Stop the presses!
< 1 minute read
June 19, 2005, 10:34 PM
After publishing the last Journal entry, where, at the end of the article, in the “Quote” part, I spoke about the demolition of the former Howard Johnson’s motor lodge in Harrisonburg, I learned from a friend that the motor lodge still exists!
So I went into JMU’s Facilities Management master schedule online, and found out that a lot of different scheduled projects are listed as being on hold. All sorts of projects are marked “ON HOLD”, such as:
Renovating humidity controls in the ISAT/CS Building
Reconfiguring the old WMRA space in Anthony-Seeger Hall for JMU Police use
Building a turning lane into the Convocation Center
Asbestos abatement and demolition of Lincoln House, Shenandoah Hall, Smith House, Wellington Hall, and Zirkle House
Demolition of Rockingham Hall (the old HoJo’s)
Replacement of UREC astroturf
As you can see, a lot of stuff is on hold. And it seems that ALL the demolition projects are on hold, for that matter. I really have no idea why all of these projects are on hold, but they are. By the way, all the other demolition projects aside from the HoJo’s are all on the same block, to make way for a new performing arts center.
So maybe the old Howard Johnson’s motor lodge will be with us for a tad longer than anticipated. Not like it will be of any use to us, though, as it will more than likely remain closed, as it has been for the past year.
Now to clarify, I am referring only to the MOTOR LODGE complex (guest room buildings and the gate lodge). The restaurant had already been demolished in June 2004. I describe my discovery that the restaurant had been demolished in the June 29, 2004 Journal entry.
Categories: Howard Johnson's, JMU
When I did the photo set, I never thought I was going to be documenting the last days of the complex…
3 minute read
June 19, 2005, 4:27 AM
When I shot the photos that comprised the two-part photo set Afton Mountain: Victim of Progress, I never really thought that what I was documenting would disappear so quickly. The focus of the photo set was threefold, if you recall:
Howard Johnson’s Restaurant
Continue reading…Categories: Afton Mountain, Howard Johnson's, JMU, Virginia local news
What would you say if it was me behind the wheel of your transit bus?
4 minute read
February 21, 2005, 1:42 AM
What would you say? Well, I can’t say you’ll be seeing me driving a bus any time soon, but I did get someone to take a picture of me behind the wheel of a Harrisonburg Transit bus on Friday. That will be my cover photo for March on the site.
Otherwise, though, photographing in Blacksburg on Wednesday turned out to be quite successful. I got a whole load of bus photos, and also various other non-bus photos. Plus I got to eat dinner with my sister, which was nice.
I also discovered that Coca-Cola is coming out with a new flavor – Coca-Cola with lime. This is regular Coke, with the lime flavoring. This is NOT a diet soda! This is regular Coke. I tried it. It’s got a good flavor. It’s not like Pepsi Twist. This is like Vanilla Coke – it’s there, but it’s not obnoxious, and you’d think that the two had been together for ages. Pepsi Twist honestly tasted like Pepsi with some strange-tasting lemon flavor in it. Only place I’ve found the new Coca-Cola with lime so far is the Wal-Mart in Salem, where I stopped to make a pit stop on my way down. I’m sure it will be around elsewhere before too long.
Otherwise, I have confirmed that my sister is coming with me to DC on April 16! Though it might be more appropriate to say “A16”, considering what we’re going to a big demonstration on third-world debt. This will be my sister’s first big DC demonstration! Awwww…
Categories: Black bloc, Food and drink, Harrisonburg, JMU, Retail, Transit
All in all, we had fun on our not-a-date.
5 minute read
December 31, 2004, 2:08 AM
After work today, my friend Katie and I went up to Harrisonburg to go to Buffalo Wild Wings. I’d been there lots of times before with other people, but this was Katie’s first time at “BW-3’s” or “B-Dubs”, as it’s been called at times.
This whole outing was what we called our not-a-date, after a number of coworkers, three in particular (and you know who you are), kept commenting about how cute a couple we were and how it was so cute we were going on a “date”. For the record, Katie and I are not dating, nor do we ever intend to “date”. We are just friends. Strictly platonic. But that of course doesn’t mean we don’t have fun.
And to back up the fact that this wasn’t a date, we had also originally intended to have some others come with us. We were to have my sister come along, and also Teri from candy. Teri ended up having to cancel, and then Sis got sick and ended up having to leave work early.
At Buffalo Wild Wings, we ordered the boneless wings, and an order of mozzarella sticks. Why boneless? Bones are a bother to eat around, and make it quite messy. We had four of the twelve signature sauces on our wings. We had “Sweet BBQ”, “Mild”, “Spicy Garlic”, and “Caribbean Jerk”. So we had a third of the flavors. Still mighty good, though. Caribbean Jerk is about the upper limit of my tolerance of spicy sauces. That stuff is spicy. I’ve had the top of the scale, “Blazin”, before, and that’s just… whoo boy. I dipped a few wings in that when I went there on New Year’s Day 2002 with friends from Telegate. That sauce is potent, let me tell you. At first, it was like, this isn’t too bad, but then all of a sudden it hits you. Flames were shooting out of my mouth on that one, let me tell you.
Has anyone seen this font?
< 1 minute read
October 11, 2004, 2:11 AM
I’m looking for the font that JMU uses for their athletic logo and that JEM Transport uses. I’m looking for it as a Windows font. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:
That’s the Duke Dog, and the “JMU” letters are what I’m looking for. Also go to JEM Transport of Harrisonburg’s Web site, and it’s the same basic font.
I’ve also seen the same font over the Guest Services desk at the Ocean Holiday in Virginia Beach. Unfortunately, I never got a picture of that.
I just hope I can find that font somewhere as a Windows font. Would be very nice to have.
Categories: JMU
The bull@#$% alarm was going off today
3 minute read
September 20, 2004, 12:35 AM
When one works in a place where people try to pull a few fast ones, it really helps to keep your bull@#$% alarm (use your imagination to figure out what the symbols stand for) well tuned. It also helps to keep it in tune in order to rule out weak excuses from coworkers.
I think my favorite instance of the bull@#$% alarm going off at full power was back in 2003 in Potomac Hall. In retrospect it is highly amusing what happened, though a touch disturbing. At the time, I was initially surprised, and then the bull@#$% alarm went off in my head.
Here’s what happened…
At a staff meeting in Potomac Hall one time, it was brought up by one staff member about having a picnic for our residents. Wonderful idea, since it was starting to warm up outside. One person takes offense to the word “picnic”, and explains that the term “picnic” actually is a contraction of the phrase “pick a [racial slur]”. For more information about the origins of that erroneous origin of the word picnic (which is actually rather irrelevant to this discussion, believe it or not), check out this page on snopes.com.
Categories: JMU
Something tells me that Kmart is getting desperate…
3 minute read
September 12, 2004, 12:10 AM
Something just tells me that the Kmart in Waynesboro is desperate for business. As I was leaving Wal-Mart this evening, I saw a row of picket-style signs stuck in the ground along Lucy Lane across from Wal-Mart. What did they say? Look at this mock-up of it that I did (it was too dark for a photo).
These signs are indeed right across the street from Wal-Mart. Seems we at Wal-Mart have been doing something right, and we’re beating the pants off of the Big Kmart down the road. The two stores are out of sight of each other, and about a mile or two away.
I went to Harrisonburg today…
8 minute read
July 6, 2004, 9:35 PM
Yeah, I had to run a few errands over in Harrisonburg today, and so that gave me an excuse to go visit JMU. That was fun. I took Big Mavica with me, and so I took some photos of Potomac Hall, the new fire alarm system in Warren Hall, and the progress of the renovation work on Harrison Hall. So that was fun. JMU is doing some changing, all right. They’re also continuing with the work on bricking over the drive right in front of Wilson Hall.
