Ex Bibliotheca

The life and times of Zack Weinberg.

Thursday, 11 September 2003

# 5:30 PM

My dad's response to the desire for virtual postal addresses: "So start a company!"

My first reaction is that you can't do that, because such addresses will only catch on if it doesn't cost any more money for the sender to send mail to them. The USPS could do it easily; anyone else is going to have to sell expensive subscriptions, so that they can afford to pass the mail along and still turn a profit.

My second reaction is that maybe a company providing this service could cut some deals with shippers and offer an acceptable rate, particularly if people don't mind increased latency on the mail (not too farfetched; I like getting my mail in batches once a week, which is how often I go check my P.O. box; this of course works only because no one ever sends me time-critical stuff by physical mail). Perhaps one of the established shipping companies would consider diversifying into this field.

# 6 AM

reflections while packing

Last time I moved, I had four boxes of books. This time I have nine. Such is the effect of living by oneself in a fairly large apartment for two years. This is after removing from the collection everything I can bear to part with and a few things I can't; those fill three standard grocery bags, waiting to be taken to Half Price Books on Solano Avenue on Friday. I already disposed of another grocery-bagful of books at Black Oak, which earned me a $30 credit slip that I promptly misplaced. It's in this room somewhere and I expect I'll find it while cleaning.

The cardboard boxes I'm using have been in my tribe for some time. They've got labels from previous moves in my grandmother's handwriting, or my friend Shweta's, or even my old friend Darya's from New York ... I must have had that box since 1997.

One somewhat frustrating thing about packing up books is that they are all cut to slightly different sizes. Only mass-market paperbacks and graphic novels have consistent sizes. Most of my collection is hardbacks and trades, so this doesn't help. Worse, none of the cut sizes pack neatly into a standard 12x12x18" cardboard box. Contrast CD cases, which are all the same size (ignoring double albums) and do pack neatly into a box like that, except for the 2" gap at the end which can be filled with something else.