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-Rama Special Edition: Walk-O-Whaaa? No Thank You!

This year, for our 3rd annual Harvest Feast, Walk-O-Rama learned that evites that mention the verb ‘walk’ actually deter most people from considering coming to your feast, or even acknowledging the receipt of the email entirely. This is understandable. It’s November.  Our bodies are now instinctively telling us to preserve energy to bulk up for the oncoming winter. Walking is in direct conflict with this goal.  Luckily, having caught this error in advance, we were still able send a follow-up email (or three) to attract the attention of just enough people to make this winter bulk up initiative successful, as many guests in attendance came bearing pots and platters full of delicious home-baked (or store-bought, it’s all good) edible delights.

Don’t be alarmed, we won’t actually be walking

This should help us make it through the long winter months

Those who were unsure (most of us) hit up the next table as well

There is, as we found, a fine balance between filling yourself to a comfortable capacity and overloading your cheeks like a chipmunk who is uncertain if he will pass another acorn ever again.  I, for one, am quite sure I became the latter. Sherry’s delicious noodles were an early morning experiment.  When is that likely to happen again?? Probably never, so down the hatch it went. This seemed good at the time, but hibernation mode is surely setting in as I type. We ran into the usual pitfalls at this event – a traffic jam at the oven, clear spoons that were camouflaged into the table, and accusations of certain delicious entrees being seemingly downgraded to the second table where no one would eat them due to already overflowing plates.  All of these dilemmas were overcome, thank goodness, and a happy ending was in store for everyone!

It is unclear whether this happy diner finished her plate. What’s under that napkin?!!

Ken nervously allows his food to be photographed. Don’t worry, we’re too full to steal it – for now.

Luckily, Walk-O-Rama seems to attract many artistic types. In the time it took Kristen to locate a microwave to reheat her food, members had assembled to turn the Javits Room into one heck of a festively cheerful venue.

They were not edible, but we were content to have them on the table anyway

Those without yards had fun spreading these faux leaves for others to rake up

Kathy can’t believe anything on Bob’s phone is more interesting than our decorations

Diane looking for more places to spread her festive leaves

Ken taught us all the importance of simple food identification. We’ll get it by the fourth year!

As is now the tradition, we were joined today by many old friends who have since left the Library. We were so happy to have more friendly people to mingle with, and happier still that they ate their share of food so we could not.

Two wallflowers hiding behind some table flowers

We’re grateful for people like Stephanie! Don’t be a stranger! We see you David!

A future seawolf!

We also continued the tradition of raising goods to donate to the Campus Food Pantry! Those who wish to bring in non-perishables can bring them to the Central Reading Room until 4pm on Wednesday.

Someone is going to be very happy!!

As if this grand feast was not already enough to make our day better, David later shared the good news that Sherry had given everyone permission to go home for the day. Fortunately for the Library, we were all too full by this time to walk out to our cars, and had to scuffle back to our offices to recover from the large meal anyway.

David exclaims that we all have Sherry’s permission to go home!

Riley secretly wishes that we all will be responsible and stay at work anyway. Granted!

Which was fine, because we just love being together!

The rain prevented anyone from having to do some post-feasting walking for Walk-O-Rama today, except poor Maria and all those from HSL who had a great distance to walk to get back to their home base.

We would like to thank everyone who made today possible. Whether you baked or purchased food (or just ate it), helped decorate or clean up, or just came to socialize and engage in nice conversation, you made today great and we are grateful for YOU! Have a great Thanksgiving holiday, and eat just enough that you feel motivated to join us the following week for some Walk-O-Rama adventures!!

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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: 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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Walk-O-Rama: Das Boot

Who loves picnics? Team Walk-O-Rama does, even when they’re held in windowless rooms because we’re afraid of a few sprinkles (except the kind Ken puts on his delicious frosted cookies!). Some members brought in snacks for all as we prepared to partake in one of our favorite warm weather pastimes (indoors), while others clearly approach picnics Yogi Bear style by trying to outsmart those with the food so they could steal the feast for themselves.

Why bring food when you can just steal Ken’s?

Food was shared, jokes were made, and sexual harassment threats were muttered and laughed away. In other words, it was your typical Walk-O-Rama gathering.

Before long, Liz was coming to make us put our food down and actually walk on our walk. Thanks, Liz, for saving us from ourselves and keeping us on task.  It was not in fact sprinkling as my phone app had deceitfully warned. Rather, it was a beautiful day, and so we decided to return to Roth Pond to see if we could locate the boot that Kristen tragically lost to the untamed waters during the Regatta.

