I'm in a text book!

That's right ladies and gentlemen...a silly newspaper article that I wrote about kickbikes back in 1998 (could that be right?) was chosen to be included in a textbook called "The Inquiring Reader". I found out that I was in the book by doing a search on Google for my name. What's funny is that the book was published in 2000 and I spent all of this time now knowing about my itty bitty bit of celebrity. (O.K. so the celebrity is only among the college-bound students who are forced to suffer through that text book, but still...)

When I found my name and the title of the article, "Kicking asphalt" listed in the table of contents of the book, at first I panicked. "What if I am in there as a bad example?" I wondered. So, last week, after knowing about the book for several months, I caved and paid the $50 to have it shipped to my house. Last night after work, the book was waiting for me on my porch. I opened the box with a bit of trepidation. It could have been my article used as a bad example, or it could have been someone else with my name's article... but, nope. It was my article with vocabulary words in it highlighted and a page and a half of questions about the article. I am even in the index!

This is the second book I know of that I am in. The first, I do not yet own, but it remains on my Amazon wish list. I think I am in the endnotes only, because an article I wrote in El Paso was cited.

Someday, when I have my own books published, I will not be as excited about these obscure references to me in other people's books. But for the moment, I'm thrilled.

Fondu

Last night I went to fondu for dinner with two women who I have recently become friends with. We were there for almost three hours and I had such a good time. They are funny and lots of fun and it was really refreshing to have lots of conversation with women that wasn't about work. Of course, as it always works out, just as we seem to be settling in to our life here and just as we are really making some good friends, we are moving. Yes, I still have about 8 months to enjoy these new friendships... but it's the whole knowing that we're moving thing that is still taking some getting used to. In any case, I am really happy to have some new friends.