In Which Miriam Procrastinates on Her Homework, or Why I Like Working in the Computer Labs

I had a setup this morning in the college club. Well, not really a setup. The directions said that I was just supposed to help the presenter start a powerpoint, or something to that effect. I showed up shortly after 11:30 as I was directed to, fully expecting that the talk wouldn't start until sometime after 12 because they never do, and that I would set up the computer and then sit around waiting for the lecturer to show up so that I could help him or her start the whatever. But when I got there, I found a little elderly lady who looked about my grandmother's age (probably not actually that old; my grandmother does pretty well for a 70-something) fussing around the laptop and looking rather like a distressed bird. I introduced myself: "Hello, I'm from the computer lab, etc . . ." and she informed me that she didn't need any help setting things up, but she had several questions for me. And indeed she didn't. The projector wasn't on because she'd figured out Black Screen, and she wanted to make sure that she could leave it that way and it would come back on when she told it to, and that the computer wouldn't go to sleep on her, and she told me in passing that this was a very slow laptop. I verified that the computer was plugged in and wouldn't go to sleep and that the projector was working, and we had a brief chat, and I told her to call the lab if she had any trouble whatsoever, to which she responded in a completely shocked tone, "Even during lunch?" and I assured her that yes, the labs are open right through lunch.
I never did catch her name, or what the lecture was to be about.

But where else does one meet sweet tech-savvy old ladies?





I'm really quite surprised at my current state of being. I fully expected this to be THE WEEK FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, what with ConBust last weekend and Fencing Nationals this weekend. But I'm only moderately busy. In that I have time to take on more fencing responsibilities, and hang out after dinner with friends and be completely ridiculous, and read children's books, and waste time on the internet writing posts like this, and have a nice long chat with my mother, and check my e-mail far too frequently, and still be able to get down to the gym for forty-five minutes to convert lefty foils into righty foils. (Did you know that she had three foils (one of them bent completely upside-down), and probably hasn't been to practice properly since October, November at the latest? I don't think we've broken a blade since she stopped coming.)

Mind you, I did intend to get down to College Relations today and ask for maps, but that didn't happen only because I forgot about it, not because it's an intensely time-consuming commitment that I didn't get around to. Tomorrow will be busy schedule-wise, but shouldn't be terribly stressful, and I ought to be able to swing by there after Spanish class/before lunch.

Although it would be nice if the Housing Office would talk to me.