More ADVENTURES IN WORCESTER

[fbhjr]

Today I had to go back into Worcester to pick up my transcript. Unlike Friday, it was nice and sunny as I did so. I don’t know if that made me feel better about it, or just that things went better. But, I was happier about it today.

On the way in, I drove by the place where my wife and I met back in 1983.


At that party she was sitting in the upper window behind the tree. Driving past there always puts me in a good mood, so I’m sure that helped.

What also helped was getting one of the “visitor” parking spaces on campus.


As far as I can tell, that picture shows all of them. And, some of those are reserved. So, for the whole college, there are about 10, and I got the last!

Having just put up pictures of yesterday’s sword troupe practice, it was very nostalgic to walk across the place where I got my first formal sword lessons back in the fall of 1981.


Every Sunday the SCA had a practice on the quad and would let anyone play with their foam and rattan weapons.
We still have sword practice on Sunday afternoons...

The quad pathways are bricks with alumni and professor’s names in them. I did not buy a brick. (They were $100 or more as I recall.) And, I couldn’t find anyone from my class who did. But, I only went down 2 of the 6 walkways, so could well have missed them.


On the way out, I drove past the dorm I had been in freshman year.


WPI had 7 guys for every girl. My dorm had 1 floor of guys and 2 floors of girls. That made it the highest concentration of women on campus.
I liked that dorm.

After that, I drove back over to That’s Entertainment to talk with Ken the manager. It was too busy and crowded Saturday to talk with him. But, Monday morning just as they opened? Not a busy time for comic sales.
So, I talked with him about selling the comics I’ve been sorting. He doesn’t hold out hope that I’ll have anything super rare worth a lot of money. And, he doesn’t expect I’ll get a lot out of it at all. But, I will get the comics out of my house with some store credit for them, so that’s a good thing. To “encourage” me to sort them, he loaned me two more boxes so I can bring them in right. I’ll try to get to it this week.

Then, before 11, I was back at home to do laundry. I found that despite getting little sleep last night, my reflexes were still sharp. I had to recharge the laundry card, so I grabbed my wallet and set out for the machine that charges them. I got half way down our from stoop and tapped my pocket to check for my keys.
No jingle.
I spun, dove up the stairs and caught the locking front door just before it closed. Then, with my keys with me, I went off and charged the card.

Finally, I scanned in my transcript.


One page, obviously printed by computer.
Why can’t this be sent electronically?
Why do I have to wait for the mail each way or go in and see them?
I have yet to get an answer to this that makes sense other than “they can charge you more that way.”

Comments

It's the STAMP !

[evrgreen.livejournal.com]

If WPI is like the University of Vermont - one can get a copy of transcript for free - but it is an UNOFFICIAL copy - at least, the UVM one says it is not official unless it is stamped with the official school seal. So, even with computer generation, they refuse to digitize or watermark the school seal so that they can be electornically issued without human intervention.
Thats progress in academia..

Re: It's the STAMP !

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

WPI will only give transcripts ordered and paid for at the Registrar's office. You can mail it to them or go in person, but the form must physically get to their office where they physically print the transcript.
You can print the form out on line, but that's it.