The House of Graduate Direction
Which, I suppose, could also involve flying daggers. But not at the moment. I've been pretty mum about this, even though it's not so much of a secret anymore. As of tomorrow, I'll be taking over the position of Director of Graduate Studies in our department, a move which I can only describe using words that begin with the letter A: anxiety, anticipation, administration, et alia.
So, anyway, that means a new office, which I've partly moved into (the outstanding order for shelving units having not been completed yet, which means my boxes are yet to come). And I present to you, for your viewing pleasure, my new digs:
Ahh, you say, this doesn't look so bad, even if the lighting is a bit yellow. Well, wait, there's more. This is merely the reception area. I need to remember to bring in old copies of Highlights magazine for those who have to wait for me to see them...
That door at the back? That's my office door, which leads to a room that is neater right now than it will be at any point over the next 3 or 4 years:
And yes, that is a G4 Cube on my desk, designed to provide a contrast with my (fairly) new flat-panel monitor. When the new Mac Mini grows a little older, and pages through the old, yellowed black-and-white photos in the Mac photo album, it'll see a picture of the Cube on the deck of a trans-Atlantic ocean liner, full of hope as it leaves its family behind to make a new life for itself at the turn of the century. Umm. Yeah. I may keep my Cube forever.
So it's not such a bad office, or at least it won't be once my shelves arrive and I can let my eyes wander over my Big Wall of Books. And I can hear you thinking, well, at least he has a window...
Umm....guess again.
Yes, my window opens onto the scenic vista of a meeting space in the main office, set off from the fray by temporary walls. And while I can see how you might think that the window is tinted, you'd be wrong again. Part of it is the distortion of a double-window; most of it is hardened tape-gunk from past generations of occupants who used the window instead as a bulletin board.
Not such a bad idea, that. Although I must admit that I'm thinking seriously about rasterbating an image or two, and only occasionally lifting the blinds. When I was in college, I actually rasterbated the picture of Foucault off of the Foucault Reader, although I did it the old fashioned way (the enlarge function on a copier), and put up a 4 by 6 foot image of his head on my dorm wall.
Have I babbled enough about my new office? Oh. Oh yes.
Comments
and yet I see no Scrabble tiles. hmmmm.
Posted by: aerobil | January 17, 2005 7:15 PM
Actually, if you look closely at the top of the bookcase, they're up there, waiting for me to figure out how to array them on top of the secret escape door...
Posted by: collin | January 17, 2005 7:21 PM
Congratulations on your new office, and your new position. I imagine we'll learn more about this new work in days to come.
Posted by: John L | January 18, 2005 1:38 AM
nice job, C. moving on up in the world. congrats.
Posted by: douglas | January 18, 2005 11:00 AM
You are now officially The Man.
Posted by: jenny | January 18, 2005 10:01 PM
Well, Jenny, let me tell you what The Man does. He steps to his door and intones in a loud, sonorous voice, "Becky Howard, you are summoned to the Graduate Director's office!" And what do I do? I turn around and obediently walk to the graduate director's office. Power. Authority. It's inarguable.
And Amy, I can attest that I have, indeed, seen the Scrabble tiles. It'll happen.
Posted by: senioritis | January 18, 2005 10:45 PM