Leaping Uncontrollably

            In every establishment or organization, there is one central person or figure that’s responsible for keeping things from becoming complete and utter chaos. Thinking nationally, it’s the government, despite its inefficiencies. In a school, it’s the secretaries in the main office. Here at Moravian, that place happens to be none other than the HUB Desk.

            Okay, there might admittedly be some other people who are essential to the day-to-day operations of the college, and to them I give my regards. It can’t be easy dealing with a bunch of 18- to 22-year-olds on a daily basis, especially the janitorial staff who keeps everything looking nice and clean class after class, whether it’s in Comenius or PPHAC.

            But from a more logistical standpoint, the HUB Desk serves as the major source of information for students. After all, it’s in the HUB, our union building, where everyone passes through several times everyday.

            Situated at an eye-pleasing angle opposite the main staircase in the HUB and adorned with perpetually shiny and immaculate marble counters, the desk serves many purposes. Perhaps more notably, I should say the student working at the desk, along with Ann Claussen and Holly Newell, aim to please. Activities are a huge part of being at college. Under the careful planning and scheduling of these people, practically any event is able to be held, time permitting.

            But also important is that these people also take care of the majority of campus-wide announcements to students, informing them of what’s going on and when. Though last year I once expressed my grievances in regards to the many seemingly redundant Student News emails received in any given day, we really are quite fortunate at Moravian to be able to have such a service. It’s perhaps the one advertising medium that all students have access to and pay attention to everyday. 

In one sense, it has to do with our relatively small enrollment. If Moravian ever reaches the size of a state school, I would have to imagine that the service would be unable to continue, due to the fact that the sheer volume would just be too much for one person to handle. Not only a student having to view all the messages, but to the person behind the name who must read every message before sending it along. The HUB Desk also plays an important role in this, as the student worker also has the capability of sending student-wide emails. This was seen last week, when most of the announcements seemed to originate from that address.

            Also important are the many signs, advertisements, and posters displayed in the HUB on the staircases and downstairs opposite the mailroom. These messages as well must be approved by the powers that be at the HUB Desk, and serve as another passive yet effective means of advertising events or items for sale to the entire campus. If it weren’t for the HUB Desk, any person would be able to post anything they want, which could prove to be both offensive and chaotic.

            The Desk also holds others purposes. To where else would one go when looking for a lost item? Or when seeking information about the LANTA bus schedules throughout the Lehigh Valley? Or to pick up the latest issue of the Comenian? Certainly, no other place seems as central as the HUB Desk. As the sign above it implies, it simply is the “Information Center.” 

One more obscure request was that of a fellow floor mate of mine. She told me that upon moving into her dorm room, she decided to loft her bed furniture, and was unable to find the necessary equipment to do so. Where did she go for help? The HUB Desk, of course. Though they did not have any of the required bed pins there, they were able to get her to someone who did have them.

            But perhaps the best part of the HUB Desk is not its font of ever-flowing knowledge. It’s the fact that whenever you come around the corner, there’s always a friendly face sitting at the counter, smiling back at you, not to mention sometimes a large crowd of people hanging out and talking. This particular spot was so inviting that today, while walking past with my lunch, I stopped to hang out and took a few small bites of my pizza. Fifteen minutes later, I realized that I had just eaten lunch at the HUB Desk!

            Yes, the important focal point of the Haupert Union Building is in fact the HUB Desk. The next time you pass it by, stop for a second to realize the beauty of its neatly organized surface and friendly smiling face, and think about just how pivotal it really is. Who knows, it could save your life someday, seeing as how it’s the only place in the building that sports an Automated External Defibrillator. All hail the power of the HUB Desk!

Dear Verizon,

I really do hate you, and your annoying ability to send virtually everyone in the world something they don't want just one more of: phone books.

Year after year, you send us an Allentown phone book, and an Emmaus/Kempton/New Smithville/New Tripoli phone book.  In addition to these books from you, we also get a Lehigh Valley book from Yellow Book, and a Northern Berks and I-78 Corridor directory from Easy Pages or something equally as crappy.

What I find more interesting is that WE DON'T EVEN HAVE YOUR PHONE SERVICE ANYMORE!  More than a year ago, we switched our phone service to Blue Ridge since it's bundled with the cable and internet for only $99.  We have unlimited local and long distance calling, Caller ID, Call Waiting, and all that fun stuff.  A much better value than you provided us with, especially since pretty much anything is a toll call.

Not only are your books stupid, but they are excessive.  My mom has delivered them (since they come in the mail) and some of her customers got FIVE of them.  5!  Why does one house need 5 phonebooks?  Most people just put them on a shelf, or use them to hold doors or something.

I'll continue to laugh when I see your books piled on the side of the road, being driven over time and time again, because no one wants them or bothers to even throw them away.

Why don't you put the phone book on a CD or something?  Or better yet, at least ask people IF they want one and how many.  You'd save yourself a lot of money on printing them and on postage, and also, save lots and LOTS of trees.

Amen!



-----I realize I haven't posted in a long time...I thought it would be easier to remember than it has been!  But alas, I'm tired of of typing now...so good night. 

I realized recently that I've missed the art of blogging.  But I just couldn't bring myself to fire up the old Xanga and keep going.  I think Xanga was good at the time . . .but I feel like it's so...high school.  And 2005.  Even though I feel like Live Journal has been around longer (maybe not), Xanga does hold a special place in my heart.  But I think that place is now closed, and I've lost the key long ago.  I just can't bring myself to shut it down, though.  So I suppose I'll keep making random posts so it's not closed for inactivity . . . 

So I just finished watching all but 1 epsiode of "I Love the New Millennium" on VH1.  Now, I've been a fan of the "I Love" shows for a long time, but I think the 2000's aren't old enough yet to be doing such a thing.  Don't get me wrong, they were good, but when you remember most of the things that they talked about, it doesn't have the same feel to it.  And I feel like what they focused on in 2006 and 2007 was mostly music and movies, with a few bizarre news stories . . . it just felt like something was missing.  It was still entertaining, nonetheless, and I suppose maybe they just keep making them so that people like Michael Ian Black or Hal Sparks have pay checks...

In the news today: I heard tonight on the news that someone predicted gas prices to be $7/gallon by 2010.  Grrreat.  Every other day in the Morning Call I read articles about the electricity rate caps expiring in Pennsylvania in the next few years, and some people will have their electric bill sky rocket by like 50%.  Oil prices just keep going up and up and up, gas prices go up and up and up, and today the stock market went down, down, down.  (The Dow Jones lost like 350 points in one day).  The housing market is terrible.  No one can get a summer part time job.  Even the prive of food is skyrocketing.  Every day, I just feel like we're getting closer and closer to a depression.  Or recession.  Or whatever you want to call it.  But it is sort of "depressing"...I feel like it'll conicide with the time I'll be graduating from school and looking for a real job.  Being economically literate, I know these things happen in cycles, but I think it'll be the first time since I've been alive (or at least since I've been coherent of the world around me).  It'll be interesting to see what happens, and how people will change their daily lives in order to cope with said "economic badness".

Ah, it feels good to make a return.  I only hope that I'll do this regularly.  If not, it will be totally lame.  But with a user name like LeapsForCauchy, named after the great (.......) Cauchy (I wonder what his first name was?), I'll hopefully be "leaping uncontrollably" to the keyboard on a regular basis.  And perhaps weeping uncontrollably, too. ;-)