Today I worked on campus because we had another training session. I think I've mostly mastered the art of creating expense reports in the new system, so today I wanted to work on paying honoraria. I did one with split funding for a domestic speaker, then I tried to do one for a foreign speaker, but even with two people way above me trying to help me, none of us could figure out why it didn't ask for different forms like the wire transfer form, the I-94, the passport, and the Homeland Security stamp. In the current system, you couldn't even submit a request for payment without these things, but the new system didn't ask for them at all, and indeed there was nowhere to put them. I'm not saying it wasn't user error, but the other two women helping me couldn't figure it out either. I also walked with Seabird at lunch, and she said she will be moving back into my building (yay!), but she will have an office without a window (boo!). Currently she is in a shared office overlooking the lake. I said she could come join me in my office overlooking the carillon anytime.
This evening I went to another Moldy Jam jam at the music club, and once again I found myself in the mandolin section. Just like how at parties all the Capricorns seem to find each other and talk about how they are Capricorns, all the mandolins seem to end up in one spot. One woman demanded at one point to swap mandolins for a tune, so I figures why not, she wasn't some rando off the street. When we went to swap back, I somehow conked myself in the eye with her mandolin, so if I have a shiner tomorrow, that will be very interesting to explain. "This black eye? It's from a mandolin. No, not Amanda Lynn - the instrument! Yes, I'm aware that most people don't get beat up by inanimate objects, but I'm just that special." Then I swapped with the guy next to her, but he had trouble playing my little round-back mandolin. They play a lot of American folk tunes, but they do throw in some Irish ones, so toward the end of the evening a guy suggested "Road to Lindisfarne" followed by "Swallowtail." They were both in E Dorian, and I would have been satisfied with that, but everyone said, "One more tune!" so I timidly suggested "Drowsy Maggie," which is also E Dorian. I thought nobody would want to play yet another Irish E Dorian tune, but they happily played it. I was in heaven!
Things just got better when I left. A couple in the group offered me a ride to my car, but I said it's okay, it's just a couple of blocks away. I was walking on the sidewalk as it crossed the railroad tracks when I heard the crossing a few blocks away start to ding. I looked, and a train was coming, but it didn't blow its horn. There was a crossing right where I was, so I made a video. I love how the red crossing lights reflect off the train. Enjoy!
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