“My eyes widened, my grin is from ear to ear. I was like a child let loose inside candyland, who couldn’t contain his excitement; who could have devoured the entire place if only his appetite permits.” That is how my sister describes me last Sunday when she accompanied me to the warehouse book sale of POWERBOOKS. Indeed! I would have admitted to being everything as she described except that I’m not in candyland but rather in utopia and I would have devoured every book (well, not all of them of course, I won’t be buying children’s books or chick lits, feel good self help rip offs and boring fictions.) if only my budget permits. Anyway, I spend a good deal afternoon scouring the shelves for a bargain find. Too bad, they only offer 20% discounts on imported business books. Even so, I managed to buy 4 great books: Essentials of Risk Management, Dollarization Discipline, How We Compete, and Juran’s Six Sigma. All for P5,465.40. Plus they gave me an extra book, a worthless fiction novel written by a newbie. I would have bought more but I already exceeded my book – buying budget for the month (I’ve bought other books before)! Anyway, as I was lining up to pay for my purchase, the guy in front of me peered into my purchase and got jealous of the books I’ve got. He even ask and took one of the books (Essentials of Risk Management), browse a little and ask the cashier and sales lady if there is another copy available. Unfortunately, it’s the last copy. I could see in his eyes the envy, the regret of not having to find the copy before I did. Well, what can I say, I’m a mean picker of books – business books to be exact! Better luck next time, men. Anyway, the 5 books would be a fine addition to growing library, which now has close to 300 books. The total cost I estimated is around P200,000 – P250,000 more or less but probably more but the value is priceless! Oh, I look forward to the day when this collection of mine would reach 500! Maybe I’ll build a room for all those books but for now they share with my bedroom, which is not entirely a bad idea though. For those who are interested in books, POWERBOOKS book sale will last until April 1. They will be open from 10am to 7pm. They are located at Brixton street, which is parallel to Pioneer street in Mandaluyong. If you are coming from Makati, turn right at the corner after Robinson’s Place at Pioneer. Go straight for two block and then turn right until you reach the end and turn right again. You can’t miss them. Good Hunting.
AFTERWARDS …….
While I was attempting to write this blog last Tuesday, I got up from my bed and gaze at my precious collection of books and I noticed that one of the books seemed to be “slumping” and as I opened the glass panel to fix it, I was shocked to discover that it was “eaten” by TERMITES! Argh! My collections! 13 books related to operations management were “devoured” by those pests! 3 of the books are hardbound and of the 13 books, two were Harvard business books! Except for 3 newsprint quality books, all of them are imported books made of high quality paper! I had only read about half of those books. Let me see, one of the books is about Warehousing, another book is on Product design and development, one is on Mass Customization (Harvard Business book), one is on Lean Manufacturing system, 3 books on Operations Management by different authors, one book on Project Management, still another is on Retail and Logistics management, another is on Transforming the Supply Chain, another is on Quality as a competitive tool, another is about Managing the Value Chain (Harvard Business Review), and the last book is about …… well, I forgot. Those books cost me anywhere from P10,000 to P15,000 (P20,000 would not be an exaggeration)! Of those books, only 3 “survive” the “massacre”. The rest have half of their pages devoured by those hideous creatures. It pained me so much as I was removing those books from the shelves. I could still hear their “hearty” chewing while I was doing so! Damn things! (Forgive me for the foul language) I had to throw those books away if I was going to save my entire library from those foul termites. I had to cut my losses. It is so frustrating. I hoped that those termites gain 100 points in their collective IQ from chewing all those books! I now fully realize why so many ancient works are forever loss from posterity. Aside from war and fire, no collections from the Library of Nineveh or Alexandria would ever be safe from those “book hungry” beasts. Ahhh, now I had to buy the replacements that is of course, if I could ever find a copy. A lesson is learned here. I should have invested equally in the safe keeping of my library like buying a metal bookcase. Again, more cash outlays.
AFTERWARDS …….
While I was attempting to write this blog last Tuesday, I got up from my bed and gaze at my precious collection of books and I noticed that one of the books seemed to be “slumping” and as I opened the glass panel to fix it, I was shocked to discover that it was “eaten” by TERMITES! Argh! My collections! 13 books related to operations management were “devoured” by those pests! 3 of the books are hardbound and of the 13 books, two were Harvard business books! Except for 3 newsprint quality books, all of them are imported books made of high quality paper! I had only read about half of those books. Let me see, one of the books is about Warehousing, another book is on Product design and development, one is on Mass Customization (Harvard Business book), one is on Lean Manufacturing system, 3 books on Operations Management by different authors, one book on Project Management, still another is on Retail and Logistics management, another is on Transforming the Supply Chain, another is on Quality as a competitive tool, another is about Managing the Value Chain (Harvard Business Review), and the last book is about …… well, I forgot. Those books cost me anywhere from P10,000 to P15,000 (P20,000 would not be an exaggeration)! Of those books, only 3 “survive” the “massacre”. The rest have half of their pages devoured by those hideous creatures. It pained me so much as I was removing those books from the shelves. I could still hear their “hearty” chewing while I was doing so! Damn things! (Forgive me for the foul language) I had to throw those books away if I was going to save my entire library from those foul termites. I had to cut my losses. It is so frustrating. I hoped that those termites gain 100 points in their collective IQ from chewing all those books! I now fully realize why so many ancient works are forever loss from posterity. Aside from war and fire, no collections from the Library of Nineveh or Alexandria would ever be safe from those “book hungry” beasts. Ahhh, now I had to buy the replacements that is of course, if I could ever find a copy. A lesson is learned here. I should have invested equally in the safe keeping of my library like buying a metal bookcase. Again, more cash outlays.
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