Special Edition: Clash of Cats

Winter is coming. As such, we left the north and ventured south today, down the kings road (AKA Nicolls) to find a cozy dwelling in which to seek out the hospitality of strangers. While this establishment seemed friendly enough with its adorable furry kitten clan inside, we quickly learned that it was actually a den of danger where we would be put to a trial by mental combat if we were to leave with our heads.

No trivia help at all. They knew nothing.

It was trivia night in the Shabby Tabby Cat Cafe, a place where felines were constantly trying to prove their dominance to claim the comfiest couch – I mean throne. Three minutes into the evening, Kristen became the first party member to fall victim to an assassination attack by an evil cat who had pretended to worship her. A quick snuggle to the leg was all it took to trick Kristen into feeling a false sense of loyalty, which earned the attacker access to her face – where Kristen was promptly bitten with poisonous dagger fangs. But just as Beric Dondarrion was resurrected six times (one of our trivia questions!) and cats may be resurrected up to 8, Kristen was found to have at least one save in her. She continued the night with a Tyrion-esque battle scar for all to see.

Our enemies were always watching – and plotting

Team The Night is Dark and Full of Cats fell pray to sinister, adorable kitties throughout the duration of the game. While Chris fell deeper and deeper into darkness by means of a bewitchingly precious black kitten, he was brought back to the light by a many-faced character, a cat whose beauty mark indicated that she had stolen the face of Cindy Crawford to save this human’s life. This act did not even win the kitten an adoption. While the cat is surely sulking the day away about this betrayal, we at least were happy that the newly saved Chris was able to regain his wits in time to mumble the word “Thor”, the correct answer to one of the more trickier questions. Thanks, Cindy Crawford cat!

The mauling of a human who was not lucky enough to be saved by the many-faced cat

Ken’s hopes to score a seat on the comfy throne were dashed almost immediately by a flanking threat: one zombie cat who was clearly part of the dead army and a tyrannical sort who bore a Joffrey callibre distain for all others in the kingdom. This caused Ken to be banished to the outer wooden islands, small bench seating set apart from the rest that provided neither comfort nor easy access to the snacks. We expect that he should make it back to the main seating area in a future season.

“The king can do as he likes.”

Arielle proved the most likely team member to secure the throne for herself, being the only person who had read all of the books. While Ken did cunningly placed his cookies and tempting buckeyes in front of her as a distraction, she was able to resist to an impressive extent and lead the team to second place. Some may be noting that Ken was on her team, but in Game of Thrones, there are no teams.  Players know that in the great game you win or you die. We are unsure which fate we earned by coming in 2nd – but if we do die, we will at least have our free new t-shirts we were awarded to be buried in – or hung out on posts for kitty climbing and scratching.

 

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Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

While some may have accidentally, and probably now bitterly, stumbled across this post hoping to find clever insights into the many plot twists/holes in the recent film Crimes of Grindelwald, it is not that. Rather, it is a chronicling of our latest trivia adventure at the sketchy dive bar known rather pleasantly as Tara Inn. So as not to put off those misguided clickers entirely, I have decided to accommodate the theme to the best of my ability with some wizarding world comparisons.

Where you would have found us

While the team who assembled were all, I presume, of muggle birth, there was something wiz-ardly about them. One might say they were almost beastly in mental might, and most assuredly fantastic. Perhaps it was their shocking knowledge of geometry terms and business matters. They summoned the answers with a level of mastery beyond their years of formal training – apart from Kristen, who was the Dudley of this whole affair. She was there for the $2 burgers and the chance to score a 10 cent drink, which she failed at as spectacularly as Neville Longbottom trying to perform any spell ever.

The food was cooked and served with surprising quickness and efficiency, thanks (undoubtedly) to the crew of house elves who slaved happily away in the kitchen. While the team felt certain that the super low prices were due to the fact that these workers were not being paid, we pretended we were not unofficial members of S.P.E.W. and turned a blind eye for the night. Ken prepared a generous tip of a few socks for our table.

