Today I am finally the owner of a Columbia University ID card. Flashback to May, when I started working for RST. Every day, I went into the hospital
and, because I had no ID, got a visitor's pass from the security guard. These passes are useless, except that they remind you where you're
going, in case you've never been there before. But no one will ever ask for you to show it once you're in. This got to be a bit annoying, because
often the security guard would be having some long chat with a visitor about where they should go. I couldn't interrupt, but once I had stopped in
front of the desk, there was no way I could nonchalantly walk by. When I say 'he' I really mean one of the 25 or so different people that work at
this desk, although the building isn't very large and this is the only security desk of its kind. This made it unlikely that any of them would see
the pattern in my entry and start letting me through without another piece of paper to add to my growing pile.

I occasionally made mention of this to the good Dr., but he said there was some kind of ID transition going on and there was too much paperwork, etc.
There was such thing as a temporary ID, but that apparently was also no good, for some reason. Since it wasn't a huge bother I didn't press it. But
then, when I came back from the tour, something odd started to happen: the one guard who had previously started to recognize me and let me through,
became angry at me for not having an ID. She said (erroneously) "it's been a year now, when are you going to get one?" I told her I would try to get
one soon, and she said "soon isn't good enough!" I didn't really know what to say to that.

When I relayed this to my boss, he was willing to try to get the process in motion so that I didn't have to fear coming in. Eventually I was sent
down to the main hospital and got two letters, one for each type of ID card (hospital and university), saying that I should get one. The hospital
ID place was closed. At the other one, they pointed out to me that one of my letters was actually for a different person, and that as a casual
employee I'm only supposed to get a university ID anyway. Ah. Also, the computer that controls the ID making is down with a virus. Right.

On Monday I went back and walked into the university ID office. The woman at the card-making computer was talking to two other women and "ok, and
we'll...uh oh." The card printer malfunctioned. After waiting around another 10 minutes or so, it was announced that it would be down indefinitely.
Sometimes in these situations I think of jumping in like a doctor would for a sick person and saying "I know computers, I'll handle this!" But then
I think, eh, best not to get involved.

So yes, today I finally got the ID, without a hitch. The angry security guard was genuinely pleased. Did this story have a point? you decide.