Thing #231: Sports Instruction Books

Coaching the West Coast Quarterback is a book about football.

Hockey is a book about baseball.

I put these two in a box bound for an Amazon warehouse, along with some video games that I'll write about later, and some other video games that I won't write about (rules).

The books haven't actually sold yet, but I'm going to assume they will, because I want to close out this book level, finally. I'm already physically rid of them, anyway.

Adding in the last eight books (3 pounds), I've eliminated a total of 64 books, weighing 71.3 pounds. (I could get rid of more books later; the count was just for the book level.)

And we're done!

Thing #227: Computer Science Books

This stack of computer books is mostly Computer Science textbooks, and mostly obsolete. Half Price Books not only accepted the pile, but returned me a voucher for two dollars and fifty cents! (Which I immediately applied toward the purchase of a single, more expensive book.)

I had to give away twelve computer books as one "thing" because I counted and I've acquired eleven new computer books since this project started. Okay, it's more than eleven, but I plan to give some of them away later, or something, so I just now decided they don't count.

This lot weighed in at a whopping 28.4 pounds, which means I've now lightened my bookshelf by 56 books and 68.3 pounds. Wolfram Alpha says that's the equivalent of 8.2 gallons of book-water!

Thing #211: Expository Writing Books

These two don't relate to each other except that I acquired each of them for the same freshman writing class in college.

The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers is something I am glad to get rid of, because I do not intend to write any more academic research papers.

Several papers I wrote for the class were about national security issues, and Preventive Defense was a book I bought to give myself some context on a subject I didn't know much about. I probably needed something more modern than the library had available, and I remember this being a helpful resource. This was all just before 9/11, by the way.

This concludes the set of ten books that I sold to a local used book store... for $1.50 cash. I'm rich!

The pile weighed 9.8 pounds. Looks like I can carry about ten pounds of books in a backpack while riding a bicycle. These are helpful things to know.

Anyway, that brings us to a total of 22 books, weighing 19.9 pounds. Just wait until I get rid of some of these big old textbooks!

Thing #210: Sportswriting Collection Books

The book pairings are going to be getting less and less thematic, I think, but each of these are collections of essays by different authors. About sports. Also, the covers have a very similar look, don't they?

Baseball Between the Numbers still had a receipt in it as a bookmark, so I must not have read all the way through it. It's a collection of Baseball Prospectus essays which attempt to investigate conventional wisdom in baseball through data analysis. I have a certain interest in modern baseball statistics and analysis, and I remember this being one of the very first books that advanced that interest.

The Best American Sports Writing 2000 was a gift. It's the kind of book I enjoy but will likely read only once in my life. Those are the easiest kinds of books to get rid of.

Thing #209: Guy Books

Dave Barry's Complete Guide to Guys is a truly funny book that I've read several times over the years.

The Book of Guys was also pretty good reading, though I think I've only read it once.

Getting rid of good books is hard. Why am I doing this again?

Thing #208: Tom Clancy Books

R.I.P. Tom Clancy.

I don't remember ever reading Acts of War (right), which has Tom Clancy's name on it but probably wasn't actually written by the man himself.

But I'm glad I found Debt of Honor (left) in a box of old college-era books, because that means I can unload these two as a pair and retain my copy of The Hunt for Red October, which I'm not ready to get rid of yet.

Thing #207: The Simpsons Books

Yet more Simpson-themed stuff!

After I decided to start attacking my bookshelves, I quickly realized that I owned quite a few books that I'd never actually entirely read. The first batch contained none of these items, because I was busy reading these two. I figured I'd just read whatever books I hadn't read prior to giving them away. Reading is good for you!

The Gospel According to The Simpsons (right) was a pretty easy read: a chapter here and there on my daily train rides.

But The Simpsons and Philosophy (left) was just something that I didn't find myself especially eager to finish, for whatever reason. So, I excused myself from finishing it and included it in a bag of books that I sold to a local bookstore.

I definitely want to read some of my unread books prior to getting rid of them, but this sets a nice precedent. Now, I don't have to read every last word prior to dumping a book. We'll see how that goes! Faster, is one answer.

Thing #183: Broken Guitar Amp

This was my first guitar amp. It looks like a "Fenaer" because part of the nameplate broke off, but it's actually a Fender. Years ago, the speaker blew out, so I had to decide whether to try replacing the speaker myself, or to trying unloading it as is, or to just write it into my will and keep it forever.

After a couple attempts, I found a guy on Craigslist who wants to start working on amps. I sold it to him for... a donut. I'd originally asked for $5, but when he said he was stopping at a prestigious local bakery on the way, I was hungry so I said I'd accept a donut, too. He bought me a maple bar with bacon on top, which is pretty cool. Musicians are generally pretty cool.

Thing #103: Overdrive Pedal

I tried selling this on Craigslist, but I only got one response and then he backed out. So I thought I'd give eBay a try.

I assumed I'd get somewhere between $10 and $20 for it, and I added $5 for Priority Mail shipping. Here's the final breakdown:

Ebay listing fee:	$0.35
Final sale price:	$7.50 (+ $5.00 shipping)
Ebay final sale fees:	$1.12
PayPal transaction fee:	$0.66
Actual shipping cost:	$9.45 (1 lb, 6.2 oz to Merced, CA)
Final profit:	$0.92

When did Priority Mail get so expensive?

Anyway, from now on, I'll just give things away on Craigslist if I have to.

Thing #96: Bass Guitar

When I bought this bass (used), one of the two pickups didn't work. After getting a few good years out of it, the other one stopped working. So after letting it sit around for months, I finally decided to just sell it to someone who wanted to repair it.

After selling it, I realized that I most of the shots I took for the craigslist ad were vertically oriented, which doesn't fit the template I'm using here. So imagine that it's black and sleek and cool-looking and worth about 25 bucks if the electronics are busted.

Thing #52: 1995 Acura Integra

I sold this little darling in October, although it was undrivable for a couple weeks before I actually got rid of it. I really don't know whether this should count as a "thing" since I'm likely to replace it sooner or later. On the other hand, I intend to go the remainder of 2011 without one.

I'm just going to go ahead and count it since I have no specific plans to replace it in the near future. Maybe the best thing would be to commit to staying carless until I've finished giving up all 363 things? That seems fair. And good motivation to speed up...