Oh, woe...
Jul. 30th, 2004 11:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miss_ytThis is actually from yesterday.
Yesterday the car body shop called Dad and said that it's going to take them longer to fix the van than they thought. We might not have it back before I return to college, so we'll have to squeeze stuff in Mom's Subaru and tie some things on the roof. That or rent something. I really screwed up.
I seem to be having yet another streak of bad luck. When I went to my doctor's appointment yesterday they didn't have me in the database. They tried several different searches and couldn't find my name. Luckily I had some medical history forms I'd filled out before the appointment. Whoever sent them to me - and entered me in the database - had mixed up the name of my street with my last name. She (or he) wrote it on the form and put it in the computer. I suppose that makes for a very different kind of medical horror story. Most of the appointment went all right, but it took longer than I thought. The bad part came when they had to take blood samples for these different tests Mom had ordered (I hadn't been to the doctor in a while, and I'd never had my cholesterol, lipids or thyroid checked). Now, I'm not scared of needles in the arm, and I've given blood before, so that wasn't the problem. The problem was that they couldn't find a good vein. After poking me in the right arm and only getting a little blood, the nurse asked me if I'd eaten that day. I'd only had an Atkins shake for breakfast and was probably dehydrated, so she gave me a graham cracker and some juice. Then she had another nurse try my left arm. That one worked, although the vein was kind of deep so it hurt more. They took five vials of blood and I felt faint afterwards, which was odd, but there it is.
At work, Sarah and I finished editing the exhibit things I'd written. She told me that we needed a picture of James Buchanan for the Judah P. Benjamin part of the exhibit. Here's a quick history lesson: Buchanan was the president before Lincoln, and he wanted to let the Supreme Court decide issues of slavery. During his term the House of Representatives was controlled by anti-slavery Republicans and the Senate by pro-slavery Democrats (including Judah P. Benjamin) who voted down every piece of legislation relating to slavery that passed the House. Buchanan was, by all accounts, a pushover who didn't know what he was doing. Now, Andrew Jackson was a different story, but I'm not getting into that. Anyway, we don't have a picture of Buchanan and can't get one from the National Portrait Gallery, because they're closed and a total mess. Sarah wants me to try and find a picture or an engraving on Ebay. Not kidding - apparently Decatur House has found some good stuff that way.
Right now I'm in the Library of Congress trying to find transcripts of two of Judah P. Benjamin's speeches in the National Intelligencer. Maybe we can get good reproductions for the exhibit. A reproduced official document from the National Archives would be better, if we could get it. Benjamin burned all his papers so there's no hope of getting a handwritten draft, and the speech may have been mostly verbatim in any case. I also have to find something about Ulysses S. Grant's policies toward Indians, particularly the Modocs, because of Edward Beale's indirect involvement in the Modoc War (I'm working on Beale, too).
At home, both sets of grandparents called me to talk about my car accident. Granny was a little harsh but didn't yell at me. She said that a car is a big responsibility and a lethal weapon and you have to be absolutely alert when driving (she also went into a tangent about how Grumpy, my maternal grandfather, can't drive anymore because he tends to fall asleep while sitting still, and rear-ended someone at a red light because of it years ago). My paternal grandparents also called me. Grandma joked that I was continuing a tradition. I take after her more than anyone else in the family and she has a history of stupid traffic accidents. She let Grandpa tell me about the time when he was teaching her to drive (this was before they were married) and she wrecked his dad's new car by hitting a vehicle parked on the side of the road. Grandpa, in his typical fashion, explained that the parked car was menacing her so she proceeded to smash it into little bits and messed up his father's car in the process. He also told me how she totalled his Acura several years ago (this one I knew about before, but not all the details) by hitting a Jersey barrier. The car got twisted up horribly but she was fine. I wish I could remember more of how he told these stories, because he made them sound very funny and teased Grandma, who was sitting in the room with him. Occasionally I heard her in the background making mock protests against his mock insults. They made me feel better about what happened, but they also told me I had to pay better attention on the road.
Now that I've had a car accident I'm scared every time I get behind the wheel, the same way I was when I first had to drive around by myself. I suppose that's a good thing, because it means I've learned my lesson. And I tend to focus better when I'm just an eensy bit panicked.
