I can feel the sun burning my face. Dave Eggers is signing books and I’m waiting. I’m tired and my skin is burning and I’m listening to the two young women behind me talking about Dave Eggers.

 

—He’s (I can hear her counting in her head) 40. That’s not bad.
—That’s not bad.
—That’s not bad.
—That’s not bad.
—Oh. He’s married.
—Oh.
—And has a kid. Two kids.
—How old?
—Um, five. And two. Or one. One of those.
—That’s not bad.
—No, that’s not bad.

I’m exhausted. And hot. And sweaty. And I’m not sure what’s up with my hair, but I know it’s not flattering. I’m holding my planner in front of my face hoping to minimize the skin damage. I look like a jackass.

I could not let April glide past me without acknowledging National Poetry Month and the poet that changed my life.

I discovered Mary Oliver in the collegiate haze of words every English Lit major must wade through in order to find their own truth. I appreciated Keats, Yates, Donne, and their canonic cadre. And when I settled into my seat in “Literature about Nature” I expected nothing.

Her name appeared on a black and white syllabus.

Her book appeared on the bookstore shelf next to Foucault.

But her words.

Her words appeared in my brain with a slow percolation. A wide-eyed realization that something I had not planned to love, was inching its way into my soul.

Hey everyone! Today we had the Desert Museum stop by and talk to us all about reptiles. A snake, lizard and tortise were on hand and we learned all about what they eat where they sleep and how they live in the wild. If you missed this event, don't worry, they will be back during our super Summer Kids Events the week of July 19. Check out the pictures from today's event on our Flickr site.

...a guest blog by Mrs. Green (a.k.a. Gina Murphy-Darling)

First little green story: Mr. Green discovers ants in the drive-way – lots of them. He goes to the store to do what he has always done – buy poison to kill them. He literally has an aha moment, puts the poison back on the shelf and comes home. He lets me know and asks me to call our Eco-pest guy (no poison, no harm to the earth, water supply, children or pets). Nick had Carlos at our house within an hour. Carlos identified them as carpenter ants which can be very destructive. He treated them with an inert material (please don’t ask me to spell it) that is 99.994% toxic free. Good enough for me. Ants are gone, earth is safe. Just one thing.

I love my Bookmans iPhone, but sometimes I feel like it should have given to someone more tech savvy than myself. I’ve now had it for at least six months, and I’m still learning how to use it. However, last Sunday I was in Target looking at some necessary baby item, California Baby sunscreen I think, and I whipped out the iPhone and went to my RedLaser app to locate the cheapest local and online price for the item. The tattooed father of a two-year-old boy asked me about the app, then asked me out to coffee. Since I was still sweats-clad and unshowered, I think he was most attracted to my iPhone. As I left the store, I had that song from Napoleon Dynamite stuck in my head: “I love technology but not as much as you, you see…”

So, you've done your homework. You read the previews months ago, then the reviews a week ago, then the user impressions days ago - but you're still understandably on the fence about picking up the latest tech toy. We've all been there, and after a week of owning my iPad, I'm here to give you the definitive answer! Possibly.

I've never seen a single device be so incredibly divisive, both in the tech community and in the minds of average consumers. If you tell someone you bought one, reactions range from excitement and jealousy, to the questioning of your sanity, and everything in between. Some of this, I believe, is due to Apple's absurd marketing campaign, which as history has taught us, will often serve to create an equal-and-opposite backlash. "Magical and revolutionary" it is not - at least not yet.

This weekend our Tucson stores made Recycled Creatures -- it was tons of fun and imaginations ran wild, we had many different creatures from many different places... zoogles and zaps, truggles and geebles, squiggly wiggly worms, buzzing bumble bees and all kinds of crazy creatures! All of these creative young minds put neat-o back on the map. There were multi-eyed monsters and otherworldly critters. The recycled materials made it even more fun--is there anything better than a free toy made from a toilet paper tube?!

