Walk-O-Rama: Trapped Like Rats

Allow me to preface the description of today’s outing with the summary of a study I read about some years ago.  Apparently, a 16-year-old youth from Virginia proved his theory that classical music improves the brain, whereas rock and heavy metal not only harm the brain’s ability to function, but also resulted in his rodent test subjects killing each other.  The rats that listened to Mozart were able to cut the time they spent in a well-frequented maze in half, whereas their rock and roll counterparts took twenty minutes longer.  I believe this helps explain 1) why we were so slow in reaching our final destination, Starbucks, and 2) why the hospital needs to rethink the positioning of their live pianist. 

(live classical music at HSC)

Now then, let’s take a look at one of the core members of our Walk-O-Rama group, Steve: 

 

And don’t get me started on Celeste!  It’s obvious, we’re a rowdy bunch and we like our music loud, which is probably why we found it downright impossible to navigate our way through the labyrinth of tunnels and hallways that make up the HSC building.  I know that I personally had the song “Doomsday for the Deceiver” stuck in my head, which is why I kept bumping into walls and tripping over my feet.  Why couldn’t the pianist that we later found have been on that floor, so we could have made our way more effortlessly through the corridors?  Fortunately for us, we were sent a savior, in the form of a doctor of something or other.  We can’t be sure, but we’re pretty sure it was ER’s Mark Greene: 

(Mark Greene: our knight in shining armor)

That sure was nice of him to take time out of his busy day saving lives to escort us to the elevators.  Again, fortune was not smiling on us, for we discovered that none of us had brought any breadcrumbs or pebbles to leave as a trail, and thus we were on our own once the elevator deposited us on the fifth floor, a land of wonders.   
We were being driven by the thought of food, drink, and general accomplishment, and so we hurried down the hall toward what I was beginning to believe to be a mythical place called Starbucks.  And what greeted us as we rounded the corner?  Dinosaurs!  But this was nothing for the Walk-O-Rama team, who had bested the aliens in our previous UFO adventure.  And so we quickly befriended these petrified specimens, who I’ve named Lewis and Clark, respectively, in honor of our expeditions:

After we left our new friends, we accomplished our mission by forking over all our cash to Starbucks.  Then we began to make our way back, sans Mark Greene to assist us.  A few wrong turns were made, an escalator was found and boarded, restrooms were hit up in case our water was turned off again, and we were on our way. 
The return trip was marked by a stop at the 9/11 Memorial, which Donna kindly cleaned out of respect and decency.  

(I am obviously still singing "Doomsday for the Deceiver" to myself in this picture, but everyone else looks nice)

We set another record for distance travelled on this journey, and matched our record for number of participants.  It’s Steve’s duty to think of a good location for next week’s walk, but I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say we’re all open to suggestions.  I hope you can make it!

 

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Walk-O-Rama: The I’m Feeling Richer Effect (and no, we’re not referring to your cell phone service)

As promised, today’s journey brought us to the newly constructed Simon’s Center, a building whose architectural grandeur and interior decadence made us all experience what Straight Talk refers to as the “I’m Feeling Richer Effect”.  As an added bonus, we were accompanied by the Walk-O-Rama founder and current CEO, Richie Feinberg, who generously allowed us to stand in what he has declared to be his own personal office in the Simons Center.  And until administration finds out that he is squatting in this desirable location, who’s to say it’s not?

The walk began with a bit of concern over reported news that the roof of the building might now be restricted to authorized personnel only, though some of us struggled to understand how that pertained to us.  Given that this was our largest group to date, perhaps we felt that there was a power and invincibility associated with our newly resurrected group, and so we were determined to get to the top of the building, even if it required the assistance of construction machinery, as this forward thinker was apparently already doing in an adjacent building:

We were met with good news and bad news as we approached our destination.  For the bad: Celeste reported that her pedometer had only measured .17 miles. We determined that it was clearly malfunctioning, for why else would we be winded after such a short distance?  The good news: we had found one sweet building to explore!  The art inside was lovely (or, as Kristen misheard Celeste say, revolting).  It was everything we had hoped it would be.  We saw a break room with an espresso machine that seemed meant for no other purpose than for us to take it (I tried and could not, however), blackboards with humorously large erasers (a sure sign of financial extravagance) around every corner, and even a fancy metal-railed niche that seemed designed for someone’s pet dog. Probably a labradoodle, judging by the size of it (fine, I just like saying labradoodle). As we all loaded into the elevator, we were pleased to see a sign indicating that we could go to the roof – and so we did.  The view was breathtaking.  Some people even thought ahead and brought weights to prevent them from being blown over the edge by the treacherous wind – which was clever thinking, being that not one of us remembered to bring our wingsuits.

