Walk-O-Rama: Be All You Can Be, Join Walk-O-Rama

Today we took on a mission of utmost importance to the state of the University by forming our own army of one to escort the president to view a half assembled piece of art.  We are not entirely certain that he or anyone else involved realized that the sculpture was only half completed, as this photo op took place midway through construction, but it was a dangerous task and we naturally accepted it with pleasure.

This “art” doubled as a doomsday bunker, just in case. Dec 21st, is right around the corner, you know

It is a not so well known fact that guarding the president of anything is very challenging.  Not only are you putting yourself into harms way, you must also remember never to make it look like you are guarding him or associating with him in any way.  You are complete strangers to one another, or so you are to make it seem.  He will not acknowledge your existence, as Kristen found out when she foolishly tried to ask for a Walk-O-Rama official photo with our new sponsor, President Stanley.  For safety reasons he could not honor or acknowledge this request and walked away.  I was ashamed for not remembering this strict, highly important bit of protocol.  For the rest of the walk the entire group also refused to acknowledge Kristen to shame her into remembering proper procedure. We strive to someday be as official as the President’s personal body guard who got to wear a fun earpiece to look like a member of the CIA.  It most likely did not work due to poor state funding for such accessories, but it did make him look pretty awesome.

Team Walk-O-Rama photo bombs the President and his right-hand man. Forced into sponsorship

After our mission was complete we were feeling very full of ourselves for being granted such an important duty and therefore tried to recruit more members to join our team, just to have newbies to brag to about our general coolness.  This turned out to be even more difficult than guarding the President, and we were forced to open an advertising truck for the sole purpose of gaining membership.  We thought, “Hey, while we’re at it we might as well charge people to join so we can afford all our lunches.”  Though this spectacle initially sparked the curiosity of numerous passersby, it did not assist us in forming any lasting relationships with fellow campus walkers. Oh if they only realized the strength in numbers.

Will you give us $1??

Please join us next week when we decide to turn our Walk-O-Rama truck into either a rival in the Union Plaza’s intense food truck showdown or a means of escaping from work.  Hope to see you there!

The logo of our army of one

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Walk-O-Rama Special Edition: Scavenge-O-Rama

Today’s walk was our second favorite kind (next to eating).  It was the kind in which you make others do all the walking for you.

In Gregory La Cava’s 1936 hit movie My Man Godfrey, it is said that “a scavenger hunt is exactly like a treasure hunt, except in a treasure hunt you try to find something you want and in a scavenger hunt, you try to find something that nobody wants.”  Perhaps it is therefor appropriate that we, in the academic library in which we work, decided to host our very first photo scavenger hunt.  In the age of Google and Wikipedia, many students (sadly) fail to see the library as a scholarly necessity and don’t always opt to enter.  This is why one group of professional jokesters decided to form their very own committee to create a fun yet educational event that would challenge this popular notion and show that libraries can be fun – and we had plenty of super awesome prizes to prove it!

A fraction of the people who made today so amazing

Beyond initial planning and strategizing, some staff members boldly volunteered for the task of puzzle replication.  Little did they know that this simple sounding mission would take years off their lives.  As more and more students expressed interest and registered for the event (37 more than Kristen originally anticipated, for a total of 38), more puzzles were ordered.  As it turns out, it is easier to order than to measure, cut, tape, and perfect.  This fact was surprising, and we are sure to be reminded of it when encountering Mary, Elba, Ken, and Celeste in the near future.  Thanks so much to you all for your excellent work. And thank you for making them ultra durable so we won’t have to beg anyone to do it next year.  Surely no one would agree after reading this.

Thinking is easier when using a beautifully crafted puzzle from our new expert puzzle makers

Darren had a divine vision of a hunt with QR Codes to be used in conjunction with Twitter to keep track of participants during the race. Unfortunately, most were not yet ready for this advanced technology, including everyone on the committee except Darren, who all nodded like we totally got it but actually did not.  We promise to be more with it next year.  Promise.