Sorry Dobby, you will not be paid today

River was awarded the heavy task of recording all the fantastic answers we graced the host with. It was speculated afterwards that she may be of the Dumbledore lineage, as a magical phoenix presented itself to her in her stressful hour of need. However, Kristen was not wearing her glasses when this happened, so it’s entirely possible that this supposed feathered phoenix was something else entirely, such as a plate of mozzarella sticks. That would explain why she ate it…

Behold the magnificent cheesy phoenix!

The team narrowly avoided danger in the form of a nearby Zouru spotting by Nick, who apparently warded off an imminent attack – at least according to this footage posted to the internet. No one else saw this happen though, so its validity is still under review. It may have just been a hero story conjured up to hide the fact that he had tried pulling a Dumbledore by holding out on knowledge longer than was necessary in the photo round while the rest of us struggled.

Not a drunken apparition (unless it was…?)

Nick is clearly a Dumbledore as well

It became apparent that some of our team were clearly under the Obliviate Charm that was cast upon us by a nearby group that was evidently too lacking in knowledge to win by any other means. With our memories temporarily compromised, we had to settle for second place by mere points. It had everything to do with this forgetfulness charm and nothing to do with the big greasy burgers and Long Island Iced Teas we had consumed as the night went on.

There were cheating teams in the pub tonight

All was well in the end,  however. At one point in the evening, Celeste was seen fussing with her purse on the floor, and even though she did not specify why she did so, we later learned that she had smuggled in a niffler, who was running amok in the bar.  When he returned, to our delight, he revealed that he had stolen something of significance that would play an important role in the next trivia chapter – some unearned free drink tokens. Many thanks to our little kleptomaniac friend!

Tokens all around!

Full cast of characters

 

 

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Walk-O-Rama Special Edition: A Song of Cheese & Wine

After a long hiatus, the old Walk-O-Rama family was all united again, and that’s worth chronicling.

Winter was here, at least in Australia, and that meant the long-lost bastard who had not been seen for several seasons, John, had made a surprise return. You remember him. We last saw him as he was sneaking off to a faraway land to save his skin from the doom that is Permanent Appointment with the State. What became of him? No one knew until tonight.

Reenactment of John rowing for his life

We assembled to all be part of a great game – THE game, and as it is well known, when you’re in the great game, you either win or you die. Or you win a lovely gift certificate to C’est Cheese, the establishment that hosted our reunion on this trivia night.

Some drink and know things. We supposed we were this sort before the wine was ordered and the questions began. Kristen, who had been studying with the Maesters all day in the library, had been brushing up on the history of our founding fathers and had gotten to 24, so when the announcer asked for number 25, she swore to all of the 7 gods and ate some poutine in disgust.

Kristen eats an unfortunate meal while discussing GOT and preparing for her library shift

Some drink and know things, but those people were not on our team

The three-eyed raven had joined team “The Velveeta Underground” for the evening, which made Kristen and Celeste happy because they figured his gift of foresight might come in handy on such an occasion. Midway through round 1, however, he ripped his mask off to reveal that it was, in fact, our dear friend Raquel. This was fortunate because 1) Raquel is quite good at trivia and knows many fictional characters’ addresses and 2) because Diane possesses a Lannister-callibre loathing of Bran.

Diane was happy to see Raquel, or at least happy to no longer see Bran

Team “Ed Sheeran is the Prince Who Was Promised” was lagging to start with and no one took them very seriously as dangerous players, but they knew that all they had to do was bide their time while the competition slowly killed themselves off. This was done by means of a bag of weird tasting but oddly addicting – and likely poisoned – potato chips. You can’t eat just one, you must eat them all!

The source of our undoing. We quickly became too ill to think.

With the competition all but annihilated, team “Ed Sheeran is the Prince Who Was Promised” had only to keep their heads on their shoulders and answer questions with a certain degree of competency. This was done most of the time…

…with some exceptions

At the end of a grueling night, there were winners, and there were losers – those of which fully expect to be knocked off by the end of the week. However, should we survive, we expect to reunite again for another epic game of cheese and wine and trivia. We hope to see you there!

