Other things I've been doing
1) Volunteering at booksales for the local library system. This is not entirely altruistic: you get anywhere from one book per hour of volunteering to as many as 5 for a 2 hour shift. Whee! (My sister points out that the intent of book sales is to SELL BOOKS TO OTHER PEOPLE, not to bring them home one's self. I say pthlbt! to her.) There are swanky book sales (uppercrust suburbs), low-rent book sales (poor inner-city neighborhoods) and the granddaddy of all book sales, the annual main branch sale downtown. You get to meet odd and interesting people. People who are book fanatics tend to be one or both.
2) Walking/hiking. It's a wonder what good shoes will do. I've been out to the new Prairie Meadows metro park a couple of times - it's not as awesome (yet) as some of the other parks, but at least it's out of the city. They hold night sky watches there when the meteor showers happen. Think I'll have to trek out there one night and join the fun.
3) Hanging with my dog. He's a good boy. We have a little tradition where, when he hears me getting something out of the freezer, he comes to get an ice cube. (He LOVES ice cubes.) I get one out and close the freezer door, and if he isn't already sitting outside the kitchen, I ask him, "Murphy, how does this work?" and he backs up onto the hardwood dining room floor, and I toss him his ice cube. Last night he was so fast he didn't even lunge for it, just snapped that cube out of the air. Good thing he thinks I'm pretty swell - wouldn't want to make him mad.
2) Walking/hiking. It's a wonder what good shoes will do. I've been out to the new Prairie Meadows metro park a couple of times - it's not as awesome (yet) as some of the other parks, but at least it's out of the city. They hold night sky watches there when the meteor showers happen. Think I'll have to trek out there one night and join the fun.
3) Hanging with my dog. He's a good boy. We have a little tradition where, when he hears me getting something out of the freezer, he comes to get an ice cube. (He LOVES ice cubes.) I get one out and close the freezer door, and if he isn't already sitting outside the kitchen, I ask him, "Murphy, how does this work?" and he backs up onto the hardwood dining room floor, and I toss him his ice cube. Last night he was so fast he didn't even lunge for it, just snapped that cube out of the air. Good thing he thinks I'm pretty swell - wouldn't want to make him mad.