Kathy and Kristen scoured the countryside looking for kind sponsors to provide free goodies for the winners – and boy were people generous! Tonight there are plenty of happy students out there, playing some free laser tag and feasting at the Bench Bar & Grill, using the gift card Kristen had secretly claimed for herself in case of a poor turnout.  Ah well…it is better this way.

Pretty pumped up about winning some prizes

There were no losers on this day (except maybe Jay, who I am told was ordered to sit with a star on a stick in anticipation of clue seekers coming to his desk).  Everyone scored points, everyone ate free pizza, and everyone got cool Frisbees and certificates of participation.  Sure, some made out better than others, such as the 3rd place team, Red Hot Chili Peppers (given three seconds to blurt out a name), who turned out to be Red Hot Chili Pepper in the end, since the rest of her team failed to show.  Luckily for her, she was a genius and sailed through the hunt by herself with ease, which meant she got a gift bag of prizes for 4-5 hunters all for herself. Tomorrow she should arrive to class with 4-5 seawolf tattoos on her face. The look of victory.

Winners!!!

Team Red Hot Chili Pepper attempts to take the lead

The 2nd place team was a surprise since we thought for sure they would be 1st.  Or rather, we thought one member of their team would be first when she was the only one sitting in the room at 1pm, the official start of the race.  Sadly, she did not win all the prizes by default, but happily it looked like she and her slightly tardy team members had a great time. Or at least we hope they did!

Someone on The Mixture team predicting which place they will end up in. Correct!

They promised to hang these next to their SBU diplomas

The big winners, The Dream Team, also consisted of a one man team that gained members after he had left the starting line.  After longer than I’m sure he was comfortable with, they all found each other and sped past the competition. In the end it was so close that they won by only a matter of seconds, as they narrowly beat the other teams through the door to earn the 5 bonus points awarded to the first ones back to the room.  Good job, guys!  They are future librarians thanks to this event, that’s for sure.

Hmmm…where to find Mozart…?

Score!

We all had a great time with this event and hope people will think of more fun outreach activities soon.  Every new service we offer brings us one step closer to being able to label next year’s event a Library Treasure Hunt, as students learn to perceive us more as a valuable part of their college experience.

While you’re thinking of these fun things to work on, join us for a walk next week! The weather promises to either be nice enough to stroll or poor enough to eat out.  Either way we win.

5 points for you, compliments of Mozart

Hope to see you again soon!

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Walk-O-Rama: Hot dog! What a delicious walk

Today many walkers faced insurmountable obstacles that kept them from joining our fine weather excursion.  Though some excuses will have to be fact checked in order to confirm their validity, we did not spend too much time on interrogations as we were hungry and needing a good walk to justify our first ever Flo’s Food Truck raid.

As punishment, I will take a moment to publicly humiliate each member and their respective excuses.  The names have been changed but their lies, I mean excuses, are genuine.

“Diane”

“Diane”, whose name has been hidden to avoid exposing her to ridicule, blamed her entire department for her inability to join us today.  Shameful.  Just remember, “Diane”, when you point a finger at others there are four fingers (or however many you have, minus one) pointing back at you.

It is rumored that Diane was heard singing this song to herself whilst sitting alone in ILL

“Diane’s” rebuttal to this accusation suggested that there were other issues that may have been responsible for her absence.  All signs point to insanity.

Today we learned that one of our colleagues considers herself a dinosaur and believes that everyone in her department has magical powers of invisibility

So alas, we cannot truly blame “Diane”. She clearly has a medical excuse.  We just hope that next time she will be a little more honest and not make up blatant lies.

“Kathy”

I will not mention the second offender’s name either, but I will provide you with her initials.  Her name begins with Kathy and ends with Maxheimer.  Apparently “Kathy” considers herself to be busier than everyone else in the building, which is not possible because I, as one example, am at all times far busier.

