|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Stumpage Reports
|
|
|
|
|
|
Monday, July 28, 2003 :::
Its Better Than A Nasty, Dark Little Trench
Today I got to participate in one of the less-glamorous aspects of the archives business and found out why all archives' job descriptions have the line "applicant must be able to lift loads of 50 pounds." (If there are glamorous apects of it, I haven't experienced those yet). A bunch of other guys and I got to move 150 wonder boxes full of a retired professor's papers. We had to take them from his office, put them in a van, and schlep them over to a satellite shelving facility. If the Lost Ark is somewhere on campus, that is where you will find it.
We met the old guy. He was a nice chap but looked kind of forlorn sitting in his office surrounded by his life's work, all boxed up.
The biggest thrill at the satellite shelving place is the compact shelving. Unlike that picture, our shelves are brobdingnagian, at least twenty feet high. Picture a typical row of library shelves, but without the aisles. These things are motorized, and if you press the right button of the one on the end, it will move and create an aisle. If you want to access further down the row, you have to move all the shelves one by one.
Of course, I immediately envisioned all kinds of mayhem. The obvious one, someone getting crushed between the shelves as they closed. They assured me there are sensors that prevent that from happening. But a little experimentation revealed the sensors are waist high, so you could stick your foot in and get that smashed.
I thought if things turned out really well, you could get crushed in between the shelves and get electrocuted at the same time, you could emerge as some kind of archives or library superhero. What exactly that would be, I don't know.
R.I.P.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, everyone knows Bob Hope is dead. When someone really famous like that dies, the other poor slobs that shuffle off this mortal coil on the same day don't get the attention they deserve.
Also recently joining the choir invisible was Eric Braunn the guitarist from the group Iron Butterfly, that was responsible for the song In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.
And don't forget Jane Barbe, the lady who provided the voice when your phone said "We're sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed."
::: posted by tom at 9:41 PM
|
|
|
|
