eclectic_boy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
eclectic_boy) wrote1994-12-14 02:32 pm
eclectic_boy) wrote1994-12-14 02:32 pm
(no subject)
I'm dreadfully sorry; was that your tongue?
being the meaningless but ear-catching (ouch, sorry again!) title of
okay, first the bad news...
The Franklin Institute has an observatory on its roof, used predominantly for looking at the Sun through a hydrogen-alpha filter. It makes solar prominences (clouds of hydrogen gas in the Sun's atmosphere) and solar flares (jets of gas ejected from the Sun) visible. We're one of the largest solar observatories reserved for the public in the world. Last week somebody left it out in the rain. The observatory isn't in a dome, just a regular room. Regular except in that roof is is motorized so the entire thing can slide back to open the room to the sky. Last Sunday I was asked early in the morning whether I thought it was worth it to open the Obs. that day; I said no, it was cloudy and forecasted to stay that way all day. However, sometime during the day there were enough requests from museum visitors to open the Obs that our supervisor agreed, and rearranged some people's schedules (not mine; I didn't know this was happening) to permit it to be opened.
Our weekend supervisor, Fred Vincent, is new; this was his first day supervising without another manager assisting. It was also a hectic day; the annual Flashlight Symphony (where the public is invited to bring flashlights, get a quick lesson in photochoreography, and spend half an hour following a conductor's baton as they shine patterns on the wall of the building to the accompaniment of various holiday carols) was taking place, along with a performance of excerpts from the Nutcracker ballet and a giant menorah lighting (a previous museum president had decreed that the Institute would stay uninvolved in any holiday activities in December; his departure seems to have caused the pendulum to swing too far the other way). Then at 4:00 there was a report of a kerosene leak at the wind tunnel demonstration (it's actually a smoke tunnel; jets of kerosene smoke are added to the wind to make it possible to see air-flow lines). So Fred had a lot on his mind; still, he didn't forget the Obs entirely. He asked a museum volunteer to check and see if the Observatory was closed; Fred thinks the volunteer told him yes (he doesn't remember who it was that he asked). Alas, it wasn't. Alas, it rained that night. Alas, our telescopes and filter are worse for (wash ‘n') wear. Alas, water flowed out into the Astronomy exhibit and down into the weather center (where our Internet-server computer is located) that's below the Obs. A loss, that last one was. The roof got waterlogged and parts of it fell in. The computer, a RISC 6000, miraculously lost only its motherboard. The station had just gotten a full remodelling the month before. I hope we've got lots of flood insurance...
The next day, when there were two fire alarms within a half hour of each other, we started joking about a pool to bet on what tomorrow would bring. I picked locusts.
And then, I found this lying around, something I wrote last month in what never did turn into a Swapa148 submission...:
Anybody got a button-making machine? I truly wish I had a button which said, "Ask me about my Transportation Nightmare!" I could proudly put it on whenever I had a day like today's, and it would prompt the conversation for me without my having to begin every conversation complaining (come to think of it, I'd like to make up a whole bunch of conversation-starting buttons, so I could let people know what they should ask me about all the time. Tune in next week when Jim learns conversational skills)
so is there any good news? Well, let me think while you read some neutral stuff:
Anybody have any suggestions for this joke schema? License plates usually have the name of the state and some sort of slogan on them, along with the actual plate code. I believe that vanity plates have the same sort of arrangement. What I'm looking for is a vanity plate that plays on those upper and/or lower lines. My example (which you wouldn't want to be driving the car of if you were caught by a state trooper) is on the left; can you think of one (for PA, your state, whatever) here on the right?
Well, there's good news that's past tense; that counts partly, at least: I went to Boston.
After pushing my vacation back every month from August through November, I finally pulled away, found two weeks when relatively little was happening and I had no deadlines (I want to digress on the subject of Being Needed at Work. (It's a topic big enough that it may end up as the larger part of this paragraph) I guess for a long time I thought that it was an unmitigatedly positive state; I wanted to be valuable, for the job security, for the respect, for the different tasks I'd be asked to do if I was considered generally competent. But I think I've discovered the ‘too much' end of this good thing. There are so many things that I've gradually become responsible for, mainly because they weren't getting done when other people, or no people, were assigned to them. I have enough of my bosses' respect that they come to me with lots of projects and problems, some of which I simply have to remind them are their job, not mine (not in quite so direct a form, but I basically refuse to take on something when I'm certain it's a manager's or director's job to do it, or offer to do a small section while giving the rest back to them). I can understand my bosses' actions, because they're overworked, and we continue to take on new tasks, but I'm still uninterested in managing, supervising, or (ugh of ughs) budgeting. It's part of the reason I'm uninterested in moving any higher in the company hierarchy (the other reason being that talking to visitors and presenting demonstrations is the fun stuff, but this paragraph is already parenthesis-heavy, so let's try to stick to the (sub)topic). (On (second (thought (let's (give (i(n())))))).) It gives me this odd feeling of power, over certain people, to have that much importance to them. It's not a feeling I like, and it makes me vaguely sad, when I think of other superiors I had years ago, who I thought were much more on top of things. So maybe I'm seeing now that they weren't? This is what goes through my head as I kept being unable to get away to Boston. By the way, was I apostropheing "bosses'" correctly?), and got to visit the Boston Contingent (regiment?).
Such a vacation as books are written about, epic poems even! So many people that I've still got rapport with, something which has to large degree been supplanted by acquaintance with the people I see often nowadays. As a result, there's serious talk of the legendary Migration of the Jim. (Of course, it's my understanding that such talk is endemic. I believe Kendra heard that I was moving to Boston back in 1992) Well, nothing's certain yet, but it's an exciting and possibilitous uncertainty....
Wait here's a bit of good news.... well, kinda...
Babylon 5 was good this week! I better state that up front before I come out as a B5 detractor, so you'll be less inclined to flame.... but in truth, I'm about 1-and-4-and-2 on the episodes I've seen so far (which isn't many, as you can sum). Too much cliche, too obvious attempts to put the characters in exciting situations at the expense of realism. When Londo said, "I used to be a pretty good pilot in my youth" and proceeded to dodge heavy laser fire all the way to the planet's surface in Voice in the Wilderness, pt 2, I felt more like I was watching a kid playing with B5 action figures than actual characters. But Spider in the Web, the 12/7/94 episode, was enthralling. I loved the hidden character motivations, that so many people here have secrets they want to keep. And I understand that a lot of B5's appeal is just this, the slow unfolding of what's really going on there. So I'll continue to give B5 a chance (not least because so many SWAPAns praise it!), but I have to honestly say that it's not yet worth it to me to watch the bad frontstories which carry the story behind...
[Warning! Spoilers!]
Santa Claus is your parents.
Life isn't fair.
The rabbit was in a hidden pouch in the hat.
It was all a dream.
Many of the good things you do never get recognized.
It's not what you know, it's who you know
Lotteries have less return per dollar than slot machines.
Those wrestling matches are rigged.
It tolls for thee.
Your parents don't know everything.
Beautiful sunsets are caused by pollution.
The Earth goes around the Sun.
You're only a kid once.
You wanna eat, you gotta work.
People lie.
[End spoilers]
Not particularly good or bad news, unless you're a periodiphile or -phobe:
I read a lot more magazines than I do books.
Well, I suppose I probably read even more newspapers than either of the above, but newspapers I mainly just glance over, while the other two I really read. I think the reason I so rarely have books to recommend to other people (and the reason I so often bring magazine articles to Story Readings (and possibly the reason I like the article format of USENET so much?)) is because my time is measured out in tables of contents and "continued on page 112"s. So here's a quick description of the magazines which I regularly read, i.e. pretty much every month, and large sections of each issue.
Harper's -- a wonderful mix of articles, stories, short strange items reprinted from the four corners, and a tricky cryptic crossword. I've found a lot of story reading material here.
Quantum -- a science and math academic magazine designed for high school and college students from Russia and the US (respectively, I sometimes think. There are articles in it written by Russian high school students that sound better than what I expect from college grads. Most articles are not student written, however). A good bimonthly dose of science topics with the equations, plus puzzles.
Wired -- slick, hip, and flashy, it's a computer magazine the way Rolling Stone is a music magazine. It's trying to define a culture, or at least inculcate itself into one, but that's not hard for me to ignore, and you even learn a little something by seeing what image is selling these days. Of more importance are its articles on the future of information technology, and its pieces covering fringe technologists (hackers, artists, people who like to blow things up)
New Media -- A monthly review of the cd-rom world. I point to this as prime evidence that I'm addicted to the magazine format: I read it because it's free ("just complete this survey to qualify for a free subscription...").