So just trust me, I’m really busy

“Maria”

“Maria”, too, claimed that she was all alone, though there is no one to be found within a ten mile radius to testify whether or not she was singing to herself.  You know the saying – “If a tree falls in the woods…”

Hopefully all these people have been adequately shamed to the point that they will not dare miss another walk.

To pass the time we scouted out a destination that “Diane” had recommended, though we could not muster the amount of hateful spite that would have been needed to walk inside and do more exploring without her.  We will wait for her to join us before we officially enter.  Besides, we all remember what happens when you try exploring an area suggested by a member who is absent that week (“George Washington” Trail anyone?)

Next time…

Really the whole walk was merely justification for eating at the new food truck, which will coincidentally put as much cheese and bacon as you please on any menu item.  Thanks, Flo! We wandered for a distance that we felt society might deem respectable for a walking outing, then sat and munched at a nice table surrounded by angry bees.  Lunch passed pleasantly, with Raquel at long last being able to eat her much anticipated hot dog.  Yes, pleasantly, that is, until Kristen gave away her pickle, an act she later lamented, and spent the rest of the afternoon moping in a state of deep depression.

Please walk with us next week to help Kristen snap out of her pickle-less funk.

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Walk-O-Rama: The Fellowship of the Lacrosse Ball

Today’s outing was filled with the discovery of numerous discarded treasures, but none were so magical and envied as that which Maria found.  One could not have asked for a more beautiful day to walk, nor a finer bit of weather to accentuate the happy feeling of finding the most sought after sports ball on all of Stony Brook Campus.   And Maria would not share.  No, the brightly colored piece of mesmerizing rubber possessed her mind to such an extent that when we parted she still clutched it tightly within her fist with an unshakable determination.  Perhaps not even she could explain the power that it had over her.  But for a short while we all felt like it belonged to the group as a whole – a Walk-O-Rama trophy proudly guarded by all members of our close knit fellowship.

It reminded me of a book I once read…on audiobook…while falling in and out of sleep on a long road trip.  It’s ok, though, because I also saw the movie.  The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien, that guy who totally ripped off the Harry Potter series, had himself written about a golden ring of power, and the similarities between that tale and ours were striking!

“One [ball] to rule them all, One [ball] to find them,
One [ball] to bring them all and in the darkness bind them”

My Precious!!!

Coincidence? I think not.

Kristen tried to duplicate Maria’s awesome find, but alas, her inferior ball was smote by Maria’s bouncy ball of power. Blast!

Though Kristen’s old baseball was lacking in domination powers, it did turn out to have cloaking attributes, which she utilized when it came time to take a group picture.

Proof that Kristen’s find was magical. The naked eye can barely recognize her figure between Richie and Ken.

Diane tried to get in on the action as well by picking up a golf tee that glistened brightly in the midday sun.  But after seeing that it was broken and thereby void of magical powers, she discarded it with disgust.

Nice try, Diane

Diane attempts to thrust the broken tee back into the chasm from which it was forged

Unlike those dwarves and elves and whatnot in the classic version of the story, our group was a little less serious and had to take time out of our treacherous journey to get into some time consuming mischief.  We decided to roll ourselves on over to Mount Doom (AKA work) in the classiest set of wheels we could find – really, they were just wheels, my guess is from a tractor.

These tires were heavily chained, apparently in anticipation of our crazy antics.

Many a mountain had we scaled on this journey, and many a hole did we veer ’round, except for that one that Kristen fell into, until the wickedness of the ball of power was cast from our party, by means of Maria walking back to her office.   And thus our fellowship was broken, at least until next week, assuming this gorgeous weather decides to stick around and people decide to return.

We hope you will join us then!

Our path was beset by dangerous pits of doom designed to trap less experienced walkers than we

Richie’s found treasure took the form of an appointment reminder card. If you were recently at Student Health Services this could belong to you!

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