Engineering Abstract: An Orderly Row of Chairs

In retrospect, lying on the ground with my face pressed against the floor in the engineering building was a pretty strange way to start the day. But the student activity center in Sackett Building is a marvelous photo op, and I just couldn't resist. I only thought about germs later, and perhaps I'll live to regret that decision, but it seemed like the right thing to do at the time!

The snow from the big storm the day before had already begun to melt, but our drive way at home was icy and slick, thanks to a fine ice mist that landed on top of the snow just as the storm was ending. So I decided to take the bus again, which put me smack-dab in the thick of things, on campus.

I got off the bus at the corner of College and Allen, with plans to take a few photographs and then enjoy a cheap, hearty, and quick breakfast at the Corner Room (a pleasure I'd been denied the day before). So it was that I watched with delight as the sky fill up with peach light, and then I went about my errands.

The Kunkle student activity center is open to all for the main business hours of the day, but then restricted to engineering students after 5 pm. It has huge walls of glass and gets beautiful light. The photographic draw, for me, at least, is a marvelous row of chairs along a long counter facing College Avenue.

I was there one time before when a fellow OCD peep (perhaps a janitor with a neatness streak) had lined the chairs up perfectly, creating an awesome work of art, which I had photographed like a fiend. The chairs on this morning were in disarray, but I fixed that first thing. And then I took my pictures.

I find it's best to do my stranger photographic projects in the morning, when few people are about to watch and wonder, and when nobody is sitting in those chairs. This was one of my favorite pictures, showing the wonderful lines and symmetry of the lined-up chairs. For added drama, I boosted the saturation using my camera's "super vivid" setting.

I look at this shot (and the many others like it that I took) and my heart just gives out a huge, happy sigh. No matter what else is going on in this crazy world, HERE ARE SOME CHAIRS IN PERFECT ORDER! Hip hip hooray! (If chairs can do this, there is hope for all of us yet.) You're welcome for that tiny glimpse of hope! :-)

I then went and had my breakfast and it was delicious, and after that, I caught my bus over to our offices off-campus. I had a meeting back downtown in mid-afternoon, and I was toying with the idea of having LUNCH at the Corner Room too. Now, this is a thing I have never done before: eaten at the very same restaurant TWICE in the same day!

But dear readers, I yielded to sweet temptation, and that is exactly what I did! Fortuitously, the lady who seated me for lunch was the exact same lady who seated me for breakfast. You should have seen the look on her face!

"Well, hello . . . again," she said, smiling broadly, like she knew all of my secrets. I felt like apologizing and so I did: "I've never done this before," I admitted, "but here I am again." She gave me a prime seat (again), a booth with a window view perfect for people-watching.

My favorite food to eat there for lunch is the French onion soup, which I've featured on these pages before. I guess it's pretty obvious that winter is time for comfort foods. The very SIGHT of snow makes me ravenous!

On this day, I allowed temptation to guide my decision making, and so I tried the macaroni and cheese for the first time, in addition to my favorite soup. In the extras,  you may see the melted cheesy goodness that was my lunch. A double dose! Oh yes, make mine with cheese, please! :-)

The song to accompany this blip is in honor of the extra photo, and the funny conversation I had with the lady at the Corner Room. The tune is Neil Diamond, with Hello Again.

Three cheers for order and hope!
Three cheers for melted cheese on a winter's day!
Hip hip - hooray!