the full story. See you next week.

And One to Go

Last summer, we held a big event-- a book signing involving Adrianna Trigianni.  It was her second appearance at the store.  While this time wasn't quite as big as the previous one, it was still a very special thing.  One thing that we did was a raffle for posters based on the cover of her book.  We randomly drew five names to receive the posters.  Three were picked up within a few weeks.  The fourth one got picked up a few months later, mostly due to some miscommunications with the winner.  The fifth one still hasn't been picked up yet.  We tried many times to call and email the winner, but as of yet she still hasn't come in.  Since it has almost been a year, we are not sure what else we can do.  The post has been signed and personalized by Adrianna, so we really shouldn't even try to give it to someone else.  The poster has been rolled up now for a year, and it might be difficult for it to ever be laid flat again.  Here's hoping that someone out there will help us find this winner.  We won't be revealing her identity at this time, but if anyone out there remembers who came to the signing, let them know that there is one last winner.  We might post this person's name at a later date.  See you next week.

Are We Missing Something

We we're recently informed that our Goggle+ page would be going down unless there was more action on it.  Well, we thought this blog was automatically posted onto that page whenever it was done.  Apparently, that hasn't always been the case.  Therefore, we have made sure that this week's post should also appear there, as well as the other locations it is usually associated with.  Namely, its own website and the store's website as well.  In fact, we need more traffic there.  We must admit that we have been focusing most of our social media attention on only one site or another.  We are sorry that we don't do enough elsewhere.  Now that we have an improved online connection, we should be able to provide even more content online.  At least, we hope so.  Anyway, this week's post was only written to help get views to one place or another.  We hope you find all of our content as great as we do.  See you next week.

Time for Something Different

To be honest, we don't have anything to write about again this week.  Basically, we are just waiting for something else to happen.  At least we can tell you about a few things we are getting ready to do with social media.  We are getting ready to post the latest round of holiday theme pictures, this time for Independence Day.  We will try to post a new capsule review. and this one is really special.  It is going to be about something we have never done before.  Also, we might be posting more online material.  Put an emphasis on 'might'.  Some things will be harder to work out than others.  Anyhow, that is just how things are going here.  See you next week.  We really need to come up with better material.

I Wonder What Today May Bring

It is sometimes hard to come up with a topic for this blog post every week.  Therefore, in honor of today's date, we are reprinting an updated version of a post we wrote last year. It seems very appropriate to feature it today.  By the way, today is also Free RPG Day.  Unfortunately, we are not participating, but we strongly suggest going to your local gaming store and pick something up.  Anyway, see you next week.

Saturday, June 16, is the minor literary holiday of Bloomsday.  It is in honor of the day when most of the action in James Joyce's literary classic Ulysses takes place.  It is named in honor of one of the main characters, Leopold Bloom, who we follow along on both him and, returning character from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Stephen Daedalus.  While I have never celebrated this day at my store. Booknotes, before, I still love the idea.  However, I am not sure how one would celebrate beyond talking about the book and its complex themes and imagery, or perhaps, having a party in the style of early twentieth-century Dublin.   One thing is for sure, I would not be doing anything the characters do from the book.  While most actions are rather harmless, (e.g. taking a walk on the beach looking at pebbles, placing a newspaper advertisement), many are somewhat strange (teaching a class at a Jesuit school, suffering intestinal discomfort after eating at a pub).  Some are just unusual (attending an friend's funeral, becoming a father figure to a young man).  Others are just downright weird (going out drinking with college buddies and talking about midwifery, having a formal question-and-answer session with a friend about third-party events as if you weren't a part of them).  Many actions are immoral (making crude puns to your housekeeper, contemplating the love of your husband while having an affair with an actor).  Some are illegal, both then and now (performing a lewd act while ogling a young nanny with her charges on a beach, going to a brothel and hallucinating about your dead mother).  We strongly suggest not doing any of these things.  Maybe we can come up with some better ideas for next year. In fact, I actually had to read Ulysses in college and enjoyed it.  We were originally only going to read excerpts, but the professor changed his mind.  Fortunately, the library had enough copies for the seven of us.  I still had to skip a few pages near the end to finish it in time.  Unfortunately, I have yet to re-read it.