March 30, 2011
March 28, 2011
March 27, 2011
March 26, 2011
March 25, 2011
March 24, 2011
March 23, 2011
March 22, 2011
March 21, 2011
7 January
I am at work updating our database to reflect which of our clients have died. The first step in this process is matching the client's birth date on the Social Security death record with their birth date in our database, to make sure it is the same person. Just at the moment when I was thinking fondly of a friend from high school I confirmed the birth date of a deceased client and saw it is THE SAME birth date as my remembered friend.
March 20, 2011
Unintended Reunions
Last week I ran into people from high school and college a lot.
DATE LOCATION ACQUAINTANCE SEEN
Monday 14.3 W. 4th area three separate people walked by the Greek restaurant
Tuesday I don't remember right now but I know I saw people
Wednesday at the gym classic SLC pretend not to know the other one
Thursday Lincoln Center to Columbus Circle " " "
Friday Prospect Lefferts Gardens Indian restaurant a kid I don't remember from h.s. said hi
DATE LOCATION ACQUAINTANCE SEEN
Monday 14.3 W. 4th area three separate people walked by the Greek restaurant
Tuesday I don't remember right now but I know I saw people
Wednesday at the gym classic SLC pretend not to know the other one
Thursday Lincoln Center to Columbus Circle " " "
Friday Prospect Lefferts Gardens Indian restaurant a kid I don't remember from h.s. said hi
March 19, 2011
st. patrick's day affirmation
There's a line in a book of short stories by Simon Van Booy recalling wisdom from somebody's grandfather: "Coincidences mean that you are on the right track." Tempting words to keep in mind.
This St. Patrick's day, like most, we did a little research to recall what the day is celebrating. I read this much on a wikipedia, or maybe heard it on a report from NPR Morning Edition, that St. Patrick is remembered for driving the snakes out of Ireland. This idea was debated briefly by graduates of conservation biology school: what factors cause extinction of an animal group from a certain region?
Ok. A day later, a housemate, reading The Mists of Avalon, came upon the St. Patrick story. "Snakes" stands for Druids being driven out by Catholics. A day later, I started reading the book Forever, by Pete Hamil and the subject came up again, talking about "the lonely God of St. Patrick," and the persecution of the Celts.
This St. Patrick's day, like most, we did a little research to recall what the day is celebrating. I read this much on a wikipedia, or maybe heard it on a report from NPR Morning Edition, that St. Patrick is remembered for driving the snakes out of Ireland. This idea was debated briefly by graduates of conservation biology school: what factors cause extinction of an animal group from a certain region?
Ok. A day later, a housemate, reading The Mists of Avalon, came upon the St. Patrick story. "Snakes" stands for Druids being driven out by Catholics. A day later, I started reading the book Forever, by Pete Hamil and the subject came up again, talking about "the lonely God of St. Patrick," and the persecution of the Celts.
March 18, 2011
March 17, 2011
March 16, 2011
March 15, 2011
(Continued) Review of Autumn/Winter Synchronicity (part 2)
A housemate has been reading The Mists of Avalon, a book she received from another housemate, who got it from his mom.
Yesterday, she was sitting at the dining room table, with the book and her laptop on the table in front of her. Since we live in a partially furnished beach vacation house, objects that came with the house fill the shelves and cabinets. I sat next to her at the table, and looking behind her on the bookshelf, I pulled out a copy of Die Nebel von Avalon. It has been sitting on the lower shelf unnoticed, until last night.
Bonus: We moved into the beach house in December. I had just finished The End of the Affair, by Graham Greene, a book I bought at a used bookstore some time ago, and finally decided to read. Of the small collection of books that came with the house, stored on the bookshelves mentioned above: The End of the Afair by Graham Greene.
March 14, 2011
March 13, 2011
March 12, 2011
3-3 / 3:03pm
I work for about 30 hours each week in an office in Midtown Manhattan, scanning documents, old (pertaining to peoples' persecution under the Nazis in WWII) and new (applications for monetary compensation because of the persecution). The papers in my post from the 3rd of March come from one woman's application file. She was not approved for compensation because in her application she told two different stories, utterly in conflict, about her persecution. One version said that she fled east through the USSR, and the other one said that she spent several years in a hospital in the south of Germany, in Bavaria.
The documents in my post contain a photograph of the applicant as a young girl. I have scanned many photocopies of old photographs, but always photocopies--never the original. This is an original photograph. The international organization that was helping the applicant verify her story sent her a letter saying that they had found records of her hospital stay, and some photographs of her as a child when she was admitted to the hospital, and she could have those photographs to keep, if she wanted, as they might provide sentimental value. But then she sent us one of the photographs, the actual photograph, not a copy. Why? Did it not affect her? Did she think it would help in the approval of her claim (it didn't)? Did the organization maybe send a duplicate, and this was the extra? Or did the photograph bring back too many memories? I wonder how I would have behaved in her situation. I wonder that a lot at my job, how I would have acted in the applicants' situations.