Something I wanted to remark on this morning: as we were leaving, a FedEx truck stopped at the house across the road to deliver some packages. The former resident, who had lived there since before we moved in, sold the house several months ago to a young family (the dad is named Jonathan and the wife is Hannah - this is really freaky, because Jonathan is Dad's brother's name and Hannah I shouldn't have to tell you people about). They own the house but they're still living in an apartment...I forget where. They were having work done on the house and haven't moved in yet. The FedEx guy had thought that they were just out working late and had left notices on their door, which Dad took down for the same reason that you make sure someone picks up your papers and mail when you go on vacation. He told the deliveryman that there was nobody in the house at the time and offered to sign for the packages. Since the deliveryman had seen us come out of our house he figured it was all right and let Dad sign. I'm very proud of Dad for being a good neighbor.
Last night I got a letter from Marjorie. I thought I was about due for one. I had already written a letter to send her. I also have one for Daniel and one for Benjamin. Just have to get around to sending them...
---------------------------------------------
Later that day....
The machines that wind the microfilm were all occupied, so I had to use a hand-cranking one for the National Intelligencer microfilm. I found one and had trouble threading the film because part of the end had been ripped off diagonally. I found the first of Judah P. Benjamin's speeches, but the page it was filmed from was not in good condition, so we can't use it for a reproduction to display. The other speech I couldn't find, because the issue it would have been in was not on the film (I found out later that Benjamin made his farewell speech about a week after Louisiana seceeded from the Union, not on the same day). I spoke to one of the reference librarians, who said they could find the bound Intelligencer volume. I asked him if he knew where I could get the speeches at the National Archives. Instead he referred me to the law library and the Congressional Globe, one of the early incarnations of the Congressional Record (the reference librarians here are such wonderful people - if all government employees were as smart, courteous and efficient as they are, we'd have a lot fewer problems than we do now). The Globe was in a computer-searchable database. I found the speeches I wanted (and, using the index, found that Benjamin had made the aforementioned farewell speech later than I thought he had). I had a problem printing them - the first computer I was on had an evil printer that kept jamming. On the second one I found I had to open the files in Acrobat so the pages (which were scanned from the Congressional Globe volumes) would print completely instead of blocking out some of the bottom text with the link information.
The Globe text was not "presentable" either. I called Sarah while on my way to Jefferson (where I am now waiting for books) and said maybe we could put it on a plaque or a faked-up printing or something. We'll have to discuss it tomorrow. Anyway, I went on to find a book about the Modoc Indian War so I could look up Ulysses S. Grant's policies on Indians and the Modocs in particular. This is for the Beale exhibit, there's a long explanation involved and I don't care to give it. I also looked at the online catalog for images of Modoc Indians, which I will check out some later day. After I look through the books it will be close to 5PM.
Now, guess who I met in the Jefferson Reading Room? Well, you don't know her, because I haven't mentioned her before. Her name is Risa, and she's one of the computer techs at Bryn Mawr. She was also taking classes there when I met her (not sure if she's still taking classes this year, I forgot to ask) in my Short Fiction class last fall semester. She's here doing research for a Marshall scholarship project on coming-of-age narratives about (and authored by) women after World War 2. Risa told me that if you're a researcher here you can reserve a shelf in an alcove, so you can request books and have them put there or put books you're reading there at the end of the day to pick up tomorrow. Sometimes the librarians will also put in any incidental things they find related to the subject you're researching, if they think you're interested. Since I only pick bits out of books here, I'm doing hodgepodge research and I'm not staying around much longer anyway, there's no point in getting my own shelf, but it's an interesting bit of info for future reference.
Risa also offered to drive me back to college if possible, but we're going on different days and she probably can't fit everything in her car anyway. Still, it was nice of her to offer. I didn't get her number or anything, unfortunately, so the next time I talk to her will probably be this fall.
Now I'm thinking that a lot of my friends won't be back at Bryn Mawr this year. Marjorie, Rachel, Cassandra, Paige and most of my other Doublestar friends were seniors, so they won't be there. I think Julia's the only other friend of mine who's in my year. The others are younger than I am. I suppose I should start thinking about May Day presents for them. I suppose I'm going to give Rachel's sock to Martine. The tale of the sock is in an earlier entry somewhere in May, I think, if you care to look. I'm not online right now so I can't check and I'll probably forget to later. I have other May Day gifts and pretty junk I can give to other people.
I wonder when Bethany's going to send me that Doublestar play script. Maybe she sent it to my school address, which means I'll have to send it to the alumni in the fall. Yet another thing to add to my senior year to-do list.
