New digs? Not yet.

You may remember long ago I blogged about a looming fight over the office with a window in our new building? Well that's been resolved (we lost one of the two offices with windows once the architect got hold of things), but half of our division is moving right now. Yep, the CIS (computer information systems) folks are going to be in the new building once we come back from semester break. The business department, though, is going to be left behind for a semester or so until our side of the building is ready.

I'm wondering what that's going to be like. I imagine it will be quieter, given that over half of our faculty, many of our classes, and our division office (including the secretary, mailroom, copier, etc.) will be in another building. I'm looking forward to the peace and quiet, but I am dreading the fact that I'll have to go to another building to make copies, check mail, or just generally goof off with those folks.

Of course given that we are in academia, the petty jealousies are rearing their heads. There is a general perception that we (business department) are not valued as highly as the CIS folks. Our side of the building will not have the amenities the CIS half has. There is some truth to this. The division office will be in their half, they have lots of offices with windows, and you should see the furniture (both office and classroom) over there. What really strikes me as funny, though, is that it is the business division that is feeling discriminated against.

At most every school I've been associated with everyone else feels like they're getting slighted compared to the business school. Heck, that's why economics departments like to be in business schools rather than in liberal arts (where they probably belong). It's just funny, to me, to be on the other side. Actually, now that I think about it, the same thing was true at UAH. Wait, I should modify that. The business school (er, school of administrative science -- it's a long story) at UAH has some wonderful facilities and resources, but they feel (probably justifiably) that the president ignores them in favor of science and engineering.

Anyway, just had a feeling of irony when I thought about that. I'll let you know how life on the "desert isle" feels next semester. I'm kind of looking forward to it.

Oh, I have a general cat query (I know some of my readers are cat people). When I got home yesterday I discovered that Porch Cat had somehow injured his right front leg. He was limping badly and would put almost no weight on that leg. I suspect he was in a fight, though he could have been hit by a car. I would like to take him to the vet, but I've yet to wear him down to the point where he'll let me touch him. Given that his mobility is limited, I probably could corner and catch him right now, but I'm afraid he'd injure himself (or me) further if I tried to do that. In the past I've had animals come home with such injuries and recover sans treatment. I'm hoping for the same with Porch Cat, but he appeared to be limping worse this morning. I figure I'll take the "wait and see" approach, but I figured I'd solicit ideas just in case. So, any thoughts?

Oh, finally, this just seems silly. I mean I am REALLY not a fan of Castro, but this just seems petty. C'mon, U.S. government, don't you have anything bigger to worry about?