Soggy morning, soggy afternoon, soggy evening

The weather has just been awful here in Athens lately. Cold and wet at the same time. I wish it would make up its mind and either turn to snow or heat up a little bit.

This is homecoming weekend so there are quite a few people in town. My roommate Lyndsey "got" to march in the parade. I have "got" in scare quotes because I'm thinking it wasn't too high on her "I want to" list, especially in this cold weather!

I am really hoping that it clears up a little bit for when the Bishop comes tomorrow to celebrate Mass and have a Eucharistic Procession. It's not a long walk, but still, how annoying if it's rainy when we do it!

Work has been going well, although I think some of my co-workers have come to the conclusion that I'm not too bright. And I'm not too bright with that kind of manual labor thing. I'll avoid any false humility and admit that I have lots of book smarts. In college, for instance, I have come across only one or two intellectual endeavors that really caused me serious problems. But common sense? Ehhh, not so much!

Alas, I'm not going to be able to come home for Halloween weekend, after all. My mother really wanted me to come up, but there's no way for me to get out of work. They even have a large sign in the kitchen: "If you do not work your Halloween shift, or if you arrive under the influence, you will be terminated. No exceptions!" My roommates are having a party at our apartment, so that should be interesting ;) However, on the other hand, I'm somewhat happy to be staying in Athens, since I can hang out at the cemetery I am doing my magazine piece on. Very creepy of me, I know, but ... A reporter's job never ends, ha ha!

Incidentally, perhaps I mentioned in one of my previous posts about Enoch Hannaman, the young OU student who died at the age of 21 in 1827. His grave includes all these details but does not impart the cause of death. Of course I couldn't find any death records from back then; the southeastern part of Ohio was wilderness, log cabin-and-Indians country back then. But as I was paging through one of the OU history books (Yay for university archives!) I happened upon a brief note about a mysterious illness that visited the Athens area in the winter quarter of 1826-1827. The university trustees of the time recorded their concern, but stated that they believed all would be well. Unfortunately, the epidemic continued into the summer quarter. Some OU students fled for home; others were unable to continue their studies. Enoch Hannaman died on July 3, 1827; I'm guessing he may have been a victim. The book also noted that in the same period an influenza epidemic was raging through Ohio, so maybe the mystery sickness was the 'flu.

I can't tell you how pleased I was to stumble onto this information. For once I can kind of understand why people would become professional researchers: The adrenaline rush you get from finding that tiny bit of dust-gathering, hidden-away information is second to none. Especially since I imagine I am the only one (or at least one of the few) around here who has ever tried to figure out why this more or less forgotten kid buried almost 180 years ago died so young! So, even though historically speaking it's insignificant, it's still my own little discovery, he he :)