2007-12-20

Christmas Cards

I got some nice Christmas Cards from colleagues at other universities yesterday (and one from a Finnish University I swear I don't know anyone at, with an illegible signature). I went to display them on my bric-a-brac table, which currently holds such treasures as some Baltic shells, the stupid cloth flower I got in the Christmas gift exchange with handball last year, and the talking-stupid-Bush-doll I got from my brother a few years ago. I felt it needed a special place, so I have this table in front of a bulletin board where I pin funny postcards people send me.

I realized that the table was already full of Christmas cards. From last year. I never got around to ditching them.

I blew off a layer of dust (seems the cleaning people are scared of touching the button that makes George mouth off), removed the Xmas 2006 cards and put up the first Xmas 2007 ones.

Then I remembered that I had an envelope full of our school Christmas Cards that I had ordered on my desk. Unaddressed. I quickly made a list and got started. It turned out to be a major production. The ink on my inkpad for the return address stamp had dried out. I didn't have addresses handy. Many universities have horrible web sites, you need three clicks to find the address: on Prof. X's home page, it states that she is in building XYZ. The contact information for the department reveals the street address of the building, but no postal code. If I get lucky, I can find a link on the main home page of the school with that postal code.

I gave up yesterday and continued today. There were still a few cards left, so I started writing silly ones - one to a friend with a lame computer joke on it, one each to my two former students who are writing dissertations. Make their boss envious that they are getting Christmas cards already.

At home I don't even have a Christmas letter written, much less cards or envelopes. I did buy stamps at the post office, the other day, just in case. Maybe I'll send Easter cards this year....

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