Yesterday the car body shop called Dad and said that it's going to take them longer to fix the van than they thought. We might not have it back before I return to college, so we'll have to squeeze stuff in Mom's Subaru and tie some things on the roof. That or rent something. I really screwed up.
I seem to be having yet another streak of bad luck. When I went to my doctor's appointment yesterday they didn't have me in the database. They tried several different searches and couldn't find my name. Luckily I had some medical history forms I'd filled out before the appointment. Whoever sent them to me - and entered me in the database - had mixed up the name of my street with my last name. She (or he) wrote it on the form and put it in the computer. I suppose that makes for a very different kind of medical horror story. Most of the appointment went all right, but it took longer than I thought. The bad part came when they had to take blood samples for these different tests Mom had ordered (I hadn't been to the doctor in a while, and I'd never had my cholesterol, lipids or thyroid checked). Now, I'm not scared of needles in the arm, and I've given blood before, so that wasn't the problem. The problem was that they couldn't find a good vein. After poking me in the right arm and only getting a little blood, the nurse asked me if I'd eaten that day. I'd only had an Atkins shake for breakfast and was probably dehydrated, so she gave me a graham cracker and some juice. Then she had another nurse try my left arm. That one worked, although the vein was kind of deep so it hurt more. They took five vials of blood and I felt faint afterwards, which was odd, but there it is.
At work, Sarah and I finished editing the exhibit things I'd written. She told me that we needed a picture of James Buchanan for the Judah P. Benjamin part of the exhibit. Here's a quick history lesson: Buchanan was the president before Lincoln, and he wanted to let the Supreme Court decide issues of slavery. During his term the House of Representatives was controlled by anti-slavery Republicans and the Senate by pro-slavery Democrats (including Judah P. Benjamin) who voted down every piece of legislation relating to slavery that passed the House. Buchanan was, by all accounts, a pushover who didn't know what he was doing. Now, Andrew Jackson was a different story, but I'm not getting into that. Anyway, we don't have a picture of Buchanan and can't get one from the National Portrait Gallery, because they're closed and a total mess. Sarah wants me to try and find a picture or an engraving on Ebay. Not kidding - apparently Decatur House has found some good stuff that way.
Right now I'm in the Library of Congress trying to find transcripts of two of Judah P. Benjamin's speeches in the National Intelligencer. Maybe we can get good reproductions for the exhibit. A reproduced official document from the National Archives would be better, if we could get it. Benjamin burned all his papers so there's no hope of getting a handwritten draft, and the speech may have been mostly verbatim in any case. I also have to find something about Ulysses S. Grant's policies toward Indians, particularly the Modocs, because of Edward Beale's indirect involvement in the Modoc War (I'm working on Beale, too).
At home, both sets of grandparents called me to talk about my car accident. Granny was a little harsh but didn't yell at me. She said that a car is a big responsibility and a lethal weapon and you have to be absolutely alert when driving (she also went into a tangent about how Grumpy, my maternal grandfather, can't drive anymore because he tends to fall asleep while sitting still, and rear-ended someone at a red light because of it years ago). My paternal grandparents also called me. Grandma joked that I was continuing a tradition. I take after her more than anyone else in the family and she has a history of stupid traffic accidents. She let Grandpa tell me about the time when he was teaching her to drive (this was before they were married) and she wrecked his dad's new car by hitting a vehicle parked on the side of the road. Grandpa, in his typical fashion, explained that the parked car was menacing her so she proceeded to smash it into little bits and messed up his father's car in the process. He also told me how she totalled his Acura several years ago (this one I knew about before, but not all the details) by hitting a Jersey barrier. The car got twisted up horribly but she was fine. I wish I could remember more of how he told these stories, because he made them sound very funny and teased Grandma, who was sitting in the room with him. Occasionally I heard her in the background making mock protests against his mock insults. They made me feel better about what happened, but they also told me I had to pay better attention on the road.
Now that I've had a car accident I'm scared every time I get behind the wheel, the same way I was when I first had to drive around by myself. I suppose that's a good thing, because it means I've learned my lesson. And I tend to focus better when I'm just an eensy bit panicked.
