Cleaning Day

As I've mentioned, I'm something of a packrat, both at home and at the office. At the office, my desk, my table, my filing cabinet, the windowsill, the chair I don't sit in, and much of the floor are covered with books, files, memoranda, and whatnot.

Make that "were". Wednesday morning, when I came in, there was a note on my chair from one of the janitors, asking me please to allow them to mop the floor. So I spent most of yesterday cleaning house - err, office. Another janitor brought me a big recycling bin, about four feet deep and two feet square; I filled it twice and tossed in half a big garbage bag for good measure.

It was like doing archaeology. I found books that had been sent to me for consideration as textbooks for classes that I haven't taught in ten years. I found class rosters from 1997, and memos from three secretaries ago. There were phone books from the early nineties, two defunct keyboards, a dead (computer) mouse, and a small radio. I found a sign I made some years back, reading "I'm Not Short - I'm Concentrated!"; it is now, once again, posted by my door. Also, in one corner, where there was a leaky pipe a few years ago, there were various items that were effectively glued to the floor. (The janitor who left me the note promised to scrape that area too.)

At any rate, the job is (mostly) done; the trash and obsolete material is gone, though I still have to rearrange a few things. People are wandering by to goggle at the results. Some of them giggle.

The mop-n-scrape is scheduled for tomorrow at 6 PM.

It's a Bad Year for Colds

Or so it appears. My sinuses were slightly inflamed when I got up; I should have taken that as a warning sign. They're getting worse, and now my throat's getting scratchy. I'm cancelling my evening class. Of course, I've probably already infected most of my morning class, the math office staff, and a few people over at the cafeteria...