The Office

This, friends, is my new office at USD. Yup. Pretty bare. In many, many ways, it is a vast improvement from my office space at OU. For one, it's all mine. That's right. I'm not sharing and juggling schedules with two other TAs, with six of us crammed in the corner (dubbed the "Muses Alcove") of a room filled with cubicles. So yes, all mine. The office holds three other desks, but each is equipped with a computer, and no one has to share with someone else. Being a PhD student automatically comes with perks.

And that's the other thing: no having to wait for a computer to free up. This one's mine, too. Well, for my sole use, I mean. And that's not too shabby. Sure, the computer is, well, I think it is pretty old. But it runs fine and loads pages quickly enough. My desk boasts lots of drawers, and as I like storing things in drawers, this works out really well for me. You can't see it very well in this shot, but to my right is a closet (this building used to be a dormitory; you can see where there used to be a shower head in the ladies' bathroom) with a bookshelf. Currently, it's filled with the folders and old student papers hoarded by the last TAs to occupy this space, and I'm weeding through them. Over the next four years, I expect I'll fill that shelf.

And the air conditioner works great. I've had to bring a jacket from home just so I don't freeze during office hours.

The downside? Well, it's rather . . . quiet. Compared to my last office--which was always bustling with 20 other TAs going about their day, preparing to teach, meeting with students, watching youtube vids and complaining about this class or that--my office is, well, dead. I mean, it's great for actually getting work done. But my office hours don't coincide with the other PhDs I share that office with, so there's no one to talk to. There's nowhere to go where all the action is.

It's just the first week, I tell myself. Surely things will get hopping at the semester rolls along and need drives the others to campus. We'll see.

I'll take another picture of this office in four years. We'll see how things have changed.