Something I wanted to remark on this morning: as we were leaving, a FedEx truck stopped at the house across the road to deliver some packages. The former resident, who had lived there since before we moved in, sold the house several months ago to a young family (the dad is named Jonathan and the wife is Hannah - this is really freaky, because Jonathan is Dad's brother's name and Hannah I shouldn't have to tell you people about). They own the house but they're still living in an apartment...I forget where. They were having work done on the house and haven't moved in yet. The FedEx guy had thought that they were just out working late and had left notices on their door, which Dad took down for the same reason that you make sure someone picks up your papers and mail when you go on vacation. He told the deliveryman that there was nobody in the house at the time and offered to sign for the packages. Since the deliveryman had seen us come out of our house he figured it was all right and let Dad sign. I'm very proud of Dad for being a good neighbor.
Last night I got a letter from Marjorie. I thought I was about due for one. I had already written a letter to send her. I also have one for Daniel and one for Benjamin. Just have to get around to sending them...
---------------------------------------------
Later that day....
The machines that wind the microfilm were all occupied, so I had to use a hand-cranking one for the National Intelligencer microfilm. I found one and had trouble threading the film because part of the end had been ripped off diagonally. I found the first of Judah P. Benjamin's speeches, but the page it was filmed from was not in good condition, so we can't use it for a reproduction to display. The other speech I couldn't find, because the issue it would have been in was not on the film (I found out later that Benjamin made his farewell speech about a week after Louisiana seceeded from the Union, not on the same day). I spoke to one of the reference librarians, who said they could find the bound Intelligencer volume. I asked him if he knew where I could get the speeches at the National Archives. Instead he referred me to the law library and the Congressional Globe, one of the early incarnations of the Congressional Record (the reference librarians here are such wonderful people - if all government employees were as smart, courteous and efficient as they are, we'd have a lot fewer problems than we do now). The Globe was in a computer-searchable database. I found the speeches I wanted (and, using the index, found that Benjamin had made the aforementioned farewell speech later than I thought he had). I had a problem printing them - the first computer I was on had an evil printer that kept jamming. On the second one I found I had to open the files in Acrobat so the pages (which were scanned from the Congressional Globe volumes) would print completely instead of blocking out some of the bottom text with the link information.
The Globe text was not "presentable" either. I called Sarah while on my way to Jefferson (where I am now waiting for books) and said maybe we could put it on a plaque or a faked-up printing or something. We'll have to discuss it tomorrow. Anyway, I went on to find a book about the Modoc Indian War so I could look up Ulysses S. Grant's policies on Indians and the Modocs in particular. This is for the Beale exhibit, there's a long explanation involved and I don't care to give it. I also looked at the online catalog for images of Modoc Indians, which I will check out some later day. After I look through the books it will be close to 5PM.
Now, guess who I met in the Jefferson Reading Room? Well, you don't know her, because I haven't mentioned her before. Her name is Risa, and she's one of the computer techs at Bryn Mawr. She was also taking classes there when I met her (not sure if she's still taking classes this year, I forgot to ask) in my Short Fiction class last fall semester. She's here doing research for a Marshall scholarship project on coming-of-age narratives about (and authored by) women after World War 2. Risa told me that if you're a researcher here you can reserve a shelf in an alcove, so you can request books and have them put there or put books you're reading there at the end of the day to pick up tomorrow. Sometimes the librarians will also put in any incidental things they find related to the subject you're researching, if they think you're interested. Since I only pick bits out of books here, I'm doing hodgepodge research and I'm not staying around much longer anyway, there's no point in getting my own shelf, but it's an interesting bit of info for future reference.
Risa also offered to drive me back to college if possible, but we're going on different days and she probably can't fit everything in her car anyway. Still, it was nice of her to offer. I didn't get her number or anything, unfortunately, so the next time I talk to her will probably be this fall.
Now I'm thinking that a lot of my friends won't be back at Bryn Mawr this year. Marjorie, Rachel, Cassandra, Paige and most of my other Doublestar friends were seniors, so they won't be there. I think Julia's the only other friend of mine who's in my year. The others are younger than I am. I suppose I should start thinking about May Day presents for them. I suppose I'm going to give Rachel's sock to Martine. The tale of the sock is in an earlier entry somewhere in May, I think, if you care to look. I'm not online right now so I can't check and I'll probably forget to later. I have other May Day gifts and pretty junk I can give to other people.
I wonder when Bethany's going to send me that Doublestar play script. Maybe she sent it to my school address, which means I'll have to send it to the alumni in the fall. Yet another thing to add to my senior year to-do list.