Despite Peggy’s every attempt to keep our group as law abiding as possible, we inevitably wandered into the street to reaffirm our status as “trail blazers” walking wherever it was we felt like walking. Who uses sidewalks? Those who can’t think out of the box, that’s who. Walk-O-Rama, as we explained while dodging a bus, is all about adventure and boldly going where you are told you are not legally permitted to go.

At long last we reached the pond and saw, much to our great horror, an enormous turtle dragging his massive body back into the green waters. Would Ken, Arielle, and Peggy have braved these waters in the Regatta had they seen this man-eating monster the week before?  Not likely.  We combed the perimeter of the pond, stepping carefully around the goose droppings, trying to find Kristen’s boot.  Alas, it is probably now a turtle palace and Kristen is not brave enough to face such a creature above or below the surface of the pond. We did spot a traffic cone in the water. You may not ordinarily find this interesting, but we assure you it was.

These Regatta members get all sentimental when they see the bench we stole from other participants on race day

And these additional regatta members would not get in the picture

On the return trip we eyed the progress of the new Computer Science Building and all agreed that we look forward to exploring it soon and telling the world what emotion to feel about its quality, appearance and function.

We do hope you will join us next week as we find some new mischief to get into. Until then, keep on walking and eating delicious foods.

 

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Walk-O-Rama: March of the State Employees

March is upon us and what can we say – it has been one helluva winter.  Abnormally cold and snowy conditions had forced us all into a state of deep hibernation at our desks for months, but as the morning temperature slowly and surely crept closer to a level of warmth that even the grumpiest among us would declare “bearable” (but not quite as close to the Caribbean temps that Raquel had become accustomed to), something inside each Walk-O-Rama member instinctively sparked to life today at noon, driving us all to abandon our work and meet, without knowing why or how, at the same gathering place at which Walk-O-Rama members have been meeting to walk throughout history.

The new semester had brought with it a new architectural achievement on campus (which incidentally houses food), and we had made up our minds to explore it.  Unfortunately, the new semester also brought with it weekly snowstorms, which meant our visit had to be delayed until a day just like this one rolled around.

Ken, the leader, stuck to the back of the group, making the journey a clumsy and awkward one.  Kristen vaguely recalled that the destination was located near the weird lego-like buildings, and Arielle more traumatically recalled that it was a brutal but doable hike there from the SBS Building in a 10 minute time span.  Using those two fragments of knowledge, combined with Peggy’s mental picture of the building burned into her memory after what seemed to be some pretty serious map studying, we were able to get there safely, despite the campus’s obvious attempt to thwart us by discontinuing sidewalks.

The West Campus Dining Hall (Kelly Dining Center) has a curious design. The outer facade gives one the feeling that the architect was more of a guestimator where measurement is concerned.  The pieces just didn’t seem to go together properly.  Uncertain of how this would factor into their staff’s ability to make a sandwich, we cautiously wandered in.

Meant as a psychology experiment to test how to put different shapes together. Fail.

We were given a grand welcome by someone whose name I rudely did not ask for, but if you drop by yourself, look for the super friendly guy in the biggest hat.  He gave us the royal tour and made some great recommendations, which sold even those among us who were not the least bit hungry.  Those lucky diners who choose West Campus Dining will have the pleasure of munching in a bright, sunny cafeteria that’s been more impressively designed than one might guess from the exterior. There was something for everyone: Caribbean Mondays, Taco Tuesdays, Bob’s BBQ, cupcakes the size of your head, suspiciously taste specific gelato, coffee, Asian cuisine, and soon even Italian, pizza, and salad (for those who somehow  manage to avoid all those other fabulous options). We might just go again for the BBQ Breakfast.

Fork and knife dispensers: adequate defense when you want to protect your additional food from Walk-O-Rama members

The royal tour. given by someone we’re hoping was actually an employee

Seriously…skull-sized pastries

Nom nom nom

Tune in next week for the special Spring Break Edition.  Or, better yet, come along and share in our next adventure!  Hope to see you there!

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Walk-O-Rama: Ho-Ho-Hope You Weren’t As Naughty As Ken This Year

‘Tis the season for giving unto others, which is why three wise walkers came together at noon this Wednesday to travel far and wide within the building (because it is cold beyond these here walls), spreading our holiday cheer throughout the many offices that make up our Library building.  This year, holiday cheer took the form of candy canes, cocoa packets, and invitations to today’s much anticipated music performance.  Not everyone could join us on this joyous walk.  Ken, for instance, was very busy working on – HEY! Why are you just sitting at your desk, Ken? Surely you must have known we would find you out as we spread joy to all on this walk! Fortunately for Ken, he had strategically placed containers of cookies all around himself as a distraction, which momentarily ceased our scolding.  Unfortunately for Ken, after those cookies are eaten people have nothing left to preoccupy their thoughts and are left to focus on your betrayal.  As this is also a season of forgiveness, we will let this matter go.  Santa is watching, after all, and he can sort out all this not-very-niceness on his watch. It’s his job.  Thanks, Santa.