The Skeptical Inquirer -- a magazine of debunking. It's put out by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (pronounced "Psi-Cop"), and purports to have detached investigations into mental powers, ufos, spirits, and other fringe beliefs. However, most of the writers seem to already be certain that such things don't exist, and, worse, that anyone claiming to have seen such is a fool or a liar, which makes the articles more entertaining than trustworthy.
Omni -- Well, alright, I don't really read much of this one. But it is one of the few that I actually pay for (most of these magazines are subscribed to by the Institute; I'm on distribution list which circulates the copies around the building). I signed up with a Special Olympics magazine-subscriptions-for-charity offer (in part because of extremely guilt-trippy tactics from the salesperson. I've since refused to get more subscriptions from them to protest their methods), and this was the only "One of over fifty popular and interesting titles!" that I had any interest in. What a collapsed shell of a once-good magazine! They still have good fiction, because they pay well, but only one story per issue, and it's surrounded by the most inane, silly-pretending-to-be-scientific and actual-science-but-boringly-written articles. Ugh.
Internet World -- A curious mix of trade journal and beginner's guide, with product reviews of things only sysops purchase mixed in with How to Post an Article. I mainly read it for the interesting sites and resources that get mentioned throughout its pages. My favorite anecdote about the use of the Net, and this magazine, is that I read in rec.music.classical about a huge record sale happening in NYC the next day, saw in Internet World that a French student has set up a subway navigator you can telnet to, and found from it exactly how to get from Penn Station to the sale.
Locus -- The sf trade publication that Cornell gets. I stop by Cornell every few months just to read it (and browse). Lots of reviews, lots of notices of books coming out that I'd otherwise never know to look for.
Mac{Week,World,User} -- The first is one of those oversized computer industry magazines, with lots of techy and product-specific things I skip, but good information about what's going on with Apple, and a great gossip column on the last page. I don't really know how I got to be such a fan, as I suppose sports fans are of their team, and as I know I've been of Democratic presidential candidates, of Apple, but I really cheer it on, want it to win over Windows and IBM-clones. It's not logical, since what I actually like is the interface, and the interface will very likely be completely adopted by Windows95, so regardless of whether or not Apple goes the way of Commodore the style of computer I like Å will exist, yet I can't deny a sense of loyalty to the company that started it (pace, PARC). The latter two I've got more actual need to read; they contain help for regular users, general reviews, and lots of info that MacWeek reported on months before.
Science News -- The Weekly Magazine of Science. By its amazing virtue, brevity (it's about twenty-four pages an issue), it manages to make me read it the day it arrives. Lots of summaries of what's being published in major journals that week, plus reports from big conferences. A great way to keep a generalist happy.
Newsweek -- My family gets it, and since I don't watch the news it's one of my main sources of current events. They seem to have a few pet issues that they focus on, like Generation X and family finances, but they've also informed me of several legal, discriminational battles that I was interested in and hadn't otherwise heard of. More of a habitual read than anything else.
Wait, wait! Here's some good news!
I had two wisdom teeth extracted. (No, really, come back, it's good!) I've been hearing from my dentist for years that my teeth are too tight, that my wisdom teeth have no room to come in, and that (ominous tympani roll)...someday.... Well, someday came in November, when he noticed that the top teeth, which have been partly successful in coming in, were slowly breaking themselves up against the teeth already occupying that space. He actually discovered this in October, but I put the extraction off until after vacation, because I didn't want to ruin my Boston visit with aching jaws (no, I'd prefer ruining it with dread and anticipation.... but actually, I managed not to think of what awaited me on my return for most of the trip). And then The Day came, and there I was with novocaine in my mouth and a nitrous oxide mask over my nose, semi-stoically dreading away. When I'd told people during the month leading up to The Day, everyone would say, ‘oh, you'll be just fine.... but my cousin...' and proceed to tell a horror story of mythic proportions. But, shock and amazement, it went great! The whole thing took twenty minutes, I felt no pain, then or afterwards (the latter was what the nurses had warned me of), and it was even inexpensive (although Blue Shield says I should have received a bill from the dentist three times the size of what I actually received). I'd taken a few days off from work at the dentist's suggestion so I could recover, which turned into a little post-vacation vacation (and after a busy vacation it's a necessity!). While I can't recommend that y'all go right out and ask your dentists for your free wisdom teeth, I can at least say that it's much more fun than getting poked with a sharp stick!
being the meaningless but ear-catching (ouch, sorry again!) title of
okay, first the bad news...
