I come into the office and what do I think when I open my door? Ugh, I hate how the letters in my name are too close together.
(No, the other faculty in the building do not have this problem with their nameplates. Yes, if they did, I suspect they are more temperamentally well-suited to not having it be a teensy-daily-grate on their nerves the way it is for me.)
Thanks to a friend for directing me to the term “keming” as a neologism for my plight.
BTW, this is what my office looks like:
Suggestions for what to do with the wall above the radiator welcome. The wall behind my computer is supposed to have a bulletin board, which has sat in the corner of my office for more than six months as I wait for someone to come and hang it. (I was warned against doing it myself because of this being an old and fragile building, but perhaps should anyway.)
12 Comments
Go ‘Heels!
While you have many gadgets and gizmos, you have little art. Put up a painting above the radiator. Or put a dartboard up that has grades instead of numbers. This can produce two fun situations
situation 1.
Tell students who visit your office that when you are on the fence between two grades on a paper or test, you let the dartboard guide you.
situation 2.
When students complain about a grade, give them two options:
1) you can reread their paper, addressing their disputes about your grading.
2) you give them the option of determining their grade by throwing a dart at the board.
Also, you could put on these (http://www.fractionalplates.com/images/cm3.jpg) up.
@1 - I hadn’t thought of that, but it is basically the right color. It’s not, incidentally, the color I chose. The color I chose was going to have this whole soothing maritime vibe. The color I got has a 9-year-old-boy’s bedroom vibe.
@2 - Dartboard? I already have my collection of Magic 8 Balls for this purpose! (All along the top of the three bookcases in the leftmost photo in my post.)
I agree a little art is in order. What are the little blocks of color on the bookshelves?
I have no sympathy for you and your name plate as mine is permanently crooked. Ask yourself which is worse. I don’t have my camera here today, but will one day take a picture of it to send to you. I did take these pictures of my own office not too long ago.
For several years I had the best ever office number & nameplate, at least for the purposes of my website.
Are you in a new, swankier, office, Kieran? I never knew if having a spot right there next to the main office was like living steps away from your favorite restaurant or more like getting a table right next to the irritating kitchen door.
My own office number encourages non-urgency.
I’m in Sarah’s old office now, off in the corner. Much better. Being located right in between the office and the bathroom, as I was, has its disadvantages.
After some searching I discovered that my own office’s error would be “736 - The remote computer terminated the control protocol.” I hope this doesn’t bode poorly for my chances at tenure (from what I understand, this office’s track record in that regard isn’t great).
My office number encourages better boundaries:
Error 111, ‘Connection refused.’
I am just glad to see the Hawkeye scarf on the back of your door! Hope you are settling okay there.
duh, jeremy — buy an eric sorensen original for above the radiator. he will come hang it! http://www.espwave.com
we missed you at the show last night.