Thing #222: Fuzzy Socks

I donated some old clothing to make way for a few new items I bought. Even though I'm mostly focusing on books, it was a good time to throw in this set of winter socks that made my feet feel gross.

Apparently I wrote about sock breathability almost a year ago. Time flies.

Thing #221: Jesus Books

Jesus (on the right) is a book I don't mind giving away, because I ended up with it at a white elephant Christmas gift exchange. How sacrilegious! I never read it, which might be sacrilegious, too. Apparently the book is a semi-fictional retelling of the life of Jesus, which could also be considered sacrilegious.

The Original Jesus is a book I acquired for a college class. I probably would have kept it, except that I needed another Jesus book to complete this thematic pair. This project makes me do sacrilegious strange things.

I also threw in a few recently-acquired books that don't count for this project, but in terms of the ones that count, that's six new books gone and another 6.2 pounds off the shelf. Running total is 36 books and 36.9 pounds, if my non-accountant non-accounting is correct.

Thing #220: Baseball Strategy Books

Moneyball is a tough one to get rid of; I've read it multiple times over the last few years. But I'm giving away books in pairs, and I have one last baseball-themed book that I want to keep, so I decided to just let this one go. If I want to read it again someday, I'll check out a copy from the library. Possibly even this copy that I just donated to them!

The Cheater's Guide to Baseball was also a good one, but the library definitely has a copy already, because I saw it in the catalog. Incidentally, I'm fairly certain that these donations go toward book sales that fund library operations, rather than directly to the library shelves.

Thing #219: Do-It-Yourself Books

I'm still trying out different ways of unloading books, and today I discovered that my local library accepts donations. I hauled a bag of books over there, and it was remarkably easy to drop them off at the front desk. I even got a fill-in-your-own tax receipt! I hereby recommend this method of donating books.

I don't plan to first-time buy a home any time soon, so 100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask doesn't need to take up any valuable real estate (hahaha) on my shelf.

Accounting for Non-Accountants is a book perfect for me, a non-accountant. Or it would be, except it turns out I don't want to be a (paradoxical) non-accountant who does accounting. I want to be a non-accountant who hires a CPA if necessary. Apparently there are some subjects I just don't care to learn about.

Thing #218: Leather Jacket

The story with this jacket (along with the aforementioned trench coat) is that my (now ex-) girlfriend's grandfather died, and nobody in the family was his size, but I was. I gratefully accepted a couple things, and the rest went to a local charity.

Several years later, I haven't really worn either of these coats, so I'm passing them along to another charity. They're nice enough that somebody ought to use them.

This is more about the practicality than it is about the circumstances under which I acquired them, but still, this whole scenario is kind of awkward, isn't it?

Thing #217: Trench Coat

I used to try to think of interesting backgrounds for these photos, but now I just put everything on the dining room floor, because that's where the best lighting is. Hardwood backgrounds for everything!

Anyway, I'm taking a break from the book theme, because the church was having a coat drive, and this was a great opportunity to unload this coat that sits in my closet and never gets worn. Somebody else will surely make better use of it!

Thing #216: College Dictionary

I actually did get this for college.

This last set of books, including this dictionary, weighed in at 10.8 pounds. That means I've now dropped 30 books, weighing about 30.7 pounds total. (This and the World Literature book really boosted the average.)

I have plenty more books from my scholastic years, so those will be coming up next. The adventure continues!

Thing #215: World Literature Book

The World of Literature gets its own post because it is gigantic: over 2,200 pages of literature from -- you guessed it -- all over the world.

I took the World Literature class over January Term, which means I was pretty much just reading this book full time for a month. I don't have a transcript handy, so let's go ahead and assume I got an A in that class.

Fun fact: same professor as the Expository Writing class I took the year prior.

Thing #214: Autobiographical Books

In My Life as a 10-Year-Old Boy, Nancy Cartwright talks about becoming one of the most famous cartoon voices of all time. I'll bet the audiobook version is fun.

In 50/50, Dean Karnazes talks about running 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. Yep, he did that.

Couple of interesting people, though I didn't particularly love either book.

