I covered my friend Sarah's classes last Wednesday and Friday, while she was out in the world spreading the good word of complex dynamics. I decided to dress up.
I had to wear a tie every day when I worked in a pharmacy (since apparently someone wearing a tie is less likely to miscount pills), but here in graduate school we only really have a chance to dress up once a year, at our Holiday Party. (Your last year is an exception, since it's not unusual to dress up for your thesis defense, the department graduation ceremony, and the university graduation ceremony.) I'm not in favor of mandatory dressing up for classes, but occasionally I think it's funny. I mean, fun.
Have you ever been in the bathroom and you hear someone in a stall talking to themselves? And then you realize that he's talking on his cell phone? (My use of male pronouns is not meant to suggest that only men do this, but rather that I've never been in a bathroom where it's a woman who's in the stall. At least not that I'm aware of.) The first time this happened to me, I thought it was incredibly weird and inappropriate. This opinion has not changed with repetition of the occurrence, but I now realize that it's not so uncommon. I still find it a little disturbing.
On the other hand, last week I was at the urinal, and the guy next to me had his iPod and headphones on. It was on so loud that I could hear it. I think I approve of this. I like peeing to a soundtrack. (It would probably depend what kind of music it is. This requires further thought.)
I'm sure that part of the reason the music was so easy to hear is that men's rooms are, as a rule, as quiet as the vacuum of space. Up until this cell phone thing, talking in a men's room was considered the very baddest of bad form.
This is not completely true. Sometimes there is talking, but this is fairly unusual. Usually a friendly nod of recognition, or even a neutral nod of recognition, is more than enough.
I remember several years ago a friend telling me about a computer game whose object was to choose the optimal urinal in a men's room, in different situations. Things to take into consideration are that you don't want to be too near the door or the sinks, and you want to maximize your distance from everyone else. Specific conditions of the particular urinals would also come into play. Clearly someone was not wasting his time while using the urinal. Someone was thinking.
Speaking of technology in the bathroom, what do we think of these automated faucets, soap dispensers, and paper towel/hot air dispensers? I myself am perfectly okay with the faucets. It's true that sometimes the water doesn't stay on long enough, but this is no worse than those faucets with the spring-loaded handles. It's a question of adjustment, not complete reconception.
The paper towel and/or hot air dispensers I am not too happy with. I have had too many bad experiences with these contraptions. I have memories of waving my hands underneath with varying speeds and at varying angles. I try making different gestures with my fingers. I try standing in a different position relative to the machine. And I usually end up just using my pants.
And the automated soap dispensers. Hmmm. This may be particular to me. Tell me if I'm crazy. I find these machines far too reminiscent of the male aspect of the culmination of the sexual act for comfort.
New topic. As I was driving to school this afternoon, I noticed something very sad. Along the road there had been a large hilly area of thick grass, bordered on the far sides by dabbles of forest. This road is how I usually walk to school, when I walk to school, and I've always thought this part quite lovely and peaceful and enjoyable. A couple of weeks ago I noticed some chain link fences going up, and indeed when I drove past it today, I saw the beginnings of some large construction project.
This is nothing particularly unusual for Cornell, or really for any college, large or small. But it was still disappointing.
The thing that really struck me is that, across the street from this, there are also nice hilly areas of grass, bordered by trees. The difference is that this second site is home to a gold course.
So on one side of the road we have a beautiful little pastoral picture, thick and lovely and green for at least three seasons out of the year. On the other side we have the same basic scene, except sporadically decorated with sandtraps and flags and tiny little cars. One useless (materially speaking), one used for golf. And we destroy the useless one.
I like golf, but I can't help but feel that our priorities are not exactly where they should be.
To sooth you, here is another wonderful photo of dressed-up Tim.
1 comment:
Re: automated bathroom cleaning tools. Personally, I’m OK with the dryers. Automatically flushing urinals are good, too. Automatically flushing “sitter” toilets, however, are generally bad. And a far superior solution to the sinks, I think, is not to automate them, but to have pedals à la Willard Straight. You don’t have to touch anything with your hands, but you still get to control carefully how long and how hot the water runs.
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