25 July 2011

I stopped in at Borders on Lohr Road last night just to walk around and see how things were going. There are signs everywhere about the closing sales, and the coffee shop is already packed and gone. It may have just been my general pensive mood - almost a minor depression - but it was a very melancholy experience to see the last dying gasps of such an institution. It wasn't nearly as crowded as I expected, but it was closing time on a Sunday, so maybe that's why.

I know that many people decried Borders for killing small, independent bookshops in the past, and I would agree with them. I remember bookstores on Main Street in Newark and McMahon's at Christiana Mall - now you're hard-pressed to find any sort of a decent bookstore in a mall. While Borders was a juggernaut, it was still a place where we could go to touch books and sit down for a while with a coffee and a novel. Tiffany and I spent many date nights at Borders, just enjoying a bit of peace and quiet while browsing through a stack of books that we didn't need to buy.

There's the rub: we don't have much disposable income to spend on books, so we've shifted much more to borrowing books from the library. It's free, and we don't have to find shelf space to hang on the books after we're done. We have plenty of books already and we're trying to pare down - buying more from Borders is a touch antithetical to that endeavor. In fact, I can't remember the last time we bought a book (more than a small school book for the kids); I can't even remember whether we bought it in store or online. Do I have much room to lament the closing of Borders if I don't buy their merchandise? It's not for lack of desire - I'm sure I could spend a couple hundred dollars each time I walk in - but perhaps there are just too many others in our situation.

I do mourn the loss of Borders: the loss of a local Ann Arbor business, the loss of a haven of knowledge and entertainment, the loss of being able to physically browse books. I don't see e-readers being a viable alternative, and while the library is an ideal option in many respects, there's just something different about it.

Farewell, Borders. I pray that this is not a nail in the coffin of printed books. If so, God help us all.

20 July 2011

The last few days have been just weird, off-kilter somehow. I think it's a combination of Kathy being in town (and staying at a hotel, which raises car issues), being unresolved about Nashville, the intense heat this week, and the two-day drive that got inserted at the last minute. Tiffany said it best tonight - I (we) feel very out of control. I did get a chance to sit down and balance the books tonight though and I feel somewhat better. I'm so grateful for the cashed-in life insurance policy - I know we wanted to save it for Christmas travel, but it's serving as a great buffer right now for a life in flux. At least I got something productive done tonight (the books); maybe tomorrow I'll sort through some of the boxes in the basement. I'm still not sure how Tiffany plans to pull off a garage sale in three days...

17-18 July

A busy weekend - I left after the church picnic Sunday to drive to Nashville for a job interview - about an 8.5 hour drive. Spent the night at the Alexis Inn just off Briley Parkway and near the airport.

In the morning, I packed my stuff up, put it in the car in the parking lot, and caught the #18 bus to downtown (via the airport). An hour early for my interview, I walked around downtown Nashville: through the War Memorial, around the Capitol grounds, and down the Arcade between 5th and 4th Streets. Interview at 10:30 with Tim Roach of the Greater Nashville Regional Council went well, then lunch at Katie's in the Arcade - fried pork chop, greens, and sweet(!) tea.

After taking the bus back to the hotel, I drove to Brentwood to see Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Plaza. Dave was out of town on vacation, but I had a cup of coffee with Martha Thompson (Director of Guest Relations) and browsed the bookstore. Back on the road headed north and struggling to stay awake the whole way north of Cincinnati. Got home about 1:30 AM and fell into bed.

16 July 2011

Nervous energy this evening as I'm packing for my trip to Nashville tomorrow. Went out to Penney's to get a new, smaller dress shirt - I hope that orange is really a good color for me! Orange shirt, brown pants - not a combination I would have gone for first, but Tiffany and Kathy both say it works, so we'll go with it.

I hope I remember how to interview. I've not been terribly skilled at it in the past, but I did get McKenna six years ago, right? I just wish that it wasn't such a stilted process - it's never as easygoing as I think it should/could be. Oh, if I didn't need this job, how would it be different? How much freer would I be in my conversation? How much less pressure would I feel to Get. It. Right.?