Team “Ed Sheeran is The Prince Who Was Promised”

They will not sit on the throne of victory long

Raquel is already plotting their demise

 

Full cast of characters: Team Walk-O-Rama

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Walk-O-Special Edition: Kristen Out (mic drop)

Dear friends, I know that several words come to mind when you hear Walk-O-Rama and when you recall the many adventures chronicled on this site. Heroic, fearless, fun-loving. All true. Lazy is another. There, I said it. Adventures were often thwarted by heat, cold, humidity, precipitation, and the promise of delicious food. Even now, I sit here writing to you not of a walk in the physical sense, because that sounds exhausting, but of a mental stroll just taken down memory lane where I recalled my many great years with the wonderful staff at Stony Brook University Libraries.

I began after earning my Master’s degree in 2005 and was happy to have my first full-time job. My search committee assured me that I was not hired because I currently worked selling chocolate in a retail store and could potentially double as their supplier – or perhaps they indicated that that was the sole reason, I forget. To be on the safe side, I brought in a generous assortment when I started to try and win favor with my new friends.

Definitely hired for the chocolate.

My first weeks were a little rough. I recall catching a student employee error in the Stacks, which angered her and caused her to leave. I felt guilty and thought for sure the other workers in Circulation would all hate me. Fortunately, I was quickly adopted by The Library Club, a group started and led by the very talented and creative Victor Santiago. This club really helped me develop as a person and a professional in so many ways, and it is my hope that I helped others do the same as one of the advisors. We did our best to share our love of libraries and information literacy by creating tutorials, educational events, blogs, web reviews, etc. and began a fundraising effort to send books to Africa. We took library students on field trips, including two ventures to Salem, MA where we held some pretty exciting scavenger hunts. They were good times.

LC road trip to Salem

Human Resources nightmare: losing a student employee on a field trip to find seals. It’s ok, we left an arrow so they could find us

LC takes on NYPL

LC takes on SPL

 

Packing some books for Africa!

When I think of my time in Circulation, I remember the wonderful, wonderful people, and the terrific Halloween parties! I don’t mean to group these two together because they are equivalents – the people were definitely better –  but both are such vivid symbols in my mind of my days in the Main Stacks. It was great having a close-knit family environment to help me as I eased into my profession.  I don’t recall all of what I did those first few years, but all timesheets and paperwork seem to indicate that I was in fact present and actively doing something or other.

This Bigfoot quality photo is a rare shot of me doing something very important in my work environment

Arrrrrrren’t you feeling sentimental about these days? I know I am!

Long hours spent on our epic haunted maze! I can still hear the screams of horror. It was perfect.

Gradually I began to learn more and take on additional responsibilities. I became a volunteer member of the virtual chat team and a selector for the Cinema Studies Department. I made Reader’s Advisory signs to try and get people to read our dusty books. I worked closely with our students, checking their accuracy, creating assignments, and introducing them to some pretty high-brow American experiences during our free time. When I felt I could do no more, I moved to a new role in the Central Reading Room.

Teaching students how to do proper American things

During these next years, I worked more actively with the public and saw ways that I could create events to simultaneously entertain and educate our patrons. I created a few scavenger hunt with the help of some awesome colleagues, worked with the incredibly talented Arielle Hessler (and others) to create some library-themed board games that I think someone once played, and introduced other activities such as button making, Pi-Day, Banned Book Month contests, e-games, and more.

 

Rebel volunteers who made Spy Hunt happen!

It is also during this time that I became active in Walk-O-Rama, thanks to Richie Feinberg (who began the group) and Celeste Hessler, who asked me to continue the activity after his retirement. These walks, as you may or may not have read in past entries, helped us all regain a small sense of childlike wonder as we left the comforts of our desks and began to bravely explore the campus grounds each week, searching for humor and meaning in all we saw. We found the remnants of an ancient feline civilization, tried our best (unsuccessfully) to make sense of the hospital floor plan, learned Ken is secretly an all-star baseball player, photobombed the President, and even buried our own time capsule somewhere we’ve long forgotten. And we ate. Mostly we ate. But it’s all good, because walking, talking, and breaking bread together is what creates bonds and keeps people happy as a team! I will always have a special place in my heart for Team Walk-O-Rama!