Also noteworthy: The hospital this applicant stayed in during and after the war is in a small tiny town in Germany where my friend was working a couple years ago. I have visited that small tiny Bavarian town, on the lake, in the gently rolling hills.
The documents in my post contain a photograph of the applicant as a young girl. I have scanned many photocopies of old photographs, but always photocopies--never the original. This is an original photograph. The international organization that was helping the applicant verify her story sent her a letter saying that they had found records of her hospital stay, and some photographs of her as a child when she was admitted to the hospital, and she could have those photographs to keep, if she wanted, as they might provide sentimental value. But then she sent us one of the photographs, the actual photograph, not a copy. Why? Did it not affect her? Did she think it would help in the approval of her claim (it didn't)? Did the organization maybe send a duplicate, and this was the extra? Or did the photograph bring back too many memories? I wonder how I would have behaved in her situation. I wonder that a lot at my job, how I would have acted in the applicants' situations.
Also noteworthy: The hospital this applicant stayed in during and after the war is in a small tiny town in Germany where my friend was working a couple years ago. I have visited that small tiny Bavarian town, on the lake, in the gently rolling hills.
March 11, 2011
March 10, 2011
March 9, 2011
March 8, 2011
A Review of Autumn/Winter Synchronicity
In the fall of 2010, many curious coincidences occurred which seemed significant at the time. Below follows a semi-complete summary.
1. Shortly after moving into the house in Ocean Park, Maine we found a copy of a novel entitled The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter. "A complex, smart mystery filled with intrigue, drama, and more than a little danger awaits" the reader of this book, though we found out that it actually has nothing to do with the tiny incorporated area of Ocean Park in which we lived.
After living with the novel for a few months, we traveled to northwest Connecticut for work. One sunny afternoon in late November, a co-worker and I searched the nearby town of Winsted for a book store. The man at the newspaper store told us with passionate aggravation that no bookstore existed in the town. We decided to travel to the next town over, Torrington to look for something.
We found a Super Goodwill with some books including a prominently displayed copy of The Emperor of Ocean Park. Additionally, we found a working Globe Lamp, an item I had been daydreaming about quite seriously.
Since this encounter, I have noticed a copy of this book in every used bookstore I have visited.
We visited another co-worker from Ocean Park on Cape Cod where she is living for the winter. She presented me with a present that she had found on her own...a copy of The Emperor of Ocean Park.
Has anyone else ever encountered this novel? There are several other qualities about it which I find intriguing and hilarious (such as figuring out what is going on with the background of the author photo.)
here is a link to a map charting every place TEOP has been found...keep in mind it was found multiple places in Portland, ME
This Review To Be Continued....
1. Shortly after moving into the house in Ocean Park, Maine we found a copy of a novel entitled The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter. "A complex, smart mystery filled with intrigue, drama, and more than a little danger awaits" the reader of this book, though we found out that it actually has nothing to do with the tiny incorporated area of Ocean Park in which we lived.
After living with the novel for a few months, we traveled to northwest Connecticut for work. One sunny afternoon in late November, a co-worker and I searched the nearby town of Winsted for a book store. The man at the newspaper store told us with passionate aggravation that no bookstore existed in the town. We decided to travel to the next town over, Torrington to look for something.
We found a Super Goodwill with some books including a prominently displayed copy of The Emperor of Ocean Park. Additionally, we found a working Globe Lamp, an item I had been daydreaming about quite seriously.
Since this encounter, I have noticed a copy of this book in every used bookstore I have visited.
We visited another co-worker from Ocean Park on Cape Cod where she is living for the winter. She presented me with a present that she had found on her own...a copy of The Emperor of Ocean Park.
Has anyone else ever encountered this novel? There are several other qualities about it which I find intriguing and hilarious (such as figuring out what is going on with the background of the author photo.)
here is a link to a map charting every place TEOP has been found...keep in mind it was found multiple places in Portland, ME
This Review To Be Continued....
March 7, 2011
March 5, 2011
March 4, 2011
March 3, 2011
Something that I learned Today
Today my housemate and co-worker told me about a possible explanation for the prevalence of the gray squirrel in our East Coast North American neighborhoods.
The idea is that before deforestation of the land, squirrels were black in color because this color worked best to camouflage their shape from predators hunting from the sky. As forested areas disappeared, the more gray-colored squirrels survived more frequently. The darker fur stood out more when all the trees were gone. Gray squirrels now dominate our squirrel populations.
The idea is that before deforestation of the land, squirrels were black in color because this color worked best to camouflage their shape from predators hunting from the sky. As forested areas disappeared, the more gray-colored squirrels survived more frequently. The darker fur stood out more when all the trees were gone. Gray squirrels now dominate our squirrel populations.
March 2, 2011
March 1, 2011
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