The Franklin Institute has an observatory on its roof, used predominantly for looking at the Sun through a hydrogen-alpha filter. It makes solar prominences (clouds of hydrogen gas in the Sun's atmosphere) and solar flares (jets of gas ejected from the Sun) visible. We're one of the largest solar observatories reserved for the public in the world. Last week somebody left it out in the rain. The observatory isn't in a dome, just a regular room. Regular except in that roof is is motorized so the entire thing can slide back to open the room to the sky. Last Sunday I was asked early in the morning whether I thought it was worth it to open the Obs. that day; I said no, it was cloudy and forecasted to stay that way all day. However, sometime during the day there were enough requests from museum visitors to open the Obs that our supervisor agreed, and rearranged some people's schedules (not mine; I didn't know this was happening) to permit it to be opened.
Our weekend supervisor, Fred Vincent, is new; this was his first day supervising without another manager assisting. It was also a hectic day; the annual Flashlight Symphony (where the public is invited to bring flashlights, get a quick lesson in photochoreography, and spend half an hour following a conductor's baton as they shine patterns on the wall of the building to the accompaniment of various holiday carols) was taking place, along with a performance of excerpts from the Nutcracker ballet and a giant menorah lighting (a previous museum president had decreed that the Institute would stay uninvolved in any holiday activities in December; his departure seems to have caused the pendulum to swing too far the other way). Then at 4:00 there was a report of a kerosene leak at the wind tunnel demonstration (it's actually a smoke tunnel; jets of kerosene smoke are added to the wind to make it possible to see air-flow lines). So Fred had a lot on his mind; still, he didn't forget the Obs entirely. He asked a museum volunteer to check and see if the Observatory was closed; Fred thinks the volunteer told him yes (he doesn't remember who it was that he asked). Alas, it wasn't. Alas, it rained that night. Alas, our telescopes and filter are worse for (wash ‘n') wear. Alas, water flowed out into the Astronomy exhibit and down into the weather center (where our Internet-server computer is located) that's below the Obs. A loss, that last one was. The roof got waterlogged and parts of it fell in. The computer, a RISC 6000, miraculously lost only its motherboard. The station had just gotten a full remodelling the month before. I hope we've got lots of flood insurance...
The next day, when there were two fire alarms within a half hour of each other, we started joking about a pool to bet on what tomorrow would bring. I picked locusts.
And then, I found this lying around, something I wrote last month in what never did turn into a Swapa148 submission...:
Anybody got a button-making machine? I truly wish I had a button which said, "Ask me about my Transportation Nightmare!" I could proudly put it on whenever I had a day like today's, and it would prompt the conversation for me without my having to begin every conversation complaining (come to think of it, I'd like to make up a whole bunch of conversation-starting buttons, so I could let people know what they should ask me about all the time. Tune in next week when Jim learns conversational skills)
so is there any good news? Well, let me think while you read some neutral stuff:
Anybody have any suggestions for this joke schema? License plates usually have the name of the state and some sort of slogan on them, along with the actual plate code. I believe that vanity plates have the same sort of arrangement. What I'm looking for is a vanity plate that plays on those upper and/or lower lines. My example (which you wouldn't want to be driving the car of if you were caught by a state trooper) is on the left; can you think of one (for PA, your state, whatever) here on the right?
Well, there's good news that's past tense; that counts partly, at least: I went to Boston.
