A little dense

5/21/10 Forty roofing shingles, given away on craigslist

Today, I gave away a pile of roofing shingles that had been under my porch since we moved in. (All together, Dear Readers: "Thank you, Mr. Zipkin!") The transaction was absolutely the fastest craigslist give-away in downsizing history.

A pickup drove into the driveway. By the time I was out onto the patio, a woman was asking for the shingles, we loaded them into the truck, and she was gone within ninety seconds.

That, however, is not the important event of the day.

The important story is how our friends, Betty & Frank (as we shall call them), arrived to save the day. With the house sale a week away and the POD looming not so largely in the driveway, we needed help. It arrived just after 9AM in the form of our hardest-working and most selfless friends.

As Betty furiously packed pots and pans in the kitchen, Frank performed his master-engineer magic, playing reverse Jenga with miss-matched boxes and bins. Just take a look at that picture up there. Do you notice that there are a few barely perceptible gaps between some of the boxes? Well, before the day was out, Mr. F. had stuffed those with other items. The packing job is a work of art, I tell you.

There is some debate in the scientific community about whether Osmium or Iridium is the densest matter on earth. Both are wrong. The actual answer is the interior of my POD, after it is packed by Frank.

Oh, did I mention that they also cooked dinner, helped watch Chase, and presented us with a hand-made Yoda night-light with glowing green lightsaber?

Yeah, I'd say we have some pretty great friends.