By now, you should have had a visit from The Census Guy.
What?? Isn't the decennial census next year??
Well, yeah. But the Census Bureau is running a big effort this year to update addresses and find all the new homes constructed since 2000. Not to mention: tents, boats, and railroad cars, if people are living in them.
Yours truly was a Census Guy. For six weeks I walked the streets, ringing doorbells and verifying addresses. The effort (at least in my area) is now complete and my pith helmet is retired.
Total addresses verified: 5,015.
Total locations mapped: about 1,800.
This really doesn't have anything to do with the census - sorry! Just wanted to say how much we've enjoyed the books we've listed to on Librivox that you've done. Our favorite so far is "Around the World in Eighty Days." We were on the edge of our seats!!! Thanks for spending/sharing your time and talents!
ReplyDeleteCathy for the Horne Family
I can't tell you how much I am enjoying Tarzan of the Apes. You did a wonderful job and I just wanted to let you know and to thank you for a job well done.
ReplyDeleteDear Mark Smith,
ReplyDeleteNot sure how else to reach you, but must try to tell you how much pleasure and goodness you have brought, and are bringing, into my life. Several wonders have converged to allow this to happen, I know--the creation of, and increasingly equitable access to, the Internet; the creation of Librivox; the invention of the iPod; and the generosity of persons like yourself who give their time, skill and effort in a labor of love for others.
Among the most deeply satisfying pleasures in my childhood was that of being read to, when the reader was unhurried and imaginative, and the story full of treasure. Now in my sixties, I find myself again blessed with this gift, as I go around all day long with the sounds of fine literature pouring into my ears and brain, via my iPod (I call this "ear-reading"). When I am doing the many daily routine tasks not requiring much participation by my neo-cortex, I am much more reading a fine book than I am doing dishes, washing laundry, vacuuming carpets, or weeding the garden.
Thanks to the library, Librivox, and you, I am now "catching up" on all the books I was supposed to have read in high school and college, or always meant to read. And many of these books are being conveyed to me by your selfless kindness.
I know I speak for others when I say how enjoyable you are to listen to. I find I prefer to have a book all read by the same person, when I discover a reader (an enactor, really) who is highly capable, engaging, and comfortable to listen to, as are you. How can I thank you for the hours and hours you give to this invaluable project?!
I expect you will be listened to and appreciated by an ever-growing number of fellow humans, for the indefinite future. I hope to listen to all of the "solo" books you have read, and wish I could better tell you how much I appreciate your work--the way you give voice to every character, so aptly and believably, the apparent ease with which you navigate the flow of the narrative, the technically excellent quality of your recordings...
Thank you, Mark Smith, for reading to me!
Leila Gill
Hi Census guy,
ReplyDeletelistening to your "Lost World" recording in the UK. Have had to deal with US Census Bureau output over the last few months and daresay 2010 will be greatly improved by your dedication and wearing of pit helmets. Hope you had better luck than at least one enumerator in TX.
I so enjoyed your reading of "The Mysterious Island", that I somehow, had to get in touch with you and convey my regards, thanks and gratification at such a wonderful reading.
ReplyDeleteI'm enjoying Laumer's Greylorn right now and wanted to thank you very much!
ReplyDelete