Why is it on the List?
I have a dream. One day my wife and I will own a home that will be big enough to have a library. I've always wanted my own library. A room that has nothing but books from wall to wall and floor to ceiling, with some nice comfy furniture to settle in and perhaps a roaring fire in a brick fireplace.
I already have 4 bookshelves overflowing with books and I have an embosser with my initials and "Library Of". With so many books, the fact that I lend them out from time to time, and because I am a giant nerd, I decided the next thing to do would be to catalog the books. Now, entering in ISBN's by hand is a pain in the ass so I decided that a bar code scanner would be the way to go!
The Process
I've wanted a scanner for a long time, but not just any old scanner. I wanted a handheld USB scanner that could read the barcodes off of books and some software to link that bar code to an ISBN. Unfortunately, a nice scanner costs quite a bit of money. Sure I could have bought some bootleg software for $20 and a Cue Cat bar code reader for $5, but it would have been a huge pain in the ass to scan in the hundreds of books I own.
Thankfully, I married the greatest woman of all time. She not only got me an awesome bar code reader for my birthday (the thing can hold 500 bar codes at a time, which means I can take the reader over to the book shelves and not bring the books to the computer... saves a ton of time) but also a sweet software package that is perfect for my ever growing home library. So Project Home Library is well underway. I've got about 2 bookshelves completed and about two more to go!
Showing posts with label 101 Things. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 101 Things. Show all posts
Monday, June 23, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Book Review: The Ballad of the Whiskey Robber
There's just something about crime. Whether it's enjoying capers like Ocean's 11 or The Great Train Robbery, we tend to romanticize the dastardly wrongdoer despite whatever his or her heinous crimes might be. I've yet to meet someone who was rooting for the cops to catch Hannibal Lector when they were reading Silence of the Lambs. Whatever it is, something happens when we hear the story of someone who flaunts authority and just does something so outside the bounds of society's rules that despite our professed outrage.... we admire the audacity.
So of course the non-fiction book by Julian Rubinstein detailing the life and crimes of Hungarian bank robber Attila Ambrus was a fascinating read. A friend had lent me the book a few years ago and I just now was inspired to read it. I'm sorry I waited so long. Rubenstein's story flows so well and the story of Attila's life is so far-fetched you'd swear it was fiction. Rubinstein's painstaking research shows as he portrays the struggle of Attila's early life and his turn towards crime in vivid detail. By the end, you come to view Attila as a victim of the times.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the power vacuum left behind in Hungary led to corruption at all levels of government and this not only provided the perfect opportunity for men like Attila, but also endeared men like him to the public. Though Attila's life is fascinating enough, the window Rubinstein provides us into the state of Hungary after the fall of the USSR is equally thought provoking. Rubinstein often cites that while Poland had Lech Wałęsa and the Czech Republic had Václav Havel, Hungary did not have a similar charismatic and effective leader.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good criminal tale (and who doesn't?). But beyond that, I love this book for giving me insight into a country I had little knowledge of, and reminding me that I need to read something by Havel who I've admired since I read this quote: "All too often living normally begins as an attempt to do your work well, and ends with being branded an enemy of society"
Additionally, and this will probably only make sense to myself, I found that the idea that Hungary was much worse off than Poland and the Czech Republic because of its lack of a certain type of leader might lend support to the ideas present in The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations, which despite the title, proposes that the most effective combination would be a hybrid organization that contains elements of both decentralized and centralized control. At some point I'd like to explore this thought a little further.
Finally, since it was a non-fiction book and a recommendation I can cross a few numbers off my list!
So of course the non-fiction book by Julian Rubinstein detailing the life and crimes of Hungarian bank robber Attila Ambrus was a fascinating read. A friend had lent me the book a few years ago and I just now was inspired to read it. I'm sorry I waited so long. Rubenstein's story flows so well and the story of Attila's life is so far-fetched you'd swear it was fiction. Rubinstein's painstaking research shows as he portrays the struggle of Attila's early life and his turn towards crime in vivid detail. By the end, you come to view Attila as a victim of the times.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the power vacuum left behind in Hungary led to corruption at all levels of government and this not only provided the perfect opportunity for men like Attila, but also endeared men like him to the public. Though Attila's life is fascinating enough, the window Rubinstein provides us into the state of Hungary after the fall of the USSR is equally thought provoking. Rubinstein often cites that while Poland had Lech Wałęsa and the Czech Republic had Václav Havel, Hungary did not have a similar charismatic and effective leader.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good criminal tale (and who doesn't?). But beyond that, I love this book for giving me insight into a country I had little knowledge of, and reminding me that I need to read something by Havel who I've admired since I read this quote: "All too often living normally begins as an attempt to do your work well, and ends with being branded an enemy of society"
Additionally, and this will probably only make sense to myself, I found that the idea that Hungary was much worse off than Poland and the Czech Republic because of its lack of a certain type of leader might lend support to the ideas present in The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations, which despite the title, proposes that the most effective combination would be a hybrid organization that contains elements of both decentralized and centralized control. At some point I'd like to explore this thought a little further.
Finally, since it was a non-fiction book and a recommendation I can cross a few numbers off my list!
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Progress Update for #76!
Whenever I'm cruising up or down I-75 I always see signs for stuff. Boone Tavern. Acres of Land Winery. The Kentucky Fried Chicken Museum. So I decided that I should stop and check out some of these interesting sounding places.
On my latest trip, I decided that it would be a perfect time to stop at Cumberland Falls. In the middle of a weekday in the winter with rain coming down I figured I'd have the falls all to myself. And it really looked that way as I pulled off the Interstate near Corbin and took the long windy deserted road back to the Falls.
There were a few cars in the parking lot and even fewer out checking at the falls (2 couples). It was beautiful despite the rain and you can check out the pics at My Space. After I checked out the Falls I had a lovely conversation with Verna, an employee at the Gift Shop. She was very knowledgeable about the Falls and told me about the Moonbow.
A Moonbow is a rainbow produced by the moon and Cumberland Falls is one of the only places in the world where it happens on a consistent basis. The Moonbow appears when the moon is full and the skies are clear. I hope to return at some point to check out a Moonbow! Thanks Verna!
On my latest trip, I decided that it would be a perfect time to stop at Cumberland Falls. In the middle of a weekday in the winter with rain coming down I figured I'd have the falls all to myself. And it really looked that way as I pulled off the Interstate near Corbin and took the long windy deserted road back to the Falls.
There were a few cars in the parking lot and even fewer out checking at the falls (2 couples). It was beautiful despite the rain and you can check out the pics at My Space. After I checked out the Falls I had a lovely conversation with Verna, an employee at the Gift Shop. She was very knowledgeable about the Falls and told me about the Moonbow.
A Moonbow is a rainbow produced by the moon and Cumberland Falls is one of the only places in the world where it happens on a consistent basis. The Moonbow appears when the moon is full and the skies are clear. I hope to return at some point to check out a Moonbow! Thanks Verna!
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