bookshelves

We just finished putting in built-in bookshelves in our basement.  This roughly tripled the amount of bookshelf space we have available, so we dragged out everything we had in storage. While digging through the dozen or so Rubbermaid containers, I found my old Life in Hell books, written by a pre-Simpsons Matt Groening. I had forgotten how Groening totally nails it in his book School is Hell.

I remember reading “Should You Go To Grad School: A Wee Test” while I was in grad school.  It was not so funny then as it is now.  Putting about 20 years of distance between me and Meliora Hall, this cartoon has become hilarious.  Laugh out loud funny.

Interestingly, I did not become the Bitterest Person In The World.  I became happy.

As part of the purging, I started digging through the dusty tomes and found old textbooks.  Yes, I tossed my thesis data and such a while ago, but finding stats books made me a little happy. I was a really good geek.  I liked multivariate regression analysis.  I really like factorial analysis.  Eigenvalues make me smile.  Residuals…oh boy.  I got rid of a few books that were a bit dated, but regression doesn’t age. It hasn’t changed much since 1761.

Hey, it’s not like my work life has been smooth sailing since I left Rochester. I’ve had my share of struggles, but for the most part, I’m glad I left academics.

Q: Why do tenured professors hate Wednesday classes?
A:  It ruins both weekends.

Not that academics doesn’t have its perks.

Now I’m just unpacking books, sending a bunch of them to Half-Price Books.  I kept Joseph Campbell.  I dumped Robert Bly.  Iron John is one of those books that PBS viewers bought because of some special during a fund drive.

The best part of the digging: we sorted out 9 lineal feet of kid’s books.  Grandkids will be well-served (someday).  No pressure, Whitney.  None at all.

Respectfully submitted,

Canoelover