Thursday, May 11, 2006

Road trip!

No, I didn't head off to Emily Dickinson College to pick up dates. But I did conduct a brief research trip (two days) in a city about 3 hours away. It was a good trip. The archives on day one were somewhat helpful (albeit FREEZING! as per usual.) Got some good material for Chapter 6, which is a disaster right now.

I finished early at the archives on Tuesday night, so I did a little shopping, ate a little dinner, and then found myself a nice cheap motel for the night. Two historic happenings: 1) it was my first night away from the Wild Boy. It only took 17 months for me to take a night off. And it was wonderful. 2) it was my first time watching Sex and the City. Meh. It was nice, but I wouldn't go out of my way to watch it.

The next morning, I went to the county courthouse, where I had to first be interviewed by the County Clerk, before he would let me do research. The interview consisted of about 30 seconds of me explaining my project and 15 minutes of him talking about his decision to run for public office, his campaign platform (should I mention I'm not a voter in his county?), his community outreach programs, his responsibilities, and the fact that his staff never shows up on time despite their responsibility to the good people of the county to maintain proper hours to conduct county business. Um, ok. Actually, I didn't mind, since one of the staffers who was late was the woman who had my docket books. So even after Mr. County Clerk finished his spiel, I couldn't get right to work. I twiddled my thumbs until Staff Woman showed up, 40 minutes late.

At 8:45, I had my docket books and was sequestered in a conference room happily sorting through the criminal proceedings during World War I. Yay! I should share some things I learned.

Things you could be arrested for in 1917 and 1918:
  • "Offering a bribe to a voter" (dozens of these on election day, interspersed with "keeping a saloon open on election day") -- ok, these ones make sense
  • "Rudely displaying a pistol"
  • "Starting automobile of another"
  • "Sending anonymous letter" ???
  • "Shifting gears" ???? (I'm guessing auto-related criminal charges were still being worked out)
  • "Molesting auto" (ditto. Is this comparable to grand theft auto, or auto-erotica?)

And, of course, "Alluring a female" which was duly noted in my research.

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9 Comments:

Blogger K-Lyn said...

"Rudely displaying a pistol"

My mother always told me...if you can't display your pistol nicely - don't display your pistol at all.

10:35 AM  
Blogger Courtney said...

Which is what makes her Canadian.

10:53 AM  
Blogger Andy said...

SATC can be uneven, but sometimes it's completely brilliant. Once you've heard, "Oh my God, she's fashion roadkill!" you're hooked for life.

12:01 PM  
Blogger Neel Mehta said...

Thank you, K-Lyn, for addressing the pistol issue cleanly. I wasn't sure what to do with it.

Andy, I wasn't a big fan of that episode (even though Stanford and Anthony were in good form). But then, I'm anti-Carrie and anti-SJP. That she's modeling in fashion mags now suggests that the joke's on us.

12:34 PM  
Blogger K-Lyn said...

I love all the girls - although it took me a while to warm up to Carrie.

I would venture to say that this is not Quinn's top TV choice as she is not a BCS (Big City Single) and is never likely to be.

I, on the other hand, can not watch Everybody Loves Raymond. That house/family environment is somewhere that I'll likely never be.

3:28 PM  
Blogger Neel Mehta said...

I love all the girls - although it took me a while to warm up to Carrie.

Not enough time in the world. I enjoyed the show because it was about three attractive, intelligent women in NYC... and their pathetic friend with bad taste and all the screen time. Seriously, that show would have taken on a whole new dimension had Mr. Big and Aidan hooked up.

Quinn: what episode did you see?

I, on the other hand, can not watch Everybody Loves Raymond. That house/family environment is somewhere that I'll likely never be.

In the past year I've gone from complete abstinence ("C'mon! Even the theme is boring!") to occasional tolerance. It helps that the principals like to torture each other.

11:13 PM  
Blogger Courtney said...

It was the baby shower episode.

FYI: I have also never seen "Everybody Loves Raymond." My TV fare goes from the Daily Show to the Colbert Report and rarely hits on anything else with consistency.

7:24 AM  
Blogger K-Lyn said...

I realize that my comment sounded like ELR would be a show that Quinn WOULD watch. Let me clarrify that nothing could further from the truth. I was just searching for a show that was distinctly not me. The truth, she obviously gets from The Report and I'm with her on that!

Baby shower episode. SOOOOO not my favorite. That's an early one isn't it? Before they hit their stride. Meh, is right.

8:53 AM  
Blogger Courtney said...

And in the case of "principals like to torture each other" family viewing, my vote is for Malcolm in the Middle. I watched that for six months or so.

Mostly for Stevie. "You caught a kid in a wheelchair. Kudos."

4:58 AM  

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