Mom was right - boys and girls ARE different!



Hoover with a coaster on her head....it was funny at the time

I've been meaning to blog about this for a while but somehow other things kept getting in my way - darn you Tunnel Bob! 

This morning with a cup of coffee on my desk, my husband on location for a shoot and Hoover, my 6-year old Chocolate Lab snoring next to me (wait, didn't she just wake up from sleeping all night?! How do they do it!) I am in a calm place to write about the fun stuff.

The chalkboards in the bathrooms of our facility are cracking me up. What a difference between genders.

All restrooms in the building (save the "Nature Calls" on first and the formal ones in Plenary Hall) have a wall that is just blackboard. Wall to wall, floor to ceiling blackboard. The idea came from a trip to the Merchandise Mart in Chicago about 3 years ago. After a long day of showroom appointments looking at furniture, we (the design team plus me, Robin, Roberto and Angela) had drinks at an uber cool, "we-are-too-old-to-be-here-but-we're-out-of-town-and-will-never-see-these-people-again" bar where we discovered the restroom was planked in chalkboard.

It was spectacular. Visual. Organic. Funny. It was easy to do in our building and we bet the students would love it.

About a month or so after moving into Nancy Nicholas Hall my colleague Bruce Hellmich stopped by and asked what was on the boards of the womens' room. Curious, we each peeked into the others restroom - what a difference.

The women's room chalkboard entries trend towards drawings with lots of color and "TGIF" or encouraging types of material. The men's room is very clearly...shall we say...occupied by boys. Apart from documenting human functions, the chalkboard contributions lean towards cartoons and jokes. "My nose smells" seems to be a favorite.

I can't wait to check again after the students come back this fall.

It's not a dream

Nancy Nicholas Hall photo taken by John Loeffelholz on July 17, 2012

John Loeffelholz, department admin for Human Development and Family Studies took this photo from atop McArdle Lab. This photo was unsolicited - I sure didn't ask him to scale the building but the man must be a ninja to have reached this vantage point.

Just  few hours later the campus was hit with a massive (and much needed) rainstorm. John's photo was taken with a filter and I understand the camera has color correction so while I like to think it's always glorious at Human Ecology we may have had just a wee bit of help.

And what do you see in this picture? I see one kick-#$#@! building, and one helluva staff member to care enough to get this image. John, please accept this huge public thank you!!!

Grateful Dead meets Human Ecology

My husband would be so proud - well truth be told he would be stunned - that I am using a classic Grateful Dead lyric from "Truckin'" to headline this post. Some day I will tell you the story of the only Dead concert I attended. Let's just say I am more of a "Talbots" girl than the tie-dye, twirling peasant skirt type and Purell hadn't been invented yet. 'Nuff said there!

Lately I've been thinking about what might be next. We will welcome a new dean on August 27 and a new crop of undergraduate and graduate students. New memories will be created and fresh ideas will percolate.

Okay while I think of it - percolate reminded me that we do not have agreement (yet!) with the Union to run our cafe. Percolate = coffee = Mama's happy. I've had a ton of questions about the cafe and we are at a standstill on negotiations. Stories best told in person.

Did I tell you about accidentally meeting Dr. Shim our new dean? It was during construction and the building was closed - we were having problems with security and seriously, students were trying to drop off papers. No kidding, we had a student actually scale the construction fence to try and drop off a form for Student Academic Affairs. I don't know what I admire more - the physical agility or the tenacity that no fence is gonna stop them from meeting a deadline!

Any-who...I was up in the cafe area trying to convince my colleagues at the Union that the cafe would be a money-maker when I look up and see a person walking with great purpose through the second floor. I knew she wasn't a contractor, design team member or anyone I had worked with. But darn she was moving fast - by the time I excused myself from my meeting saying "can I help you?"  she had cut down a secondary corridor. Crap, I lost her! Oh well, I tried.

So imagine my surprise when I learn about a month later during her official visit the unregistered visitor was OUR NEW DEAN! Nice move Zwicker, way to make an impression.

Welcome aboard Dr. Shim - I look forward to working with you but expect I will spend a fair amount of time just trying to keep up!

"Sometimes the lights all shinin on me;
Other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip it's been."