Random thoughts...

[bookworm 1]

Twenty years in Florida. Hate it. Two seasons. Hot as hell and dead.

That is it. However no state income tax...I guess is a bonus.

Here in the Northeast in upstate New York we have 2 seasons as well. Winter and the 4th of July.

[Ben Staad]

Spent the first 19 years of my life in NW PA. Enjoyed the weather and seasons. Of course I may feel differently now being 20+years removed from it.

There was always something special about fall and spring. Of course, as you said, they are short lived.

Here in the Northeast in upstate New York we have 2 seasons as well. Winter and the 4th of July.

[TacomaDiver]

Colorado seems to have more defined seasons than Washington, and while we do have something like 300 days of sunshine a year here, I do miss the grey and gloom from Washington. Some say I'm strange; I'm okay with that.

[Sock Monkey]

Colorado seems to have more defined seasons than Washington, and while we do have something like 300 days of sunshine a year here, I do miss the grey and gloom from Washington. Some say I'm strange; I'm okay with that.

I love gloomy days. They bum the wife out, but I think they’re great. Granted we don’t get a bunch of them where I’m at in California. We mostly just get the heat.

[jeffingoff]

Colorado seems to have more defined seasons than Washington, and while we do have something like 300 days of sunshine a year here, I do miss the grey and gloom from Washington. Some say I'm strange; I'm okay with that.

Gloomy days can crush me. One night in December (last year? the year before that? who knows, time means nothing now) I woke up to a severe panic attack. I almost took myself to the ER. I survived the night (I think, unless this is my afterlife and I'm in Hell) and the next day on the radio the weather guy said that we were currently enjoying the longest stretch of consecutive sunless days in Chicagoland history that began in November. It may not have been a contributing factor, but the hopelessness was real. And there's so much more to fear this year. Sunless or not.

[Martin]

Woohoo — my bike gets a reprieve from its inevitable winter hibernation!

Enjoy it, I would not be surprised it it is the last time we see the 80's until spring. Of course these days you never know.

[Martin]

Colorado seems to have more defined seasons than Washington, and while we do have something like 300 days of sunshine a year here, I do miss the grey and gloom from Washington. Some say I'm strange; I'm okay with that.

I am not familiar with Colorado but I expect it is a lot like Utah. Each season feels like the extreme for that season. Often there is an afternoon thunderstorm that rolls through in the summer months and the humid days are killer. I prefer cold and snowy but clouds and rain are fine as well.

[Martin]

Gloomy days can crush me. One night in December (last year? the year before that? who knows, time means nothing now) I woke up to a severe panic attack. I almost took myself to the ER. I survived the night (I think, unless this is my afterlife and I'm in Hell) and the next day on the radio the weather guy said that we were currently enjoying the longest stretch of consecutive sunless days in Chicagoland history that began in November. It may not have been a contributing factor, but the hopelessness was real. And there's so much more to fear this year. Sunless or not.

Had a relative who experienced depression every winter living in the North West. Moved to a desert climate and she no longer has that issue. Of course she now has Monsoons, Dust storms and more days over 100 than under, but she likes it better than 4 months of clouds. I greatly prefer the clouds. Even hoping to get to the beach for a storm this year, probably January. Storms on the Oregon coast are my happy place.

[Dave1442397]

NJ's not too bad. We seem to get enough sunny days to keep me happy, certainly way more than where I grew up in Ireland. Having said that, I really want to move to a high-altitude, sunny climate when we retire. Tahoe is absolute perfection in the summer, but I'm not sure my wife can handle the winter snowfall. Maybe six months in one place and six months in another might work, like the NJ/FL snowbirds. I don't want to move to FL, though...hot, humid, and a bit overpopulated for my tastes.

[TacomaDiver]

You might be right - you're hell. Thanks for bringing us along for the ride though, bastard!

Gloomy days can crush me. One night in December (last year? the year before that? who knows, time means nothing now) I woke up to a severe panic attack. I almost took myself to the ER. I survived the night (I think, unless this is my afterlife and I'm in Hell) and the next day on the radio the weather guy said that we were currently enjoying the longest stretch of consecutive sunless days in Chicagoland history that began in November. It may not have been a contributing factor, but the hopelessness was real. And there's so much more to fear this year. Sunless or not.

[TacomaDiver]

We are definitely not humid at all. Very, very dry. I miss Washington's humidity (when I went back to Seattle in March, it was so nice - my skin just absorbed the moisture!)

I am not familiar with Colorado but I expect it is a lot like Utah. Each season feels like the extreme for that season. Often there is an afternoon thunderstorm that rolls through in the summer months and the humid days are killer. I prefer cold and snowy but clouds and rain are fine as well.

We do get some weird weather - first week of September the temperature swung almost 70 degrees in a 24 hour period (high of 100ish the day before, low of 30 the next day and it snowed.)

[Martin]

We are definitely not humid at all. Very, very dry. I miss Washington's humidity (when I went back to Seattle in March, it was so nice - my skin just absorbed the moisture!)



We do get some weird weather - first week of September the temperature swung almost 70 degrees in a 24 hour period (high of 100ish the day before, low of 30 the next day and it snowed.)

Utah was generally dry but when the humidity hit it was way worse than here.

[RonClinton]

Maybe it's getting older, maybe it's getting tired of always having hit critical mass on my full bookshelves with no spare space, maybe it's the looming idea of having to move and/or downsize at some point in the next decade with 4000 books in hand, maybe maybe maybe...whatever the reason(s), I'm starting to trim down my collection, and just posted 24 books on eBay this weekend.

Yeah, not that big of a deal in the scheme of things, 24 books out of close to 4000...but it's a start. I'd like to trim down my 4K collection by at least 1000 books, so at the allowed 200 free listings each month on eBay, it's going to take a while, unless I step up to some kind of eBay Store subscription package with more free listings. I looked at Amazon, Etsy, ABE, Biblio...eBay seems the best fit and, surprisingly, the best value.

I got mired in the Paperbacks From Hell mania two, three years ago -- for me, it was equal parts hype, and, too, very fond nostalgic memories of that era -- which led to about 750 pb titles added to my collection, but no real regrets, as it was (mostly) cheap fun. Most of those will probably be victims to this collection cull, so 2/3 of that 1000-book goal, or thereabouts; I have made contact with someone who is interested in a bulk buy of the pbs, but not sure that's the best option, though it'd certainly be convenient. That still leaves 250 hardcover titles, the loss of each one of which is like pulling a tooth...it shouldn't be that hard to get rid of a book I read a decade or two or three ago and oftentimes barely remember. That's part of it, though...after a while, it feels like the books own you, rather than the other way around, and you start to question if you're more hoarder than collector. And clearly I still haven't learned my lesson, as I just paid for an eBay auction win last night...two steps forward, one step back. Oh, and I just recycled dozens of cardboard book boxes last month...great timing, that.

The tough thing is, even with 1K books sold, that still leaves around 3000 books, which is still more than in truth I'd like to have when all is said and done. If I could winnow my collection down to my 1000 favorite books, those individual ones that truly mean something to me, that have some particular and personal import, and not just a reflection of my general fondness for an author's work (so, of course, I have to have it all), I'd be happy. But the pain to get to that point...I just don't know if I could ever do it, not without a significant shift in perspective of how I look at my collection and the books that live within it. And I use that word "live" deliberately, because I know I'm not the only one here that sees they books they own as experiential, coming alive with emotion and drama when opened, the best ones leaving behind memories of time spent together with characters that still resonate, ready to come alive again at a moment's notice. In the same way that it's unthinkable to throw away prized photo albums that evoke warm, special times, it's damn tough for me to sell a book I'm fond of, that hold memories and that I truly experienced.

But I suspect I'm preaching to the choir here.

So I started down a long, arduous path this weekend, and have no idea where it will end and what the end will look like -- but I hope I do get to where I want to be. Sometimes the right path is not the easiest one, and when it comes to selling my books one by agonizing one, like a Band-Aid progressively and slowly ripping 1000 hairs off one a time, it's not a path I would prefer to be on but it's the one I need to be on. I walk a lonely road, as the great philosopher Billie Joe Armstrong once said, yet it is the road I must travel.

If you want to sightsee on that lonely road and see the objects of my anguish, you can do so here:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/bibliohunte...1&_ipg=&_from=

[mhatchett]

Ron,
Feel your pain! I'm working through my collection as well. I'm sending my brother a box or two a month. At some point, I'm going to have to bite the bullet and call a dealer.

[RonClinton]

Why then, we’ll walk that lonely road together, Mike. :-/