Today was one of those days when I got very little accomplished. I days like this because as evening arrives I feel so unfulfilled. It was just hard finding enthusiasm to sink myself into anything worthwhile - my ganas as Cindylu put it, went AWOL. I didn't relax either - that would have been accomplishing something in my book. I was just restless and unproductive.

I did get myself back to the infamous parking spot and took some pictures. Now I need to print them out and craft my defense. I will put that up here when it gets done.

Rather than continuing my cybermope, I will take on the meme that Scott threw my way...

Number of books on shelf?
This is an extremely difficult question for a couple of reasons:
1. While there are books that are definitely Sara's and some that are definitely mine, many are ours (and there are some duplicates). So what to count becomes a problem.
2. As Scott pointed out, there are numerous shelves to be counted.
3. While we have many shelves, most of our books actually are not on shelves, but rather in boxes or bins.
At some point we should make an inventory of what we have, but that day is far off. So how many books are there...I could not even guess a number. We are two academics, who have 7 and a half degrees among us. I can say this, a least half of what we own is books.

Last book purchased?

The last book I got was "Growing Up Bilingual" by Ana Celia Zentella. But I got it for free because I am going to use it in the class I am teaching this fall. I also have bought a load of academic books recently (all at the same time) - too many to list here. Probably the last non-academic book I purchased was "Retired Greyhounds for Dummies."

Book I'm reading now?

Academic:
"Always Running. La Vida Loca: Gang Days in LA," Luis Rodriguez
"How the Gracia Girls Lost their Accents," Julia Alvarez
"Canicula: Snapshots of a Girlhood en la Frontera," Norma Cantu
"Growing Up Bilingual" by Ana Celia Zentella
"Anything but Mexican: Chicanos in Contemporary Los Angeles," Rodolfo Acu~a
"Lo sguardo della mano. Practiche della localita' e antropologia della visione in una comunita' montana lombarda," Cristina Grasseni

Non-Academic:
"Children of God," Mary Doria Russell

Last five books read?
"Retired Greyhounds for Dummies"
"Brown" Richard Rodriguez
"Latinos: Remaking America," edited by Marcelo Suarez-Orozco and Mariela Paez
"Food" Travelers' Tales
"Foods of the Maya" (I know this one is cheating, but I did read it!)

Sara was also tagged by Scott, but she is lost in an abstract, confusing, and exhausting web of bio-statistics and epidemiology at the moment, I will just point out that I am quite certain that the last books that she purchased, read, and is continuing to read all relate to those two subjects. Oh, prior to that she got some books by some medieval astrologer, physicist, something or rather, but who knows why or where those books ended up....

I guess I am supposed to tag three people for this...I hate doing this and I won't hold it against anyone if they fail to respond...here goes:

Oso, Mala, and Mariposa

There you go, Scott. Mission accomplished! I guess that's enough for today, but somehow I still feel unfulfilled...go figure.