Finally have some time

to sit & chat. I don't know that I've been busy, exactly, but just not together enough to write.

Anyway, I was out of the office on Friday on a visit to the Big City. I'm in Manhattan less & less these days, and the truth is I don't miss it a whole lot. There's a rhythm to the City that's faster than the 'burbs, and I guess I'm slowing down with age.

Nonetheless, I trekked in to a meeting of other medical archivists - yes, there are subgroups to my obscure field. A lot of HIPAA talk, which is the bane of most of our existence. The biggest problem is the dopes who wrote the stupid thing can't tell you when & where it applies. Aside from its complexity for people going through the health care system, there's no provision for historical research.

So the end result is each of our archives is doing different things. One doesn't worry about it if the subjects are dead, one doesn't want people looking at anything, and most of the lawyers are unsure. The result for most of us is to fake it - save as we always have, do the reference, and let the gummint figure out what we're supposed to allow.

One other thing of note, which is the strange confluence of my "real" life with my online life. One of my colleagues reported being in Birmingham for some association meeting, and said something I took to be uncomplimentary. Now, I realize I differ politically with many of my colleagues, and that they tend to be a New York-centered bunch. All the same, I had a half a mind to defend you redneck unwashed flyover types, figuring if you can quote Monty Python you're probably OK.

In order to preserve collegiality (and my secret identity) I didn't say anything, but I find it interesting that I often feel more comfortable with my online crew than with people I have more in common with geographically and professionally.

Mind you, the conversation soon turned to Bush-bashing, so I really had to bite my tongue. They're perfectly nice people, but clearly we don't see eye-to-eye.