I finally got my hands on the commentary I need for my paper, and I went to make copies--very gingerly, since it's an older book, possibly out of print and definitely expensive.

And I thought, since I'm writing on Book 1, I'd just copy the entire commentary for Book 1 . . . which is about 200 pages. I figured I'd offer the copy to Casey when I was finished with it so if he every wanted to distribute it to a class, he could copy the photocopy (since I think he nearly had a heart attack when I mentioned making copies from his book).

I was making the copies double-sided, because I'm not totally unaware of the environment. To do that, you scan the whole thing, and then the copier spits the whole thing out. So, I was scanning along, and there was a girl studying near by who kept looking up and glaring at me (I'm sorry, honey, but I can't pick up the copier and take it elsewhere).

I was around page 160. Over 80 scans. And then I ACCIDENTALLY HIT CANCEL INSTEAD OF COPY.

Half an hour of scanning DISAPPEARED.

It's a testimony to how uncomfortable I am swearing that I only said, "DAMMIT!"

I couldn't bring myself to try again. I think that girl would have strangled me. I'm going to sit down and work on what I can without the copies, and maybe try again later when I'm not so freaking frustrated.

EDIT: I did it. I printed the scanned pages every 20 scans instead of at the very end, just in case. Also, somewhere in there, I copied a driver's license for a grad student who needed it and said he didn't know how to use the machine. (How do you become a grad student without using a copier?)