3 things: work, research, wine
Jun. 7th, 2012 11:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingStuff I have done today:
1. Work. Ah, forced human interaction that helps maintain a stable mental/emotional state and simultaneously enables me to pay my bills! Let me praise thee. Let me then be incredibly grateful I don't have to go back until Sunday afternoon.
We had Tom-the-blind-guy in again today. He doesn't wash his hands (or the rest of himself, I think), he has no concept of an "indoor voice," he gets really obnoxiously close and tries to practically breathe in your face when he's talking to you, he takes forever and a week to get through a transaction, and then when he's finally done, he lingers right outside our store for nearly half an hour, crouches down and smokes his cigars/cigarettes/whatever-he-bought, farts, talks to himself and anyone careless enough to wander into his radius, and has been known to disturb potential customers so much that some have asked us to call Adult Protective Services on him. (He had no shirt that day and I think hadn't bathed for a week, judging by the smell.) I mean, I am courteous to him, I help him figure out what he wants and whether he can afford it (that is my job, after all!), and I am glad he is independent enough to be walking around on his own... but eeesh, he's exhausting.
2. Research for Dad's encyclopedia. Last Saturday I got to Olin Library after work and failed to find someone in Europa World of Learning, which is the single most uselessly organized reference publication I have ever had the misfortune of trying to use. I don't think it's published anymore, which does not surprise me in the least. It is the sort of thing that was probably better than nothing in its day, but if ever a thing was crying out for hyperlinks and the decentralization of the internet, that was it. Also the entries were apparently self-reported by the various institutions it lists, so they have no internal consistency whatsoever. It is to scream.
(ETA: No, wait, I just did a Google search and my god, this is still published as a hardback reference book collection! The 2013 63rd edition is available now! Seriously, WTF! It should all be online and hyperlinked to a fare-thee-well. Or at the very least, it should have a functional table of contents. *headdesk* I despair of humanity sometimes, I really do.)
Anyway, today I went to Uris Library after work and succeeded in finding three people in American Men and Women of Science, which is a much more sanely organized publication -- along the lines of Who's Who but specifically oriented toward American scientists. Like it says on the tin. :-) Then I headed down East Hill into town and searched Who's Who for the three people I'd been unable to find (because Uris only has the 17th edition of AMaWoS onward), and successfully found one of them there. Then I ALSO found him in Who Was Who, so Dad has a death date as well as the general biography. Hurrah!
I will apparently receive a researcher credit whenever the encyclopedia is finally published. I am not holding my breath, frankly; Dad and his co-editor have been working on this for at least two years now. Maybe more than three. But Dad says they're trying to get it put to bed, which is why I'm suddenly getting these research requests, because the people who were supposed to research and write about these scientists have finked out for one reason or another.
3. Purchased alcohol. There was some kind of music-and-wine fest on the Commons this evening -- I walked through the setup on my way to TCPL, and it was still in full swing when I started walking home (via Jade Garden to grab Chinese takeout), so I figured what the heck, and bought something I already knew I liked from Six Mile Creek Vineyard's little tent. I think I will have a glass now, actually. Mmm, wine. :-)
1. Work. Ah, forced human interaction that helps maintain a stable mental/emotional state and simultaneously enables me to pay my bills! Let me praise thee. Let me then be incredibly grateful I don't have to go back until Sunday afternoon.
We had Tom-the-blind-guy in again today. He doesn't wash his hands (or the rest of himself, I think), he has no concept of an "indoor voice," he gets really obnoxiously close and tries to practically breathe in your face when he's talking to you, he takes forever and a week to get through a transaction, and then when he's finally done, he lingers right outside our store for nearly half an hour, crouches down and smokes his cigars/cigarettes/whatever-he-bought, farts, talks to himself and anyone careless enough to wander into his radius, and has been known to disturb potential customers so much that some have asked us to call Adult Protective Services on him. (He had no shirt that day and I think hadn't bathed for a week, judging by the smell.) I mean, I am courteous to him, I help him figure out what he wants and whether he can afford it (that is my job, after all!), and I am glad he is independent enough to be walking around on his own... but eeesh, he's exhausting.
2. Research for Dad's encyclopedia. Last Saturday I got to Olin Library after work and failed to find someone in Europa World of Learning, which is the single most uselessly organized reference publication I have ever had the misfortune of trying to use. I don't think it's published anymore, which does not surprise me in the least. It is the sort of thing that was probably better than nothing in its day, but if ever a thing was crying out for hyperlinks and the decentralization of the internet, that was it. Also the entries were apparently self-reported by the various institutions it lists, so they have no internal consistency whatsoever. It is to scream.
(ETA: No, wait, I just did a Google search and my god, this is still published as a hardback reference book collection! The 2013 63rd edition is available now! Seriously, WTF! It should all be online and hyperlinked to a fare-thee-well. Or at the very least, it should have a functional table of contents. *headdesk* I despair of humanity sometimes, I really do.)
Anyway, today I went to Uris Library after work and succeeded in finding three people in American Men and Women of Science, which is a much more sanely organized publication -- along the lines of Who's Who but specifically oriented toward American scientists. Like it says on the tin. :-) Then I headed down East Hill into town and searched Who's Who for the three people I'd been unable to find (because Uris only has the 17th edition of AMaWoS onward), and successfully found one of them there. Then I ALSO found him in Who Was Who, so Dad has a death date as well as the general biography. Hurrah!
I will apparently receive a researcher credit whenever the encyclopedia is finally published. I am not holding my breath, frankly; Dad and his co-editor have been working on this for at least two years now. Maybe more than three. But Dad says they're trying to get it put to bed, which is why I'm suddenly getting these research requests, because the people who were supposed to research and write about these scientists have finked out for one reason or another.
3. Purchased alcohol. There was some kind of music-and-wine fest on the Commons this evening -- I walked through the setup on my way to TCPL, and it was still in full swing when I started walking home (via Jade Garden to grab Chinese takeout), so I figured what the heck, and bought something I already knew I liked from Six Mile Creek Vineyard's little tent. I think I will have a glass now, actually. Mmm, wine. :-)
