~Monday~ Xolani and I caught the 7:45 city bus. I took the 5th seat back on the right. Xolani took the 2nd seat back on the left. He wore his new jacket today, and it looked sharp on him.
In the first seat on the right, a center-facing seat, a heavy-set white lady with plump arms covered in goose bumps fully exposed by her red tank top and short reddish-brown hair sat stoically. It was short enough that she could easily have been mistaken for a man.
There was also a white lady in the first front-facing seat on the left, so the one right in front of Xolani, and since she didn’t have Genetically-Beautiful-Daughter with her, I didn’t recognize her as Madonna until she stood up to depart the bus at the stop before mine.
The three middle hours of my work day were spent out on The Brickyard peddling the wonders of Google Apps @ NC State, some portion of the time with Jason Maners and all of the time with my boss’s boss, Stan.
Shortly after we got our tent, tables, chairs, and laptops set up, they began constructing a monstrous 60 x 40 feet (I think it was) tent that’s going to be out on The Brickyard for the next three or four days for the university library’s annual book sale. We had to up and move our “booth” in order not to be completely behind them when they were finished.
Traffic was light today, and I wouldn’t classify the time spent out there as “fun.” I would classify it, however, as “paid the bills.” My personal ones, not the state’s.
After that, I had the most lovely walk near and around my office—including a stroll through the Rose Garden—with my friend Etta. It included compelling discussion on a couple of topics, and in the end, I so appreciated the time, the weather, and the company.
After work and before class, I ran out to Raleigh Orthopedic to get help from their billing person—who much to my surprise and delight was both helpful and nice—in associating my Flexible Health Account submissions with Explanation of Benefits, which I had to do due to three of the claims I’d previously submitted being rejected for insufficient information.
From there, I rode out to The Men’s Warehouse, where I picked up Xolani’s suit, which miracle of miracles was ready when they said it would be.
I was in class only for the first half, that is long enough to participate in the discussion about tonight’s reading in The Wisdom of Crowds and the delicious.com readings about Social Media Addiction and a Social Media Marketing Report.
Leaving the Tompkins building on my way to the university’s Sustainability Earthwise Awards Ceremony, I stopped to use the men’s room. A sign hanging on the wall above the two urinals in there had such an interesting rhetorical debate raging on them, which was totally pertinent to the event I was on the way to, that I snatched it from the wall and took it with me.
The sign on the wall was from facilities, and it said something to the effect of: “Be Courteous to Others. Flush the Toilet Before Leaving.”
In between and all around it, students had written comments like. “Waste of water! If it’s just pee don’t flush it. That wastes water.”
Three campus Sustainability Awards were awarded tonight, one to faculty, one to staff, and one to a student. My boss received the one for staff. She’s a huge proponent of “Green IT,” and the award was well deserved. I was excited for her, glad to be present for the presentation of award, and loved meeting her daughter, who was also there.
I also had a good time showing my men’s room artifact to various people there—people who could appreciate my observation that at least the students are engaged. Getting them into the conversation of sustainability is half the battle, isn’t it?
At home, I had a short conversation with Xolani, before he was off to bed.
I spent the next hour or so being introspective, reflecting on three incidents that have happened over a short period of time (within the last couple of weeks) that have me thinking.
Because I don’t care to go into the details here of what happened, I’ve captured several of my thoughts for posterity this way:
