B&R Briefs

Summer Is Here
As of Monday morning, the library shifted gears from the rhythm of school to that of summertime.  Boom, just like that.  Book circulation increases: already there is a backlog of shelving carts.  To the normal congestion of demand on Mondays for Internet PC's, due in part to the branches being closed, is added the all-day presence of children who are here instead of in school.  Waits for PC's reached 70 minutes for a time on Monday afternoon.

Still, it's good to see parents coming in with their children to find books to read for fun, and leaving with each child carrying their selections.  The perennial titles on school summer reading lists go out once again:  A Land Remembered, Night, The Life of Pi, A Separate Peace.  Leon High's Advanced Placement Language assignment is a non-fiction title, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.

Gazebo Stabbing Update
Friday's incident has continued to be a topic of conversation at the library.  Reading in the park today, I happened to overhear a conversation between several men in the gazebo.  The victim, having been patched up, was there with a couple of friends.  One of his friends upbraided him, saying that he had tried to warn him to stay away from the man who attacked him; that the man was trouble waiting to happen.  The victim complained that he was told by the police not to leave town until the trial was concluded.  He said that the incident had not been precipitated by any kind of argument.  His friend accused the attacker of trying to turn him against his other friends.  It sounded to me like a kind of "spat", very personal and complicated.  I found the attacker's picture and rap-sheet at the Leon County Detention Center web site.  He had been arrested for numerous incidents of violence and drug possession dating from 2002.

The Trane Retires
Benson's is putting in a new heating/cooling system on Wednesday, replacing our trusty 20+ years old Trane unit:  a big, expensive deal.  It was either that or replace a costly "coil" on a system that had reached obsolescence.  It's time to bite the bullet.  You've had these major appliances forever, heat pumps, water heaters, refrigerators:  but technology has made such huge improvements since you bought them, that when they begin to go, you might as well upgrade.  You will save money in the long run.