Previously I re-posted an article I wrote two years ago. I haven’t learned much since, when it comes to finding lost things.
The issue with the lost books from my inventory continues. Yesterday’s book was right where it was supposed to be. However, I won’t get complacent, because many of my books are not where I expect to find them. The thing about that is annoying, but usually ends up with the book being found without much delay. Only once in the years I have been selling books online have I had to run to HalfPriceBooks and buy another copy.
The search now involves a rotary slide holder, filled with slides and stored in the original yellow Kodak box the tray came in originally. These slides are part of a slide-show production I put together to entertain my university class in World Civilizations, specifically a 2-credit course required of all students. The courses were specifically designed History classes in world areas such as Latin America, Africa, Middle East…and many others. The classes were usually chosen by students based on the time-slot as it fit in with their other classes, rather than any particular interest in a world region.
My presentation dealt with Mexican archeological sites in Yucatan including Chichén Itzá, Uxmal, and Tuluum. Obviously the slides that I selected were the ones I considered to be the best quality. Most had been photographed by my late husband, I might add. There are about a hundred slides. The search is on…and the good part of it is that I have so far cleaned out and rearranged two major room closets searching. I have located thousands of slides…but not this particular collection.
Last winter I ordered a Digital Film/Slide Projector, and it is the best thing since sliced bread. It is very simple in operation, you just put the slides in the contraption, transfer the images onto an SD card, which corresponds to a photo site on my computer. Perfect…..not automatic, exactly, but it isn’t bad because I get to view all of my slides from a thirty year period. An added bonus is seeing the family shots of 30-something grandchildren as babies. The farm is well represented in photos going back to the 1970s, as well as multiple vacations during the subsequent years.
Back to the subject…searching for that slide tray. The closing of two shops at a flea market and an antique mall about five years ago resulted in half of my book inventory and dollhouse miniatures and all-kinds-of-stuff into my garage, and most rooms in my house. About half of my book inventory of about 2000 books now (not counting my personal library of books which is more extensive,) is catalogued on online book sites such as Amazon, Alibris, Biblio, Barnes&Noble…etc. I have culled the inventory excess to the extent that most of what is left is saleable. … in theory. Every one of these books is numbered sequentially and readily available….except, of course, those that insist on misplacing themselves.
Oh yes, the point is that I am in the process of publishing many of my slides on my blog, and some of my best are missing. However, my slide converter gadget also does film strips, so all is not lost. I just haven’t tried the film strips yet.
First published here in February 2015. I do find this whole situation to be pertinent though…even now in May 2017….I guess I never learn!
When I lose something…or more accurately have misplaced it…there is no rest for me or anyone near me, until the missing item has reappeared. I do believe in the old prayer to St. Anthony, the patron saint of lost things, or is he the saint of the people who have LOST something?
Either way, I am not ashamed to say that the quickest way to recovery is to recite some version of the verse: This one was told to me by a stranger at the flea market when I was out there selling books:
Tony, Tony, Tony…Something’s lost and can’t be found,
Please help me find it when I turn around.
Many things have been recovered soon after pleading with St. Anthony for help. Finding lost keys are a specialty of the Saint’s, and various and sundry other missing things have been recovered….not only by me, but by various other believers.
Once I even found a silver bracelet that I had lost in the garage. I had been sorting books and must have caught the edge of the cuff bracelet, causing it to slip off of my wrist. That was a mad search, which included a grocery store, pharmacy, restaurant, and several other places. My evil twin even suggested the possibility that some unscrupulous clerk had pocketed my bracelet. (I didn’t really believe that myself, as I have a basic belief in the goodness of people.) The bracelet turned up after several calls to St. Anthony…and an email friend who is a Tarot card reader of some note, and also has a reputation for finding lost things.
Hmm… maybe that’s why it took the Tony, Tony, Tony thing so long. I found the bracelet under a chair, behind a stack of picture frames, under a few boxes of flea market stuff…and a plastic red tablecloth, which may or may not have been key. Just sayin’….
THE CURRENT EMERGENCY SEARCH was one that I have entirely too often. I mentioned in an earlier post, about how I handle my book inventory. Although I was bragging about how well my alphabetical inventory system works, I did include a caveat that IF a given book was not where it was supposed to be… in this case #1746–which should have been between 1745 and 1747, but was not.
Now, this has to be a case of Murphy’s Law of Inventories, because this was the exact book that a customer ordered. It was a book about making Art items from Buttons (the kind on shirts,) and I distinctly remembered being in the book room holding the book and thinking “how mundane.” Yes, that’s what I forget for being judgemental. I also recall my son coming in with his current emergency, pinning his church “Usher” badge to his shirt, and I had to leave the room–with the book in hand–and debating where to shelve it temporarily.
As luck would have it, the very next order that came in was for THAT VERY BOOK. Thus the mad search was on. I have books all over the house, some already inventoried, most not. To cut to the chase, I found the Button book within two feet of my left arm, on a shelf where I keep books that for one reason or another are in a “waiting” status.
I had looked in the very spot several times. It was much smaller than I had remembered it, and had slipped partially behind two neighboring books: one on Tai Chi, and one on Ribbon crafts. The inventory numbers matched several books in the immediate space.