 

It was only fitting that WOR founder, Richie, should transport the time capsule to its burial spot, wherever the heck that is

Ken assures me this card will be worth big bucks someday

President Stanley happy to be out with Walk-O-Rama one day

I did other things I never dreamed I would do as a professional, or in any other capacity for that matter. I helped make several boats out of carboard and duct tape for the annual Roth Regatta and helped row two. To our surprise, none of them sank, and we even earned a trophy for coming in second place in the Speedster division during our first attempt. Go us! Staff all came out and cheered us on, and for days following I received small gifts and cards like a real hero who had done something wonderful. As someone who does not usually do things, I can tell you that it meant a lot in my little world to feel this way.

 

 

Mentally preparing ourselves to sink upon contact with water

I have learned so much in my time here, both about myself and about my profession, and I have had the pleasure of meeting so many kind, creative, talented people who have made such a difference in my life, whether they realize it or not. Walk-O-Rama may be ended in some sense, but the energy that started it still remains. I hope you all will not forget to devote parts of your day, or even just your week to doing something that is brave –  even if only brave for you at your level, something silly, something adventurous, but mostly something fun. And take a friend – or several friends. Or drag someone you don’t particularly care for and force them to be your friend, because being adventurous together is awesome, and I have enjoyed my awesome adventure with you.

 

 

A picture has no caption.

 

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Walk-O-Rama: Independence Day

Though holiday purists tend to celebrate July 4th – Independence Day – on, well, July 4th, we here at Walk-O-Rama felt that July 2nd, the official date of the legal separation between the US and Britain, was more appropriate for our celebratory parade around campus.  Though we could be doing so because we are just super patriotic, the reasoning most likely has more to do with the fact that 1) the actual holiday falls on a Saturday and 2) the group felt the need to walk off our big bagel brunch.

“The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance…” – John Adams

Years later, Walk-O-Rama was out making John Adams look all prophetic.  In the spirit of obtaining independence, we determined that we would seek out our deliverance from the workplace by fleeing our offices and setting out into this great land of ours.  Songs of patriotism filled the air, and as we approached the brand new, now totally open to the public Computer Science Building, the tune “This Land is Your Land” seemed of particular relevance.  We had determined that this building belonged to us too, and are hoping the summer months will give us enough time for our squatter’s rights to fully kick in.

As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said “No Trespassing.”
But on the other side it didn’t say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

John Adams gave us permission to celebrate early today. Thanks, John! Adams. John Adams. Sir.

We decided the best course of action would be to sneak in the back way where no one would see us, and also because the first several doors were not nearly up to our standards.  Boy were we glad we held out. Though we were spotted sneaking in by several passersby (one of which we asked to photograph our entry), we did have the opportunity to enter through the grandest entrance of them all.

This building is your building This building is my building. This building was made for you and me. But mostly me.

This was not an approved Walk-O-Rama entrance

The interior of the building, much to our surprise, was much nicer than it had been months ago when we trespassed in the facility before its completion.  Go figure. Beautiful lights illuminated the open spaces, “Stony Brook Red” furniture made every nook and cranny look inviting, and even the toilets (though not accented with comfy toilet paper) sparkled with a green tint of water that symbolized clean. Wow. It was amazing. The building of the future even included a pantry and an Area of Refuge.  Truly, this place was built with us in mind. Tears nearly came to our eyes, but then we remembered that it was a holiday. Our Founding Father’s had surely decreed that there would be no crying allowed on July 2nd, even out of excessive joy.

We will try dangling our light bulbs from the ceiling in this dazzling, artsy manner later in the afternoon. (This is your official heads up about that, building manager John)

Clean.

Finally, a building that gets us! An Area of Refuge in close range to the Pantry!

We approve of our new red furniture that seemed to inspire intelligent, thoughtful conversation

Staff Retreat 2016?

Prime Roth Regatta spectator seating

Peggy had no difficulty locating her new office and pulling decor from her bag like Mary Poppins. Really, that rug was tucked nicely in there

Child actors portray Kristen and Raquel as they watched Peggy unpack her office furnishings

This walk of liberation inspired Peggy to shed the confines of the workforce as she determined to break free from the grind and pursue a more stress-free life filled with happiness, relaxation, yoga, paddle boarding, and ice cream sandwiches.  For real.  Sadly, this is to be her last Walk-O-Rama adventure.

As we wandered back to work, we swear we heard the remaining lyrics of “This Land is Your Land” coming from her direction, though she will surely deny all knowledge of it.

Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.

We will miss our friend and occasional Walk-O-Rama member, Peggy.  Go get your freedom and always remember to celebrate July 2, even if only as your final Walk-O-Rama adventure!

Peggy comes to the realization that this place is nice, but not for her

Farewell, Peggy! You will be missed.

 

 

 

 

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Walk-O-Rama Special Edition: Ready, Set, Go Find that Interlibrary Loan Office!

On Wednesday, October 22nd, Stony Brook University Libraries successfully pulled off another great photo scavenger hunt, thanks to some dedicated students! With some veteran hunters registering for the event, Kristen felt compelled to redesign large portions of the hunt, puzzles and all, to keep the sleuths on their toes.  New Library assets were highlighted, such as our recreational reading magazines, our vast map collection, and the Special Collections Department.  With so many complicated bonus point categories to take into consideration, we decided to outsource point tallying to a new committee of professional number crunchers.

This year’s resident score keepers. Please see them for any disputes, as we are not accountable for any errors

New puzzles and games added a new twist to this year’s hunt

The first eager bunch arrived as soon as the event began. Team Reading Rainbow Road was the first to put the new clues and puzzles to the test.  They were very eager to play and quite determined to win! But you don’t have to take my word for it, just look at the competitive spirit that shines through in their happy faces!

Before some of us were fully awake, these guys were embarking on a quest for Library glory!

An image that aptly symbolizes their name choice and energy

Team Reading Rainbow Road won 5 pts for best team name, by choosing something everyone associates with information literacy. Great job, guys!

Perhaps the happiest anyone has ever looked upon seeing the Chemistry Library. Or maybe not, it is pretty nice.

Our point tallying committee later learned that this team spent an hour wandering about looking for the Ashley Shiff Preserve, one of the campus bonus point options. For this effort they got an extra bonus point, which might not make sense to everyone, but hey! they were tallied by a collection of Halloween props.

Amazing.

Later in the day another happy team arrived, Team SAC (play off of SBU’s Student Activities Center, or SAC, and also the initials of the team members’ first names).  These guys were great. Though they did not walk to the Ashley Shiff Preserve, they did photograph nearly everything else on their list.  Not only did they correctly solve all the clues for this hunt, but they also somehow managed to solve a puzzle from last year’s Spy Hunt that mysteriously found its way into one of their clue envelopes. That was weird, but kudos to you! Team SAC pulled off some great team photos and won two best photo categories.  They earned 89 points total, but all photo evidence shows that this was an effortless, enjoyable feat.

Team SAC had a number of great team photos. We loved this one with Wolfie!

And our beloved Yoshi!

And what says great Library spirit better than big smiles despite the fact that we forced them out into the rain?

For their great effort, Team SAC won three season film passes that were kindly donated by the Staller Center for the Arts! Woohoo! Certificates of Awesomeness will soon be awarded, which we are quite certain will be found hanging on their walls next to their diplomas someday.

Three cheers for our three winners!

The Sherlock Cavaliers were next to join in the competition.  They were quick to solve our tricky riddle, taken from Tolkein’s classic The Hobbit, and soon found the magazine whose title spelled the answer.  Don’t worry, we were not offended by the speed in which you solved a clue that we spent hours creating.

Time, something this team needed little of to solve our riddles!

The Sherlock Cavaliers mastered the rest of our clues with as much ease and really proved that they were sleuths to be reckoned with! We will have to try a little harder next year if we’re to stump the likes of them.

Piece of cake. Mmmm…cake.

Well done!

Even our new clues proved too elementary for these Sherlock Cavaliers

As with every year, the final challenge that must be completed in order to conquer our hunt is the finding of the frequently relocating Interlibrary Loan Office.  Hunters who were confident that they had seen it somewhere before were thrown for a loop when they learned it now has a new room number.  We might move it again for next year’s hunt – just to keep things interesting.

Who’s a Library Scavenger Hunt star? You are! Way to track down Interlibrary Loan to complete the hunt!

Thanks to all the participants of this year’s scavenger hunt! We apologize to those who learned that there was a conflicting event on campus and were unable to attend.  Next year we will plan more carefully and not leave it up to our Library fish to do the campus calendar research.  Ooh…that fish!

