weekend afterdate* (update)

I'm afraid I have no real links of interest (though I agree that this dog is cute, via Moorish Girl) this morning and am too busy for much but weekend highlights. In no particular order:

• The BWI annual warehouse sale was nightmarishly chaotic. You'd expect a slightly more sedate scene than say, JAWS, for a place specializing in kids and YA books and graphic novels. (They're direct to library wholesalers, so they dabble in other things too.) But these people were pros -- they had their time-honored hoarding strategies; one family just kept throwing a tacky afghan over clusters of boxes until they could sort through them . It was very like being a last-minute shopper the day before x-mas and coming up against one of those bared-teeth Professional Holiday Shoppers who is only there to buy extra gifts for her beautician and dermatologist. Still, when it comes to books, I can take the moms and jane and johnnies of the world -- and Mr. Rowe's no slouch either. We came out with a giant box of books and ephemera. And I even snagged copies of a couple of books I plan on reviewing here in the near future (read: this week) to give away to the two readers of S & S.
  
• I holed up at Third Street Stuff's new coffeehouse yesterday afternoon and downsized the inbox from 173 messages to 23. My brain turned to mush after awhile and so there's still a few of you I need to write. Feel free to deluge me with new mail though, while I'm feeling resolved to answer quickly.
  
• Mattress shopping is odd and awkward. Especially when the salesman has on a specific kind of pointy-toed cowboy boots.
  

I believe that's all of note. So, shoo, go look at the fine sites to the right.

*Yes, I'm aware this isn't a word.

UPDATE: Mr. Rowe shares some good news he got over the weekend.