These wise ladies were smart enough to know that walking in the cold would be foolish

Gold, frankincense, and myrrh are so last year

This container bought Ken a good 23 hours of no scolding

We encountered many stairs on our not-very-well-thought-out meander, which showed us what a wonderful workout one can get, even indoors.  But the cookies and pie offered in the Director’s Office, as well as the cookies Ken used as a cunning distraction, were threatening to send this walk spiraling out of control.  We could not resist any longer.  We had to avoid these holiday calories by leaving the safety of the warm building and heading out onto the cookie-free campus grounds.  With Diane now along for this more serious adventure, we did the only thing we could think to do when met with the cold reality of the crisp December air. We headed for the nearest warm building, which happened to be one that prepares food.

We wish you all a holiday season filled with way too much eating, so you will be more likely to join us in 2014! See you in the new year!

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Walk-O-Rama Special Edition: If you bake it they will come

This week we were proud to host our 2nd Annual Thanksgiving Feast, even though (or especially because) we had to forgo walking to eat in because of it.  We could not believe the huge crowd of people who came to join in to give thanks during this celebration, mostly due to Kristen’s contradictory emails regarding the day of the event.  Who let her be the one in charge of something important anyway?  After seeing the party’s high attendance rate, it is now quite clear what will need to be done to maintain healthy member statistics on a weekly basis when we meet to walk in the future.  Ken, get baking!

A strange coincidence that only Walk-O-Rama members are sitting and eating in this picture (?)

To ensure that the true spirit of the day was not lost, a board was set up to inquire what we all were most thankful for.  Some cooks wisely chose to use this opportunity for some free self promotion to advertise the dish they had brought.  Genius.  Others were a little more cryptic in their word choice.  Trying our best to make sense of the text that seemed to be an ironic written refusal to write on the board, we could come to no other conclusion besides that this party goer was too hungry at this point to use proper punctuation and correctly tell a traditional NOT! joke.  Our best estimation is that it should be translated to read “Hell. NOT!” Yes, we get it now. You are so funny.  Please be sure to eat a snack before participating in these activities next time to get a better sense of mental clarity.

Today, give thanks for brussel sprouts, and for the grammar/NOT! joke police

As further evidence that we were all going to keep the spirit of giving in our hearts and minds on this day, many staff generously contributed food to assist the local Food Pantry! Go us! Now who wants to burn some of the calories from their body’s newly acquired stash by walking it all over to the appropriate building? Don’t be stingy with your calories.  We will all get plenty more next week.

Three cheers for charitable donations!

It was great having our new fearless leader there to join us in the celebration.  Not only is she a good example of library work ethic, she also introduced a sensible style of eating to our group.  We have tentatively named it the “Food that was not acquired exclusively from the dessert table” diet.  Kristen will try this out next year.

Welcome Constantia!

…and her artistic, nutritious dish

…which was likely healthier than Kristen’s

You know your party has reached “epic” status when people who were not on the guest list pop in because they heard something amazing has going down on the 2nd floor.  That’s how we felt when retired staff and former workers wandered in to say Hello.  It was great seeing all their familiar faces again!

Accidentally becoming Walk-O-Rama members today. It was great seeing you!

We hope we can all work hard to think of more occasions to bring us together in celebration.  Hey, I know! How about Walk-O-Rama! Next week will be a short one, but join us the week after for a chilly meander somewhere interesting.  Hope to see you there! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

We are doubly thankful for leftovers!

And triply thankful for people like Jeanne!

The best seats in the house – easy food access!

 

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Walk-O-Rama: Better Late Than Never. Except When It Isn’t…

After two weeks spent battling a bout of the lazies, it is time to get back to chronicling our adventures, for there have been many.  Well, three. It’s better late than never, right?

Sometimes the answer to this question is a little hazy, so we will take things on a case by case basis.

Lazy week 1

This week turned into a very long walk that developed its mission slowly but surely.  We became determined to show Raquel the awesomeness that is the Wang Center bathroom, as she had never experienced the luxury.  Apparently, not all restrooms are the same in the relatively new campus building, so locating the right one with the rocks and the trees was an adventure in itself.