This whole situation where a given book is not readily located happens too often to be coincidental. There are nearly three thousands books in my inventory, on shelves, in order. WHY is the one on order frequently misplaced?
I guess I’ll have to ask St. Anthony that question.
Here is something I wrote last week…sort of a poem/prayer…when I could not find a book that I had sold, and knew I had in my inventory. My inventory has nearly two thousand books, all shelved in numerical order. In theory, if I am looking for book number 452, it should be right there on the shelf between #451, and #453. How easy is that? The volume is always there….unless its not. If it’s not, I undertake a frantic and massive search, and usually it turns up misplaced, behind other books on the shelf, in over-sized spaces, or having lost its number sticker.
I’ve blogged about this before…bragging (sort of) about my great system, which is basically fool-proof. I am dedicated to filling orders from Amazon, and all my other venues, rapidly—most orders go out the same day they are received. I am paranoid about maintaining my 100% performance rate, as the competition is fierce. The description wording must be precise, and I always mention every little bend, pencil mark, dog-ear…in great detail. If I say the book is “good” it is usually “very good” or better.
Without further ado, here is my account of my latest fiasco….which in the end turned out well, the book was located and shipped on time. However…it was missing for a whole day and a half, and I was beginning to panic. So I did what many self-respecting bloggers would do in my situation—write a poem.
Missing Book
Book Inventory is nice
in numerical order
instead of by price
or subject, size or color.
How hard can it be
to follow the scheme
with consecutive numbers
as the predominant theme.
It must be mischievous Fate
humor sense so gigantic—
it seems that this date
I have lost the Titanic!
A buyer waiting
counts on me for his book
what worries me is how long
the finding it took!
First published here in February 2015. I do find this whole situation to be pertinent though…even now in August 2016….I guess I never learn!
I already looked there, Sister.
When I lose something…or more accurately have misplaced it…there is no rest for me or anyone near me, until the missing item has reappeared. I do believe in the old prayer to St. Anthony, the patron saint of lost things, or is he the saint of the people who have LOST something?
Either way, I am not ashamed to say that the quickest way to recovery is to recite some version of the verse: This one was told to me by a stranger at the flea market when I was out there selling books:
Tony, Tony, Tony…Something’s lost and can’t be found,
Please help me find it when I turn around.
Many things have been recovered soon after pleading with St. Anthony for help. Finding lost keys are a specialty of the Saint’s, and various and sundry other missing things have been recovered….not only by me, but by various other believers.
Once I even found a silver bracelet that I had lost in the garage. I had been sorting books and must have caught the edge of the cuff bracelet, causing it to slip off of my wrist. That was a mad search, which included a grocery store, pharmacy, restaurant, and several other places. My evil twin even suggested the possibility that some unscrupulous clerk had pocketed my bracelet. (I didn’t really believe that myself, as I have a basic belief in the goodness of people.) The bracelet turned up after several calls to St. Anthony…and an email friend who is a Tarot card reader of some note, and also has a reputation for finding lost things.
Hmm… maybe that’s why it took the Tony, Tony, Tony thing so long. I found the bracelet under a chair, behind a stack of picture frames, under a few boxes of flea market stuff…and a plastic red tablecloth, which may or may not have been key. Just sayin’….
THE CURRENT EMERGENCY SEARCH was one that I have entirely too often. I mentioned in an earlier post, about how I handle my book inventory. Although I was bragging about how well my alphabetical inventory system works, I did include a caveat that IF a given book was not where it was supposed to be… in this case #1746–which should have been between 1745 and 1747, but was not.
No, Baby, it’s not outside.
Now, this has to be a case of Murphy’s Law of Inventories, because this was the exact book that a customer ordered. It was a book about making Art items from Buttons (the kind on shirts,) and I distinctly remembered being in the book room holding the book and thinking “how mundane.” Yes, that’s what I forget for being judgemental. I also recall my son coming in with his current emergency, pinning his church “Usher” badge to his shirt, and I had to leave the room–with the book in hand–and debating where to shelve it temporarily.
As luck would have it, the very next order that came in was for THAT VERY BOOK. Thus the mad search was on. I have books all over the house, some already inventoried, most not. To cut to the chase, I found the Button book within two feet of my left arm, on a shelf where I keep books that for one reason or another are in a “waiting” status.
I had looked in the very spot several times. It was much smaller than I had remembered it, and had slipped partially behind two neighboring books: one on Tai Chi, and one on Ribbon crafts. The inventory numbers matched several books in the immediate space.
This whole situation where a given book is not readily located happens too often to be coincidental. There are nearly three thousands books in my inventory, on shelves, in order. WHY is the one on order frequently misplaced?
I guess I’ll have to ask St. Anthony that question.
When your relationship with a spouse, partner, friend, family member, and/or child becomes your focus rather than your relationship with yourself, seek Attention Anonymous and learn from others who struggle to set boundaries and desire to maintain stability.
Thoughts of the pressed madman/pressed by burden of self truth/ atlast he howls prior death/ his howl mated with a nightingle's coo/ and a poetry is born
SOMETIMES 