University, Here She Comes

It's late, i worked all day, i had a long shift at the cat shelter, and i typed up a post and it was erased just as i was done.  Yes, i will try again, but have you ever noticed that it's never as good when you have to start over?

Bigger Girl and i had more than just the library adventure this week.  She is transferring from the junior college to the uni this semester, so when i was unexpectedly off work on Wednesday, we ran several errands.

That included going to the uni and trying to find out how to make sure she's set up for the semester.  There were very helpful young people whose entire student jobs are to do nothing but make sure they point you in the right direction, and they did all the right things.

The first told her where to go for orientation and to meet with her advisor next Monday so she can get her class schedule set.

The second told her a lot about making sure she knows what she needs to take for her major and minor studies.

The third sent us to a financial aid advisor who got us to the real point, which was why her account on the website didn't want to give her certain information that she should have had.  It was a simple thing, they'd put a hold on her until she provided immunization records.

Huh?

Okay, if you are a freshman, or are coming in as a foreign student, i get it.  But transferring as a junior from another state school that required you to provide all that information back when you started there, do you really need to go through it all again?

Apparently the answer is yes, because we left the campus and stopped at the pediatrician's office on the way to the library to get a copy of the record.

At the library, i called the uni's health unit to find out where to fax the record, and they told me she also had to print out the form and fill in the questions so they could make sure she doesn't need a tuberculosis test.  Thank heaven the library has computers, printers and a fax machine that costs way too much but is certainly cheaper than running all the way back to campus after all the other errands.

While at the library, she and i talked about how great the new library is, and about how much trouble it was to take down the old one.  It had so much asbestos in it, it's a wonder we didn't all end up ill from hanging out there all of the time.

"I watched them tear it down," she said.  "I remember thinking that I was watching them tear down my childhood, which is so existentially terrifying that I loved it!"

Some days i wonder what to make of her, but i do know i like and love her, which is more important.

The final result is that she will select and confirm her classes on Monday, and they very kindly gave her a map.  As she says, she can get lost in a shoe box, a map is essential.  When she has a map, she can probably conquer the world, or at least get to her classes.

Today is:

Balloon Ascension Day / Aviation in America Day -- the first manned free balloon flight in the US was on this date in 1793 at Philadelphia

Children's Day -- Thailand

Duelo Nacional -- Panama (Martyrs' Day)

Eagle Days -- Little Platte Park, Smithville Lake, MO, US (learning about bald eagles in the environmental learning center, as well as eagle viewing over the lake and children's activities; through tomorrow)

Feast of All Fairies -- Fairy Calendar

Feast of the Most Holy Black Nazarene -- Quiapo District, Manila, Philippines (culmination of the celebrations; a 400 year old Catholic procession with a black life-sized wooden statue of Jesus)

Festival of the Agonalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (gifts given to Janus)

Greater Springfield Garage Sale -- Springfield, MO, US (if you want to find it used, you can probably find it here at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds; through tomorrow)

Hatsu-Ichi -- Maebashi, Japan (a daruma -- good luck doll -- market, to start the year off right)

"I Will Stay" Day -- Brazil (anniversary of the start of the Independence Movement in 1922)

Kayin New Year -- Myanmar (The Kayin, or Karen, are the second largest ethnic minority in the country, and their New Year is an extra holiday with traditional costume and lots of celebrating)

National Apricot Day

National Western Stock Show and Rodeo -- Denver, CO, US (106th edition of the Super Bowl of livestock shows; through the 24th)

Peace Agreement Day -- South Sudan

Pennsylvania Farm Show -- Harrisburg, PA, US (the largest indoor agricultural show in the US, sponsored by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Agriculture; through the 16th)

Positively Penguins Day -- a day to celebrate all things penguin

Republic Day -- Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Static Cling/Static Electricity Day -- on some sites, listed as April 26; i can only ask why it's listed anywhere for any reason

St. Marciana's Day (Patron of those with wounds)

Stepfather's Day -- not official, but it should be, there are some great stepfathers out there

Stuffed Animal Laundry Day -- give that old bear a bath!

Toka Ebisu -- Japan (parades and shrine rituals through Japan, but especially in Kyoto, Osaka, and Fukuoka; through the 11th)

Ume Matsuri -- Atami, Japan (celebrating the ume -- plum -- at one of the most famous plum viewing spots in the country; through mid-March)


Anniversaries Today:

Connecticut becomes the 5th US State, 1788


Birthdays Today:

Sergio Garcia, 1980
Dave Matthews, 1967
Joely Richardson, 1965
Mark Martin, 1959
Imelda Staunton, 1956
J.K. Simmons, 1955
Crystal Gayle, 1951
Jimmy Page, 1944
Joan Baez, 1941
Susannah York, 1941
Byron Barlett "Bart" Starr, 1934
Bob Denver, 1935
Judith Krantz, 1928
Lee Van Cleef, 1925
Les Paul, 1915
Gypsy Rose Lee (Rose Hovick), 1914
Richard Nixon, 1913
Simone De Beauvoir, 1908
Chic Young, 1901
Carrie Lane Chapman Catt, 1859
Gracie Fields, 1898


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"It Takes a Thief"(TV), 1968
"Rawhide"(TV), 1959
"Dear Abby"(newspaper column), 1956
"Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze"(Film), 1894


Today in History:

Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, 475
Seven hundred Jews, believed to be causing the Black Death, are burned in their homes in Basel, Switzerland, 1349
The first sighting of manatees by a European (Columbus), 1493
Philip Astley stages the first modern circus in London, 1768
The first hot-air balloon flight in the US lifts off in Philadelphia, 1793
Income Tax is introduced in the UK (to fund the war against Napoleon), 1799
Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson receives a state funeral and is interred in St Paul's Cathedral, 1806
Sir Humphry Davy tests the Davy lamp for miners at Hebburn Colliery, 1816
The Daguerrotype photo process is announced at French Academy of Science, 1839
Thomas Henderson makes the first measure of stellar parallax, of Alpha Centauri, 1839
The Astor Library opens in NYC, 1854
The first hostilities of the Civil War, at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, 1861
The Great Gale of 1880 devastates parts of Oregon and Washington with high wind and heavy snow, 1880
New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard in Lexington, Massachusetts, 1894
Alfred Tennyson's son, Hallam, the Second Baron Tennyson, becomes the second Governor General of Australia, 1903
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc., the first historically black intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity to be officially recognized at Howard University is founded, 1914
The Ottoman Empire prevails in the Battle of Çanakkale, as the last British troops are evacuated, 1916
Juan de la Cierva makes the first autogiro (helicopter) flight, Spain, 1923
A fire at the Laurier Palace movie theatre in Quebec, Montreal, kills 78 children, 1927
Several Panamanian youths try to raise the Panamanian flag on the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone, leading to fighting between U.S. military and Panamanian civilians, 1964
Elections are held to replace Yasser Arafat as head of the Palestine Liberation Organization. He is succeeded by Rawhi Fattouh, 2005
Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement rebel group sign a peace agreement in Naivasha, Kenya, 2005