(Donna with her heavy bags to use as weights)

Coming down from the roof, we were met by the aroma of delicious food, and Raquel was drawn to the luxury of fine quality tea at the quaintest little cart, with real sugar cubes and silver tea pots that truly sparkled.  For a moment, we all felt like we lived among the top 1%.  Then, as we descended the stairs, Steve pointed out some equations painted on the wall that Kristen and Kathy comically admitted to knowing absolutely nothing about, and the disgusted stare of a clearly mathematically-inclined onlooker pointed out the obvious, which is that this wasn’t really our world at all.  And so we left.   
Though we may not be smart enough to fathom the Simons Center’s wall art nor rich enough to enjoy their tea and sugar, we were not totally defeated on this adventure.  We did walk .66 miles in total, which is our furthest distance on record. And we did narrowly escape what must be in the running for one of the most hazardous crime-scene-waiting-to-happen spots on campus:


Next week we plan to venture over to Starbucks on the hospital side.  We hope to see you there!

Oh…and Happy 60th Birthday to Steve!! 

 

 

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Walk-O-Rama: To Infinity and Beyond!

Today’s walk seemed to start off just like any other (we even considered taking the same route as last time, until a mysterious wind blew from the North – or whatever direction it was – and beckoned us to venture down a road not yet taken…since last year). However, so many adventures were soon to be encountered that it quickly became apparent that we needed photos for evidence.

We saw many new faces in our group this week (a few were missing as well, though we tried hard not to take that too personally).  Armed with Celeste’s fancy, high-tech pedometer, we were able to measure our total distance walked to be .55 miles!  But what is distance when one has seen all the wonders that we witnessed today?  While taking in the serene beauty of Roth Pond, which some of our party had not seen before, we began discussing our plans to participate in (and naturally conquer) the Roth Regatta in the Spring.  Anyone interested in joining in the fun can contact Kristen C. or Kathy.  

As we were leaving this peaceful setting, Steve went rogue and began wandering off into the uncharted wilderness.  He had noticed something quite alarming.  Trees had been pulled from the earth in what seemed to be either a destructive natural disaster or an epic war of the worlds.  Our bets switched to the latter scenario when we encountered a UFO not 1/10 miles away (by the pedometer’s count).  On our way to bravely explore this vessel, Kathy paused to unwisely stick a limb into a small animal’s tree home, probably a chipmunk or a grizzly bear, for the sake of getting some great shots with Donna’s iPhone (a little advertising for Apple – I’ll expect my check in the mail).

Steve striking a pose in uncharted territory.

 

Kathy invading a woodland creature's home

Our walk turned into an excited jog through the minefield of goose waste that littered the lawn surrounding the UFO.  To our disappointment, however, it was not an alien spacecraft, nor was it a random piece of rusty junk art, as one sometimes sees on campus.  It was an underwater vessel used to explore the Long Island Sound, which is also cool in its own way.  It did provide us with a few moments of entertainment as people poked their heads inside for a better look.

The UFO. Meddling with matters beyond our comprehension

 

The UFO's less exciting real life function

 

Next week, consensus has ruled that we should wander over to the new Simons Center for a rooftop view of our surroundings.  Perhaps the elevated altitude will help us discover some more intriguing routes for future walks.  If we’re too lazy or unmotivated to make it to the top, I hear there’s a fantastic little cafe inside! Hope to see you there!  

Taking a break from walking

 

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Walk-O-Rama: Polar Bear Edition

In Canada, New Year’s is celebrated with an annual Polar Bear Plunge by a hard core group of crazy people.  At the Melville Library, we honored the beginning of 2012 by reinitiating the Walk-O-Rama program (begun by Richie Feinberg in the Spring of 2010).  We ventured into the chilly wilderness, where intermittent areas of sunshine reached, I was told, a balmy 37 degrees!  There was a nice sized group for our first time out, which was a surprise to see since it was so last minute and not the warmest of days.

For those of you who are not familiar with this activity. here’s how Richie described it:

“Walk-O-Rama is an unofficial library program for celebrating the spring and edifying the feeling of library community.  We take little walks that last about 20 minutes. We walk in small groups, usually in the same direction.  So far, everyone has returned to work after these walks.  Terrain is flat, by and large. Sometimes a hill is encountered.  Participants can group up with those wanting to take shorter walks. Twenty minutes is not required.”

Today’s group doubled as Keith’s personal protection service, as we escorted him to the SAC so he could visit the bank.  He felt safe enough on his own from that point on and did not require further assistance, so we headed toward the Earth and Space Sciences Building, where several members observed the way the scaffolding made our little university seem more like Manhattan.  Dana commented on the large amount of art to be found all around campus (even in the library’s own Galleria, so those of you who do not wish to participate in our walks can have something pleasant to gaze upon).  We saw a quaint little statue near engineering.  Shortly after that, near Javits, there was a mysterious cloud of smoke ascending from the lawn, but we were much too preoccupied with our exercise to pay it much mind.  We’re all optimists, though, and we were sure it would work itself out just fine.

I do hope more people will come next week.  It was a nice way to take our minds off work, even if only to focus on the lack of feeling in our fingers (ok, so maybe it wasn’t that bad).  

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