My favorite news story of the week involves the coat of arms of Venezuela. It seems that there's a horse on the coat of arms and that horse faces to the right. Apparently, the Chavez government thinks that this needs to be corrected so they're changing things so the horse, just like the government, faces to the left. I'm just waiting for certain elements in our country to notice that the eagle on our national seal has its head turned to the left.
I couldn't make this stuff up.
As for what I actually did this week, much of it had to do with travel preparation. A couple of trips to the city got me my visa for Togo. I also had my travel medicine appointment (typhoid and meningitis shots and a prescription for mefloquine).
Of course, the big part of getting ready for a vacation is getting caught up on work and at home. The weather the past few days has not been at all helpful there. I did resist the temptation to drive somewhere for a Volksmarch, but I am definitely suffering from spring fever. The forecast is for things to get cold again during the week, so maybe I'll be more productive.
I did, at least, manage a used book store run this weekend, getting rid of another 25 books (and picking up 9 in trade). I'm down to about 65 cents trade credit at McKay and a buck or so at C&W, but it's not like I don't still have lots of boxes of books to go through. I've also got just about enough rejects to make it worth a trip up to Wonder Book. They pay miserably and don't do trade at all, but buy pretty much anything. And they're a treasure trove of obscure odds and ends, so I inevitably end up spending more than I've gotten from them. If the weather is decent next weekend, I might try their Hagerstown branch, since there's a Volksmarch out that way anyway. (And, actually, come to think of it, Frederick is on the way.)
Copyright 2006 Miriam H. Nadel