It was also really cool to be photographing Potomac Hall again! I needed some “authentic Potomac Hall” for my new College Life site, and so that felt really nice to be back there again. My exact comment to myself was, “I feel like I’m home again.” I didn’t go in, since it appeared that the place was empty anyway. But I did get to see Potomac’s housekeepers again, whom I hadn’t seen since May 2003. They were all glad to see me again, too.
What amazed me the most about my trip to JMU was the new fire alarm system in Warren Hall. Recently, Warren and Taylor Halls each got new fire alarm systems. Recall that these two buildings share a few levels, and when the fire alarm goes off in one, it trips the other. The fire alarm system in Taylor was replaced last December, with that side getting a new Simplex alarm system. They replaced the smoke detectors and the pull stations, but they did not replace the horns and strobes. Those were non-ADA compliant Edwards horn/strobes from 1993, when Taylor was built. Which I thought was strange, both right afterwards, and even more so now, which you’ll see why after I tell you more. Now the new fire alarm system in Warren Hall that they installed also replaced the smoke detectors and the pull-stations, but they also ran new wires with related conduits for new Simplex notification appliances (horns and such) on the Warren Hall side ONLY. Stranger still that on three of the four floors, this was replacing already-ADA-compliant Gentex equipment installed during the 1999 renovation of the third through fifth floors of Warren Hall (Warren no longer has a first floor, since the floor numbers between Warren and Taylor Halls were synchronized with each other when Taylor was built, and Taylor has a first floor). So they mostly replaced ADA-compliant equipment, and provided about the same or less coverage as before in most areas (they did add some new coverage, though, in some rooms). But they still left the old horns in the other area, and did not upgrade there.
Categories: Fire alarms, JMU
Another Howard Johnson’s bites the dust…
3 minute read
June 29, 2004, 12:03 AM
It’s sad… in the same month, Palace Amusements in Asbury Park, New Jersey bites the dust (see my related quote article), and then the old Howard Johnson’s restaurant in Harrisonburg also gets demolished.
First of all, in its time as a Howard Johnson’s, it looked like this, as seen in these photos from Autoage.org…
Categories: Howard Johnson's, JMU
I have been to the JMU Bookstore for the last time ever, if all goes well.
2 minute read
March 4, 2004, 12:05 AM
I went up to Harrisonburg, and bought my diploma frame. Very nice thing, too. And it had better be for $200.
And let me reinforce the fact that I am now officially NEVER going back to the JMU Bookstore, EVER again. They just outdid themselves today when it came to poor customer service. I come in. I look at where the diploma frames are. I ask if one of the clerks, three of which were standing around behind the counter doing nothing, would come out and help me with the diploma frames. I consider this a reasonable request. Help the customer, and facilitate making a sale.
So they tell me that their frame people have already gone home for the day, and to come back tomorrow for assistance with the frames. No “sure, let me help you with that”, but instead, I was basically told go away and come back tomorrow. What kind of customer service is that?
I know that if I did something like that at Wal-Mart, my butt would be in some VERY hot water with management.
LET THE PAINTING BEGIN!
< 1 minute read
February 13, 2004, 9:40 PM
Well! The floor has been cleared, the walls have been cleared, the walls have been spackled, the walls have been sanded, and now it is time to paint. After work, I bought three gallons of Colorplace paint, in that “Manatee” color that I told you about. I also bought a Mainstays brand roller kit, and a plastic shield for doing the top of the walls so I don’t get the ceiling like I did in my Potomac Hall room, as you can see:
Categories: Bedroom remodel, JMU
Somehow I know we’re getting six more weeks of winter…
< 1 minute read
February 2, 2004, 10:27 AM
My good friend Ellen Bowman Kokinda had this on her away message:
Thanks a lot Punxsutawney Phil for the crappy prediction……you suck
Somehow, I think the groundhog saw his shadow. And it doesn’t bother me… I like winter.