We love our library fish, but he is totally lacking in most administrative skills

We hope you all feel a little more at ease with our branches and services, and look forward to seeing you studying here in the future! Keep an eye out for ads for our next scavenger hunt, Spy Hunt, scheduled for next spring.  Also look for fun and educational events, workshops, and more on the Library’s homepage! Until then, don’t forget to Get Your Read On!

The Library’s new board game, Where’s Wolfie, was added to our hunt

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Walk-O-Rama: Our Pre-Siesta Fiesta

Today we welcomed Ken back to Walk-O-Rama on his first day back on the job since returning from Paradise. We don’t know why he chose to return from such an aptly named place, but we sure are glad he did.  It was nice being grounded by a sensible decision maker or a change, after weeks of walks so filled with chaos and lawlessness that they could not be safely chronicled in this blog.  His return warranted a Welcome Back fiesta, which could mean only one thing.  Burritos.

We welcomed Ken back in the office today in traditional Walk-O-Rama fashion

Despite the fact that it was National Cheesecake Day, we were all good and avoided sweets, sticking to more nutritious lunch choices such as salad, some other kind of salad, and dishes doused in cheesy sauce.  Go us.  Eventually, as must always be the case, we had to up-heave our now sleepy selves from our seats and make the long trek back to work.

Our now lazy, unfocused minds touched on many subjects while trying to avoid abandoning our goal of returning to the library and just lying down in the grass for a quick nap instead. Perhaps an hour or two would hit the spot.  NYC scavenger hunts were planned, as were future trips to the zoo. A story of questionable veracity was told about a leaf bag that many moths mistook for a large lady moth who demanded their affection. Apparently this event was confirmed by two eye witnesses in our party.

At this point in our chatter, it was proposed the the structure of our lunch breaks be forever changed as we know it.  Instead, time allotted for eating would be granted for siesta purposes, which Ken concurred would be in our legal right as state workers. In his sleepiness he expanded on this opinion with a falsehood, claiming we were allowed to do anything we wanted during our lunch hour.  The following is a brief, non-exhaustive list of things we would likely not be permitted to do during our lunch hour:

• Feed Skittles to penquins
• Host a llama beauty pageant
• Play soccer with our cars in the South P lot
• Attempt scaling the Simon Center wall using office supplies we believe will provide suction
• Burn down our workplace to provide fertile grounds for a better workplace
• Provide a zero credit course to teach the Canada Geese to speak Canadian English

With that being said, I will now join the rest in my party by embracing the right bestowed upon me by Ken to siesta on state time. We hope you will join us next week when we continue testing the limits of what the university will and will not allow us to do on our lunch breaks.

Walk-O-Rama, 3pm

 

 

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Walk-O-Rama Special Edition: Bike-O-Rama!!!

The triumph of this week’s adventure nearly trumped the legendary conquest achieved by Arielle last week when she successfully ate a Green Cactus burrito and was not forced to abandon her meal due to any ridiculously spicy hot sauce or spices.  Go Arielle!  Since Ken and Kristen were the only two up for escaping the office today (which is just weird people – I mean come on!), they decided their odds at finding enough bikes to ride in the campus bike share stalls would be slightly better than last week’s failed attempt.  And they were right! Ken even had a route in mind! For over a  year now he has been talking about some mysterious clearing that he once stumbled upon, and he was set on finding it and showing it to all who were dumb enough to follow (Kristen).  It was bound to be an adventure unlike any other! Or at least a good way to burn a few calories, which is a good thing.

Go Arielle! What a delicious achievement!

Having swiped their cards at the pay station, they were forced to pretend to read many rules, instructions, terms and agreements, and other such nonsense that they simply agreed to so the machine would release its death grip on the bicycles and allow them to begin having some major fun.  This major fun was found in the form of Kristen nearly crashing because she wanted to take pictures in motion and Ken narrowly avoiding wiping out when he could not figure out how to switch gears.  All initial difficulties being soon after overcome, the two headed out to find this legendary clearing in the nearby forest.

Yay! We finally scored some bikes!

