Eat your heart out, Mom!



Don't gripe, Grim Reapers, but the young magician with the "dark mark" has you beat. An inmate at our city jail wanted to show us his love for Rowling's books, so he rolled up his sleeve and showed us his Harry Potter tattoo, spectacles and all! It looked like this picture:

The days of blue roses and plump red hearts may never go away, but the teenage trickster is now peeking from pecs around America. Since EVERYONE--in or out of jail--is being branded, a wider range of images will be used. Therefore, a Potter tattoo should come as no surprise. Voldemort may seem a little more in keeping with the biker crowd, but you never know. The muggle-born maven, Hermione, may soon appear in the most unusual places. Pip-pip, cheerio!!

S-w-e-e-e-e-t!

The Alameda County Library fleet ...

announces the arrival of a sleek new Dodge Caravan. Rear Seats were removed to accommodate our weekly deliveries of goodies to the jail. A cage was inserted to protect the heads of the illustrious jail staff from flying bins (or from the kind of unruly passengers known to cops and soccer moms.)

The van drives like a dream, has--finally, Mira!--a built-in CD Player, and holds our aching backs snugly in place as we return home from a hard day's hauling. Only by way of contrast, did we realize how jarring it was to drive back from the jail in our old van. This one is so relaxing it puts the Jails Librarian into an alpha state. If the offgassing from the new plastic doesn't kill us, we'll be in fine shape for years to come.  

The bed is a bit smaller so some of our hauls might have to be smaller. This will only affect a few runs to pick up donations and perhaps cause us to be more selective and efficient. The gas mileage is better and the van can use alternative fuel when necessary. This will save our legs a lot of wear and tear, for all you Flintstones' fans.

So all you taxpayers, thanks for the new wheels!!!!! Our bodies and minds are eternally grateful.

Dan's 2-cents: a real treat.