Started Week 3

I took the exhaustion test that follows hundred push-ups week two yesterday. I struggled through to 23. Week three looks a lot harder than week two was, but I guess I'll never make it to a hundred if I don't kick it up a notch. On the plus side, my score not only qualified me to continue the training, but it keep me in the 'middle column' - so I don't feel like too much of a wimp. I've done my 20, 15, 15, and 13 while getting ready for bed. I still have to do at least 20 more before I can curl up to read the next chapter of my book.

I'm my way through the entire Pern series by Anne McCaffrey. I read the first book years ago, but never got any of the others. I don't like spending money on books. Grandma gave me some of her other books - including the Brain & Brawn Ship, Crystal Singer, and Talent series.

But then I went to Powells while we were in Portland in March. That place is amazing! All the used and new books are mixed up on the shelves, and it's the biggest book store I've ever seen. And they had two of the Pern books on clearance. One was the first book in the series if you put them chronologically. I brought it to Brazil, so Billy ended up reading it too - and liked it. So my anniversary present this year was going onto Powells online to order the entire rest of the series. I got 16 books for $78.49. All but one of the books was available as a used paperback. Shipping is free if you order that much. I was so ridiculously excited that Billy let me buy them all. I was sure he'd think I was crazy, or just say no to the idea (we can both be rather stingy about buying things). But I did get a good deal, and I'll get more enjoyment out of them than the jewelry he would have bought otherwise.

Coming home from Brazil was like a mini-Christmas for us opening the packages we'd received while we were gone. The Powells box was definitely my favorite (ok, second favorite - our mortgage company unexpectedly refunded us $900 from escrow overpayment but that's not 'fun' to unwrap in quite the same way). I'd say only half of the books look like someone actually read them, and only one or two have any noticeable wear and tear from the previous owner (I'm talking a few dog-eared pages and creases in the spine, but still very good condition).

On the advice of Wikipedia, I've opted to read the rest of the book in the order they were written. I immediately dug out the first book I had read more than a decade ago (yes, I still had it, because that was one of the few book I'd bought back then instead of borrowing from the library). It was read flying to and from Huntsville. I'm 3/4 done with the second, and have the third here with me in Virginia. I'm trying to leave some to read on the planes home, or I might have finished them both by now.

NOW DROP AND GIVE ME TWENTY!!!