Snow? Seriously...at least the constrcution is done.

I woke up at 7:00 AM for my morning run and it was 28 degrees outside with a 15 degree wind chill factor. How quickly I forget the Wisconsin winter and the fact that it never really ends until late May. It was snowing when let my apartment to head over to the office for work.

If you may remember they were doing some light construction work behind Breese Hall. They finished up today. At least we have a gravel path to get into the building...no more mud pits!

Small Repairs

As I mentioned yesterday, it's spring break right now for the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. As I was wrapping things up last week, I was informed by the residence life facilities office that some work was going to be done on the piping to Breese Hall. I found this curious because my staff and residents had pointed out that the basement had been humid and had smelled like steam.

As you can tell by the pictures, break periods provide an excellent opportunity to get some more major projects done around campus. Those of you who are residence hall students may not necessarily realize some of the larger projects that get done during breaks. They provide a great opportunity to catch up on projects, especially without anyone in the building...except for me.

They spent most of Monday digging out a large chunk of the ground near the high side entrance to Breese. They are examining the steam piping and it looks like it may need to be replaced. I am not sure. That makes things complicated because as part of the project will involve them shutting of the water on Wednesday. I won't have any access to water in my apartment. It should only be one day, but it is possible that it could be more. I am glad that I could get some pictures...it's quite a war zone.

Other News
For some reason my counter is off a day. I go in for my wisdom tooth work tomorrow. Fun.

Sunday Reflection

The bell choir played this morning in church. We played a piece called God of Abraham Praise. It had a Jewish folk feeling to it. However, it seemed a strange fit right after the epistle lesson in the service. Either way, we played the piece better than we ever have, so we had good timing.

One of these Sundays Christa and I will get to sit together for church. Hopefully, Christa gets a partner to teach Sunday School so she can get a few Sundays off. I've talked about this before, but it's important to us.

I have my first SPRC meeting tomorrow. I have not even started an agenda yet. I am going to need to find time for that...soon!

The students move in today. While there is not as much fanfare this time, it is always nice to see the full complement of folks back in Breese. The energy comes back and the building feels more like home.

Why Did I Keep This Chinese Religions Reader?

While I was in the office, two residents were having a discussion by the mailbox. One of them was hoping that a package would come in. I asked what he was waiting for. He said that he had ordered a copy of the Tao Te Ching. This jogged my memory and I realized that I had a copy of the Tao Te Ching. I bought it during my undergraduate days when I was exploring all religions tyring to figure out which one might be best for me. So, I told him he could borrow my copy until his came in the mail.

I then thought about my Chinese Religions Reader. To fill in a credit shortfall the year I was a CA, I decided to take a class in Chinese Religions. The class was really difficult, but I really enjoyed it and learned a lot about easterm religion. I always kept the reader that we purchased for the class because it had a lot of useful information. Times have come up where I thought about throwing out the reader because I never use it. I ended up lending my reader to this resident so that it might help him in his reading. It only took eight years, but I found a purpose for it!

It's not really a profound story...just interesting.

Basement Stereo

I received a note from my custodian this morning saying that I should probably go look at the basment stereo in Breese Hall. That's never a good sign.

Upon inspection, someone decided to unplug everything having to do with our stereo system. They unplugged the speakers, the components, the plugs, everything. As I find myself asking at least once a week, "Why would someone ever do that?" I'll just add it to the list.

It all seems repairable, and I think I may try to put everything back together later this morning. I would let the residents of Breese know that if they have any leads as to who might have done this, it would be very helpful. A Common Area Damage charge will definitely be warranted if no specific culprit is found.

And by the way, if I didn't already have to grow the beard due to snow, I would now. It is really snowing out there. Sweet!

My Custodian

Every residence hall on the UW Oshkosh campus has at least one custodian, some have more than one. Breese Hall has only one custodian, but she does the work of two more custodians. You could say that our custodian is both a blessing and a curse. She keeps Breese Hall very clean, probably the cleanest residence hall on campus. But, with this comes a few problems. One, to keep the building clean she in turn wants to bill residents for any messes that are left in the hall. Some are legitimate and some are a little overboard. She also has a gruff personality and is not exactly personable.

Our custodian has not talked to me in weeks. I can walk right by her, or her by me, and she will not say anything to me. She has communicated with me purely through notes. I find myself wondering if this is necessarily a bad thing. In my first few years as an RHD, she would often come into my office and talk for hours about all sorts of random stuff. Sometimes I appreciated our conversations and sometimes I was really busy, but it doesn't happen anymore. I wonder if I perhaps did something to offend her: not have something cleaned up, not charge for a CAD slip, etc. I could assume that while she is not talking to me, she is likely talking to others in the building about me...most likely referring to one of the above concerns.

What I am trying to figure is: does it matter? Should I be happy knowing that I have a little more peace and quiet and the building is still clean (although trash talking is likely happening)? or Should I try to mend whatever problem there is so that I know where I stand with her?

Errata: Abby points out that the ceiling fan in my apartment is not the first major change to the Breese apartment since I've been there. In my first year, they did install a washer and dryer. I suppose O should say it was the first Breese RHD initiated change to the apartment.