amkean pronunciation

The song "disintegration" from The Cure just came on Pandora Radio and just about made me cry because it took me straight back to those dramatic high school days when I'd retreat to my room and turn up the volume loud on my JVC boombox. The Disintegration cd was on extended repeats in that room. Angst, etc.

Re: the Minneapolis marathon.
Me (thinking): That guy looks exactly like Craig Finn, lead singer of the Hold Steady.

Yes, Craig Finn ran the MPLS half marathon. What?

I meant to get to this part of my trip, but here goes. I went to the US Army Quartermasters Museum in Petersburg, VA. I think I said I wished the people who knew how to organize a museum in Richmond would have helped out here.

I suspect that this museum was designed without the help of a professional museum-person, whatever they're called. First off, it's difficult to get to. It's inside Fort Lee, an active Army base, so you have to go through security to get inside. This barrier to entry is not described anywhere, as if it's assumed that you understand the ins and outs of going onto Army bases. The signage isn't terrific, so I just had to enter the base because it was the only option that made sense.

Upon first entering the museum, there was no welcome. No person, no sign. Figure it out.

OK, then I found my way into the main permanent exhibit. I think a good characteristic of an exhibit is that there is a clear path that covers everything. This was not the case at the Quartermasters Museum. There was really no path. I had to try to cover everything piecemeal, and then had to backtrack at the end because I missed stuff.

There were videos as parts of some displays, but they didn't appear to be carefully edited. The footage was of soldiers describing whatever they were describing, but they were recorded with a handheld camcorder most likely, and the videos just showed a soldier talking for five minutes. The interviewees weren't miked, so the audio was terrible and you could hear "The Ledge" by The Replacements in the background as well as you could hear the speaker.

The sad thing in all this is that I was there because I think logistics is really interesting. I would love to learn more about the quartermasters, but this museum fell far short of its potential.