Aug 142008

saw a guy standing outside my office door smoking a cigarette.

I reminded him that it’s a non-smoking campus now, and he said “yeah. i know, but they don’t enforce it.”

I said, “well, you never know.”, and he replied “yeah, I do know.  they don’t enforce it. hehe”

so much for a “fresh” campus.

oh yeah.  makes it even better when the guy is UA staff.

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May 142008

Looks like vending machine prices increased at the University of Arkansas campus Tuesday morning.

Coca-Cola and other soft drinks are now $1.50.  (They were $1 the day before).

Snickers are 85 cents (along with other snacks).

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May 122008

Looks like they’re finally removing the old juniper/cedar trees (nasty things) from around the Greek Theater.

There’s gonna be some new sidewalks, landscaping, and TREES soon.

A couple of panoramas (click on the image for a larger version):

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Jun 182007

At first this sounded great, until I realized that it’s prejudicial against employees without children.

Shouldn’t University benefits be available to all employees, and not be discriminatory ?

What about childless employees who would like to volunteer for school activities, Big Brother/Big Sister, or similar agencies?

Would this be considered un-Constitutional ?

New Leave Available for Children’s Educational Activity.

Beginning January of each year, all full-time benefits eligible employees will receive 8 hours of leave for the purpose of participating in children’s educational activities. Any unused leave at the end of the calendar year is not subject to carry-over and unused leave will be lost. Additionally, unused Education Activity Leave is not compensable at retirement or termination.

Children are defined as any person enrolled in pre-kindergarten through grade 12 (preK-12) and who is related to the state employee as: natural child, adopted child, stepchild, foster child, grandchild, ward of the state employee, legal guardian or any other legal capacity where the employee is acting as a parent.

Educational activity is defined as: parent-teacher conferences, participation in school-sponsored tutoring, school-sponsored volunteer programs, field trips, classroom programs, academic competitions, and assisting with athletic, music or theater programs. Please note that this does not include attendance at sports activities.

This leave goes into effect July 1st and will be available for your use after that date. For 2007 only, you will receive the full 8 hours to use between July 1st and December 31st. After January 1st, 2008 it will revert to 8 hours per calendar year as stated above.

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Apr 272007

I don’t condone the vandalism of public spaces and buildings with graffiti.

But I sure like and appreciate well-done graffiti.

However, get the spelling right dude.

peiceofmyherb.jpg

Found on the Stadium Drive Parking deck exterior, University of Arkansas Campus

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Mar 082007

University of Arkansas Sustainable Speaker Series – Wed, March 14, 2007. 7pm – 9pm, Reynolds Center Auditorium

The rock stars of environmental awareness come to the U of A campus — One Night Only!

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Feb 272007

Michael Showalter  will be performing at the University of Arkansas Union Ballroom on March 13th at 7pm.

I knew it was coming, but after Googling his name and “arkansas”, I finally found some little bitty text on a single UA  page.

If you’re not familiar with Showalter, he was a writer and actor on “The State”, “Stella”, Wet Hot American Summer, and The Baxter.   (imdb link)

He’s great, and I’m excited about the show.  Almost as excited as when Billy West (the voice of Ren and Stimpy) talked on campus.  (We won’t even discuss Carrot Top at RedEye years ago).

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Feb 272007

Combining the sleekness of the the Architecture stylings of American Criminal Justice System, Neuvo Industrial, Misplaced Art Deco, Wide Open Space, and Polished Concrete, the new Law Building on the University of Arkansas Campus is as hideous lovely as it sounds.

The  potential of the “Green Space” in the middle of the quad  is promising.  Right now, it’s dirt, red clay, and a solitary mighty tree – the one that they didn’t cut down.  (I’m reminded of the Kohl’s building and parking lot fiasco).

The best thing about it is the Arsaga’s Coffeeshop in the Law Library (go up the spiral stairs on the bottom floor, take a right, go through the Library).  No more RZ’s unless you really crave it !

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Feb 272007

I walk into my office, get things in order, and decide to make my coffee.

My coffee is gone.

The full pound of Espresso beans brought back from Vienna.

Don’t fuck with my coffee, yo.

It was sitting next to my desk when I left work around 5:45pm yesterday, in a handled brown paper IGA grocery bag.

But it was gone this morning.  Along with whatever else was in that bag, I can’t even remember now.

I check the dumpster next to the building, it’s not in there.

I call the FAMA Service Center, and get passed to the custodial day supervisor, who asks if I looked in the other dumpster.  He said he’d leave a note for our building’s custodian.  But I wasn’t taken very seriously.

This isn’t the first time we’ve had problems like this.  Last year, a co-worker came in to find her organized stacks of documents were gone.  Luckily, they were found in the dumpster.

They had a problem awhile back with food mysteriously disappearing from offices and refrigerators in our main office.

And last week, a mini-Snickers bar that I was given on Valentines day mysteriously disappeared from my desk overnight.

Now I’m pissed.  Really pissed off.  In the eleven years I’ve worked here, I’ve never locked my office door.  Times are changing.

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Feb 222007

When the Arkansas Union was renovated several years ago, the Servery/Cafeteria Service was outsourced to Chartwells.

One of the major changes that was noticed was the substitution of real cutlery and plates with plastic equivalents.  Hiring someone to wash dishes costs alot more than plasticware and styrofoam, apparently.  However, what is the cost to the environment ?

This week, Chartwells in the Arkansas Union has gone a step further.  Previously, if you wanted water, you took a small paper Coca-Cola branded cup, and used it for water.  Now, if you do that, you’ll get charged for the paper cup.

However, you can now have a 20 ounce STYROFOAM cup for free for your water.

I didn’t realize this, and I filled up a paper cup like I have been for years, and then got scolded by a cafeteria lady.  I asked “So, do I need to dump out this water into a styrofoam cup?”.  Her reply, was yes.  Unless you want to be charged for the cup.

So, in addition to using a styrofoam cup for my water, I also wasted a paper cup.

Chartwells (and the University of Arkansas), stop this insanity !

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