Student Support Building

Coming out of the building where I'm at in the afternoons (see previous post) one sees a newer building immediately to the southeast, or toward the left. Anyway, almost forty years ago when I first started attending college, the building I'm in now was the Liberal Arts Building for then Pan American College. In fact, right about where my office right now is where I used to have English and history courses. But back then, stepping out of the building, instead of leading to the SSB, would instead lead to a parking lot. Parking was so much easier then. The college's student population must have been around 2,000; in a few years it would go up to 4,000. Now it's about 18,000 and parking is at a premium. Oh, well...the times they are a'changing. I've got fond memories of this building though. I met a lot of new friends, met interesting people, and ultimately, that's also where I met my wife.

Mornings and afternoons

Nowadays, at least through July, I'm working at two places. In the morning I'm at the UTPA's Writing Center, located at the library. My personal office area is right by the first glass wall. From there I've got a view to one of the actual lab areas where students come in and work on their papers, etc.
















Right after noon, I walk over next door to the LEAC Building, where I have an office for my other occupation, SI Coordinator. I sit and think and write in my office (among other things). The office is actually inside another lab (where I used to have a reading center that, sadly, went out of business a couple of years after I left), but it does have a window which looks out into the lab area now used by biology students.

Alien Life Form

A few days ago I went outside to the back, and I saw this thing. It sure looked weird, and I didn't want to touch it, not being sure what it was. I finally picked it up with a shovel and put it in a jar - it's about the size of a fist - and took it to one of my colleagues. He's not sure what it is either. It looks like either a slime fungus or a deflated kid's toy. He's never seen a slime fungus this big though. I just think it's an alien that ended up in the back yard.