After pushing my vacation back every month from August through November, I finally pulled away, found two weeks when relatively little was happening and I had no deadlines (I want to digress on the subject of Being Needed at Work. (It's a topic big enough that it may end up as the larger part of this paragraph) I guess for a long time I thought that it was an unmitigatedly positive state; I wanted to be valuable, for the job security, for the respect, for the different tasks I'd be asked to do if I was considered generally competent. But I think I've discovered the ‘too much' end of this good thing. There are so many things that I've gradually become responsible for, mainly because they weren't getting done when other people, or no people, were assigned to them. I have enough of my bosses' respect that they come to me with lots of projects and problems, some of which I simply have to remind them are their job, not mine (not in quite so direct a form, but I basically refuse to take on something when I'm certain it's a manager's or director's job to do it, or offer to do a small section while giving the rest back to them). I can understand my bosses' actions, because they're overworked, and we continue to take on new tasks, but I'm still uninterested in managing, supervising, or (ugh of ughs) budgeting. It's part of the reason I'm uninterested in moving any higher in the company hierarchy (the other reason being that talking to visitors and presenting demonstrations is the fun stuff, but this paragraph is already parenthesis-heavy, so let's try to stick to the (sub)topic). (On (second (thought (let's (give (i(n())))))).) It gives me this odd feeling of power, over certain people, to have that much importance to them. It's not a feeling I like, and it makes me vaguely sad, when I think of other superiors I had years ago, who I thought were much more on top of things. So maybe I'm seeing now that they weren't? This is what goes through my head as I kept being unable to get away to Boston. By the way, was I apostropheing "bosses'" correctly?), and got to visit the Boston Contingent (regiment?).
Such a vacation as books are written about, epic poems even! So many people that I've still got rapport with, something which has to large degree been supplanted by acquaintance with the people I see often nowadays. As a result, there's serious talk of the legendary Migration of the Jim. (Of course, it's my understanding that such talk is endemic. I believe Kendra heard that I was moving to Boston back in 1992) Well, nothing's certain yet, but it's an exciting and possibilitous uncertainty....
Wait here's a bit of good news.... well, kinda...
Babylon 5 was good this week! I better state that up front before I come out as a B5 detractor, so you'll be less inclined to flame.... but in truth, I'm about 1-and-4-and-2 on the episodes I've seen so far (which isn't many, as you can sum). Too much cliche, too obvious attempts to put the characters in exciting situations at the expense of realism. When Londo said, "I used to be a pretty good pilot in my youth" and proceeded to dodge heavy laser fire all the way to the planet's surface in Voice in the Wilderness, pt 2, I felt more like I was watching a kid playing with B5 action figures than actual characters. But Spider in the Web, the 12/7/94 episode, was enthralling. I loved the hidden character motivations, that so many people here have secrets they want to keep. And I understand that a lot of B5's appeal is just this, the slow unfolding of what's really going on there. So I'll continue to give B5 a chance (not least because so many SWAPAns praise it!), but I have to honestly say that it's not yet worth it to me to watch the bad frontstories which carry the story behind...
[Warning! Spoilers!]
Santa Claus is your parents.
Life isn't fair.
The rabbit was in a hidden pouch in the hat.
It was all a dream.
Many of the good things you do never get recognized.
It's not what you know, it's who you know
Lotteries have less return per dollar than slot machines.
Those wrestling matches are rigged.
It tolls for thee.
Your parents don't know everything.
Beautiful sunsets are caused by pollution.
The Earth goes around the Sun.
You're only a kid once.
You wanna eat, you gotta work.
People lie.
[End spoilers]
Not particularly good or bad news, unless you're a periodiphile or -phobe:
I read a lot more magazines than I do books.
Well, I suppose I probably read even more newspapers than either of the above, but newspapers I mainly just glance over, while the other two I really read. I think the reason I so rarely have books to recommend to other people (and the reason I so often bring magazine articles to Story Readings (and possibly the reason I like the article format of USENET so much?)) is because my time is measured out in tables of contents and "continued on page 112"s. So here's a quick description of the magazines which I regularly read, i.e. pretty much every month, and large sections of each issue.
Harper's -- a wonderful mix of articles, stories, short strange items reprinted from the four corners, and a tricky cryptic crossword. I've found a lot of story reading material here.
Quantum -- a science and math academic magazine designed for high school and college students from Russia and the US (respectively, I sometimes think. There are articles in it written by Russian high school students that sound better than what I expect from college grads. Most articles are not student written, however). A good bimonthly dose of science topics with the equations, plus puzzles.
Wired -- slick, hip, and flashy, it's a computer magazine the way Rolling Stone is a music magazine. It's trying to define a culture, or at least inculcate itself into one, but that's not hard for me to ignore, and you even learn a little something by seeing what image is selling these days. Of more importance are its articles on the future of information technology, and its pieces covering fringe technologists (hackers, artists, people who like to blow things up)
New Media -- A monthly review of the cd-rom world. I point to this as prime evidence that I'm addicted to the magazine format: I read it because it's free ("just complete this survey to qualify for a free subscription...").
