Douglass Hall Update #7.22

7/22/1998

Yeah, yeah, I know I shouldn't blast everybody with one of these every day. Sorry 'bout that.

My web site now has a list (broken) of all the goodies I've extricated from the Vault. Yes, I moved from GeoCities...

Zeroth comes what you're all dying for: the Treasure Hunt! Today I went into the Hall and evacuated a multitude of (musty) things. The Treasure Trove now contains:

Menlo yearbook for 1937 called "The Oaks" Menlo yearbook for a year unknown.

Two undated booklets trying to entice people to matriculate in Menlo.

Commencement Programs from 1941-1957.

Bing Crosby's Christmas Singalong Book

The Menlo Fight Song! And no "Menlo, U KNOW" in it!

An ancient mimeograph machine. Maybe it's a printing press. I don't know; I'm not that old.

"The Spirit Of Menlo" by...whoever wrote it. Can't remember who.

6 reels of 16mm film. These are all black and white, all silent, all filmed in 1930-1931. Most of it is just Menlo people at the racetrack, at the rodeo, at the beach, in the river, backpacking, on mule hikes, etc.

One of them is a promotional thingy to show the average village idiot what Menlo life is (was?) like in the 30's.

A huge box full of films. These films seem to be old Hollywood movies, black and white. Some are animated films, and probably all have sound tracks. The reels all at least somewhat rusty and were housed in a mold-covered box. Gross! Does anybody have a movie projector that can handle film that is 34mm (about 1 and 3/8 inches) wide? Does anybody even *know* where that kind of film could have been used, or in what type of projector? Only IMAX films are bigger!

A roll up movie screen without a stand. Presumably you hang it from the wall.

A self-supporting movie stand. It even has a nice cloth tunnel to prevent glare problems.

If anybody wants to see the movies, I'll be around between 7:30am(!) and 4:30pm tomorrow. I hope. I'll probably be in Mr. Thib's room.

First, the schedule. This contains everything around school, not just construction 8/3: Move-in (building doesn't have to be 100% done, just 99%) 8/13: Your class transcripts are mailed. 8/15: Drop-dead date (translation: building MUST be 100% finished by then)

8/17: Freshman, buy books 9am-12pm 8/18: Sophomores, buy books 9am-12pm. 8/19: Juniors (that's me!) buy books 9am-12pm 8/20: Seniors, get books. 8/21: Middle School, get books.

8/26: Freshman Orientation 8/27: School opens 8/28: Picture day! (ughhhhhhh)

9/17: Big super spectacular gala opening party celebration and official reopening of The (Hopefully Named By Then) Hall!

Next, the rumor of the day: The current rumor(s) floating around the school are:

"The building won't be done until August 15th." and "They're pushing the start of school back".

As I've said before, the building won't be done, in a sense, until August 15th. What does this mean? They won't be done with the ho-hum stuff until the 15th. The walls are painted, the boards are up, the exterior doors are in, the windows are complete and the library's carpeted. However, the interior doors probably won't be in by the 3rd, and silly stuff like the loop road in front and the landscaping and the walkways. Those aren't really high priorities, as patching the holes and repainting the building is a priority. Does that obfuscate matters or ameliorate them? The short of it is that they'll be done by the 15th even if they have to force the workers to put in lots of overtime (72 men on the job working until 7:30pm!)

And the second? Not officially decided yet. They'd only do that if the building really was late. Keep your fingers crossed that it is on time. Yes, that means school would go farther into June, were that to happen.

Now, for some *real* news: Music Building: Icky brown carpet dumped, exposing green vinyl tiled floors. They'll be back to recarpet the building green. Curtis, Patterson, Menlo, Science: unch. Flo Mo: False ceilings and offices put into Gill's old room. They're "finishing" the room just like they did to Douglass--just put the fancy plaster/wood/marble walls right over the unsightly concrete or cinder blocks

The Hall? Read rumor #1 for construction details. The contractors pulled all the scaffolding and tools out of the new building today. They'll get their stuff out of the old building by Monday. 3rd floor to be repoured (they ripped up the floor to reroute and install conduit) Monday.

Middle School: Portables prepared for move; relocation set for tomorrow. Once that stuff is out of the way, it will seem that the Middle School never existed and only a dirt field remains.

Ok, now for the boring. I have room number assignments! Yes, that explains why the signs have been scraped off the walls in Menlo. The numbers skip because they count foyers and hallways with 2, 3 or even 4 different "room numbers"

Level 1 (Basement): Classrooms are 101 & 102. Men's room: 105. Women's room: 104. Foyer: 103. Multimedia/Computer/Technology room: 106. Electronic Resource Room: 107. Projector/Big Screen TV room: 108 Hallway: 109 & 110. Library Circle: 111. Library Office: 112. Elevator Room: 113. Telecomm room: 114. A/V Storage Room: 115. Conference Room: 117. Electrical Room: 119. Boiler Room: 121. Storage Room under entryway: 122. Vestibule under entry: 126. Storage room under foyer stairs: 131.

Level 2 (Second floor in the quad; first floor from the parking lot): Classrooms: 201, 202, 205, 206, 211. Women's Room: 203. Men's Room: 204. Gallery: 207, 208. Kitchen: 212. Meeting room: 213. Hallway from old to new bldg.: 214. Janitor's closet: 215. The Vault: 220. Receptionist's Office (the paneled room): 221. Headmaster's Secretary: 222. Activity Lounge (the biiiig room): 224. Middle School Director's Office (under the left balcony): 225. Office on the westmost corner: 226. Big marble entryway: 227. Restroom: 229. Office across from #226: 230. Big wide staircase: 234.

Level 3: Janitor's Closet: 301. Staircase Hallway: 320. Corridor: 321. Main Development Office (leftmost balcony room): 332. Unknown office on westmost corner: 333. Vestibule leading to porch cochere overhang: 337. Development Office (nice stained panels!): 335. Dr. Pratt's office (rightmost big balcony): 325. Academic Secretary's Office: 326. Phones: 340, 344. Storage (between 331 & 326): 328, 330. Registrar's Office (leftmost small balcony): 331. Storage closet: 339. Faculty restroom: 338. Faculty Lounge: 341. Faculty Workroom: 342. Copier: 346. Faculty Closet: 343. Electrician's Room (wedged inbetween faculty rooms): 322.

Level 4 Top Floor: Attic: 401.

Strange how a hallway/bathroom/staircase has a room number. No, I don't know what happens to the rooms whose numbers were stolen.