UPDATERY by Chunk

1. Leaf eruptions quelled. Not long ago, Dissent's crack photographer, Raul, took some pictures of one of the so-called "temporary" classrooms at IVC. One photograph, which appeared in this blog, revealed the poor condition of the eaves of a prominent and notorious classroom--the one between A300 and the IVC Bookstore, which is affectionately called "the sh*thouse." (Well, that's what I call it. But affectionately.)

As Rebel Girl has explained, the eaves of this particular building appeared to be stuffed chock-full of very old rotting leaves. So stuffified were these eaves that they even sported unpleasant "leaf eruptions"--i.e., places where the cheap plywood could not avoid blooming hideously outward like one of those deep-fried onions at Outback. See pics.

Recently, we noticed that workers had ripped the old wood away and had removed the leaves. (See.)

Well, that's a good start. We appreciate the effort. We hope to see further progress soon! I mean, you're not gonna leave it like that, are you?

2. Can I have two? We are a peevish lot here at Dissent. A while back, we presented a picture of the typical whiteboard "eraser" at IVC, namely, a filthy old rag that looks like it may have originated in Howard's bathroom or worse. (See pic.) It's been stinkin' up A405 for months, maybe years.

Well, again, we've noticed a change. A week or so ago, Rebel Girl informed me that a set of white towels, each with a delightful blue stripe, suddenly appeared in her classroom and in another classroom of a colleague.

"Didn't they put some of those blue-stripe towels in your classroom?" she asked.

"No," I said. I was peeved.

But today I noticed that, sure enough, A405 sports exactly one towel of the blue-stripe variety.

I guess that's an improvement. Could I have another one?

That reminds me of an old movie I saw once. In the movie, a kid cries about having no shoes. His dad feels bad about that. Then, on one fateful day, dad proudly presents his son with a gift. It's a shoe! "Here you are, my son! Just what you wanted!"

The kid looks at it. Then he looks up at Dad. He asks: "Can I have two of 'em?"

Dad smacks him upside the head.

Just for laughs, I present a picture of an actual whiteboard eraser. (See.) I do appreciate the effort represented by the new blue-stripe towels. Still, why not purchase some ACTUAL ERASERS?

I would be happy to supply a hard copy of the photograph to the individual charged with purchasing erasers. Let me know. I'm in A239--you know, the office that forms stinky puddles near the window (underneath my computer) during rains. We've got tiny livestock, too.

3. Air testage. Somebody told me that, two days ago, some guy was in A200 with fancy equipment to test the air. Somebody asked him, "What are you doing?" He said: "I'm testing the air." The guy did not elaborate.

In the meantime, long-suffering Mr. S continues to stew in heavy juices of rank peeviosity in his unfortunate, spore-bedevilled office. He's particularly peeved about his rank and heavily spore-ified carpet.

One day, he told me that he was personally gonna rip the carpet out of his office and throw it out the door.

I urged him to hold off on that.

See? Chunk's no trouble-maker! He's a trouble-stopper!