I feel like a kid again.
When I was young, I scrupulously saved my ‘proof-of-purchase’ from all my Star Wars figures so that I could get the precious Boba Fett action figure, which could only be purchased through mail order. Oddly, as I recall, this was before The Empire Strikes Back came out, so nobody actually knew who Boba Fett was, but I didn’t care: he looked cool. The challenge was waiting the 6-8 weeks for delivery, which made me think, as Calvin of Calvin & Hobbes once said, “I’ll be OLD then!”
I’ve got that feeling again, but now it isn’t action figures I’m waiting for (I swear I just heard a huge sigh of relief from the fiancée), but articles ordered through InterLibrary Loan. I’ve been having so much fun reading and researching old scientific papers that I’ve put in about a dozen requests over the past couple of weeks, all for papers which are circa 1900 and extremely out of date. (The librarians have to be wondering what on Earth is going through my head.) Now I find myself compulsively checking the library web page, just like I checked the mailbox as a kid, and impatiently shaking my fist at the screen.
On the bright side, the articles I’ve gotten so far are utterly fascinating, and once I’ve got them all together I’ll have a really neat post. Stay tuned!
(Hooray! As I was writing this, an email arrived, telling me that another ILL arrived!)
Skulls in the Stars 
I once spent three weeks straight in the summer browsing the stacks at the university when I was younger, and there is a wealth of information in the techniques and some good laughs too. Early theories of well know process could be hilarious. They have a value that continues to help me. The perspective of how far technology has moved in the last 100 years is also astounding.
Paul wrote: “I once spent three weeks straight in the summer browsing the stacks at the university when I was younger”
Good for you! I wish I had done that in my undergraduate years, but I was still too preoccupied with my sad little social life to bother! Nowadays I find a university library a somewhat magical, awe-inspiring place, and would find myself happy wandering pretty much any section of the stacks.
“…and some good laughs too. ”
I especially like coming across personal scientific feuds which have made it to print. One of these days I’ve got to blog about a few of them that I’ve stumbled across – they’re quite funny.
When I was young, I scrupulously saved my ‘proof-of-purchase’ from all my Star Wars figures so that I could get the precious Boba Fett action figure, which could only be purchased through mail order. Oddly, as I recall, this was before The Empire Strikes Back came out, so nobody actually knew who Boba Fett was, but I didn’t care: he looked cool.
Oh, God.
What a geek nostalgia trip…
I remember doing the same thing, and being faintly disappointed when Boba Fett turned out to be in ESB for all of about five minutes.
Chad wrote: “I remember doing the same thing, and being faintly disappointed when Boba Fett turned out to be in ESB for all of about five minutes.”
I also remember being disappointed when the ‘launchable missile’ on Boba Fett’s jetpack had been glued in because of safety concerns. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten over it! 🙂
Dr. SkySkull wrote: “I was still too preoccupied with my sad little social life to bother!”
Hmm… as a former undergraduate friend of yours I’m not sure whether to feel insulted or sad. I think I’ll try both. 😉
Oh and here’s an interesting essay I found that mourns how some universities are eliminating their stacks, while praising the University of Chicago for expanding their holdings. Go U of C!!! (The article also talks about how “the stacks” are a convenient place for geek-on-geek sex. I wasted my youth apparently.)
Hey! I’m no longer a blank photo. I’m some sort of quilt. What’s happening to me?
PD wrote: “Hmm… as a former undergraduate friend of yours I’m not sure whether to feel insulted or sad. I think I’ll try both.”
I wasn’t speaking so much about my friends as I was about my attempts to get dates, which obviously didn’t work out so well. And, anyway, I didn’t really get to know you until I was officially no longer an undergrad!
“The article also talks about how “the stacks” are a convenient place for geek-on-geek sex. I wasted my youth apparently.”
I wasted mine, too. On the other hand, the UofC stacks were no place to have sex. If you even thought about such a thing in Crerar, you’d immediately be glared at and “shushed!” by hordes of neurotically studying students…
“I’m some sort of quilt. What’s happening to me?”
Apparently some sort of WordPress upgrade. They also changed the look of the dashboard recently, which threw me for a loop trying to figure out how to do things I formerly could do easily.
The quilt suits you, though!