Also: hardly anyone I know has been on IM today, and I think it's because they were/are all off reading that book! Hmph.

I'm online! Because I finished the book this morning. =)

Not that... we... really talk much. Maybe I should lurk less.

Hee. Well, I'm mostly mad because one certain person is, I suspect, reading the book and thus not online. But it has been amusing to look at the list, and see that it's much smaller than usual, all of today. :)

I'd talk to you, but I think I'm going to sleep now...must get up and buy Harry Potter in the morning! Or, something.

meara, I didn't mind going to the company picnic today at all. It gave me an excuse to miss my 30th high school reunion. No way am I going to admit to being that fucking old by actually going.

Since DH has this thing about all our editions matching, we're still a week or so away from HBP, because our copy shipped from England this morning. I saw someone reading it at the ballpark before the game tonight and was filled with mad envy.

Tonight was the game with the USS Mariner blog people. One of the main posters there writes for Baseball Prospectus, so we had a pregame event featuring a Q&A with M's GM Bill Bavasi and Jim Caple from ESPN. I like Bavasi better than I did before--he answered two hours worth of questions well and seemed to have a good sense of where the club needs to be and what it'll have to do to get there. Caple brought four bats with him--Louisville Slugger saves the specs on all the bats they make, so you can order anyone's bat. He had replicas of Joe Jackson's, Honus Wagner's, Ty Cobb's, and Babe Ruth's. Ruth's was closest in look, weight, and balance to a modern bat. Jackson's weighed a ton and was almost as thick at the handle as it was at the hitting end. I took an experimental swing with it (heck, we all did, with all of them). Now, granted, I am female and out of shape. But still, I can swing an ordinary baseball bat with no difficulties. Not this one--it felt like it was pulling my arms down rather than serving as an extension of my arms.

He'd let the players use them in batting practice, and Beltre and Spiezio hit some balls out of the park with the Wagner bat. Ichiro wouldn't use them, because he didn't want to mess with his rhythm by using equipment so different from his usual so close to game time.

All in all a good evening, even if I only heard half the Q&A because Annabel wasn't in a mood to sit quietly in our laps.

Susan, I feel your pain, though mine is coming from Canada, as they have the UK cover and text, and there's no ocean between.

Oh, I pointed that out to DH. I mean, Canada is about a three-hour drive from our house!

I think having 3 paper-backs and 2 (soon to be 3) hard-cover helps me care a lot less on the "must be same version!" front. For me, it's largely a protest of the "what do you mean you're calling it the Sorcerer's Stone.? That's just silly"

My copy of HP is the UK edition. I miss the illustration, but it is more handily portable.

Off to see the David before we check out. I need coffee. (And I feel no latte will ever be the same now that I've had them here. Nummy.)

Ciao!

Back from running amok w/Perkins and Jilli.

Perkins' new hair is very cute.