PRINTOSAUR: Deleting New York. I'm in :).

I love that Freberg album! I listened to it over and over as a child, even though I didn't get all the jokes. (Fortunately, as a child of the Boston school system, we covered our Revolutionary War history early and often.) I will still occasionally chant "Rumble rumble rumble. Mutiny munity mutiny" in contentious moments--which probably just makes me look like a crazy person, now that I think about it. But thanks for jogging my memory...

Next year Amy Lindel's going for 18 mai tais and 3 chairs!

I would just like to warn your readers that editors don't like to do the hugging bits--I think that's publicity's department.

You Married It! Ours is not to reason why.

Are you/she dead set on the three-hour drive requirement? Because otherwise, go to Stanford! As an east coast girl myself, I can't tell you how liberating and exciting it was to head to California for school. And they're really good at balancing a lot of RA supervision with a general attitude of "you were smart enough to get in here, you're smart enough to behave like an adult." Plus palm trees! OK, I'll stop now.

Thanks for the shout-out! And now I want to go swimming.

Who? Poked? The Puma? (brought to you by the makers of "Tiger by the Tail" and "Crocodile Tears? I Got Yer Crocodile Tears!")

I cannot stop laughing. Also, I am sitting here watching Shark Week RIGHT NOW (featured: "Great White Appetite") and I expressed the merest hint of a desire to get in a shark cage and watch great whites. Before I could complete the sentence, Husband cut me off with a "Hellz no!" So keep working on yours, so I can say, "But Barbara gets to do it! Why can't Ieeeee?"

Neon is too the new black. Hmmph.

The visit did exactly what it was intended to do--make a connection with a bookseller who might handsell the author in future. That's why we often tell our authors to drop in and offer to sign stock; a little face time goes a long way. In this case, you read the author's book overnight, liked it and say yourself you'll handsell it. You might put a review in your newsletter, that sort of thing. All of that is more likely to convert to sales than a traditional (and more expensive) book tour.

Congratulations! I'll go check it out!