Rachel Recommends: The Library

This post is going to be the first in a "Rachel Recommends" series that will promote free activities as opposed to spending lots of money for fun (although if you are going to spend money, I recommend Coraline in 3D). This first post will whet your free whistle with an activity that you can find in any city near you: the library. My readers familiar with the Columbia Public Library are already fans of this mecca of sharing, but to those of you that don't know: you can get movies at the library. Good movies. I remember as a kid it seemed that all libraries had were educational films about the railroad and former presidents, but in Columbia, MO I discovered that there are some hip alternatives to checking out videos on James Monroe. In Columbia, not only was their music selection vast, but they had a DVD selection to make any movie bum quiver. You could find cult TV shows like Freaks and Geeks and The Office (the BBC version ) or fab documentaries (oh god the 7Up series). At the Austin Public Library I have gobbled up even more surprising finds: dvds that have no educational or cult value at all. There are a lot of movies and shows that I've wanted to see over the years, but I wasn't optimistic enough about them to invest money in obtaining them. The library has solved this problem for me and because of this Zach and I have spent zero money on movie rentals since we've moved here. For example, my trip to the library today produced: a season of Garfield and Friends (unlike Columbia, in Austin you can check out an entire season and it only counts as one item), The Aristocrats, Jesus is Magic, and George Romero's Diary of the Dead. All of these were free. All of them are mine for 7 days (unless I want to renew, which I can one time).
So please love the library. It is in your best interest. I know I do. And so does she.