Kristen quickly learns that she is not as skilled as that boy she saw texting while riding last week

Ken grows tired of waiting for the green light to give him permission to take the bike and attempts brute strength

Moments into the ride, both bikers were quickly realizing that biking is BS, with the exception of those downhill slopes that proved to be few and far between.  Cursing happened.  Before too long, a barely visible trail was in view, and all signs of civilization were quickly left in their dust.

This is when Kristen learned for sure that Ken did not know where this clearing was located.  In fact she’s pretty sure he dreamt it. While intoxicated. Turns left, right, and in a u shape were made at every opportunity, until the rugged trail that they were following was little more than a mere parting of a few shrubs where some deer had likely once passed.  A few familiar signs were spotted along the way that helped guide them on their journey, which were particularly helpful for the return trip when they were racing back to try and beat the clock to avoid paying another four bucks.

 

Dead end #1

Proof that others have been lost here as well

Adding our mark

We still fit in some walking on this exhausting outing

A Lite to help guide our way

Backtracking at dead end #2

We briefly considered abandoning our bikes and taking a cab back

The ultimate dead end that made us quit

The pair could not contain their excitement when they were soon close enough to the forest perimeter to hear traffic. Though the rain clouds above gave Kristen hope that a downpour might give her a legitimate excuse to be wet so she would not have to admit to just being super sweaty, precipitation held back for the remainder of this rigorous adventure.  The cooler breeze felt while gliding downhill did do its part to refresh the riders, in much the same way the intense air blowing cycle works to dry cars in a car wash, so they could not complain.

They made it back with mere minutes to spare, but to their dismay they could not figure out how to properly return the bikes that they now never wanted to set eyes on again.  A kind stranger shared the secret method of making them lock, bringing an official end to this week’s adventure.  Never had refueling been more of an emergency than it was after this particular calorie burn, so operation carb fest was initiated to recoup all losses.

Carb Fest 2014

Join us next week when we will not do this again.

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Walk-O-Rama: Define Bicycle

This past Friday was the much anticipated Bike-O-Rama adventure.  We met at noon, as planned, with credit cards in hand to finally take advantage of the University’s ingenious Bike Share program.  With the campus nearly deserted after the end of the Spring semester and the weather being more than accommodating with its sunshine and slight breeze, we were already envisioning the relaxing time we were about the have – that is if we could all remember how to ride bicycles.

As it turned out, either we had forgotten how to ride them, or there was something amiss with the collection of bikes we found waiting for us at the bike stand. From a distance it seemed like we were fulfilling out destiny.  There were five of us, a perfect match for the five bicycles waiting at the sharing station.  As we walked closer, we realized that this number was not totally accurate.  We had not ridden in a while, but we did vaguely recall the basic concept and the parts required to ride.  Seats were helpful, preferably attached to the frame. Pedals also played a vital role in the biking experience. So we were sad to see that two bicycles were missing these key components.  Our disappointment could not be hidden.  Some members pouted, others tried to think of solutions, and some refused to admit that this outing was a no-go by biking in place.  It was not the same.

If animals can remember to ride bikes, so can we. Right???

Though Ken claims to be trying to fix the bike, photo evidence suggests that he just broke the seat off

This picture perfectly captures our disgust with the bike share program

Kathy decides to not be affected by the misfortune of others and tries biking anyway

In desperation, we decided to go look for more bikes. We found several pedestrian bikes chained to a nearby rack and briefly considered jacking them as an alternative, but no one had remembered the chain cutters on the walk this week, so that was also ruled out as a possibility.  Disappointed, we abandoned this location and decided to seek out options elsewhere.

While walking, we came across a lovely pool of water that we had to prevent Kathy from diving into. We were inspired to enter this building to see what other pleasantries could be found inside.

The bewitching waters that nearly lured Kathy into their depths in the pool below

We learned that some of our party had not been on our outing when we explored the rooftop of this building years before, and so we took another trip up, mostly because the option involving an elevator seemed the most attractive.

The view that greeted us when the doors opened nearly erased all of the previous disappointment caused by the Bike Share scam. A happy little garden was planted there for reasons that we were too lazy to read about, and our view of the blue sky drastically was improved.

The Library definitely needs one of these!

