Okay, that was way less stressful than I was afraid it would be.

I was totally avoiding calling HBSP to place this order -- 55 each of 15 items -- but obviously I have to do it. The woman who took my order (Eleni) was super-chipper, but not in a grating way, and very competent and there was like no stress involved.

In other news, Mary Alice was talking about Steel Magnolias the other day and I mentioned I'd never seen it (though now I think I did see it, I just have very little memory of it -- Magnolia is the one I for sure haven't seen) and she said she owns it and would be happy to lend. I tend to think that I'm the only person who actually remembers when she says things like that, so I wasn't expecting anything to come of it, but I came in this morning and the DVD was sitting on my desk.

Now to catch up on LJ comments.

In which Elizabeth updates a lot while at work.

I was, as previously stated, very hungry, so I called Mary Alice about going to lunch on the early side. Turns out there's a Resource Fair from 11-2 with snacks. The snacks turned out to basically consist of cookies -- no water even :( -- but it sated my hunger. And I did pick up some schtuff.

CommuterChoice is as always my favorite people.
April 7: Walk to Work Day
flyer: Join us for food, fellowship & prizes celebrating National Walk to Work Day and the faculty and staff who walk to work. At the Malkin Athletic Center Quad. Friday, April 7 (rain date April 11), 7:30am-9:30am. Please pre-register by email to: commuterchoice@harvard

They had a "Getting Around in Cambridge Map" but Amanda was disappointed because she was hoping for an updated version of her Professor Pathfinder map. Looking at said map I could see why she was disappointed. So I did some Internet searching. Way cool. And one of the viewable details for the New England college map is the Five College Area :)
The Bargain Bin section of their order form includes:
Mystery Pack: as many old and damaged maps as we can fit in a 9x12" envelope ($15.00)

Millionaire today I remembered the University of Chicago nuclear question (because my dad went to University of Chicago). $250thou. And the next guy's easy questions were very familiar. Clearly a rerun. Maybe we came in late last time? 'Cause I didn't remember seeing the $50thou question -- which I got right thanks to Skarda's class :) Byron & co. storytelling during a storm led to the creation of which literary monster? And they even said it right. (Frankenstein's monster rather than Frankenstein.) Must e-mail Skarda. Eric was all up in arms that it was such a high dollar question, but I pointed out that who besides English majors was gonna know?

In other news: musesfool was talking about a rock 'n' roll Firefly AU and mollita wrote a third installment of her Nashville AU.

Edit: Job tasks today have included photocopying, attempting to track down a library copy of a book, and further discussing comma splices.

[Lent: day 22/40]

Flinn, on the Bus

Three hours after the buildings fell,
he took a seat beside me.
Fresh out of prison, after 24 months,
You're my first hello!
Going home to Mom,
a life he would make better this time,
how many times
he'd been swept along before,
to things he should never have ...
drink and dope,
but now he'd take responsibility.
Lawyers had done him wrong
and women too. He thought
about revenge, now he was out.
But I'm in charge. I'll think
before I act. I don't ever
want to go there again.
Two wrongs don't make a right.
Somehow, in his mouth, that day,
it sounded new.
The light came through the window
on a gentle-eyed man in a
"Focus on the Game" T-shirt,
who had given up
assault with deadly weapons,
no more, no good!
A man who had not seen TV in weeks,
secluding in his cell so colleagues
wouldn't trip him up,
extend his stay.
Who had not heard the news.
We rolled through green Oklahoma,
the bus windows made all the trees look bent.
A trick of refraction--
Flinn looked at his free hands
more than the fields,
turned them over in his lap,
no snap judgments, no quick angers,
I'll stand back, look at what happens,
think calmly what my next step should be.
It was not hard to nod,
to wish him well. But could I tell
what had happened in the world
on his long-awaited day,
what twists of rage greater
than we could ever guess
had savaged skylines, thousands of lives?
I could not. He'd find out
soon enough. Flinn, take it easy.
Peace is rough.

-- September 11, 2001

from 19 Varieties of Gazelle: poems of the Middle East by Naomi Shihab Nye

---

This poem opens Nye's introduction to this poetry collection. As with yesterday's poem, I'm not hugely struck by this poem. However, the line "Peace is rough" really sticks with me.

     "Strong is fighting! It's hard, and it's painful, and it's every day."
     -Buffy in "Amends" (3.10)

Also that idea that even after resurrection there is still work to be done. (Yes, when one is looking for Lenten poems everything starts to look Lenten-appropriate.)

Sidenote: found this while Googling for quotes.