Ploy of my one lawyer friend from Missouri.

My one lawyer friend from Missouri wrote a children's book about her dog, and she's been getting it stocked all around the city, including at gift shops of museums that tourists go to.

The first museum that she got it stocked at is decently known but not high traffic, and they took 12 on trial.

So, once a week for the next 3 weeks, she gave a friend money, sent them in to buy her book, and then took the book back into her stock to re-sell it at a later date.

Between those purchases and 9 other sales, the gift shop sold out in like 3-4 months, and now they've ordered twice as many.

And, she can now go to other gift shops and tell them of her success!

"I feel like that's how you do things here in [the city]," she was like.

She also said that she's been trying to ingratiate herself with the (older) women who run the gift shops, since if they like you, they can point out your book to people who are looking for something, in an "Isn't this cute?" kind of way that leads to sales.

I've begun my sixth year of barhopping.

As of the end of February, I've begun my sixth year of barhopping.

Last year bars were getting so scarce, that I couldn't hunt down my weekly "five new bars a week" quota, and I was lucky if I could hit up 1-3 a week by the end.

This year may be the year that I finish it out.

I've radically lowered my expectations, and I'm just trying to go to the bars I know I haven't been to, now, even if it's just 1-2 a week.  Although I'm still keeping track in my barlog if I hit my "5 new bars a week" quota, I'm not honestly trying to follow that anymore, since it's just too hard.

I'm surprised by how much time I have on my hands, too, to read or lollygag or just do whatever; I don't think I quite realized how much time I was spending going to 10 new bars a week and then 5.

It's like I'm turning a new page in life.  I had forgotten what a non-barhopping life was like.

New plastic bag tax in the city, and reactions.

The city has a new plastic bag tax (7 cents per every plastic bag that the store gives you), and I've heard 2 people bitch about it so far.

One was a(n older) (white) (female) Trump supporter I met at a downtown bar, and the other was a (young) (black) (female) Uber driver who I met when me and a friend hitched an Uber back from a distant neighborhood.

Both were like, "Taxes in the city are so high, you have to pay seven cents a bag now, what's up with that!?!?!".

In each case, I was like, "It's because plastic bags pollute, and we want less of them."

When I said that, they just couldn't seem to get it, they felt so much like their personal choices were being infringed on for no good reason.

In fact, it was almost like they were *looking* for a reason to feel put upon!

Honestly, though, their response to that very small tax makes no sense, when you think about it; at most it's like $15 a year, but it's more the principle of the thing or the knowledge that they're getting penalized.

I almost wonder if it makes people more kneejerk anti-tax, to have small taxes like that.  Maybe you're better off without them, or maybe you should tax more, since you'll get that much of a reaction even to a small tax?

Library antics: Humming a famous tune.

The other weeks I was shifting and integrating (melding) books, and I kept humming to myself, "Integrate, good times, come on!", to the tune of that "Celebrate" song.

An eventful ride in the other morning:

I wake up, and as I go to leave out the backdoor, I see the sun shining through the lower left corner of the door, where it must be warped a bit and not shut properly.

When I open the door onto the back porch, there's more of that same bright sun everywhere.

As I bike in to school on my usual route, I turn right on one of the corners that I always do, and the (middle-aged) (black) (male) crossing guard says hi to me before I do, the first time that's ever happened.

I guess we're part of each other's mornings, now?

I'm loving some of my new smartphone.

I had to get a new smartphone since my reception was increasingly horrible, due to outdated tech.

(I almost wonder if it's planned obsolescence, but that's another story.)

Anyhow, my new smartphone is bulky, but I do like it a lot.

For one thing, it has the best alarm clock ringtone, with these beautiful chords and strums that wake you up, but not too abruptly, and they don't come off as all saccharine like the so-called "pleasant" alarm tones on my last smartphone.

Freshman writing antics:

The other day I was teaching freshman writing in the 2nd of 3 back-to-back small groups, and I went to put something on the dry erase board and got a huge strong whiff of magic marker even though it was far away from my face.

"Man, that's strong," I paused and said.

Then, I immediately went into character, pulled the uncapped marker up to my nose, sealed one nostril and went to take a whiff, and, staring upward with one eyelid fluttering in apparent ecstasy, talked apparently to myself in a twangy voice, "Oh Lord, please help me get through just one more section, please, I ask you, just one more!".