I love the smell of sunscreen and sweat. There’s something about human smells mixed with the chemical coconut smell that makes me happy. Maybe it’s the familiarity of the smells, like a doorway into simpler childhood times. Saturday, at the Flagstaff Earth Day Festival, we had sunscreen and sweat in abundance. There was also a familiar sight to go along with the olfactory memories, the return of the Flagstaff Trade Counter. It didn’t look exactly the same, but standing on one side going through boxes, bags and handing out trade was great. We got to open a new pack of deal cards, the first we’ve used since the roof collapse, and tell people “Give us about 15 to 20 minutes to go thru this.” Everything was so familiar, like when you camp out. You’re still cooking, but outside.

The Konamis is a webcomic by Jack Crawford and Bookmans own Tavis Maiden (@tavismaiden). Updated each Monday, Wednesday and Friday, follow the adventures of The Konamis, a real comic tale about the real comic adventure of The Konamis (meaning "little waves"), the little ol' rock band that makes a big splash!

Robruhaha

The Konamis is a webcomic by Jack Crawford and Bookmans own Tavis Maiden (@tavismaiden). Updated each Monday, Wednesday and Friday, follow the adventures of The Konamis, a real comic tale about the real comic adventure of The Konamis (meaning "little waves"), the little ol' rock band that makes a big splash!

'X' Marks the Rock

The Konamis is a webcomic by Jack Crawford and Bookmans own Tavis Maiden (@tavismaiden). Updated each Monday, Wednesday and Friday, follow the adventures of The Konamis, a real comic tale about the real comic adventure of The Konamis (meaning "little waves"), the little ol' rock band that makes a big splash!

The Running Kind

The Phoenix Film Festival celebrated it's 10th Anniversary last Thursday with an amazing opening night Gala. However, the future of film was hanging out on Saturday morning. For the first time in the decade long run, The Phoenix Film Festival introduced a new program, Kids Day! Bookmans was on board this year as the presenting sponsor. Kids Day is an all new Saturday morning event centered around future film makers and actors alike targeted at ages 5-12. While kids were moving from station to station learning the ins and outs of what happens behind the camera, at the Bookmans table we were creating souvenir tote bags to take home all of the neat goodies!

Everyone knows that April 22 is widely celebrated as the official Earth Day. All year 'round we are celebrating our love of the Earth and our environment. According to the ticker on this website, Bookmans has purchased over 22 million pieces of merchandise! That means that every single piece was re-used and we kept it from being thrown away.

Here at Bookmans, we have a very creative way of settling our corporate disputes. Arm wrestling. We feel that this is the be-all, end-all solution for peacekeeping. My personal favorite is Bob's new move at the end--it's a killer! Check out the action as Scott and Bob settle this budget disupte: fighting about who has to pay for the new iPads.

My family spent much of Easter evening tearing out our front lawn. Since Matt works nights (as a critical care RN) and sleeps days, he continued late into the night tearing-up roots and digging-out rocks—hopefully without frightening our neighbors! In our usual overly-ambitious style (which, in the past has included getting an Airdale puppy just before a new baby, and frogs for a 1-year-old) we’ve decided to plant a high-altitude, low-water, clay under the grass, short season, we-don’t-even-know-how-to-start-a-seed garden! My eyes are sore from post-baby-bedtime hours of laptop reading about high-altitude gardening, and scanning all the images of incredible gardens-of-Eden, meticulously cultivated at 6,7, or, in our case, almost 8000 feet above sea level.

The Konamis is a webcomic by Jack Crawford and Bookmans own Tavis Maiden (@tavismaiden). Updated each Monday, Wednesday and Friday, follow the adventures of The Konamis, a real comic tale about the real comic adventure of The Konamis (meaning "little waves"), the little ol' rock band that makes a big splash!

Sisters are Doin' it for Themselves

Bookmans customers and employees love bunnies and eggs, so what better way to spend the day before Easter than spending time with both?! Hidden all over the Bookmans Phoenix sales floor were over 400 bright and colorful eggs eager to be found! We started the hunt promptly at 10:00 a.m., and within minutes the store became a whirlwind of excitement and adventure for all those children on a quest to fill their basket as quickly as possible. The eggs were hidden throughout our book, music and electronics departments, wedged in between the merchandise or hidden underneath furniture. It was definitely a challenge for all, but eventually every egg had been retrieved and it was time for the main event: The Easter Bunny!