Fancy meeting you here.

If you've ever called me and gotten my voicemail, you are well acquainted with my rather pointed (and completely unintentional) plea to leave a brief message after the beep. Though I've considered re-recording it, it's just as amusing listening to my friends tease me about it whilst leaving messages that are not, in fact, brief. Makes listening to voicemail all the more exciting. So....why do I bring this up. Well, I've decided that, in honor of said voicemail message, I will make this blog one thing, above all else: brief. Either out of sheer laziness at the end of the day or out of my intense desire to edit all things I see, the posts will mostly be recaps of adventures or random, pithy anecdotes. And, of course, I promise to bring you one awesome historical fact of the day (or AHFOD), for your random learning pleasure.

On that note, here's a summary of my adventures in Philly so far:
1) Moved into my beautiful 13th floor room, attempted to befriend my suitemates, failed all 6 times. Will try again later.

2) Started work at the coolest (aka nerdiest) place in the world. Have thus far encountered a mortar bomb from the revolution, a piece of George Washington's hair, and a plethora of smart, kind, interesting people. Note: the first two things were in a storage closet, the last thing was not.

3) I've taken to walking everywhere (big surprise), including my 30-block-each-way walk to work, which is the new highlight of my day. It's nice to unwind, listen to music, and, let's be honest, the competitive side in me enjoys telling people I walk 60 blocks a day, uphill both ways, in the snow. (picture of said walk below)



4) I take Mondays off to work on my thesis and do research. How is the research coming you may ask? Please note the day of the week today. Please note what I have chosen to spend my morning on instead.

On that note, I will leave you. And if it isn't apparent, I'm having a blast, and am absolutely loving my time so far. And last, but certainly not least, your awesome historical fact of the day...

AWFOD: The archive at which I work has an actual mummy's hand, gifted to Benjamin West (a Philly painter in the 18th century). This is one of the only completely random occult-esque items we have; why? in 1760, the head librarian was given permission to get rid of anything with "an offensive odor." Nevertheless, the mummy hand remained. True story.

Have a wonderful Monday!
Casey