some observations about the books etc

My computer and I have become very good friends since coming on this mission.  I find myself wondering what I did before I got a computer?  I wrote it all by hand, that is what I did….and I could not read it very well because my handwriting is not so good.  My step mother said that it must be an EISER trait because my father’s handwriting as well as my half brother and myself fall into the same category – poor writers.

As we work with the books we are digitizing, it is remarkable to note the difference in handwriting.  Some people form their letters with such clarity that there is no possibility of not understanding what has been written.  Others write like they dipped their whole finger in the inkwell and wrote.  The lines are so thick that the LSI reading is up around 8 or so.  We are only supposed to get a reading of 3 or 4.  We have been at this digitizing now since October 17^th (that is when we started actually using the cradle and the camera and computer) and frankly I do not understand what LSI (Line Segment Indicator) is all about anyway.  The books are written in cursive and cursive is not taught in schools these days so in the future there will be these digitized records and people will have to go to school to learn to do cursive so that they can read the digitized record.  It makes no sense at all to me that cursive is not taught in schools these days.

Another thing I notice with the written records is that they seem to be a précis of a larger record that is stashed somewhere.  It appears that they were asked to keep their writing between the lines that are the outer borders of the pages.  The outer borders are about 2 inches wide on each side of the page.  I have seen extra comments added to the record in these borders from time to time.  When I took secretarial classes in High School, the teacher was very strict as to how we divided the words that came at the end of a line and close to the border.  Even in handwritten records, as well as the typed ones, the writer took liberties with the dividing of words.  Part of a word appears on one line and then a hyphen and the rest of the word appears on the beginning of the next line.  I have found divided written with di- on the end of a line and vided appearing at the next line.  Plaintiff is another word that is divided in different ways – I have seen it as  pla- intiff, plain-tiff, plaint-iff just so the writer did not go over the line and into the  margin.  I could go on about this because  I find it fascinating that writers as well as the typists seem to take no thought for continuity in splitting words up.

We take the daily newspaper and the parade of sadness in its pages is hard to read.  Seven days before Christmas, baby Ayla Reynolds disappeared from her birth father’s residence.  She still has not been found.  They have searched the Messalonskee stream and lake and other related streams.  They have searched the woods with Cadaver dogs to no avail.  She has just vanished.  The parents of this little one are not married and they have carried on a very visible fight in the papers over who did what and where the blame lies.  The reward is now up to $500,000 for any information that helps the authorities find baby Ayla Reynolds.  Her picture is up on the refrigerator in the break room and we get to look at it each time we go to lunch.

This year in November is the presidential election.  The press  corps are like wild dogs tearing at a carcass when there is a word or action that is contrary to the liberal views.  They dissect the meaning, actions and possible future problems arising from this or that.  The words and actions are fodder for rumination by sages and the man in the street.  I am amazed at the amount of money that is spent on the campaigns.  Could it not be better spent on housing the poor, providing medical care for those who cannot afford it or feeding the hungry and disaffected.  When I say hungry and disaffected I am thinking of the Vietnam vets who live in the woods around Prescott because they cannot handle living in a house or apartment etc.  Even here in Augusta we see an aged lady pulling a little cart filled with black plastic bags of stuff which is presumably all she owns in the world.  There is an elderly gentleman who is walking Riverside Drive each morning talking to himself and gesticulating to the cars as they drive by.  I have not seen them, but I suppose that there are many more souls wandering the streets of Augusta, who could be helped one way or another with these funds.  The world seems to be so lopsided.

President Obama came to Portland a week or so ago and they entertained him at the Museum of Art at a fundraising dinner which cost the attendees $30,000 each and there were a select 100 of them.  They got to eat with the President and have their picture taken with him.  According to the paper, he dined on nothing but the best fare Maine could supply.  Specialty cheeses from up north, Lobstah and other delicacies were on the menu.  There is such a gap between what he was given to eat and what we can buy at the supermarket to keep our missionary bodies going.  At an earlier gathering of a few thousand at around $1,000 a head they got to see him give a speech.  There was one other level of ‘givers’ who were part of the crowd there to see him.  I did not give much thought to it, but a few days later, the paper had an article on just how much the visit cost Maine and Portland police etc. to provide for this visit.  The Obama Whitehouse did not contribute to the cost at all.  I guess, in the end, it matters little what you have or have not eaten, where you have or have not lived, and what you have or have not owned.  We were at the Washington DC temple and the funeral for Mr. Marriott was taking place at the church building next door.  Outside were limousines lined up for blocks with liveried drivers all standing round talking together while the service was progressing.  My one thought was, There goes Mr. Marriott – his millions remain here and he could not buy even one more minute of life with what he had accumulated.  Perhaps, to make Barak Obama more like the people he is supposed to be serving as President, they should have ordered out from Mc Donalds, or Burger King or Subway.  It would have cost way less.

We talked to Sara today and she told us that Lyla wears her heart pendant everywhere and proudly tells people about her Grandma who got it for her and about how she had to fill in 5 hearts to get to wear it.  It is stories like these that make my heart sing.  Oliver will be getting glasses I guess.  He has been complaining of headaches when he has to concentrate on books etc.  Ethan has progressed so well in his reading that he is allowed to take extra science classes at school.

We got our results today and all 21 folders passed.  We were giddy with laughter when we read that on the internet.  I guess by the time we get to Keene, for our next assignment, we will be really good at digitizing……..but I do not think that we will have use of the cradle.  I guess we are here physically but mentally we have already moved on to Keene and the next assignment.

Oh Joy!  We have to pack up the car, again.