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Homeward bound - Printable Version

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Re: Homeward bound - 82 Card - 12-30-2014

(12-29-2014, 10:12 PM)ferrari link Wrote:.... The kids ... have never heard of an ... HP calculator....

Perhaps those kids should go to Fry's. I saw brand new HP12C calculators there yesterday.

Re: Homeward bound - 81alum - 12-30-2014

(12-29-2014, 10:12 PM)ferrari link Wrote:[quote author=garvin link=topic=11425.msg109195#msg109195 date=1419906275]
I visited campus Saturday for the first time in five years, the longest time I've ever been away. Even with most everything still closed for Christmas break, it's wonderful to be back. Yet it's also a little disconcerting. Maybe it's just because I'm seeing five years of accumulated change all at once instead of one or two or three, but I'm befuddled by all the old things that are gone and all the new things that have been introduced.
...
So I guess my bemusement is part of a Stanford space-time continuum that goes back to about 1892. That doesn't stop me from hoping that the pace of change slows down, just a bit, just for a while. I dread the day when I drive down El Camino and Hoover Tower is gone.

It's hell getting old, Garvin.  The cops are my grandchildrens' ages, 30 year old cashiers call me "Hun" and no one respects the old ways.  The kids don't use email anymore, they have never heard of an IBM selectric or an HP calculator, it only takes two fingers and two thumbs to type a report, never heard of NoDoze and pot is legal in two states.  When I tell them my frat house (ATO) had a burn time of 13 minutes they just look at me croos-eyed, and when I explain that when grandma first visited me at Stanford she stayed at the guest house instead of with me. I started to tell them that Prof. Hilton required papers typed on foolscap, but by then they were texting their friends.  No wonder I drink.
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I bike around the campus every couple of weeks and I still am amazed at the amount of construction and the pace of change.  Part of me is happy that my alma mater has the resources to so vastly improve its facilities and to beautify its campus.  The fact that it has done so makes it a very attractive destination, even for my bike rides!  But part of me finds it a bit ostentatious.  Stanford had a more middle class feel to it when I attended.  I remember the criticism way-back that Stanford felt like a country club, and I thought quite otherwise when I attended.  We had our bowling alley, crummy cider block dorms like Stern and the trailers, etc.  There is no mistaking the new atmosphere for that.  I benefit from it personally and am not too nostalgic for the formerly crummy parts of campus--but I also get philosophical about what values this growth represents, and the extent to which it is all needed to further the educational mission. 

Re: Homeward bound - BobK - 12-30-2014

To be clear re Dinah's.  The Hotel is there and wonderful but the restaurant gone since the 1989 earthquake. 

Re: Homeward bound - terry - 12-30-2014

(12-30-2014, 06:12 AM)81alum link Wrote:We had our bowling alley, crummy cider block dorms like Stern and the trailers, etc.  There is no mistaking the new atmosphere for that.

Well, if you get nostalgic about cinder block dorms, there's no need to worry. Wilbur and Stern are still fully occupied (mostly with freshmen).

Re: Homeward bound - Nan3cy - 12-30-2014

'Twas ever thus. I remember volunteering as an undergraduate for some alumni event (probably Reunion Weekend, though not sure). I heard some 35-ish woman complaining about all the changes on campus since she'd graduated, and the 80-ish woman behind her said something along the lines of, "Well, of COURSE it's changed! Change is what happens!"

Re: Homeward bound - Hulk01 - 12-30-2014

A few years ago I spoke at a summer event on campus, and my hosts put me up in Lagunita. It looked exactly as it did in the 70's.  And Stern still looks like a Russian barracks.  Many schools have much fancier dorms than Stanford. 

The difference likely is that when a donor funds a building, he/she/they want it to make a statement.  When Stanford funds a dorm, they want to encourage you to spend a lot of time outside your dorm.  It actually reminds me of Club Meds, where they skimp on where you sleep so you will spend all of your time out hobnobbing.

Re: Homeward bound - Hank 91 - 12-30-2014

(12-30-2014, 11:53 AM)Hulk01 link Wrote:A few years ago I spoke at a summer event on campus, and my hosts put me up in Lagunita. It looked exactly as it did in the 70's.  And Stern still looks like a Russian barracks.  Many schools have much fancier dorms than Stanford. 

The difference likely is that when a donor funds a building, he/she/they want it to make a statement.  When Stanford funds a dorm, they want to encourage you to spend a lot of time outside your dorm.  It actually reminds me of Club Meds, where they skimp on where you sleep so you will spend all of your time out hobnobbing.

The highlight of my last reunion (2011), aside from watching the football team rush for 446 yards, was walking with our group through Rinconada, the dorm where our friendships had been forged 24 years earlier. For the most part it was exactly the same, and the current residents were certainly amused by the herd of dinosaurs sauntering through the hallways and pointing out their old rooms. Dorms don't need to make a statement, they just need to bring people together. Rinconada did that for us.

Re: Homeward bound - Nan3cy - 12-30-2014

Hank, your story reminds me of the joke about the senior-citizen alum who knocks on the door of his old dorm and asks the slightly befuddled student if he can look around for old time's sake. He wanders around, saying "Same old place" and "same old view." He opens the closet door and there is a young woman, quite naked. The boy stammers, "this is my sister," and the alum smiles and says, "Yup. Same old excuse."


Re: Homeward bound - fullmetal - 12-30-2014

I'll be back three times in 2015--Feb, Apr, and reunion in Oct after not having been back at all in 2014.  I'm looking forward to each of those trips.