Wednesday, January 27, 2010

McNasty

Yesterday afternoon, while my wife was at an AAA meeting, I stuck my nose into the library's used book store. I only had about ten minutes to look around as they were about to close. One interesting work I saw there was John McEnroe's biography, "You Cannot Be Serious". I chuckled when I read the book's title; I remember many years ago seeing a clip of him saying those four words to a line judge.



I wanted to get the book, but $8 is higher than I wanted to go.

Still having a half hour to kill, I went into the library proper. I hadn't checked out a book in years. If there's a book I really want, I'll just buy it; I don't like the idea of having to return it after a few weeks. Nonetheless, I wouldn't mind reading the McEnroe book for free if they had it there.

I headed to the sports section, then to the tennis section, then to the biography tennis section. Whew. They did have a copy, but I didn't have my card. I asked a male librarian if it was possible for me to check out books with just my ID. He said it was and I found one other bio I was interested in reading: Maureen McCormick's "Here's The Story".

Interesting fact: Both Mc and I were born at the Air Force Base in Wiesbaden, Germany.

On my way out, I saw a kid playing a video game at a computer station. I wanted to tell him he wasn't supposed to be doing that, but it was his own personal laptop. You wanna know what kind of games I played on my lap as a child in the early 80's? Check it out:

6 comments:

ExtraO said...

I love the library! It's the coolest thing in the world to be able to walk into a building full of books and leave with piles of them without paying a cent!

I was born at an Air Force Base too..

Timothy Smith said...

Been a while since I have been to the library but use to love it. I inhale books so quickly these days I bought a Kindle to save some bucks. At 5-15 bucks a book less it did not take long to pay for itself but one thing I hate is I cant donate the books if I want to get rid of them or loan them to a friend.

The plus side besides the cash savings is the ease of use and my wife not yelling at me to sell off my library.

Its nice as you can go online and download a few dozen book samples and after reading if you like a book buy it by just pressing a button on the Kindle and BAM, its there.

Not pushing the product mind you, but if you read 10+ books a month its worth doing. If you read just a book or two a month don't waste the money.

Unknown said...

Although I've always played tennis like Andy Murray, McEnroe is the man. I didn't like him for some reason when I was younger. Man, I was wrong. The guy made the sport fun and entertaining. He was one of the best serve and volleyers; made it look so effortless.

I got Agassi's autobiography for Christmas. Haven't started reading it yet. He deserves all the credit for coming forward with some difficult admissions. Still, my all-time favorite. Right now, it's gotta' be Rafael Nadal. Man, that guy's intense out there.

Wow! I didn't know McEnroe was also born in Wiesbaden. I guess I always thought he was a Long Island guy.

McCormack also had balls (well, figuratively speaking. That's reserved for Mann Coulter). She also seems like a beautiful person based on her recent interviews.

Unknown said...

oh yeah mcenroe, also known for his nasty attitude! not a big fan of tennis.......:)
used to go to the library a lot, nice way of killing some time, now i just download or order books for inevitable cause......:(
i was born at an army base btw......:)

Thomas said...

Extra, it is, indeed, a nice feeling to have access to such a wealth of information. It'd be much easier if it was all on the Net, but you can't beat the pleasure of reading a good book while in the bathtub on a cold winter's night.

Tim, another great thing about the Kindle is how Green it is. I don't know about you, but I like reading where it's quiet, typically in the bedroom before turning in.

PJ, I'm also interested in Agassi's bio. You gotta love the guy and I remember secretly lusting for his wife when she was still playing.

You're correct about McEnroe being a New Yorker. His father, a member of the Air Force when John was born, moved the family to Queens in the early 60's.

Fay, I don't really watch tennis, either, but have fond memories of players I watched from time to time as a child (Jimmy Connors, Chris Evert, etc.)

Both females who posted here were born on Air Force bases as well?! As Paris Hilton would say, "That's hot".

Thomas said...

Sorry, Fay said she incarnated at an ARMY base. Certainly nothing to sneeze at.