While I'm at it, I might as well mention that Karnazes's Ultramarathon Man is probably my favorite running book, and one I'm definitely keeping.

Thing #213: Humorous Advice Books

I like Dave Barry a great deal, but Money Secrets is not one of my favorites. I reread it just to be sure, then donated it.

Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man was okay, at least according to my memory. I did not reread it before donating it.

Thing #206: Seattle Seahawks T-Shirts

I've had both of these shirts for a very long time; the team changed its colors and logo in 2002. One shirt is a little too small and the other is a little too big. Unlike the Washington t-shirt, I thought these were in good enough to condition to donate, so I waited until I was back in Seattle and did so there.

I replaced these two shirts with a single Seattle Sounders t-shirt. One fewer thing.

Finally, what a delightful coincidence that these Seattle items ended up as number 206!

Thing #204: Annual Training Guide Books

Men's Health Training Guide 2007
Men's Health Training Guide 2008

These were more like magazines, but don't worry, Amazon's database has everything!

Twelve books donated so far, weighing a total of 10.1 lbs.

Thing #203: Annual Baseball Books

The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2006
The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2007

These Hardball Times annuals were big, which you can tell by counting the floorboards. Each book is five floorboards tall!

As I look up the Amazon links for each book I've already given away, I keep wondering if I'll find that some book I already donated is actually a collector's item of some kind, worth hundreds of dollars. So far that has not been the case!

Thing #202: Danny Wallace Books

In Join Me, Danny Wallace gets people to join him.

In Yes Man, Danny Wallace says "yes" to everything.

I thoroughly enjoyed both of these, and was considering rereading one or both, but then decided to go ahead and give them away. Tough choice!

In a way, this whole blog is a Danny Wallace type of project. I probably owe him a special inspiration-tagged post.

Thing #201: Blackjack Books

Blackjack is interesting because it's the only casino game where you can beat the house if you do it right: by counting cards. There are tons of variations based on how many decks of cards are in use, how much math you're willing to do, etc. From a numbers/probability standpoint, I found this all very fascinating.

I read Beat the Dealer and The World's Greatest Blackjack Book some years ago, memorized Basic Strategy (the chart demonstrating the ideal way to play every hand), and kinda sorta learned how to count cards using a simple system. I never really practiced it, though; I simply enjoyed the books for the math, the strategies, and the stories of how people have beaten the game.

Thing #200: Movie Tie-in Books

I Am Legend and No Country For Old Men are both incredible novels that I happened to purchase in an airport around the time the films were released.

I'm slightly embarrassed to own any literature in the form of promotional editions, so if/when I replace these, I'll get nicer versions.

Thing #199: Athletic Achievement Books

In Andy Roddick Beat Me with a Frying Pan, the author tests a series of absurd sports concepts, such as whether a hockey team ought to employ an 800-pound goalie.

The Perfection Point explores the hypothetical limits of human athletic performance, given genetically ideal athletes under perfect environmental conditions.

These were both good reads, but I'm just not that likely to read them again. (Especially now that I no longer own copies! Ha ha!)

Thing #198: Homer Simpson Pajama Pants

For some reason, the Salvation Army clothing drop-off box that was right by my apartment is... well, I don't know what happened to it, but it's definitely not right by my apartment, that's for sure.

I hauled this and the previous two items to a Helping Hands box, which required the use of a bicycle. Not as convenient.

Thing #197: Bart Simpson T-Shirt

The funniest thing about this shirt is that the tag is still on it.

The second funniest thing about this shirt is that I photographed it back when I had this couch that I gave away almost a year ago.

The third funniest thing about this shirt is the shirt itself.

Thing #196: Solid Colored Dress Shirts

These were used when I accepted them, I don't wear them that often, and I think I can easily live without them.

It feels a little strange to still be giving away clothing when I'm almost 200 Things in; I figured I'd have gotten most of the extras out by now. Instead, I'm finding that there's a certain inevitable regulating effect when cutting back on clothing. At any time, I'm pretty sure that I could get by on 10% less than I have, but I'm unsure whether I could reasonably get by on 30% less, or 40% less.

I'm still slowly reducing what I have, in expectation of eventually hitting some kind of practical minimum.