Be sure to put finding this restroom on your travel bucket list

On this same day we also passed a group of friendly students raising money for Banned Books Week. Now, I know what you’re thinking.  How could funds be raised for such a cause? One supports it by the act of reading banned books! And on a normal day you’d be right.  But on this day, our judgement was clouded by the fact that they had cookies.  Our money was thus forked over without a second thought about it. Though it is late to be publicizing their Banned Books Week awareness campaign, it is never too late to read one, or to eat cookies.

Walk-O-Rama loves literacy promoters. And cookies!

Lazy Week 2

I have promised myself that this will not be a rant about how a nearby restaurant said they would donate a gift card to the Library and then clearly avoided us when we came to collect.  Today’s lesson is for you, guy at Jake Starr.  Better late than never!

Most notable on this day was the first ever appearance of Mary on a Walk-O-Rama outing!! Though she was only one week away from retirement, it is always better late than never to participate in WOR (unless it’s two minutes past noon on a day we’re walking to food. In that case you may as well return to your desk because we’re gone).

Photo by Mary that has been strategically altered to make some people look half their size. And by some people I mean me.

Lazy Week 3. No! I will not be lazy

Today we were very excited about going on a field trip to a new campus destination.  Diane had informed us that she had learned from a super secret source that there were greenhouses on campus! These greenhouses, part of the Life Science Building, were curiously located in the basement.  Kristen’s brain was reeling, trying to figure out what sort of plants could be grown in a basement, and hesitated about the legality of this outing.

These bundles in the “greenhouse” increased Kristen’s anxiety, even if they were for “research purposes”

After a more pleasant peek in one of the clearly “for the tourists” lockers, we were told that we could rent out a bay of our own for some money, since research costs big bucks.  We soon began to fear that this was the furthest our legs had been pulled in a fundraising scam. This was not the case, however, and our very accommodating tour guides soon began spewing all kinds of knowledge about plants, research, plants, and genetically modified plants. We never wanted to leave! (except when we were told we could not eat the fruit) For showing so much enthusiasm, we were permitted to enter the real greenhouses up the stairs! Go us!!

Initially skeptical that an educational WOR outing could compete with those that involve food

The tourist bay, for people who like the pretty colors

Our inspections found that they were running a clean operation, with tobacco being the most extreme offender (except those plants that eat people)

We apparently missed the original tour by 30 or 40 years. Better late than never…

Office/plant research space available to the highest bidder

All jaws dropped when we reached the top of the stairs, partly from the realization that the room was full of edible fruits, but mostly because it was so beautiful!  We were all like Dorothy stepping out of her crappy wrecked house and into technicolor Oz for the first time. We saw citrus fruit, bananas, a vicious carnivore, and a more laid back “ok, I guess I’ll eat you if you want” kind of carnivore.  One of these had been rumored to eat the work students they had once employed, but I didn’t hear which. We were like locusts entering a ripe new field, giddy at thought of being near so many edible plants.

The Banana Munchkin Gang

We were fortunate to be reminded of Oz, and recalled what happens to people who pick fruit from trees

Nom nom nom

2 members of our party were not seen or heard from again after passing by this man-eater

Our hosts answer Kathy’s surprisingly in depth banana questions

Next we passed into a room that was cool and tranquil, with just a tad bit of a breeze.  It was lovely.  So lovely, in fact, that we all briefly considered quitting our jobs and volunteering in the greenhouse for free.  They even had plants that “thrived on neglect”, which seemed like a variety that we were well suited to care for.

Diane and Ken excitedly plan their new office layout

Waaay better than the office

They would not give this plant as a souvenir, or to reward us for being good for a very long time

“No! This is not for you!” says Mike

Sensing someone is trying to eat something they should not be touching

Evolving to look like rocks, which is how we feel slumped at our desks all day

In one of the final rooms we saw a very symbolic plant that represented our hosts’ hospitality.  A pineapple grown adorably between a few poles.  By this point, after having seen so many edible fruits and after learning so much, we were starving and more than one of us began eying it hungrily.  Fortunately it had evolved to deter predators such as ourselves, and its spiky defenses sent us cowering away to the nearby bushes.

Delicious fruit just sitting there waiting to be devoured

Curses!!

Having been bested by this clever fruit, we decided to depart and go find less feisty meals elsewhere.  Having learned that there was still much more to see, we promised to come visit again, perhaps in February, when a tropical oasis would be like a vacation! Thanks, Mike and John, for the great experience!

Us leaving to frantically find food we could eat (I think most of us remained fully clothed, however

Awww…you thought you were going to make it through without your picture added, didn’t you, Mary? 😉

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