400

Yes, I finally have 400 books entered into my book database program. I use the book collector program at Collectorz.com. You can download a free trial that lets you enter up to 100 books. I did this a while ago and soon realized that I needed to have the full program so I bought it long before I'd entered 100 books. ;-) One of the benefits of the professional version is that you can export to html. You can see my library here on my website. I don't have the 400 book version converted to html yet, so the list you'll see via the link is a bit out of date.

These 400 books are merely a fraction of all the books that I own. I conservatively estimate that I own 1,000-1,200 books (possibly as many as 1,500?). However, most of them are burried in my storage unit where I cannot get to them easily. Last summer I removed a couple boxes to enter into the program. I've also entered the few books that I've pulled individually out of my storage unit and the many books that I've bought since moving to Kentucky. So the 400 aren't just the ones I've bought or anywhere near my true total.

I'm really looking forward to the day that I have every one of my books entered and can download my list to a handheld computer (like a Palm). Then when I go to a bookstore or a used book sale I'll know exactly which books I already own! I'll even know the format and condition of my books so I'll know if I need to get a new version (say it is the only book of the series I have in paperback and I find a hardcover at a book sale). I wish I'd found this a couple years ago so that all my books could have been entered before I moved, but alas that didn't happen.

Well I'm off to the museum in a few minutes, so I'll have to keep this short and fairly close to on-topic. I was off today and I'm off tomorrow. It is wonderful to sleep in finally! :-) Today was a day to pay bills. I also transfered some money into savings (it has been too long since I've been able to do that!) and wrote out a tithe check (I'd been saving money from the past few pay checks so I didn't have to write many tithe checks--I don't write very many checks at all actually).

Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day! I apologize for not blogging about this sooner. If you have the time check out the site tonight and find a store near you. Go! Participating stores will have free comics and some even have other events going on. I'm planning to take a couple of my nephews along. It should be great fun. I'll be wearing my Schlock Mercenary T-shirt. :-)

~Matt