The Skeptical Inquirer -- a magazine of debunking. It's put out by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (pronounced "Psi-Cop"), and purports to have detached investigations into mental powers, ufos, spirits, and other fringe beliefs. However, most of the writers seem to already be certain that such things don't exist, and, worse, that anyone claiming to have seen such is a fool or a liar, which makes the articles more entertaining than trustworthy.
Omni -- Well, alright, I don't really read much of this one. But it is one of the few that I actually pay for (most of these magazines are subscribed to by the Institute; I'm on distribution list which circulates the copies around the building). I signed up with a Special Olympics magazine-subscriptions-for-charity offer (in part because of extremely guilt-trippy tactics from the salesperson. I've since refused to get more subscriptions from them to protest their methods), and this was the only "One of over fifty popular and interesting titles!" that I had any interest in. What a collapsed shell of a once-good magazine! They still have good fiction, because they pay well, but only one story per issue, and it's surrounded by the most inane, silly-pretending-to-be-scientific and actual-science-but-boringly-written articles. Ugh.
Internet World -- A curious mix of trade journal and beginner's guide, with product reviews of things only sysops purchase mixed in with How to Post an Article. I mainly read it for the interesting sites and resources that get mentioned throughout its pages. My favorite anecdote about the use of the Net, and this magazine, is that I read in rec.music.classical about a huge record sale happening in NYC the next day, saw in Internet World that a French student has set up a subway navigator you can telnet to, and found from it exactly how to get from Penn Station to the sale.
Locus -- The sf trade publication that Cornell gets. I stop by Cornell every few months just to read it (and browse). Lots of reviews, lots of notices of books coming out that I'd otherwise never know to look for.
Mac{Week,World,User} -- The first is one of those oversized computer industry magazines, with lots of techy and product-specific things I skip, but good information about what's going on with Apple, and a great gossip column on the last page. I don't really know how I got to be such a fan, as I suppose sports fans are of their team, and as I know I've been of Democratic presidential candidates, of Apple, but I really cheer it on, want it to win over Windows and IBM-clones. It's not logical, since what I actually like is the interface, and the interface will very likely be completely adopted by Windows95, so regardless of whether or not Apple goes the way of Commodore the style of computer I like Å will exist, yet I can't deny a sense of loyalty to the company that started it (pace, PARC). The latter two I've got more actual need to read; they contain help for regular users, general reviews, and lots of info that MacWeek reported on months before.
Science News -- The Weekly Magazine of Science. By its amazing virtue, brevity (it's about twenty-four pages an issue), it manages to make me read it the day it arrives. Lots of summaries of what's being published in major journals that week, plus reports from big conferences. A great way to keep a generalist happy.
Newsweek -- My family gets it, and since I don't watch the news it's one of my main sources of current events. They seem to have a few pet issues that they focus on, like Generation X and family finances, but they've also informed me of several legal, discriminational battles that I was interested in and hadn't otherwise heard of. More of a habitual read than anything else.
Wait, wait! Here's some good news!
I had two wisdom teeth extracted. (No, really, come back, it's good!) I've been hearing from my dentist for years that my teeth are too tight, that my wisdom teeth have no room to come in, and that (ominous tympani roll)...someday.... Well, someday came in November, when he noticed that the top teeth, which have been partly successful in coming in, were slowly breaking themselves up against the teeth already occupying that space. He actually discovered this in October, but I put the extraction off until after vacation, because I didn't want to ruin my Boston visit with aching jaws (no, I'd prefer ruining it with dread and anticipation.... but actually, I managed not to think of what awaited me on my return for most of the trip). And then The Day came, and there I was with novocaine in my mouth and a nitrous oxide mask over my nose, semi-stoically dreading away. When I'd told people during the month leading up to The Day, everyone would say, ‘oh, you'll be just fine.... but my cousin...' and proceed to tell a horror story of mythic proportions. But, shock and amazement, it went great! The whole thing took twenty minutes, I felt no pain, then or afterwards (the latter was what the nurses had warned me of), and it was even inexpensive (although Blue Shield says I should have received a bill from the dentist three times the size of what I actually received). I'd taken a few days off from work at the dentist's suggestion so I could recover, which turned into a little post-vacation vacation (and after a busy vacation it's a necessity!). While I can't recommend that y'all go right out and ask your dentists for your free wisdom teeth, I can at least say that it's much more fun than getting poked with a sharp stick!