Books, glorious books

[spacealien_vamp]

This week was really exciting, because my dad completed the custom drawers and shelves along one wall in my library. The drawer fronts are made from solid oak to match the flooring, and the handles are cherry to match the room trim. The shelves and cabinet top are made from bamboo plywood, which is exceptionally expensive, but I think the lovely color variations in the bamboo strips give everything a delightful visual interest.

Now that I have some storage space, I was able to unpack a number of boxes. Here is a shot of the shelves as they should be, holding lots of books and manga. (Nothing is organized yet, though. That's going to be a monstrous task. wednesday_10_00, when is spring break...?) I'm looking forward to getting the shelves in the guest room, which will allow me to unpack even more boxes.

The new fruiting shrubs that I ordered arrived on Wednesday, which was earlier than I expected, so I scrambled to plant all the bare-root bushes Thursday morning before work. The weekend was less rainy than anticipated, so I was able to get some weeding and other yard work done. I've been collecting all the boxes that I've saved up from unpacking things, and I set a layer of flattened cardboard down in the small gap between the house and the fence in an attempt to smother all the weeds. It's a nice little pathway that would be great with an edible groundcover, such as strawberries, but I have to get rid of the masses of weeds first.

Comments

[firesign10.livejournal.com]

The shelves and cabinets are gorgeous!!!

[spacealien-vamp.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[sara-tanaquil.livejournal.com]

Those shelves and drawers make me dog-eared with envy! So gorgeous. Your father is incredibly talented.

[spacealien-vamp.livejournal.com]

Your father is incredibly talented.

Isn't he? He can do so many things, it blows my mind.

[photoash.livejournal.com]

Wow the shelves and drawers are gorgeous <3 and will certainly add value to your place :D <3

[spacealien-vamp.livejournal.com]

I can't wait until the entire project is finished. (Just getting all the boxes unpacked will add value... ^_^ )

[mangaroo.livejournal.com]

Ah, the shelves are gorgeous. Ditto sara's comment re: your father's craftsmanship. I have a set of simple bookshelves my grandfather built for my mother, and I treasure them for their quality and sentimental value.

How many manga (or light novels) will the drawers hold?

[spacealien-vamp.livejournal.com]

How many manga (or light novels) will the drawers hold?

One of the large drawers holds about 90 BL-sized manga, and one of the small drawers holds about 75 novels.

The cabinet turned out so well, my dad decided to do another set for the guest room (which was previously going to be all shelves). I can put all the shounen/shoujo manga in there.

[wednesday-10-00.livejournal.com]

One of the large drawers holds about 90 BL-sized manga, and one of the small drawers holds about 75 novels.

Wow, knowing how many books that one cabinet holds makes it doubly impressive. (It looks fantastic!)

[wednesday-10-00.livejournal.com]

Spring break is the last week in March, but I'll have to think about whether I can actually make the trip. It's certainly tempting.

[spacealien-vamp.livejournal.com]

If you can come, I'd certainly take the whole week off work so we would have plenty of time.

[wednesday-10-00.livejournal.com]

I should clarify that if I did come, it would be from the end of the previous week through beginning of spring break week (so, maybe Thursday the 21st through Wednesday the 27th or something like that). When would you need to know to get the time off?

edit: do you have a limited number of vacation days per year? Do we need to worry about that limiting vacation days for Japan?

[spacealien-vamp.livejournal.com]

When would you need to know to get the time off?

Well...I submitted my vacation bid yesterday. But it's not actually due until the 9th, so I could still change it if necessary.

do you have a limited number of vacation days per year? Do we need to worry about that limiting vacation days for Japan?

This is probably a topic that deserves an entire post. However, I'll cover it briefly here.

The good news: I have plenty of vacation days. In fact, if I don't take a bunch of time off during the year, I'll end up losing some.

The bad news: Now that there are 7 canine handlers, two of whom have (or will have by the end of the year) children, there is much more competition for holidays. The rule is that only TWO handlers can take annual leave on any particular day. That means if I get two weeks off for Christmas and New Year, only ONE of the remaining six can take any time off during that period.

This is compounded by the fact that Wednesdays (Christmas and New Year this year) are our training days, which means all seven are scheduled to work. Therefore, no one is getting the day as a regular day off (which would have cut down on competition for annual leave).

Now, most of the other handlers are reasonable about compromising. However, I might have to compromise a little as well. For example, I may have to start my trip on the 25th or 26th, so that someone else can have Christmas Eve or Christmas Day off, and I can still arrive in Tokyo in time for Comiket.

If no one is willing to compromise, then it will be subjected to a random drawing. I'm really hoping it doesn't come to that, because then I have a chance of losing the draw entirely.

[wednesday-10-00.livejournal.com]

I could still change it if necessary.

If you put it in for the whole last week of March, that would probably be best. Spring break is kind of a crunch with everyone trying to get ready for the new term in a week (contrast with summer break and winter break, which are super long), so I will want to be back to work Thursday and Friday. Thursday-Wednesday as mentioned above should work OK, though.

(I'll take the rest of the conversation elsewhere, I think, so we can include everyone.)