Thoughts Sparked by "Paddy's Lament"

Being of Irish descent, I periodically get curious of my cultural heritage. Movies are grand, but overly dramatized from the seeds of truth. The web is a wild source of knowledge that may or may not be based in fact - websites that cite their sources can be a good place to read, but are those sources credible? Tracking sources is a skill I learned in college - a very good skill mind you. I enjoy reading over the web, but sometimes having a book in the hand is the best way to read up on history.

Library Lament

I love books. I love reading stories, both fiction and non-, and utterly miss having a library. I had a big library in the past, and a decent collection before leaving Hawaii. My library consisted of four major categories: science fiction and fantasy, historical, academia for research, and career-related (computer, web, managing, and marketing). Almost everything had a hardcover; which is why I had to let it go - too costly to ship. When I took all those books to Book-Off at Pearlridge, the clerks were firstly amazed, and secondly aghast.