Another TWO Free Books Are Coming... Soon!!

Last night, for the first time in I don't know how many months, I went to bed before midnight (think it was even before 11.30pm, but not sure). This morning I found a message on my LibraryThing profile that excited me! Here's the text:

Congratulations. You've snagged an Early Reviewers copy of 1,000 Dollars and an Idea: How an Inspired American Entrepreneur Built a Billion-Dollar Fortune by Sam Wyly.You should get your copy in the mail shortly. The publishers ship the books directly--some are speedier than others, so please be patient!

private comment posted by                 at 12:43 pm (EST) on Jul 1, 2008

After I checked LibraryThing, I went and checked my email -- found even MORE good news!

Dear Matt,

You have been selected to review Faster, Better, Stronger by Eric Heiden/Massimo Testa. Your Advanced Readers Edition should arrive at your address within 14 days via U.S. Postal Service.

Thank you for participating in the First Look program.

HarperCollins Publishers
               @harpercollins.com

The only thing I like better than a good book is a good book that's FREE! and the only thing better than that... is TWO free books!! I can hardly wait!!!


In other (church) news, VBS is rapidly approaching (next Monday). This year's theme is on having a "Wild West Witness." Since I wear cowboy boots (to church, with my suit) every week anyway, I have a jump on most of the other people, but I'll still have to dig out my old saddle, my bolo tie, pocket watch, and a lariat. I might have two lariats, but I've never thrown one -- I just like western things. Today (and maybe tomorrow as well) I'm going to try to build a scale that will hold ~200 lbs per side. That's going to be tons of fun. (We need the scale to measure the offerings... which we don't expect to be very large this year, but next year [and after] we hope to grow the church and our outreach.)

Also, Varmint 4 is due 15 July 2008. The only good thing about a C-section is the ability to pick the date of delivery (provided the baby cooperates and doesn't come early). My (74 year old) neighbor thinks we should have stopped with 2 kids (kinda hard when the 2nd pregnancy was with twins) and is constantly giving me a hard time about having a 4th child. (He's even offered to buy us another TV!) Yesterday I told him it was exactly 2 more Tuesdays until our 4th Varmint is due and my wife was somewhat nervous about the upcoming surgery, but excited to finally know if we're having a girl or a boy. His comment was something along the lines of, "Why don't you just ask them to install a zipper so the next one is easier?" It took me a few seconds to see the humor, but my wife thought it was funny too.

Lastly, my favorite (only) sister is going to visiting FL in the next few weeks. She's not sure when she'll be coming over to see us, but if I had to guess I'd think she'll do all she can to make sure it's after the baby is born.

And now I'm going to come up with a few different plans for the VBS scale, then see what I have in the way of parts & supplies, then attempt to build one...