Tuesday, January 07, 2014

And Now, the New Digs

I thought I'd share a few pictures of the new office.
 
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That area on the lower right is the extent of file and drawers to the desk.  They plan these for people who don't keep nearly the stuff I do in desk drawer and file cabinets, don't they?

Still, look at how high the ceiling is!  And how bright the light through the window!
I have a bad clutter habit with horizontal surfaces.  Danger, danger!
Carpet.  And a big window above the door!  Light!  And bookshelves!

At almost every college/university I can think of, faculty office doors have windows, and faculty block them off so that people don't stare in while we're working.  (The exception was when I had an office in a defunct frat house; the offices were in old bedrooms, and the doors were solid.)


Here's the coat hanger.  Not wide enough to fit the regalia, which lives on a hanger.  Too bad they never thought to ask faculty folks about what we need, isn't it?
















I went to the bathroom in the new building today, and weirdly, the way the toilet paper is set up, you have to reach down to about six inches off the ground to get at the paper.  All wrapped up for super cold weather (think of the stay pufft image), I could barely get at it.  Doh!

10 comments:

  1. Maybe it's just the angle of the photo, but it almost looks as though you have just half a window, right in the corner of the room. Does that same window continue into your neighbor's room? Or is this all just an optical illusion? Can you actually see out your window when you're sitting at the desk? And if so, is there a good view?!

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  2. Are the walls white or off-white or sort of peachish? It's hard to tell. Will you be able to paint to suit yourself?

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  3. What Now? It's just an optical illusion; that's the whole window. I can see out at the desk, and it gives good light. The view is mostly roof area, and sky! And if there's sky around here, there's a chance of a Bald Eagle, too!

    Bev, off white, and I've been told very strictly that I cannot paint it to suit myself, on pain of great pain. Or something.

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  4. You could take a lesson from a college classmate of mine, an artist who found the blue walls in her dorm room just too blah and so painted them over break--a DIFFERENT SHADE OF BLUE--and even painted the CEILING. When the dorm mother came in to inspect the room, she looked around and noticed the paper lantern covering the bare lightbulb. "You'd better take that down," she said; "It's a fire hazard." Not one word about the paint!

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  5. Looks manageable, if a bit blah. The window is, indeed, a plus. I wonder why they didn't take the bookshelves all the way to the ceiling? Liability lest someone climb to reach them, perhaps?

    I'd definitely be tempted to turn the desk so that only one leg is on the wall, and you can face the door (and then put a filing cabinet of your own, or at least a stack of those single-drawer cabinets, which are pretty sturdy, on the freed-up wall).

    As far as the walls go, you obviously need art, or perhaps some of the wall decals that are so popular these days?

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    1. The way they've chosen furniture, the desk is too wide to fit that way and get around at all. I think. Hmmm, maybe I'll try that? I don't want to feel blocked in, and like to be able to face the same way as the students when we're talking.

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  6. Anonymous3:04 PM

    I visited a college once where the faculty offices were enclosed in glass, floor to ceiling, end to end, so that the faculty all along the hallway (which looked for all the world like an airport concourse) were sitting in fishbowls. I felt terrible for them!! It was kind of fun to see their solutions to this conundrum--I saw an asian style screen, regalia hanging, lots and lots of posters facing out. But honestly, who would want to work in a space like that? They really should ask faculty what they want/need.

    Anastasia

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    1. Gah, see, that makes ours look great!

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  7. What's worse is that you're sideways to the door on what appears to be the opposite side of the door - I'm stuck with an arrangement that has me sideways to the door, but at least straight in from it so I get a hint of people coming out of the corner of my eye... (what is bad is I'm a reference librarian at a school without a reference desk - so students come to my office to ask questions - and because my computer cannot go on the big desk that faces the door (very old one that is really only useful for the square footage of desk space) the students are always stuck trying to lean over my desk or walk into the small cubby hole that is the "corner" of the space between the big desk and the small table my computer is on!)

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  8. I know! I dislike the thought of trying to work at my computer with my back semi to the door. But it is what it is.

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