I had a professor one time who actually was a major groundhog fan, telling us how he used to keep a groundhog as a pet. He said he had to get rid of the groundhog when his wife said it was either her or the groundhog. Then of course he also said, “I celebrate Groundhog’s Day with a test!” A real one, worth 25% of the class grade. I kind of doubt the authenticity of his groundhog stories, but they were amusing at the time. But you never know for sure, since the guy was from Deerfield anyway.
Categories: JMU
Newest D-Hall security device that would be amusing to see: Iron Maidens
< 1 minute read
December 12, 2003, 6:43 PM
While I was talking to the D-Hall cashier today, we had two people try to sneak in without paying (they were tracked down and made to pay). That led to two discussions…
First of all, we discussed how silly it was to try to avoid paying in D-Hall, since you pay with a punch, which is already paid for with tuition.
However, the second part was amusing. How do we keep people from, shall we say, “jumping the turnstile”? It came up that turnstiles would help, with people swiping their JAC cards like New Yorkers swipe their Metrocards. Metrocards, for those of you who don’t know, replaced the fabled subway token for good in 2003.
So you swipe your JAC, it’s verified, and the turnstile opens. Go eat. But you want to really be secure about it, and prevent people from simply going out the in? Install what is known as an “iron maiden” at the entrances and exits. An iron maiden is a big wheel with bars radiating out from it that only turns one way, and only lets you go one way on it. New York’s used them for entrances and exits on the subway for years. Swipe your JAC on a reader, the inbound iron maiden unlocks and lets you in, and then on the way out you use the outbound iron maiden. In the event of an emergency, people can still exit through the iron maidens. And like I said, New York’s been using them for years in the subway.
I think it would be quite amusing to see an iron maiden-style turnstile installed in D-Hall, and is HIGHLY unlikely to ever happen, but you must admit that an iron maiden would be effective…
Categories: JMU
The scary part about finals is…
2 minute read
December 11, 2003, 9:41 AM
The scary part about finals is when you finish the final exam and turn it in, and know that you have completed all the work for the course, and you now have a final grade, and it’s just a matter of finding it.
It’s downright scary, too. You’ve finished your final exam in a course. So now, you have a grade, and there’s nothing you can do about it. And you don’t know what the grade is, for that matter, until some time next week.
So now is what we call the waiting game. La dee da dee doo… waiting, waiting, waiting. Nerve-racking is what it is. But anyway, on another topic…
I was waiting for the elevator at Taylor Down Under and talking to the desk attendant, and the fire alarm went off. Since I was in TDU, I went out through the main door, past the annunciator. It said that the alarm originated from a second-floor duct detector (a smoke detector in an air duct). Don’t know what caused the alarm, though. But it was cool to hear, plus see the strobes, needless to say.
Categories: Fire alarms, JMU, Transit
It’s interesting way up here!
2 minute read
December 7, 2003, 2:54 AM
Well, my new chair was good, had no rips, was assembled, and my big can is sitting in it.
So how is it? It’s good! It’s firmer than my old chair, and arms that are shiny metal in places and padded in other places. The old chair had arms that were all wood (real wood, mind you). This one also has an all-metal wheel setup, whereas the old one had all the structure made of metal, and wood covers (again real wood). The wood covers were only glued on, though, and were known to come loose from time to time and had to be kicked down. It also raises up higher than my old chair, which is rather interesting, since I can actually dangle my feet in this chair, which I couldn’t do before due to not being able to elevate that high.
For now, I stashed the old chair in Sis’s room (she’s at Tech, so it’s not like I’m inconveniencing her or anything), along with the box, since I don’t feel like taking the box out right now (it is nearly 4 AM), and someone might want the old chair.
I remember when I bought the old chair and retired my two-chairs-ago chair, Kevin Carlton and Chris Derusha, my next-door neighbors in McGraw-Long, gladly took it, removed the base from it, and lashed it onto one of the JMU-issued chairs.