Free Stuff!

 What grown-up person goes to the library? A friend was going on a road trip, and their jam is to check out some audio book novels and binge them on the trip. That's a little out of my taste, but I'll tag along to the library to wander around while they look for some book CDs.

Check out the size of that sun in this photo! It was a Saturday, but we checked the Internet, they were still open. Funny that we used the Internet to check, in a way.

Whaaaaaaat? The library close to us was closed for renovation! Slackers need to update the website? No, I'm just kidding, how can we get mad at this? Just to the left of this photo is my friend's old (OLD!) Junior High School! He was in the marching band! Good memories.

We kind of wanted to go to the much-bigger Central Library anyway. This might be a full 10 times bigger than that one we were just at.

There was an info-plaque in front of the building. Let's snap a pic and read it later. Check out that kid in the background, with his giant stack of books! That's how you DO IT! He must be a library pro.

SO.... MANY.... BOOOOOOOOOKS! This place is huge, there's lots to check out here! Pun intended.

The display case says there's 3d prints in it, but I don't think it's ALL 3D prints. Is that some yarn?

They re-named the Central Library to the long-time mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf Library a while ago, but people still call it the Central Library. Everybody liked her; she built a giant pipeline to a far-away lake that solved the city's water shortage.

You can check out movies and TV shows. So funny to see one coincidentally named... The Librarians!

Here we are: Audiobooks. It's simple to call them that, but it kind of bothers me a tiny bit. I mean, it can't be a "book" if you are listening to it, can it? You have to READ a book, right?

Another funny title to a thing. It's an audiobook of... The Silent Man. So.... nothing then?

We found the James Petterson section. They listened to a few of his mysteries before, so it's nice to go with what works. While my friend is browsing, we'll wander around the rest of the place.

Are we still at the Library? What's with the giant TV? There was no info on the framed "art" of the wood panel. So we don't know what that was about. But it was a neat idea to do, if that piece of wood had any kind of story behind it. Like, maybe it was from some kid's treehouse?

Manga! You know that checking out books is FREE, right? Save your money for anime figures instead.

Let me tell you a story about a fort called Fort Story. There're some museum-like display cases in this place.

Super-old tourist stuff. I wasn't going to stop and check it out, that's what the pictures are for!

It's a Minty-sized building! I can be in the Coast Guard! 

What is this! Is this a library for ANTS! No Zoolander, it's just a scale model of the library.

I've been 3D-Printed! Army of Mintys, go forth and conquer! I'm going to need a lot of Mintys. I don't know "the rules" for these, but I think they are free to use.

Of all the various celebrity posters hanging around here, I finally see one that I HAVE to get a picture of. It's Geordi LaForge! Before he was on Star Trek, LeVar Burton hosted a famous show called Reading Rainbow. He's like, a legit reading superstar.

No worries if you can't find your old school yearbooks, the library has got your back!

We would always sneak up the elevator. Not because we were lazy, we just knew where it was, and felt like it was a cool secret. But I guess not today.

The stairway looks cool, too. The glass walls make it seem a little dangerous.

Hello down there! Gotta get those wide shots that really show how big this place is.

Yep. Lots of books. I didn't forget to take a picture like this, either.

Old newspapers are on this format called Microfiche. You'd think this would have been scanned into a computer by now, but maybe it's just easier keeping it like this. I mean... it's already done, why re-do it for the computer?

Microfiche is basically shrunk down, and you use this machine to zoom-in on it. You probably see this on TV shows where they have to research super-old things.

The words look awkward, but what else are they going to do? I mean, they want you to KNOW about it. And they can't be clever or vague. 

Why take the book home, read it right here! Looks comfy.

What a bizarre thing. Why are you going to BUY a book in a place that lets you check them out FOR FREE? I'm such "a shopper" that I still like it though. I might have a problem.

Info pamphlets! I can't think of anything clever to say here. Maybe there's a seminar for that kind of thing?

They got these things here, if you need them. How many books can you fit in the basket?

Are you expecting me to say something funny here? Is that your expectation? 

Quickly browsing for fun book titles and... I found it! The Hidden Treasure!

Quantum physics and... simple physics. Whatever you want, physics-wise.

This is the type of books my friend would have gotten at the library. Like, a hundred years ago. Back in the 80's.

That's a very catchy book title. Constance Verity Destroys The Universe. I mean, it's brilliant. I know the name of the character, and I'm curious what's going on. From the title alone, you just want to pick it up and start reading!

Did you know they had video games at the library? Video games! FOR FREE! Play it for a few weeks, and give it back when you're done. How has this not destroyed the video game industry yet?

You don't even need to interact with a person anymore. Scan your card and out you go!

Checking back in with our friend, and they were not finding the specific audiobooks they wanted. Let's see if we can help with the computer things.

It wasn't too difficult to figure out, and after a few moments we narrowed it down to 20 pages of searching. Might have been easier if this guy James Patterson wrote fewer books. He's got like, hundreds of books! Is he like, one guy, or is that some kind of whole publishing company?

Found all of the ones we were looking for. We were originally sent with a request list based on internet-searched book reviews. Nice to have total mission success. Should we write a book about it?