699 Too Much Museum (Exactly what I was afraid of!)

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Roman tried to send me his pix from the falls trip, but the zip file was too large for email attachment, so he'll try again later, when he can break it up. I'm anxious.

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I went to the Maritime Museum yesterday to set up the information notebooks they'd asked me to do. The volunteers in the museum, on the phones, and in the gift shop are always getting questions from tourists (when, where, how much, what's there, etc.) about the other museums and tours around town, so they wanted a page on each. (The official visitor's center is about two blocks up the street, and open every day, so I don't see why they couldn't just send people there, but I am in "shut-up-and-do-as-you're-told" mode these days, so....)

It wasn't as easy as it sounds. The available brochures and web sites have conflicting information. Many of the places are open only on weekends, and there's no cell phone service on the mountain, so I wasn't able to call any of them until just before they closed (5 pm) last Sunday, when we got closer to civilization on the way home. (BTW, Daughter, there's a brand new cell tower directly across the road from the little hotel. Not functional yet, but soon. Roman's daughter's birthday was last weekend, and he wanted to call her and was very frustrated by the sight "Is that what I think it is?!" of a non-functioning tower. So near and yet so far.)

Then when I tried to type up what I had yesterday, the editor on the museum computer kept program-checking, and every time it did, it locked the file I had been working on. [Insert choice words here.] I wanted to have it done by Friday, to be ready for the influx of tourists Memorial Day weekend. When I got home yesterday, I found a newspaper insert devoted to the river. All the information I was missing! Current information! Serendipity!

So I went in today to finish. The woman who was supposed to come in to work the shop never showed, so again I found myself minding the register, but we weren't busy, so I was still able to sneak upstairs and finish the notebooks. They look good. I'm proud of them.

In an earlier entry I said something about this being a rinkydink operation (in reference to charging sales tax). I needed a key today. I asked where it was kept. They told me. Incredible. I can't tell you what or where, but it's tantamount to keeping the front door key under the doormat, WITH a list of all the house valuables attached.

I need to draw the maps for the notebooks by Friday, and I have committed to tend the shop Friday afternoon. This is more time than I had planned to contribute - I still have this house to clear out - but I'll back off a bit after Friday. I'll ride on the goodwill from those wonderful notebooks for a while.