Way cooler than Ellen’s celebrity selfie on Oscar night

Technically celebrities, though not of Walk-O-Rama caliber

Who makes a dizzying 3D pattern in their sidewalk below a super high building with a rooftop garden? That’s lethal.

Please read this and tell us what it’s all about, preferably in fewer words and with entertaining hand gestures

Feeling thoroughly relaxed, we descended to a lower level where another garden could be found.  Here, lucky individuals were eating lunch outdoors surrounded by lush greenery.  This inspired one of our members to begin eating the surrounding plants, which were fortunately edible.

A beautiful garden that was eaten by a member who concreted the belief that WOR members have a lot in common with locusts

Once inside, we discovered more beauty in the form of knitted structures that somehow involved mathematical formulas. This concept hurt my head, so I can not explain it with any additional detail or clarity. Just look at the pictures. They’re amazing and very, very pretty.

Knitting is difficult enough without getting mathematical formulas involved!

The ones with tails that flew were particularly impressive/frightening

The mathematically inclined do not even share our same alphabet

And they even provided our lunch! Thanks!!

Feeling smarter and relieved of all our bike induced stress, we felt ready to leave this wondrous place and return to the office.  Perhaps we will attempt Bike-O-Rama again later in the week. Stay tuned!

Seriously.

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Walk-O-Rama: The Crime & Punishment of Our Gelato Adventure

There can be no greater feeling than the realization as an adult that you can eat ice cream, or any dessert of your choosing, for lunch and not just as a reward granted by some authority figure for eating your nutritious meal.  Such freedom. Such liberation. Being adults with jobs, bills, and pesky responsibilities, we decided to set out to embrace this great perk of adulthood.  We waited for several minutes for Jennifer to join our eager group, since it was she who had first sparked this insatiable desire for gelato last week. But honestly, how long can one be asked to wait for gelato? Moments later, the executive decision was made to begin walking in the direction she would be coming from, in an attempt to head her off.

Right out of the gate we noticed a number of rules being simultaneous broken on our pedestrian walkway. Can you identify how many objects in the following picture are no longer allowed on our campus sidewalks?

Our Walk-O-Rama sidewalk monitor spotted several fouls here. How many can you find?

Oh, you’re so adorable, but yes, you are one of them!

Kristen opted for her sunglasses today which was great at shading her vision, but also led her to nearly excitedly wave at three false Jennifers.  Walk-O-Rama does not have a rule book, but if it did, rule one would be that Kristen is not allowed to wave at anyone to avoid such embarrassing scenes.

Finally, we were forced to admit that we were not going to run into Jenn on this walk, which was exponentially more depressing as we saw that our turn from our path was leading us up an annoying hill.  Furthermore, we were always on the side without shade, as our cheaters’ downhill scenic wooded path was closed for renovation. Drat! No matter, we were satisfied in the knowledge that we were burning plenty of pre-gelato party calories.  This alone compelled us to continue.

After what seemed like 4o miles, we were there, at that place we can never quite remember the name of, to claim our delicious ice cream! A photo was taken as evidence to prove that we had made it all in one piece.

Epic Walking Champions!

Get ’em while you can today – they’ll be gone all summer, which we find kind of weird

We noticed a picturesque little sitting area that seemed just made for our group and rushed out to enjoy the view. We all remembered our former Walk-O-Rama member John who had spent a lot of time and money to find a place where he could feel like a carefree kid to his heart’s content – and look! there was just such a place on our very own campus! Lucky us!

Team Walk-O-Rama embraces the good life

What could be more stunning or ambiguous than this white wall to gaze upon?

We bet John is feeling pretty dumb now!

Just when we were thinking life couldn’t get any better, Raquel decided to complete her meal by eating her main course last.  Apparently, as we soon learned, there is an order to the universe that prohibits eating dessert first.  We had always just assumed it was our parents and their power control issues preventing us from eating what we wanted.  As her punishment for her meal order crime, Raquel was made to sit in a corner and wait what must have been a good 10 minutes to think about what she’d done. After this long, solemn meditation, they granted her her food and sent her on her way. Adulthood sucks.

We hope you will join us next time for our first ever Bike-O-Rama. A blooper section is sure to accompany the summary of that day’s events.

 

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